Background Painter and Environment Artist

About the role

Toon Central Hub is a comic and animation company focused on sharing locally created African stories with a global audience, using an Afrocentric approach to highlight untapped histories and narratives. It is looking for a Background Painter and Environment Artist to create visually compelling environments for comics and animated projects, working remotely.

Key responsibilities

• Create detailed backgrounds and design settings that reflect African-inspired worlds, supporting storytelling and character action
• Collaborate with directors, storyboard artists and animators to keep style, mood and colour palettes consistent across projects
• Refine environment concepts from rough sketches and optimise artwork for production workflows
• Deliver assets on schedule, communicate clearly with the creative team and respond to feedback and revisions

Required profile

• Strong 2D art and painting skills, able to paint atmospheric and detailed backgrounds
• Knowledge of animation pipelines and experience creating environments for animated productions
• Effective communication with remote creative teams and openness to feedback
• Ability to work independently, manage time and meet deadlines in a remote setting
• Portfolio showing background painting and environment art, ideally with Afrocentric or fantasy themes; previous experience in comics, animation or game art is an advantage

Required skills

• Digital painting tools such as Photoshop, Procreate or Clip Studio Paint
• Understanding of colour, lighting, composition and visual storytelling for environment design