Naughty Dog Loses The Last of Us Character Artist

Yet another The Last of Us artist has left Naughty Dog, less than a week after the game's lead artist left for indie developer Giant Sparrow. 

Lead character artist Michael Knowland has apparently left the studio for parts unknown, finishing off a three year run with Naughty Dog. For the past two years, Knowland headed up the design of the game's characters, including its iconic protagonists Ellie and Jole. While neither Naughty Dog or Knowland have made any official comment on the reasons for the departure, it comes less than a week after lead artist Nate Wells left the studio to work with Unfinished Swan developer Giant Sparrow on their undisclosed second project.

The studio appears to be bleeding talent lately, losing Uncharted 4 directors Justin Richmond to Riot Studios (the developer behind League of Legends) and Amy Hennig, who is now working with Visceral Games on their undisclosed Star Wars project. Hennig left amid rumours of being forced out by The Last of Us directors Neil Druckmann and Bruce Straley, after working with the studio for a decade.

So far, Knowland has not announced what his next plans will be, but the character artist has previously worked at Frontier Developments.