Freelance Illustrator

✨ Important: If you’re interested in this opportunity, please send us a quick message to receive the official Dough Parlour Creative Brief. This will give you a clear understanding of our brand style, art direction, and project needs.

Job Title: Freelance Illustrator / Character Designer

About Dough Parlour:

Welcome to Dough Parlour Inc., where playtime is anything but ordinary!

Dough Parlour is a premium children’s toy brand dedicated to transforming playtime into a sensory-rich experience. Our 100% non-toxic, BPA-free, and environmentally friendly modeling dough is crafted with the finest ingredients, bringing joy and creativity into homes while ensuring both safety and quality.

We’re looking for a talented Illustrator to join us in shaping the whimsical, playful world of Dough Parlour. This is a unique opportunity to work with a growing children’s lifestyle brand and bring to life everything from imaginative backgrounds to iconic characters.

Position Overview:

We’re looking for an illustrator who can capture the Dough Parlour art style and carry it forward with creativity and consistency. The role involves designing illustrations for seasonal and ongoing product launches, creating playful worlds that children and parents alike will love, and contributing to the development of trademark-able brand mascots and characters.

This is more than a one-off project, we’re looking for a long-term creative partner who understands the importance of brand identity, consistency, and storytelling through art.

Our Ideal Candidate:

We’re looking for someone who is imaginative, detail-oriented, and skilled in creating playful, polished illustrations with strong character design. The perfect candidate will be adaptable to an established art style while also contributing fresh, creative concepts that align with our brand vision.

If you have experience developing character/mascot designs with brand identity and trademark potential, that’s a big plus.

Key Responsibilities:

• Create illustrations for product launches, packaging, and promotional materials.
• Develop imaginative backgrounds, worlds, and playful assets consistent with Dough Parlour’s brand style.
• Collaborate with the team on new concepts and themes for upcoming collections.
• Contribute to the creation of original characters/mascots that can evolve into trademark-able brand assets.
• Ensure all work reflects the Dough Parlour style, values, and creative direction.

Required Skills & Qualifications:

• Proven experience in illustration, preferably for children’s products, publishing, or lifestyle brands.
• Strong character design and world-building abilities.
• Ability to adapt to and replicate an established art style with precision.
• Proficiency in digital illustration tools (e.g., Procreate, Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop).
• Portfolio showcasing relevant work (children’s illustration, character design, or similar).

Nice to Haves:

• Experience creating character/mascot designs for brand identity.
• Familiarity with IP/trademark considerations in character design.
• Prior work with toy, children’s entertainment, or consumer lifestyle brands.

Position Details:

• Location: Remote (we’re welcoming all international candidates).
• Engagement: Long-term, project-based with potential for ongoing partnership.
• Compensation: To be discussed privately.

To Apply:

Please share your portfolio and a brief introduction about yourself. Highlight any experience you have in children’s illustration, character design, or brand/mascot development.

If you already have examples that are very close to Dough Parlour’s style, that would be fantastic to include. If not, we’d welcome a small mini concept piece so we can see how you interpret the brand and whether you’re able to work within Dough Parlour’s art and branding guidelines.