About the Character Design Program with FunPlus
For the second year in a row, Creative Art Works and FunPlus, a leading independent mobile game developer and publisher, collaborated on a Character Design Apprenticeship. This paid apprenticeship officially kicked off on February 8th. The Character Design program served over 100 Youth Apprentices from five New York City Career and Technical Education High Schools. The goal of this project is for each Youth Apprentices to create a fully-realized character with a backstory, personality traits, and strengths and weaknesses.
CAW Teaching Artists provided two hours of in-person instruction twice a week over the course of fourteen weeks. In addition, FunPlus artists and creatives from across the globe critiqued youth work and provided career advice and advanced lectures on topics such as body shape, silhouette construction and anatomy, storyboarding, costume and prop design, color scripts, environment and background design and more.
The program concluded with an awards ceremony on June 1st, 2022, and was attended by over 100 guests from all over the world, including representatives from Creative Art Works, NYC Public Schools staff and teachers, and artists and executives from FunPlus and Imagendary Studios.
The Character Design program was offered at five New York City Career and Technical Education (CTE) High Schools, which provide students with disabilities, Multilingual Learners/English Language Learners, and students from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds equitable access to high-quality internships. All the students were paid NYC minimum wage of $15 an hour. The schools are:
Chelsea CTE High School
Chelsea CTE High School
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Adonis Castro
Eris Vokshi
Marvin Chen
Arianny Nunez Tejada
Jaden Epps
Melvin Vargas
Ayman Miah
Hao He
Miguel Ruiz
Carol Chen
Hillary Zhicay
Najib Ahmed
Daniel Chavez Mrowiec
Isiah Mills
Safowan Raiyean
Teo Clarke
Eric Mai
Malik Johnson
Shaila Mohan Deodat
Yibran Facey Castillo
Fordham High School for the Arts
Fordham High School for the Arts
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Alexandria Zapater
J’Chad Lawrence
Patricio German
Alyssa Fisher
Jackson Rios
Rosie Nformi
Arianna Ponce
Leeana Soto
Skyla Abud
Exotic Butters
Leslie Puma
Sophia Aquino
Wismery Pichardo
Elizabeth Guzman
Maddie Guzman
Suzette Aquino
Witch Rosey
Fatoumata Kourouma
Martin Jesus
Valentina Cruz
Zayda Rojas
Information Technology High School
Information Technology High School
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Adam Mallail
Erick Vazquez
Mahir Kalam
Brian Martinez
Hassan Elder
Mohamed Sanoe
Chaouki Bosrih
Jade Rosendo
Nasimur Howlader
Chris Anzurez
Julian Cordero
Nasir Stewart
Christian Balbuena
Kenn Gabriel Cataluna
Nathaniel Cantor
Sheeno Sawata
Elyjah Bartee White
Luis Miranda
Roger Martinez
Tyrone Zheng
Manhattan Early College School for Advertising (MECA)
Manhattan Early College School for Advertising (MECA)
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Adama Barrie
Anita Liang
Kathleen Irizarry
Adrienne Brown
Betty Lee
Manrou Zou
Albert Tan
Christopher Santos
Nicole Erlich
Alex Chen
Elias Delacuadra
Ryan Collazo
Amanda Cabrera
Jalissa Edwards
Ruby Morency
Tahmeed Islam
Amfernee Lugo
Joshua Reyes
Sarriah S.
Zina McGhie
Urban Assembly Gateway School for Technology
Urban Assembly Gateway School for Technology
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Aaron Gambrell
Jacob Francisco
Luis Mercado
Diego Corsino
Jah-Mier Manaigo
Miguel Aviles
Edwin Ceron
Jamya Lowe
Mohamed Ba
Ellen Tan
Jianise Marte
Nate Ragland
Ethan Cruz
Justin Alva
Noah Greene
Franco Alvarado
Justin Balbuena
Windell Francis
And the Winners Are...
Congratulations to the Best Character Designs as Chosen by Imagendary Studios!
Judged by the pros: The winner and runner-up for the 2022 Best Character Award were chosen by four artists from Imagendary Studios: Momo Koshu, Adam Lee, David Luong, and Serge Souleman. These same judges also provided master-class lectures and art critiques during the program. The awards were presented by Ryan Pollreisz, Studio Manager at Imagendary Studios, and Momo Koshu.
Winner Best Character Design: Miha by Jade Rosendo
Runner Up for Best Character Design: Feonyx by Skyla Abud
Feonxy Character Design
Feonyx expression sheet
Skyla Abud
Congratulations to the Winners of the CAW Youth Development Awards
CAW Teaching Artists nominated one Youth Apprentice from their cohort in each of the five categories for CAW’s Youth Development Awards. Final winners were chosen by CAW Executive Director Brian Ricklin, Deputy Director | Director of Development Karen Jolicoeur, and Marketing & Communications Manager Scott Lucas.
Winner: Most Likely to Become a Character Designer
Kenn G. Cataluna
XAL, by Kenn G. Cataluna
Kenn G. Cataluna
Nominees: Most Likely to Become a Character Designer
Hao He, Chelsea CTE
Jamya Lowe, UAG
Kenn Gabriel Cataluna, ITHS*
Skyla Abud, FHSA
Zina McGhie, MECA
Winner: Strongest Narrative
Jacob Francisco
Captain Winthrop, one of many characters from the space pirate epic Utopia 999 by Jacob Francisco
Nominees: Strongest Narrative
Anita Liang, MECA
Brian Flores Martinez, ITHS
Jacob Francisco, UAG*
Teo Clarke, Chelsea CTE
Witch Rosey, FHSA
Winner: Most Original Design
Alex Chen
Yú Shùn by Alex Chen
Alex Chen
Nominees: Most Original Design
Alex Chen, MECA*
Exotic Butters, FHSA
Hillary Zhicay, Chelsea CTE
Jade Rosendo, ITHS
Luis Mercado, UAG
Winner: Strongest Pitch
Malik Johnson
Nominees: Strongest Pitch
Adam Mallail, ITHS
Adrienne Brown, MECA
Fatoumata Kourouma, FHSA
Jianise Marte, UAG
Malik Johnson, Chelsea CTE*
Wineer: Most Growth Achieved
Patricio German
Nominees: Most Growth Achieved
Aaron Gambrell, UAG
Jalissa Edwards, MECA
Melvin Vargas, Chelsea CTE
Patricio German, FHSA*
Sheeno Sawata, ITHS
Thank You!
This Creative Art Works program was made possible, in part, by generous support from FunPlus.
This Creative Art Works Youth Employment program is supported, in part, by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor, and the New York State Legislature; and by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the New York City Council.
Special Thanks
We are grateful to our visiting guest artists from Imagendary Studios who gave so generously of their time and experience by leading master classes in character design, providing feedback to our youth apprentices, and judging the contest for Best Character Design: Momo Koshu, Adam Lee, David Luong, Serge Souleman, and Ryan Pollreisz. We are indebted to Victoria Xu for acting as liaison between CAW and Imagendary Studios and coordinating and moderating master classes and pitch sessions.
Teaching Artists
Joey Jimenez, CAW Teaching Artist & Character Design Program Manager
Brandi Martin-Yu, CAW Teaching Artist
Clive Jacobson, CAW Teaching Artist
Sofia Pujol, CAW Teaching Artist
Staff
Brian Ricklin, President and CEO
Karen Jolicoeur, Deputy Director | Director of Development
Kirill Baytalskiy, Director of Finance and Administration
Ivory Nunez-Medrano, Program Manager | Teaching and Learning
Ryan Davis, Teaching Artist-in-Residence
Scott Lucas, Marketing & Communications Manager (Please email Scott for website corrections.)
Jill Goldstein, Office Manager
Melisa Vallovera, Associate
Brooke McKeene, Marketing & Communications Intern