Animation & Visual Development Graduate – National Service

About Afrotoons

Afrotoons is a children’s media and animation company creating culturally authentic, engaging, and educational content inspired by African stories, characters, landscapes, and imagination.

We are offering National Service placement opportunities for creative graduates who want to gain hands-on experience in animation production while contributing to original African children’s content.

About the Role

We are looking for talented, curious, and collaborative National Service graduates to join our animation and visual development team.

This role is ideal for graduates with a background in multimedia, animation, illustration, graphic design, fine art, communication design, or a related creative programme. You will support different stages of the animation pipeline, including storyboarding, character design, illustration, background art, asset creation, and animation.

You do not need to be an expert in every area. We are looking for people with strong creative potential, a good portfolio, willingness to learn, and openness to using AI-assisted creative tools responsibly.

Key Responsibilities

Storyboarding & Visual Storytelling

• Assist in translating scripts and creative briefs into clear visual sequences.
• Create rough thumbnails, storyboards, and scene layouts.
• Support camera direction, pacing, character action, and emotional storytelling.
• Revise storyboards based on feedback from the creative team.

Character, Prop & Asset Design

• Support the design of characters, props, costumes, expressions, and poses.
• Create clean illustrations and production-ready visual assets.
• Help maintain consistency with Afrotoons’ character guides, colour palettes, and visual style.

Background & Environment Art

• Create background sketches, layouts, and finished environment art.
• Develop settings inspired by African landscapes, architecture, culture, and everyday life.
• Support consistency in perspective, scale, lighting, colour, and atmosphere across scenes.

Animation Production

• Assist with animation, character movement, lip-sync, and scene polishing.
• Prepare files and assets for animation production.
• Support revisions and production updates based on creative notes.

AI-Assisted Creative Workflow

• Use approved AI tools to support visual research, mood boards, concept exploration, and production efficiency.
• Experiment with AI-assisted workflows while maintaining originality, artistic quality, and Afrotoons’ creative standards.
• Refine AI-generated ideas into usable, human-directed creative work.
• Follow Afrotoons’ guidelines on responsible AI use, copyright awareness, and ethical creative practice.
• We value creativity, originality, and responsible AI use. AI is a tool that enhances human creativity—it never replaces it.

Required Skills & Experience

• A degree, HND, or equivalent training in animation, multimedia, illustration, design, fine art, communication design, or a related field.
• Strong drawing, illustration, design, or animation fundamentals.
• A portfolio showing creative work such as character designs, storyboards, backgrounds, illustrations, animations, or motion graphics.
• Familiarity with creative tools such as Photoshop, Illustrator, Procreate, Clip Studio Paint, Adobe Animate, Toon Boom, Moho, After Effects, Blender, or similar tools.
• Interest in African storytelling, children’s media, and culturally inspired creative work.
• Willingness to learn, receive feedback, and improve quickly.
• Openness to using AI tools as part of a modern creative production workflow.

Nice to Have

• Experience with 2D/3D animation, storyboarding, character design, or background art.
• Familiarity with AI creative tools such as Runway, Midjourney, ChatGPT, Claude, Adobe Firefly, Stable Diffusion, Leonardo AI, Kling, or similar tools.
• Experience creating content for children.
• Interest in African folklore, culture, history, music, fashion, architecture, or landscapes.
• Basic video editing or motion graphics skills.

Attributes We’re Looking For

• Creative and imaginative.
• Collaborative and respectful in a team environment.
• Open to feedback and willing to revise work.
• Curious about new tools, including AI.
• Organised and able to meet deadlines.
• Passionate about African stories and children’s entertainment.
• Flexible and willing to support different parts of the production pipeline.

What You’ll Gain

• Hands-on experience in a real animation production environment.
• Exposure to storyboarding, visual development, background art, character design, and animation.
• Training and practical experience using AI-assisted creative workflows.
• Opportunity to contribute to original African children’s content.
• Mentorship from Afrotoons’ creative and production team.
• A portfolio-building opportunity with real production work.

How to Apply

Interested applicants should submit:

• CV
• Portfolio or sample creative work
• Short note explaining why they want to join Afrotoons
• Any links to animation, illustration, design, or AI-assisted creative work

Applications should be sent to:
careers@afrotoons.com

Role Details

• Role Type: National Service Placement – 2026/2027 Intake
• Location: Ghana / Hybrid with collaboration sessions in Accra
• Company: Afrotoons