Chelsea
About the 2026 Character Design Program at Chelsea CTE
Creative Art Works’ Character Design Program is a paid internship offered at four NYC Career and Technical Education High Schools. Interns are challenged to create their own fully-realized characters with backstories, personality traits, and strengths and weaknesses.
This year, the curriculum suggested three themes, derived from the Games for Change design competition, to help interns shape their creative vision: Own the Road, All in for Nature: Reefs & Rainforests, and Outgrow Hunger. As the program progressed, some students naturally evolved their characters beyond these original themes, reshaping stories, motivations, and designs in ways that reflected their growing skills and imagination.
All in for Nature
Fari
by Americk Davis
Born in a hidden, untouched rainforest, 19-year-old Fari is a winged youth who grew up in isolation after losing his family. Surviving solo in the canopy, he became deeply cautious of strangers. However, a human girl’s beautiful singing lures the shy glider out of hiding. Met with kindness instead of fear, Fari discovers a newfound hope of finally escaping his lifelong loneliness.
Anoka
by Bryanna Gonzalez
In the hyper-modernized year 3100, humanity has completely abandoned nature, leaving Earth’s health to decay. Upon discovering this dark reality, Anoka resolves to revive the planet to its former glory. Though she is an unconventional hero with little patience, she tackles obstacles head-on, constantly pushing herself to compensate for her flaws and contribute to the world's survival.
Casper
by Ayana Badeeva
After surviving a plane crash in an unknown country, adventurous 19-year-old Casper was accidentally left behind by her rescued parents. Stranded in a magical forest with minimal supplies, she adapts to her strange new reality. To survive, Casper must explore the land, help the local villagers defeat an approaching evil dragon, and decipher a cryptic secret code delivered by a mysterious raven—all before her rescue helicopter returns.
Harbor
by Noah Jimenez
Harbor is an ageless deity with a scar across her left eye and waist. She wanted to stop destruction in nature, but after too many fights, she became hot-headed and aggressive—just like the people she hated. Now, she isolates herself and pretends not to care about the world. But when a mortal child accidentally appears, Harbor takes them in, protecting the kid while slowly remembering who she used to be.
Poses, Expression Sheets & Story Boards
Fantasy & Sci-Fi
Cassy by Abalee Reyes
After a fatal accident following her father’s death, 19-year-old Cassy woke up as a cybernetic hybrid with amnesia—retaining only her medical knowledge. Residing underground, she navigates the city's sewers to secretly treat the forgotten, sedating them to protect her identity. Despite narrow escapes and her mechanical reality, she risks exposure every night, driven by a desperate hope to reclaim her humanity.
Harmony
by Faheema Abdul
Living on the freezing planet of Uranus, 27-year-old Harmony is different—her body is always warm, almost made of fire, and she has a pretty wild personality. When the extreme cold drains her powers, she rests, eats up, and fights back. She uses her heat to build an awesome fire castle, creating a fire dragon, a phoenix, and fire people for company. Now, she isn’t lonely, has a place of her own, and rules a much hotter Uranus!
Jake
by Darwin Rondon
Born into a chaotic era, 25-year-old Jake lost his parents to war and witnessed his beloved older sister’s murder during a brutal rebel raid. Left utterly alone, the trauma fueled a lifetime of rigorous self-defense and weapons training. Now a fearless, unyielding warrior, Jake channels his grief into a sacred mission: defending his surviving community from destruction and honoring his family's memory by ensuring no one else suffers their fate.
Pearl
By Hailey Kerlia Wifred
Pearl is a dark-skinned 18-year-old with one blue eye and one brown eye. Her mom is from the Caribbean and her dad is Russian. Pearl is a super joyful, nice person who loves to bake and spend money on her friends. Her family used to have a lot of debt, and her father suffered from PTSD, but now they are really wealthy and own houses and bakeries in the Hamptons, so Pearl lives in a happy world.
