2D Sprite Artist for Robot Face Expressions
Budget: ₹1,500 – ₹12,500 INR
I am developing a small cute robot with a digital animated face displayed on a small screen. It's a demo project for personal use. I need a 2D artist to create a reusable library of layered facial-expression sprites based on the reference images I will provide.
Some files for example are attached for reference.
This is NOT a traditional frame-by-frame animation project.
The robot face will be assembled in software using separate graphical layers. Different sprites will be combined at runtime to create facial expressions and animations.
The main facial layers are:
1. Outer Eye
2. Eyeball / Inner Eye
3. Mouth
4. Eye/Facial Highlights
A small number of additional effect sprites, such as tears, may also be required.
The goal is to create approximately 25–35 unique reusable sprite designs that can be mixed and matched to generate many different facial expressions.
========================================
1. Outer Eye Sprites
I need approximately 7–9 unique outer-eye expression designs.
These may include:
Neutral / fully open eye
Happy / smiling eye
Sad eye
Excited / wide-open eye
Bored eye
Disgusted / uncomfortable eye
Closed eye / blink
1–2 partial-eye states for blink, sleepy, or transition use
The partial-eye sprites are only required for a few useful transition states. I do not need separate partial versions for every facial expression.
Left and right eye assets should be separate where required.
The outer-eye sprite must remain separate from the eyeball / inner-eye sprite.
2. Eyeball / Inner Eye Sprites
I need approximately 5–7 unique reusable eyeball designs or states.
These may include:
Normal centered eyeball
Looking left
Looking right
Looking up
Looking down
Excited or enlarged inner eye
Optional alternate eyeball for a special expression
The eyeball must remain separate from the outer-eye layer so that eye direction and facial expression can be controlled independently.
There is no need to create separate partial-eyeball sprites for every partially closed eye. The outer-eye layer can visually cover or mask the eyeball where appropriate.
Left and right eyeballs should be separate assets where required.
3. Mouth Sprites
I need approximately 8–10 unique reusable mouth designs.
These should include expressions such as:
Neutral mouth
Small smile
Big smile
Open happy mouth
Sad mouth
Flat / bored mouth
Surprised mouth
Yawning mouth
Disgusted / uncomfortable mouth
Optional additional expressive mouth
The mouth should remain a completely separate layer so that it can be combined with different eye expressions.
4. Eye Highlight Sprites
I need approximately 3–4 unique highlight designs.
These may include:
Normal highlight
Large / excited highlight
Small / subtle highlight
Optional alternate highlight style for special emotions
Highlights must remain separate from the eyeball layer.
They should align correctly with the eyeball sprites and be reusable across multiple expressions.
5. Optional Emotion / Effect Sprites
Approximately 2–4 additional effect sprites may be included where useful.
Examples:
Left tear
Right tear
Tear drop
Small emotional accent or effect
These effects should also be delivered as separate transparent layers.
========================================
Approximate Sprite Scope
The project should contain approximately 25–35 unique reusable sprite designs in total.
Suggested distribution:
Outer Eye: 7–9 unique designs
Eyeball / Inner Eye: 5–7 unique designs
Mouth: 8–10 unique designs
Highlights: 3–4 unique designs
Optional effects: 2–4 unique designs
The number of exported PNG files may therefore be higher than 25–35 because some eye, eyeball, highlight, and effect assets may require separate left and right versions.
Expressions the Sprite Library Should Support
========================================
The delivered sprites should allow me to combine layers to create expressions such as:
Idle / Neutral
Blink
Happy
Sad
Excited
Bored
Disgusted
Crying
Sleepy
Yawning
Examples:
Happy = happy outer eyes + normal eyeballs + highlights + smile mouth
Excited = wide-open outer eyes + eyeballs + large highlights + open happy mouth
Sad = sad outer eyes + normal eyeballs + subtle highlights + sad mouth
Crying = sad outer eyes + eyeballs + highlights + sad mouth + tear effects
Sleepy = partially closed outer eyes + normal eyeballs + subtle highlights + neutral or yawning mouth
The main purpose of this project is to create good reusable key facial poses.
I will create additional intermediate animation frames later where needed, so the artist does not need to create full frame-by-frame animation sequences.
========================================
Avoid unnecessary fine details.
Style should be simple, cute, expressive, and clean.
The final style should closely follow the provided reference images.
All artwork must be original and suitable for commercial use.
Deliverables
Editable layered source file
Individual transparent PNG sprites
Separate folders for:
Outer Eyes
Eyeballs
Mouths
Highlights
Effects
Consistent canvas size and positioning
Properly named files and layers
Preferred editable formats:
Adobe Illustrator (.AI)
Photoshop (.PSD)
SVG or another suitable editable layered/vector format
Example file naming:
outer_eye_left_neutral.png
outer_eye_right_neutral.png
outer_eye_left_happy.png
outer_eye_left_partial.png
outer_eye_left_closed.png
eyeball_left_center.png
eyeball_right_center.png
eyeball_left_look_left.png
eyeball_left_look_right.png
mouth_neutral.png
mouth_small_smile.png
mouth_big_smile.png
mouth_sad.png
mouth_yawn.png
highlight_left_normal.png
highlight_right_normal.png
highlight_left_excited.png
tear_left.png
tear_right.png
When Applying Please include:
Examples of similar sprite, character-expression, emoji, game-art, robot-face, or cartoon work
The software you plan to use
Confirmation that editable source files will be provided
Confirmation that all facial components will be delivered as separate layers
Your proposed breakdown of approximately 25–35 unique reusable sprite designs
The main priority is clean artwork, strong facial expressions, correct layer separation, consistent alignment, and the ability to reuse and combine the sprites programmatically.
Some files for example are attached for reference.
This is NOT a traditional frame-by-frame animation project.
The robot face will be assembled in software using separate graphical layers. Different sprites will be combined at runtime to create facial expressions and animations.
The main facial layers are:
1. Outer Eye
2. Eyeball / Inner Eye
3. Mouth
4. Eye/Facial Highlights
A small number of additional effect sprites, such as tears, may also be required.
The goal is to create approximately 25–35 unique reusable sprite designs that can be mixed and matched to generate many different facial expressions.
========================================
1. Outer Eye Sprites
I need approximately 7–9 unique outer-eye expression designs.
These may include:
Neutral / fully open eye
Happy / smiling eye
Sad eye
Excited / wide-open eye
Bored eye
Disgusted / uncomfortable eye
Closed eye / blink
1–2 partial-eye states for blink, sleepy, or transition use
The partial-eye sprites are only required for a few useful transition states. I do not need separate partial versions for every facial expression.
Left and right eye assets should be separate where required.
The outer-eye sprite must remain separate from the eyeball / inner-eye sprite.
2. Eyeball / Inner Eye Sprites
I need approximately 5–7 unique reusable eyeball designs or states.
These may include:
Normal centered eyeball
Looking left
Looking right
Looking up
Looking down
Excited or enlarged inner eye
Optional alternate eyeball for a special expression
The eyeball must remain separate from the outer-eye layer so that eye direction and facial expression can be controlled independently.
There is no need to create separate partial-eyeball sprites for every partially closed eye. The outer-eye layer can visually cover or mask the eyeball where appropriate.
Left and right eyeballs should be separate assets where required.
3. Mouth Sprites
I need approximately 8–10 unique reusable mouth designs.
These should include expressions such as:
Neutral mouth
Small smile
Big smile
Open happy mouth
Sad mouth
Flat / bored mouth
Surprised mouth
Yawning mouth
Disgusted / uncomfortable mouth
Optional additional expressive mouth
The mouth should remain a completely separate layer so that it can be combined with different eye expressions.
4. Eye Highlight Sprites
I need approximately 3–4 unique highlight designs.
These may include:
Normal highlight
Large / excited highlight
Small / subtle highlight
Optional alternate highlight style for special emotions
Highlights must remain separate from the eyeball layer.
They should align correctly with the eyeball sprites and be reusable across multiple expressions.
5. Optional Emotion / Effect Sprites
Approximately 2–4 additional effect sprites may be included where useful.
Examples:
Left tear
Right tear
Tear drop
Small emotional accent or effect
These effects should also be delivered as separate transparent layers.
========================================
Approximate Sprite Scope
The project should contain approximately 25–35 unique reusable sprite designs in total.
Suggested distribution:
Outer Eye: 7–9 unique designs
Eyeball / Inner Eye: 5–7 unique designs
Mouth: 8–10 unique designs
Highlights: 3–4 unique designs
Optional effects: 2–4 unique designs
The number of exported PNG files may therefore be higher than 25–35 because some eye, eyeball, highlight, and effect assets may require separate left and right versions.
Expressions the Sprite Library Should Support
========================================
The delivered sprites should allow me to combine layers to create expressions such as:
Idle / Neutral
Blink
Happy
Sad
Excited
Bored
Disgusted
Crying
Sleepy
Yawning
Examples:
Happy = happy outer eyes + normal eyeballs + highlights + smile mouth
Excited = wide-open outer eyes + eyeballs + large highlights + open happy mouth
Sad = sad outer eyes + normal eyeballs + subtle highlights + sad mouth
Crying = sad outer eyes + eyeballs + highlights + sad mouth + tear effects
Sleepy = partially closed outer eyes + normal eyeballs + subtle highlights + neutral or yawning mouth
The main purpose of this project is to create good reusable key facial poses.
I will create additional intermediate animation frames later where needed, so the artist does not need to create full frame-by-frame animation sequences.
========================================
Avoid unnecessary fine details.
Style should be simple, cute, expressive, and clean.
The final style should closely follow the provided reference images.
All artwork must be original and suitable for commercial use.
Deliverables
Editable layered source file
Individual transparent PNG sprites
Separate folders for:
Outer Eyes
Eyeballs
Mouths
Highlights
Effects
Consistent canvas size and positioning
Properly named files and layers
Preferred editable formats:
Adobe Illustrator (.AI)
Photoshop (.PSD)
SVG or another suitable editable layered/vector format
Example file naming:
outer_eye_left_neutral.png
outer_eye_right_neutral.png
outer_eye_left_happy.png
outer_eye_left_partial.png
outer_eye_left_closed.png
eyeball_left_center.png
eyeball_right_center.png
eyeball_left_look_left.png
eyeball_left_look_right.png
mouth_neutral.png
mouth_small_smile.png
mouth_big_smile.png
mouth_sad.png
mouth_yawn.png
highlight_left_normal.png
highlight_right_normal.png
highlight_left_excited.png
tear_left.png
tear_right.png
When Applying Please include:
Examples of similar sprite, character-expression, emoji, game-art, robot-face, or cartoon work
The software you plan to use
Confirmation that editable source files will be provided
Confirmation that all facial components will be delivered as separate layers
Your proposed breakdown of approximately 25–35 unique reusable sprite designs
The main priority is clean artwork, strong facial expressions, correct layer separation, consistent alignment, and the ability to reuse and combine the sprites programmatically.