Providing support with 2D Illustrations (Character Artist)

Istanbul International Center for Private Sector in Development (IICPSD) supports the private sector and foundations to become transformative partners in development through research, advocacy for inclusive business, facilitation of public-private dialogue and brokering partnerships. IICPSD, established in 2011 in partnership with the Government of Turkey, is one of UNDP's six Global Policy Centres. It leads UNDP’s global work on private sector and foundations and supports UNDP’s offices all over the world. The Center focuses on four thematic areas: 1. Inclusive Business; 2. Private Sector Engagement in Skills Development; 3. Impact investing; 4. Resilience and Crisis Response. The Center also hosts four global initiatives: Business Call to Action, SDG Philanthropy Platform, Global Islamic Finance and Impact Investing Platform and Connecting Business Initiative.

The Tech Volunteers for Resilience (Tech4R) programme mobilizes skilled digital volunteers to co-develop open-source, technology-driven solutions that strengthen resilience, recovery, and sustainable development. As part of its child-focused safety initiatives, Tech4R is supporting the development of an educational digital game designed to help children living in border regions respond appropriately in life-threatening or high-risk situations. The game aims to combine child-friendly storytelling, psychological safety principles, and practical life-saving guidance in an accessible digital format. The 2D Illustrator / Character Artist will play a key role in visually bringing the project’s main characters to life and ensuring that the game is engaging, culturally appropriate, and emotionally expressive. Children in border and high-risk regions may face sudden emergencies and security threats. Providing them with age-appropriate, scenario-based educational tools can support safer decision-making and strengthen resilience. The project is developing a cartoon-style educational game with clearly defined characters and visual storytelling elements. The volunteer will receive a detailed technical brief and reference materials. The work must be fully hand-drawn and original, ensuring artistic authenticity and ethical production standards. The final illustrations will be integrated into a game engine; therefore, technical precision and proper preparation of source files are essential.

As an Online Volunteer, you will support the team with the following tasks: - Develop two main characters in a cartoon style based on the provided brief and visual references. - Illustrate one of the main characters in multiple game scenarios and poses. - Create a set of interchangeable character attributes (e.g., clothing variations, backpacks, equipment). - Design an emotion map / sprite sheet for one character (e.g., joy, sadness, surprise, fear, determination). - Prepare and organize final source files properly for integration into the game engine. - Coordinate with the development team to ensure technical compatibility of assets. - Share work-in-progress files to demonstrate a fully hand-drawn process (no AI-generated elements permitted).