Updated August 2026
So you need…
Character design services
Oddtoe is a character design service based in Melbourne and Los Angeles, building original characters for animation, games and comedy. One designer takes the brief from a first sketch to a finished spec sheet, in 2D, 2.5D or 3D, instead of a queue of freelancers passed between studios.
The short version
What does a character design service actually do?
Oddtoe turns a brief, a script or a mood board into an original character ready for production, designing the look, personality and documentation together in 2D, 2.5D or 3D, so a studio, agency or games team can hand the character to other artists and get a consistent result.
Oddtoe is an experiential design and generative-AI animation studio based in Melbourne, creating projection, installation, and animated work for events, venues, and galleries.
Two words, two different jobs
Character designer or character design service, and does the difference matter?
One character designer draws in their own style, at whatever pace they have free. A studio built for character design scopes the brief, documents the character properly and stays with the project through revisions, so the style does not drift between the first sketch and the hundredth frame.
The distinction matters most once a character has to survive more than one artist touching it. A single illustrator can hold a look in their head. The moment a second animator, a games team or an ad agency picks up the same character, someone needs a spec sheet: turnarounds, expressions, proportions, the details that keep a character on-model instead of drifting a little with every new hand.
It matters again on format. A character built for a static illustration is not automatically ready for a 3D model or an animated turn. Oddtoe designs with the eventual use in mind, so a character can move from 2D concept art to a 2.5D shaded pass to a full 3D model without a second designer reverse-engineering the first one’s choices.
It cuts both ways: for a single static illustration in a style one artist already owns, a freelancer is often the better buy. See the character designer portfolio for the range of styles Oddtoe works in.
Questions & Answers
character design services
What actually gets made
What can a character design service create for you?
2D illustration, 2.5D shaded designs, and full 3D models built for animation or games, each backed by a spec sheet covering expressions, turnarounds and proportions so the character stays consistent once other artists are drawing it.
Characters rarely arrive finished in one sitting. Oddtoe usually starts from a mood board or script and works through rough sketches before settling a final design, the same process behind the character designer portfolio.
Once a character is designed and documented, the next question is usually what it does next. Some go straight into motion — see the generative AI animator page for how Oddtoe treats AI as one technique in that pipeline. Others need a voice and a story first, which is where comedy and story writing comes in.
Characters that need to exist off the screen, as a costume, a prop or a physical build for an event, go through prop and 3D making instead, using the same design as its starting point.
How to pick one
How do you choose a character design service?
Three tests. Does the portfolio show characters, not general illustration, will one designer stay with the project through revisions, and do they hand over proper spec sheets so other artists can draw the character consistently?
The portfolio test catches the most common mismatch. Plenty of illustrators can draw a striking single image; far fewer have designed a character built to be redrawn hundreds of times by other people without losing what made it work.
The continuity test matters because a character usually outlives the first design pass. If the designer who understood the brief is not the one answering revision notes in week four, you end up re-explaining the character to whoever inherited it.
The documentation test is the one people skip until it costs them. A character with no turnaround sheet looks fine in the first render and drifts in the second. I would rather hand over a spec sheet nobody needs than leave a studio guessing at an angle nobody drew.
Why one designer beats a queue of them
One designer, one style, start to finish
The case for hiring separate freelancers per asset is that it can be cheaper per image, and on a single static piece it often is. What that plan leaves out is what happens when the character has to work a second time: a different pose, a different medium, a sequel spot six months later. Somebody has to reverse-engineer the original designer’s choices, and a look that took one afternoon to draw can take a week to match.
That is the part I try to remove up front. I take the brief, design the character in whichever formats the project actually needs, and build the documentation alongside it, not after somebody asks for it. A finished spec sheet means the next artist who touches the character, whether that is an animator, a games studio or a licensing partner, is working from the same reference I was.
The second thing a dedicated character design service buys is range across formats. A 2D illustration and a 3D model of the same character are different disciplines, and a character designed only for a still image often needs real rework before it can turn in three dimensions. Designing with the eventual use in mind from the first sketch avoids most of that rework.
None of that makes a full service the right answer every time. A single illustration in a style one artist already owns does not need a spec sheet built for a production it will never enter. The rule I use is simple: the more hands will touch the character, and the longer it has to last, the more the documentation is worth paying for up front.
Which one is your brief?
Freelance illustrator or character design studio?
The same character can be commissioned two ways. This is what changes between them.
| Criterion | Freelance illustrator | Character design studio |
|---|---|---|
| Range of formats | Whatever that artist already draws in | 2D, 2.5D and 3D, designed together |
| Documentation | Rarely included | Spec sheet: turnarounds, expressions, proportions |
| Style consistency | Depends on one person’s availability | Documented so any artist can stay on-model |
| If the designer is unavailable | The project waits | Oddtoe reassigns from the same brief and docs |
| Best suited to | A single static illustration | A character that other hands will redraw |
Oddtoe quotes per project after a scoping conversation. Travel outside Melbourne is quoted separately.
What to send…
How to brief a character design service
Tell me who the character is, not just what they look like. Personality, role in the story, and one or two reference characters for the tone you are after go further than a shot list. A rough brief is fine; working out the physical detail from a loose description is part of what you are paying for.
Three things change a quote more than anything else: how many formats the character needs (2D, 2.5D, 3D), how much documentation has to go with it, and whether it is one character or a cast. One 2D illustration and a fully rigged 3D model with a turnaround sheet are different jobs even at the same brief length.
Say what you already have. A script, a brand guideline, an existing character bible, or a previous design you did not like all shorten the scoping conversation. Saying which influences you are drawn to, or which you want to avoid, does the same.
If you already know the character needs to move, say that too, since it changes how the design is built from the first sketch. Send the brief through the contact page and a real person reads it.
Tell us what you are imagining...
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