Freelance Illustrator Needed - Single Character Illustration (Mr. Careful Mascot)
We're looking for a skilled illustrator to create one high-quality character illustration of our brand mascot, Mr. Careful, in a specific pose and art style.
The Character - Mr. Careful:
Mr. Careful is a friendly, confident butler-style mascot. His design includes:
Round, expressive face with a winking eye and wide grin
Blue conductor/captain-style hat with an orange "C" emblem on the front
Blue tailcoat jacket over an orange pinstripe vest with button details
Orange bow tie
White gloves
Orange pinstripe pants
Well-proportioned, human-scaled build with clean anime/manga anatomy — think Pokémon Trainer card proportions rather than a squat cartoon mascot. Stylized but not exaggerated.
The Pose:
The illustration should depict Mr. Careful from a dramatic bird's-eye perspective, as if the viewer is looking slightly down at him from above. He should be:
Holding a peace/victory sign (two fingers up) with one hand extended toward the viewer in the foreground — large and foreshortened, creating depth
Other hand on his hip or at his side
Looking up toward the viewer with his signature wink and grin
The low angle of his body should feel dynamic and confident - like he's owning the frame
Reference sketch for pose geometry is provided.
The Background:
Mr. Careful should be standing on a concrete driveway that is split visually down the middle, with a clear before/after contrast:
Left half - dirty, neglected concrete. Heavy green and black moss growth, dark water stains, grime buildup in the surface cracks, and an overall dull, weathered appearance. The texture should feel grimy and slightly slick
Right half - the same concrete, freshly pressure washed. Bright, clean, almost luminous in contrast. Light should catch the wet surface, suggesting it was just cleaned moments ago - reflective sheen, crisp texture, no debris
The dividing line between the two halves should fall roughly beneath Mr. Careful, making him the literal turning point between dirty and clean
The perspective of the driveway should match the bird's-eye camera angle - concrete receding away from the viewer beneath him, with the contrast line running toward the horizon
The tonal shift between the two halves should be immediately readable even at a glance - this is the core visual story of the piece
The background should support rather than compete with Mr. Careful. He remains the clear focal point, but the driveway contrast should be impossible to miss.
Art Style:
We're looking for an approach inspired by the illustrator Kuroimori (Pokémon TCG). Key style qualities to match:
Painterly digital illustration — not flat vector, not hard cel-shading. Soft gradient shading with visible light and shadow volume
Anime/manga character sensibility — expressive, slightly stylized proportions, clean linework with energy
Textural depth on clothing and accessories — the vest, gloves, and hat should feel tactile and rendered, not just flat fills
Cinematic framing — the composition should feel like a trading card or poster, not a generic stock illustration
Warm, confident mood — this is a hero moment, not a casual stance. The piece should feel like Mr. Careful is your guy and he knows it
The background should be rendered with enough texture detail that the concrete reads as concrete — mossy grime on one side, wet shine on the other — while still sitting harmoniously within the overall illustrated style
Deliverables:
1 finished illustration, PNG with transparent background
Sized to Pokémon card dimensions (63mm x 88mm) at 300dpi minimum — the final piece should be composed with this portrait aspect ratio in mind from the start
To Apply:
Please share your portfolio, especially any character illustration work that shows foreshortening, dynamic perspective, or painterly rendering. Bonus points if you have TCG, mascot, anime-adjacent, or background/environment work in your portfolio. A quick 5-minute sketch of your vision for this piece will significantly increase your likelihood of being hired.