About the role
Working at Hornet
Hornet is a creative agency and production studio with over 20 years of experience in animation, motion design, and live action. We combine strategy and craft to create bold, award-winning work.
Culture & Values
At Hornet, we believe that our people are our greatest asset. We foster an environment where creativity thrives, collaboration is key, and every voice is valued. Our commitment to inclusivity and continuous growth ensures that each team member feels empowered to contribute their unique perspective.
Life at Hornet
Working at Hornet means being part of a dynamic and supportive community. Our hybrid work model offers flexibility, allowing creative minds to flourish both remotely and in our beautiful Soho office.
Benefits
We’re invested in the health and happiness of our people:
- Generous time off, flex days and company-wide holidays
- Hybrid work options for better balance and flexibility
- 401(k) plan with competitive matching
- Pathways for professional growth and advancement
- Health coverage for you, your family — and even your pets
- Mental wellness and physical wellbeing support
- Paid parental leave to support growing families
- Commuter benefits
- Memorable offsite retreats and team experiences
- Workshops, stipends, and resources for ongoing growth
Open Positions
Winter 2027 CG Generalist Internship
NYC | Full Time | $20/hour
Hornet is a creative agency and production studio dedicated to building brands that inspire and resonate. For over 20 years, Hornet has been a beacon of imaginative storytelling, driving creative excellence in motion design, animation, and live action. We take pride in a curated diversity of talent, delivering groundbreaking work that transforms ambitious ideas into impactful stories and striking visual experiences. Combining strategic insight, design excellence, and production mastery, we craft award-winning work across animation, mixed media, and live action.
From bold brand identities to unforgettable content, Hornet delivers with the agility of a boutique studio and the depth of a world-class agency. Our mission reflects an enduring passion for storytelling and the magic found in creativity, shaping culture and elevating brands through innovation and collaboration.
Hornet is seeking a CG Intern to join the 3D department. At Hornet, we understand that an exquisite and fully realized 3D world is a powerful tool for storytelling – and telling a story is what we do best! Whether it’s through crafting robust models, to imbuing shaders with rich levels of detail, or composing visually compelling lighting design, our 3D team is constantly pushing toward new and technically innovative ways to communicate through the medium of 3D design and animation. It is this attention and focus on the fine details that makes each project stand apart for its bold designs and captivating narratives.
Ideal candidates can proficiently model, look develop, and rig CG assets, as well as animate, light, and composite CG shots. CG Interns may work with live action footage, digital still photography, and rendered CG elements to create assets that are seamlessly integrated into assigned shotwork.
Responsibilities:
- Support the CG team by working on new shots or revising existing shots as needed
- Use artistic and technical skills to work on all aspects of CG assets or shots for photo-real or stylized projects, employing a variety of software programs, and working under the general supervision of Senior CG Artists and CG Leads
- Participate as a team member in determining various aesthetic and technical solutions; receive feedback from other members of the production by attending dailies on a regular basis and participate in creative problem solving
- Work to meet defined milestones within a project’s established timeline
- Construct models that match established designs, meeting the requirements of rigging / animation, and render efficiently
- Set up shaders for look development
- Utilize lighting setups to create imagery that are convincing and render efficiently
Qualifications:
- The candidate should have strong design abilities, a good eye for composition, and a proven ability in one or more CG techniques, including modeling, look development, rigging, animation, lighting, or compositing
- The candidate should be highly self motivated, proactive, and team oriented with a high level of problem-solving and creative thinking skills
- Must be able to communicate clearly, take constructive criticism and conduct themselves in a professional and courteous manner in the workplace
- Familiar with AI models, process and tools
- Familiar with Photoshop, After Effects and/or Nuke
- Familiar with Substance Painter and building procedural shading networks
- Good understanding of Maya, Houdini, Blender, or similar
- Good understanding of Redshift, Arnold, or similar ray trace renderer
- Comparable software experience considered
- This internship is a hybrid 3 day in office / 2 day remote position. Only candidates in the NY metro area will be considered.
Winter 2027 Motion Design Internship
NYC | Full Time | $20/hour
Hornet is a creative agency and production studio dedicated to building brands that inspire and resonate. For over 20 years, Hornet has been a beacon of imaginative storytelling, driving creative excellence in motion design, animation, and live action. We take pride in a curated diversity of talent, delivering groundbreaking work that transforms ambitious ideas into impactful stories and striking visual experiences. Combining strategic insight, design excellence, and production mastery, we craft award-winning work across animation, mixed media, and live action.
From bold brand identities to unforgettable content, Hornet delivers with the agility of a boutique studio and the depth of a world-class agency. Our mission reflects an enduring passion for storytelling and the magic found in creativity, shaping culture and elevating brands through innovation and collaboration.
Hornet is seeking a Motion Intern to join the Motion team. At Hornet, we understand that graphics are a powerful tool for storytelling – and telling a story is what we do best! Whether it’s through shapes, type, clever transitions, or engaging UI demonstrations, our Motion team is constantly pushing for new and more innovative ways to communicate through motion, with an attention and focus on the fine details that makes each piece shine like the North Star.
Responsibilities:
- Support the motion team by working collaboratively on both client and studio projects. Animate motion design projects based on direction provided by the project leads, revise based on feedback, jump in on new asks as needed, and own some shots from start to finish.
- Attend dailies with Senior Artists, Creative Directors, and Hornet Directors to get feedback on your work, understand notes on key shots, and hear about / discuss larger production challenges.
- Share your artistic and technical inspirations and knowledge with fellow artists and leads to help steer assignments to suit your interests.
Qualifications:
- The candidate should have strong design sensibilities and a good eye for composition and typography.
- A strong grasp of animation fundamentals and visual storytelling, including timing, anticipation, easing, and editorial rhythm.
- The candidate should be highly self motivated, proactive, and team oriented.
- Must be able to communicate clearly, take constructive criticism and conduct themselves in a professional and courteous manner in the workplace.
- Photoshop, Illustrator and After Effects -- C4D a plus.
Winter 2027 Compositing Internship
NYC | Full Time | $20/hour
Hornet is a creative agency and production studio dedicated to building brands that inspire and resonate. For over 20 years, Hornet has been a beacon of imaginative storytelling, driving creative excellence in motion design, animation, and live action. We take pride in a curated diversity of talent, delivering groundbreaking work that transforms ambitious ideas into impactful stories and striking visual experiences. Combining strategic insight, design excellence, and production mastery, we craft award-winning work across animation, mixed media, and live action.
From bold brand identities to unforgettable content, Hornet delivers with the agility of a boutique studio and the depth of a world-class agency. Our mission reflects an enduring passion for storytelling and the magic found in creativity, shaping culture and elevating brands through innovation and collaboration.
Hornet is seeking a Compositing Intern to join the team. Hornet Compositors are the culmination of the creative output of whole teams of talented people. It's in compositing where the final details of design and story come together. The ideal candidate will have a good base of knowledge in Nuke and/or After Effects and be interested in learning new compositing tools and tricks to bring their work and utility within the post production team to the next level.
Responsibilities:
- Support the comp team by comping new shots or making revisions to existing comp setups as needed.
- Learn practical timeline management skills in Resolve and Flame, work with Leads and Producers to prepare work in progress commercials for review, QC for Client postings.
- Attend dailies with Senior Artists, Creative Directors, and Hornet Directors to get feedback on work and be in tune with note on key shots and larger production challenges.
- Nuke compositing including keying, rotoscoping, 2D tracking, retouching, rig removal, 2D compositing and 3D compositing. After Effects compositing including cell animation and design compositing.
- Share your artistic and technical inspirations and knowledge with fellow artists and leads to help steer assignments to suit your interests.
Qualifications:
- Keen eye for color and strong attention to detail for integration of elements within a scene.
- Appreciation for a variety of styles of art and design.
- Understanding of the CG process.
- Live action keying experience preferred, rotoscoping and 2d tracking knowledge required.
- 3D camera tracking knowledge is a plus.
- Proficiency in DaVinci Resolve, Adobe Photoshop & Illustrator preferred; Premiere, Maya a plus
Winter 2027 2D Design & Animation Internship
NYC | Full Time | $20/hour
Hornet is a creative agency and production studio dedicated to building brands that inspire and resonate. For over 20 years, Hornet has been a beacon of imaginative storytelling, driving creative excellence in motion design, animation, and live action. We take pride in a curated diversity of talent, delivering groundbreaking work that transforms ambitious ideas into impactful stories and striking visual experiences. Combining strategic insight, design excellence, and production mastery, we craft award-winning work across animation, mixed media, and live action.
From bold brand identities to unforgettable content, Hornet delivers with the agility of a boutique studio and the depth of a world-class agency. Our mission reflects an enduring passion for storytelling and the magic found in creativity, shaping culture and elevating brands through innovation and collaboration.
Hornet is seeking a full-time 2D Design & Animation Intern to join our team. We're looking for a strong designer with a passion for character, world-building, and visual storytelling. Working across both 2D and 3D projects, you'll help develop character designs, environments, and styleframes, contributing to the visual direction of projects from early concepts and pitches through production. We're looking for someone with range: a designer who can adapt to different visual styles, creative directions, and storytelling needs across a diverse mix of projects. Ability to animate is preferable but not required.
Responsibilities:
- Develop character designs, expression sheets, turnarounds, and other visual development materials.
- Create styleframes, environment designs, and visual explorations for pitches and productions.
- Adapt designs across a wide range of visual styles and creative directions, depending on the needs of each project.
- Support production design and help establish the visual language of projects across 2D and 3D pipelines.
- Collaborate with art directors, designers, and animators to develop and refine creative ideas from early concepts through production.
- Contribute to pitch development through design, visual research, and, depending on skillset, storyboarding.
- Participate in creative critiques and contribute to internal projects and visual experiments.
- Depending on skillset, contribute to hand-drawn animation using Toon Boom Harmony.
Qualifications:
- Excited to collaborate in a fast-paced commercial production environment.
- Strong drawing and design skills, with a portfolio demonstrating character design, environments, and visual development.
- A versatile design sensibility, with the ability to work across a range of visual styles and creative directions.
- Intermediate knowledge of storyboarding.
- Hand-drawn animation experience is a plus.
- Intermediate knowledge in Adobe Creative Cloud.
- Knowledge of Toon Boom Harmony is a plus.
- Familiarity with Blender or other 3D tools is a plus.
Winter 2027 Designer, Creative Technology Internship
NYC | Full Time | $20/hour
Hornet is a creative agency and production studio dedicated to building brands that inspire and resonate. For over 20 years, Hornet has been a beacon of imaginative storytelling, driving creative excellence in motion design, animation, and live action. We take pride in a curated diversity of talent, delivering groundbreaking work that transforms ambitious ideas into impactful stories and striking visual experiences. Combining strategic insight, design excellence, and production mastery, we craft award-winning work across animation, mixed media, and live action.
From bold brand identities to unforgettable content, Hornet delivers with the agility of a boutique studio and the depth of a world-class agency. Our mission reflects an enduring passion for storytelling and the magic found in creativity, shaping culture and elevating brands through innovation and collaboration.
Hornet is looking for a Designer, Creative Technology Intern to join the 3D department. This role is for artists who make strong images and like figuring out new ways to make them. You might build a styleframe in Redshift in the morning, then write a small Blender script or connect an AI agent to Maya in the afternoon because it gets you to a better result faster.
We want someone with a trained eye and real depth in at least one or two areas of CG, such as look development, lighting, modeling, or compositing. Around that core, you're curious about the rest: generative AI tools, scripting, MCP connections between AI models and DCC apps, node-based workflows, and building small tools when the existing ones don't do what you need. You use technology to serve the image, and you know when a tool is helping and when it isn't.
Projects range from photoreal product work to abstract design explorations, often combining 3D, 2D, live action, and AI-generated material.
Responsibilities:
- Create concept art, styleframes, and 3D assets for pitches and production
- Push images to a finished level: composition, lighting, materials, and detail that hold up in client presentations
- Prototype visual ideas quickly, using whatever mix of CG, compositing, and AI tools gets the best result
- Use generative models, from frontier platforms to open-source tools, to explore looks and develop that work into finished frames
- Build scripts, small tools, and automations that remove repetitive work or open up new ways of making images, including AI agent and MCP connections to Blender, Maya, C4D, or Houdini
- Work alongside the CG team on shots and revisions, bringing both your craft and a fresh approach to how the work gets done
- Share what you build so the rest of the team can use it
- Attend dailies, take feedback, and help solve creative and technical problems with leads and senior artists
Qualifications:
- A strong eye for design, composition, light, and color
- Clear depth in at least one CG discipline: modeling, look development, lighting, animation, or compositing
- Hands-on experience with generative AI tools, and an interest in how they fit into a production pipeline
- Comfort with at least one DCC (Maya, Houdini, C4D, Blender) and one render engine (Redshift, Arnold, or similar)
- Familiarity with Photoshop, After Effects, and/or Nuke
- Comfort wrangling data, writing scripts, or setting up automations is a strong plus. We care more about how you think about a problem than which language you use
- Self-motivated, open to feedback, and good at explaining your process and decisions to others
Portfolio:
Please include:
- Finished work that shows your eye and your strongest CG skill. We care more about a few well-crafted pieces than a wide spread of unfinished ones.
- At least one breakdown showing how you solved a visual problem, especially if it involved combining tools, writing a script, building a tool, or working out a new AI-assisted workflow.
Freelance Concept Artist
Remote | Freelance
Who We Are
Hornet is a creative agency and production studio dedicated to building brands that inspire and resonate. For over 20 years, Hornet has been a beacon of imaginative storytelling, driving creative excellence in motion design, animation, and live action. We take pride in a curated diversity of talent, delivering groundbreaking work that transforms ambitious ideas into impactful stories and striking visual experiences. Combining strategic insight, design excellence, and production mastery, we craft award-winning work across animation, mixed media, and live action.
From bold brand identities to unforgettable content, Hornet delivers with the agility of a boutique studio and the depth of a world-class agency. Our mission reflects an enduring passion for storytelling and the magic found in creativity, shaping culture and elevating brands through innovation and collaboration.
Who You Are:
Hornet is seeking a Freelance Concept Artist to join our award-winning, interdisciplinary team, supporting upcoming pitches and early-stage creative development. This role is ideal for an artist first creative who is passionate about storytelling and animation, and who thrives working across a wide range of design languages.
From broad visual exploration in pitch phases to the finer details of world-building, the Concept Artist will partner closely with Directors and Creative Directors to help shape projects across multiple mediums—spanning cel, CG, and stop motion.
We’re especially interested in candidates who are excited about integrating generative AI into their existing workflow as a tool to enhance ideation, iteration, and visual exploration.
Responsibilities:
- Design under the direction of Hornet Directors and Creative Directors, in partnership with staff artists and freelancers to develop concepts and visual directions for pitches.
- Use generative AI tools to ideate, iterate, and expand on creative ideas
- Blend traditional design / illustration skills with AI assisted workflows
- Strong traditional design skills are essential, candidates must be able to create original concepts and visuals from scratch.
- Translate prompts and rough ideas into compelling visual outputs
- Explore new tools, nodes, and workflows to push creative boundaries
- Create and explore designs in a variety of styles according to the wide range of visual languages present in agency and director briefs.
- Create concept and production art based on creative briefs for 2D, CG, Stop Motion and Print projects, which may include style frames, character designs, layout and background designs.
- Participate in internal creative initiatives driven by Creative Directors, exploring and R&Ding new styles and workflows for later use in production.
Qualifications:
- Experience as a designer working in the animation industry.
- Portfolio of design work with a strong understanding of visual storytelling.
- Experience applying the foundations of shape language, color theory, light and composition to style frames.
- Experience with post production effects and finishing as it applies to rendering style frames.
- Well versed in executing various design styles based on Directors’ creative direction, and have the ability to quickly adapt to creative feedback.
- Experience incorporating generative AI into creative workflows (ideation, iteration, and visual development).
- Familiarity with AI tools and node-based systems with an understanding of how to integrate them into existing pipelines.
- Proficiency with generative AI models such as Nano Banana, Veo, Kling, and similar tools (e.g., Seedream, Seedance, Runway, ChatGPT), including advanced prompt crafting, annotation, and reference building to support iterative refinement.
- Overall positive attitude with proactive communication that intentionally contributes to a collaborative studio environment.
- Strong attention to detail, self motivation, organization, and time management
- Ability to work effectively and efficiently in a fast-paced commercial environment while balancing individual design assignments
- Experience with 2d + CG pipelines and software packages a plus.
- Familiarity with print a plus.
- Experience with C4D or Blender a plus.