Job description for Art Lead at Moonlight Bedroll Studios
Art Lead (2D Artist), Founding Role
About us
Moonlight Bedroll Studios is an independent game studio based in Singapore. We have been deeply inspired by richly atmospheric games that make you feel like you’ve been transported into another world, and that’s a feeling we want to capture in our own games. We're making a story-driven detective RPG where you live as a detective in a deep, compelling world, and success lives and dies on how well you understand people. Confrontations are fought as card battles, and no two play alike because each is shaped by a different personality.
We are very early in this project, and have just entered our first round of hiring.
The role
Full-time · Singapore · S$3,500 a month
As our Art Lead, you'll be our first hire and will define how the game looks. You'll design the city, its people and the objects that tell their stories, then work with our 3D artists to bring those designs into the game. You'll also create all of the game's 2D art, from card illustrations and character portraits to interface art and key art. As the team grows, your role progresses to art director.
We welcome early-career artists - we care about talent and drive more than years of experience. This will be a largely remote role, with regular meetings held physically or remotely.
What you'll do
- Develop the game's visual style and keep it consistent across the whole project
- Design environments, from districts and streets to rooms where every object says something about who lives there
- Design characters with distinct, readable silhouettes and expressions
- Design props and assets that can double as clues
- Produce all of the game's 2D art: card illustrations, character portraits and expressions for dialogue, interface art and icons, maps, and in-world documents
- Create key art and promotional illustrations for the Steam page, trailers and social media
- Prepare clear turnarounds and reference sheets so designs translate cleanly into 3D
- Give feedback to 3D artists and contractors, and later help hire and guide the art team
What we're looking for
- A strong portfolio of 2D art showing range: original environment, character or prop design, and finished illustration
- The ability to take an idea from a brief to a finished design on your own
- Solid fundamentals: drawing, composition, colour, lighting and shape language
- Comfort working quickly and iterating on feedback
- Commitment to a small, ambitious team with a tight timeline and a lot to build
Nice to have
- 3D experience (Blender, Maya, ZBrush or similar), or an understanding of how 2D designs become 3D models
- Experience in game art or a game project, including student or personal projects
- Interest in detective stories, RPGs or narrative games
- A love for games
What we offer
- A founding role with real ownership of the game's look
- Opportunity for career progression as the studio grows
- A small team where your work is seen and matters
How to apply
Send us your portfolio (a link is fine) and a short statement on why this project interests you.
Our process has three steps:
- Portfolio review. We read every application.
- Interview. A conversation about you and how you work. We'll also share a short brief on the game's city and talk through how you would approach designing it and what comes to mind. No preparation needed.
- Paid design assessment. We might ask you to complete a short, paid design task based on the brief.
Please feel free to reach out to us through email if you have any additional questions about the role or us.
