Talking Ginger Playground
Art Direction | Visual Development
My role was to establish the visual identity of the game while maintaining consistency and quality across every artistic discipline involved in production.
Defining the Visual Language
Creating a World That Feels Playful and Safe
For younger audiences, visual clarity is essential. Every design decision needed to feel approachable, readable, and emotionally warm.
I established the overall visual style of the game by designing all human characters, animals, costumes, loading screens and key visual assets.
For the game maps, I created preliminary layout concepts, defined positioning systems, and established color palettes that helped shape the mood of each environment before production moved forward.
The goal was simple:
How do you create a world that feels exciting for children while remaining calm, safe, and easy to explore?
That balance became the foundation of the project’s visual identity.
Cross-Department Collaboration
Helping Teams Find the Right Creative Solutions
A strong visual direction only works when every department interprets it correctly.
I maintained close alignment with product, user acquisition, and development teams throughout production to ensure priorities remained clear and problems were solved quickly. I oversaw illustration, UI, animation, VFX, 3D, sound design, storefront visuals, and broader design decisions to ensure that every part of the experience felt unified.
This encouraged artists to experiment with a stop-motion-inspired approach, and guided the team toward a more meditative and relaxing tone that better supported exploratory gameplay.
Rather than forcing rigid solutions, I focused on creating strong design foundations that gave teams enough structure to stay aligned while still leaving room for experimentation.
Mythic Legends
Art Direction | Visual Development on distribution | Production Strategy
My role was to translate the game’s vision into artwork that resonated with the right target audience while supporting both creative goals and business performance. Every visual decision had to serve a clear purpose, whether for in-game assets, user acquisition campaigns, cross-promotion, or storefront visibility.
Visual Communication
Creating Art That Performs
Distribution art requires a different mindset than in-game art. It needs to capture attention immediately while remaining authentic to the product. I developed visual solutions tailored to specific distribution channels, ensuring that each image was optimized for performance without losing the identity of the game.
This included planning storefront tests, sketching concepts, producing illustrations, creating paint-overs, and building mood boards that helped the team align quickly on the right direction.
The goal was simple:
What do we want players to feel before they even download the game?
Once that visual language was established, consistency became essential across the entire funnel.
Building Visual Consistency
Creating a Unified Art Language
I developed art guidelines, templates, and visual benchmarks that helped artists understand how to apply the correct visual language across all production stages.
This ensured consistency between character art, environments, UI, VFX, animation, concept development, paid user acquisition materials, and cross-promotional campaigns.
Maintaining quality at scale requires structure. By keeping a broad overview of all assets in production, I ensured that characters were consistently designed, painted, and presented at the highest standard across every touchpoint.
Before:
After:
Production Efficiency
Creating Better Systems
As production expanded, scalability became increasingly important. I introduced a production roadmap for upcoming projects and trained the team to use it effectively, allowing departments to plan further ahead and reduce production bottlenecks.
I also restructured workflows by designing modular asset systems that allowed artwork to be reused in multiple ways, increasing efficiency without sacrificing quality.
To improve the 3D pipeline, I implemented clearer deadlines and an internal style guide that helped streamline approvals and maintain consistency throughout production.
Credits:
character & game art direction by the legendary Eran Alboher
final renders for promotional images done by amazing artists David Tonatiuh Rivera Luna & Jan Drenovec
marketing / distribution art directon & art direction on the game updates: Janez Plešnar
Storefront Art Direction
Visual Development | Team Leadership
My role was to oversee the artistic direction of storefront productions while maintaining a consistently high level of visual quality across all stages of development.
Visual Communication
Creating Images That Perform
I planned and sketched visual directions for storefront tests, exploring different creative approaches to better understand what resonated most effectively with audiences.
I created style guides, templates, benchmarks, and broader art that established clear expectations for quality across illustration, user acquisition materials, and cross-promotional content.
I also developed an unofficial character style guide, helping establish stronger visual language and more relatable characters.
Mentorship and Team Development
Helping Artists Grow
Helping Artists Grow
Beyond visuals, I focused heavily on workflow improvements. I introduced production roadmaps, modular asset planning, and clearer production structures that allowed teams to work more efficiently while increasing asset reusability across projects.
A strong visual pipeline depends on strong artists.
I guided team members through project ownership, time management and professional development while also leading performance reviews, trial periods, and growth planning.
One of the most important aspects of leadership for me was creating an environment where open critique, experimentation, and creative discussion felt safe and constructive.
Credits:
final renders for promotional images done by a bunch amazing outfit7 artists just to mention a few: David Tonatiuh Rivera Luna, Cassio Yoshiyaki, Innokentii Korshunov..
marketing / distribution art directon: Janez Plešnar