Bossy Bear is a 2D animated preschool television series based on the book series by David Horvath. The show premiered on Nick Jr. and follows the everyday adventures of Bossy Bear — an enthusiastic, imaginative young bear — and his calm, thoughtful best friend, Turtle.

 

Through small-scale conflicts and playful misadventures, the series explores themes of friendship, cooperation, and problem-solving in a warm, character-driven way. The series consists of 30 episodes (11-minute format) and features a broad ensemble cast of recurring characters, designed to support expressive performance and clear storytelling for a preschool audience.

 

My Role

2D Character Designer responsible for the complete character cast, including main, secondary, and supporting characters, with additional prop design support. Work included development from early exploration through production-ready assets in collaboration with art direction and production.

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Scope: full cast design · ensemble consistency 

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Character Design Focus

My work on Bossy Bear focused on creating characters that were:

• Clear and readable at all scales

• Expressive and performance-friendly

• Consistent across a full ensemble cast

• Practical for a preschool TV animation pipeline

 

Characters were developed from early exploration through to production-ready designs, with an emphasis on silhouette, proportion, and personality. Turnarounds and expression sheets were created to support animation and maintain visual consistency across episodes.

 

Contribution Highlights

• Designed main, secondary, and supporting characters across the series

• Developed character personalities through shape language and proportions

• Created turnarounds and expression sheets for animation teams

• Designed supporting props to reinforce character interaction and story

• Collaborated closely with art direction and production throughout the series

 

Production Context

Working on a 30-episode preschool series required maintaining consistency, clarity, and appeal across a large volume of designs while meeting the practical demands of TV production. Designing the full cast strengthened my experience in long-form series development, ensemble consistency, and animation-ready character design.

 

Artwork shown is production work created for the series and shared here for portfolio purposes.