Visual Development Artist

Chicken Dinner Studios; Quezon City; Remote; PHP 391,000 - 848,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Wellness & Growth allowance

Quarterly workshops

Monthly sports day

Remote work

Job summary

Chicken Dinner Studios, an on-demand creative agency, seeks a self-motivated illustrator/visual developer to own the full pipeline from concept to finished art. You will create characters, environments, and assets, deliver thumbnails, and maintain consistent style guides for multiple projects.

You will work remotely on a contractor basis with a monthly payout schedule. You must have at least 2 years in professional illustration or visual development, strong storytelling, and the ability to

Qualifications

• Degree or formal training in illustration, fine arts, animation, multimedia arts, or a related field. Equivalent professional experience and a strong portfolio are accepted in place of a degree.
• At least 2 years in a professional illustration, concept art, or visual development setting
• Startup or agency experience in a fast-moving, resource-conscious environment
• Experience working to a brief with revision rounds and client approval stages
• Experience delivering to deadline across multiple concurrent projects
• Experience preparing files for handoff to other disciplines

Responsibilities

• Develop characters, environments, props, and key art from brief through to final
• Produce thumbnails, roughs, and colour keys for review before committing to finished work
• Explore multiple visual directions early rather than rendering the first idea
• Build and maintain style guides, model sheets, and turnarounds so work stays consistent across a project
• Translate written briefs, scripts, and references into clear visual proposals
• Deliver finished illustration across line, inks, and colour
• Work to an established brand or property style as well as developing new ones
• Produce sequential and panel-based work where a project calls for it
• Adapt artwork across formats, including print, social, web, and animation-ready assets
• Prepare clean, layered, correctly labelled files ready for handoff to animation, design, or print
• Estimate effort per piece and flag when a brief will not fit the time available
• Deliver in stages so feedback lands early rather than at the end
• Work alongside designers, animators, and the production team on shared projects
• Incorporate revisions accurately and flag when a revision conflicts with an earlier approval
• Maintain organised source files with sensible naming and version control
• Match effort, quality, and polish to the brief and deadline, and flag early where the two do not line up
• Produce work for both the company's own brand and assigned client brands
• Hold distinct visual directions for each without letting one bleed into the other
• Apply the same standard to internal work as to client work

Skills

Strong sketching & anatomy

Perspective & composition

Storytelling through art

Bringing briefs to visuals

Deadline-driven work

Education

Degree or formal training in illustration/arts

Tools

Clip Studio Paint

Procreate

Photoshop

Illustrator

Figma for handoff

Job description

WHO WE ARE

CHICKEN DINNER STUDIOS is an on-demand creative agency. We’re a full-service creative agency offering Creative Solutions, Comic Book Art, 2D & 3D Design, Pixel Art, Animation, Motion Design, Game Design & Development, Web Design & Development, and Offshore Solutions — all through a flexible subscription-based model. We primarily partner with businesses across the globe, delivering reliable support tailored to international teams and brands.

Our culture is collaborative, people-first, and growth-driven. We foster trust, integrity, ownership, and accountability while encouraging proactive thinking, open communication, and continuous learning. We believe the best ideas come from diverse perspectives, empowering every team member to contribute, take initiative, and grow beyond their role.

ABOUT YOU

You think like a comic book artist. Not just in style, in construction. You know how to stage a scene, where to put the camera, how to carry a reader's eye across a page, and how to make a character read clearly at any size. Storytelling sits underneath everything you draw.

You can do the whole pipeline. Concept through to finished art, including inks and colour. You are not handing off halfway and hoping someone else lands it.

You are fast because you are smart, not because you cut corners. You know which shortcuts are free and which ones cost you. Perspective grids, 3D blockouts, reusable assets, flipped canvases, photo reference used properly, a palette built once and reused across a set. You solve the drawing problem rather than grinding through it.

You calibrate effort to the job. You can read a brief and a deadline together and work out what level of polish it actually needs, then hit that level rather than overshooting or underdelivering. A hero image gets the full treatment. A supporting asset that ships Thursday gets the version that works, done well, on time.

You draw everything yourself. No generative AI anywhere in your process, and you are comfortable proving it. This is a firm condition of the role, not a preference, because our clients licence this work and we need clean provenance on every asset.

You take direction well and push back usefully. When a brief is weak, you come back with a question or a better idea, not with four hours of work aimed in the wrong direction.

You have worked in a startup or agency, so you understand that some pieces get the full treatment and some need to be efficient by design. You do not treat every job as a portfolio piece.

You can run with a written brief. You read it, form a point of view, and come back with thumbnails and a direction. If something is genuinely unclear you ask, but you ask to close a gap, not to get the decision handed to you.

THIS ROLE IS NOT A GOOD FIT IF YOU:

• Use generative AI in any part of your process, or are unwilling to show your working files
• Can concept but cannot finish, or can render but cannot compose
• Only ink, only colour, or only work from someone else's layouts
• Cannot judge when something is good enough, and either polish past the point of value or deliver under the standard
• Need a fully locked brief before you can start
• Cannot work in a style other than your own
• Treat every asset as a portfolio piece regardless of its purpose or budget
• Struggle when several projects are live at once
• Go silent mid-project and resurface with something nobody asked for
• Take revision notes personally
• Cannot estimate how long a piece will take
• Miss agreed deadlines without flagging them early
• Want the creative decision made for you before you start
• Want to be told what to draw rather than developing the idea yourself. Asking a sharp question is welcome, waiting for someone to make the creative decision for you is not.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Concept and visual development

• Develop characters, environments, props, and key art from brief through to final
• Produce thumbnails, roughs, and colour keys for review before committing to finished work
• Explore multiple visual directions early rather than rendering the first idea
• Build and maintain style guides, model sheets, and turnarounds so work stays consistent across a project
• Translate written briefs, scripts, and references into clear visual proposals

Illustration and finishing

• Deliver finished illustration across line, inks, and colour
• Work to an established brand or property style as well as developing new ones
• Produce sequential and panel-based work where a project calls for it
• Adapt artwork across formats, including print, social, web, and animation-ready assets
• Prepare clean, layered, correctly labelled files ready for handoff to animation, design, or print

Production and collaboration

• Estimate effort per piece and flag when a brief will not fit the time available
• Deliver in stages so feedback lands early rather than at the end
• Work alongside designers, animators, and the production team on shared projects
• Incorporate revisions accurately and flag when a revision conflicts with an earlier approval
• Maintain organised source files with sensible naming and version control
• Match effort, quality, and polish to the brief and deadline, and flag early where the two do not line up

Internal and client work

• Produce work for both the company's own brand and assigned client brands
• Hold distinct visual directions for each without letting one bleed into the other
• Apply the same standard to internal work as to client work

REQUIREMENTS

• Degree or formal training in illustration, fine arts, animation, multimedia arts, or a related field. Equivalent professional experience and a strong portfolio are accepted in place of a degree.
• At least 2 years in a professional illustration, concept art, or visual development setting
• Startup or agency experience in a fast-moving, resource-conscious environment
• Experience working to a brief with revision rounds and client approval stages
• Experience delivering to deadline across multiple concurrent projects
• Experience preparing files for handoff to other disciplines

Portfolio

• A portfolio demonstrating concept work, finished illustration, inking, and colour
• Evidence of range, including at least one style that is clearly not your default
• Process work available on request, including thumbnails, roughs, and layered files
• All work must be your own. Collaborative pieces must state clearly what you did.

Technical knowledge

• Strong sketching skills, including anatomy, perspective, gesture, and composition
• Confident colour and light, including palette construction and mood
• Inking ability with genuine line control and weight variation
• Understanding of visual storytelling, including staging, silhouette, and eye flow
• Working knowledge of print and digital output requirements, including resolution, bleed, and colour space
• Ability to work efficiently at scale using reusable assets, grids, and established setups
• Motion or rigging awareness, so files arrive animation-ready

No AI condition

• No generative AI may be used in any part of the work produced for this role. This includes image generation, generative fill, AI upscaling, and AI‑assisted line or colour work.
• Must be able to supply layered source files, process work, and timelapse or screen recording on request.
• Portfolio work and design test work submitted during hiring is subject to the same condition. Any undisclosed AI use in a submission ends the application.

Tools and platforms

• Clip Studio Paint, Procreate, or Photoshop as a primary tool
• Adobe Creative Suite, particularly Photoshop and Illustrator
• Familiarity with Figma for handoff
• Google Workspace, ClickUp or a comparable project management platform, and Slack

Communication

• Good written and spoken English, able to present work and explain choices
• Able to give a straight answer on progress, including when a piece is behind

Availability and commitment

• Full-time availability. This is not a part‑time, freelance, or project‑based engagement.
• Consistent working hours with advance notice for any planned absence

Equipment and workspace

• Reliable high‑speed internet suitable for file transfer and team calls
• A computer capable of handling large multi‑layer files and multiple applications simultaneously
• A drawing tablet or display tablet
• Clear microphone for adhoc reviews and team calls

Confidentiality and security

• Ability to protect unreleased artwork, client properties, and internal processes while working remotely
• Secure handling of source files, credentials, and access permissions
• Understanding that unreleased client IP may not be shared, posted, or added to a portfolio without written permission

MISCELLANEOUS (Preferred but not required)

• Involved in publishing a comic book, graphic novel, or webcomic work, whether professional or self‑published
• Comic book art experience, including panel layout, lettering awareness, and page flow
• Storyboarding or animatic experience
• Character design for animation
• Experience with licensed properties or established style guides
• Lettering and balloon placement
• A second style you can work in convincingly

WORK ARRANGEMENT

• Contractor-based engagement with flexible work arrangements. Fully remote, work from anywhere
• No screen capture, no micromanagement
• Monthly reimbursable Wellness & Growth allowance after 3 months probation
• Quarterly Workshops
• Monthly Sports Day and team activities
• Creative and collaborative work culture
• Exposure to high-impact roles within a growing marketing team
• Work with purpose-driven organisations across international markets.
• Payout is once a month on the 15th.