Molly of Denali is an award-winning animated children’s television series produced by Atomic Cartoons for PBS Kids and CBC Kids. The show follows Molly Mabray, a curious and resourceful Alaska Native girl, as she navigates everyday life and outdoor adventures in her community—learning through exploration, teamwork, and problem-solving.

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The series is known for its character-driven storytelling and strong sense of place. Many episodes are centred around adventure and exploration, requiring clear performance, readable poses, and expressive character work. The most recent season received industry recognition and awards, reflecting the show’s continued impact in children’s programming.

 

My Role

I worked as a 2D Character Designer on the most recent season of Molly of Denali. My primary focus was character design, with additional support on prop design where needed to reinforce story and character action. I contributed to episodes with a strong adventure component, where characters interact closely with their environment.

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Character Design Focus

My work on Molly of Denali focused on:

• Designing characters that remain expressive and readable in action- and adventure-driven scenes

• Maintaining consistency within an established, long-running series style

• Supporting both subtle acting and dynamic movement

• Preparing clean, animation-ready character assets for production

 

Design decisions were made with animation, staging, and clarity in mind, ensuring characters performed effectively across varied settings and situations.

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Contribution Highlights

• Character design for the latest season of the series

• Work on adventure-focused episodes involving outdoor action and exploration

• Prop design support to reinforce character interaction and story

• Creation of clean, production-ready assets aligned with the show’s visual style

• Collaboration with art direction and production teams

• Contribution to an award-recognised preschool series

 

Production Context

Working on the latest season of an established, award-winning TV series required precision, adaptability, and respect for an existing visual language. Focusing on character design within adventure-driven episodes strengthened my experience in creating characters that remain clear, expressive, and on-model in movement-heavy scenarios, while meeting the demands of a fast-paced TV production pipeline.

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