Open role · Contract · Remote

Your pixels.
Our heroes.

We're looking for a pixel artist to help bring the cast of Rune to life — a single-player, party-based RPG.

Type

Contract

Rate

Open to discuss

Discipline

Pixel art

Studio

Nether AG · CH

A small game with opinionated art

Rune (working title) is a single-player, party-based RPG. We're keeping the specifics under wraps for now, but the art carries a lot of the game's personality — and that's where you come in.

The world is rendered in 3D isometric; the characters are 2D pixel art. We want deliberate, characterful pixel work. Think stylized medieval fantasy: readable silhouettes, distinct character identities, and animation that reads clearly even in the middle of a fight.

What you'd make

Character sprites with distinct silhouettes Each character reads at a glance: armor, weapon, and stance should tell you who's who before a single frame plays.
Frame-by-frame movement & action animation The usual combat animations, at a quality bar that holds up on a big screen.
Readable action in motion What a character is doing should be unmistakable while it plays. Animation needs to communicate clearly at a glance.
Consistency across a growing cast A shared pixel language, so characters made months apart still look like they belong together.

Start focused, grow from there

We're keeping scope flexible and would rather shape it with the right artist than pin it down in a job post. We're starting with a smaller cast and expanding from there.

We're aiming to start in [Q3 2026]; initial engagement is a few months, with more if it's a good fit both ways.

How we'll work together

We care about how the game looks, so the art here is directed rather than open-ended. We'll set the target style, share references and briefs, and stay close through each piece so everything holds together as one look. In practice that means real collaboration: you get clear direction to work against, we go through a round or two of notes together, and we agree what revisions look like up front so it stays fair to your time.

We're not looking for someone to just execute a brief. Bring opinions; we want them.

Standard work-for-hire, with credit and the right to use the work in your reel once the game is announced.

What we're looking for

A pixel-art portfolio with character work Ideally animated. Show us sprites that move, not just static frames.
Comfortable across pixel styles Whether the look lands high-res or more retro, you can adapt to it.
Animation fundamentals Timing, weight, anticipation, follow-through — the things that make a sprite feel alive.
You can take direction and iterate You read a brief, hit it, and refine without friction.
Reliable as a contractor Clear communication, realistic timelines, delivers what was agreed.

Nice to have — pluses, not dealbreakers

Comfort in Unreal Engine, ideally with Paper2D / PaperZD for 2D characters
Building and packing sprite sheets and flipbooks
Animation state machines / anim blueprints
A feel for sprite sorting and draw order for 2D characters in a 3D scene
Normal-mapped sprites that catch dynamic lighting
Aseprite, or your pixel tool of choice, in your kit

Send us your pixels

Email a link to your portfolio — the more relevant character and animation work, the better. No cover letter required.

[email protected]