Learn Stylized Character Sculpting
25 years of professional character sculpting distilled into 100+ hours of project-based instruction
Most sculptors hit the same wall
The concept art is right there. Your sculpt has all the right parts. But something just isn't translating.Â
Either the pose feels stiff, or the silhouette isn't reading, or the expression just doesn't read right. The character exists, but it's missing that sweet appeal of the original design.
Closing that gap comes down to a set of artistic decisions that are rarely explained clearly: shape language, stylized anatomy, proportion and gesture, silhouette, and expression. These are the foundations that professional character sculptors rely on every day.
The good news? Skills can absolutely be learned.
Hello, I am Shane!
I absolutely LOVE creating stylized 3D characters.
I always look forward to getting lost in the well-designed shapes, the leading hard edges, and the soft flows that take your eyes on a journey all around the forms.
I've been creating stylized characters professionally for over 25 years, including nearly a decade at Disney working on projects like Disney Infinity and Toy Story 3.
But, do you know what I love MORE than creating stylized characters? Teaching others how to create their own and be delighted by their creations.
My Portfolio
Teaching
When I first started sharing tutorials online, I thought it would be a small side hustle. Then something unexpected happened. People started watching them and improving. A lot.
Today, more than 2,500 students have come through the 3D Character Workshop. I never in my wildest dreams thought that would happen. But get this... some of them now work at places like Funko, Blizzard, Disney, and McFarlane Toys. Others run their own downloadable character 3D Printing file businesses or create collectible figures. Many just build characters they're genuinely proud of.
Watching my students succeed is still the most rewarding part of what I do.Â
A Different Kind of Training
Traditional art programs can run tens of thousands of dollars and add years of your time, most of it spent on coursework that has nothing to do with character sculpting.
The 3D Character Workshop is built around one thing: the specific skills you need to sculpt stylized characters at a professional level.
You will learn how to translate concept art by using the skills that really matter, like appeal, shape language, dynamic poses, stylized anatomy, and then professionally presenting your models.
Focused. Affordable. Built by someone who has actually done it professionally for 25 years.
No filler. Just the craft.
What You’ll Be Able to Do
By the time you’ve worked through the 3D Character Workshop,
you’ll have the skills to take a character from concept to finished piece.
Sculpt
You'll understand form, silhouette, and stylized anatomy well enough to evaluate your own work and know exactly what needs fixing and how to fix it.
Polish
Take a character from concept to completion. That might mean a game-ready asset with retopology, UVs, and textures, or a 3D printed collectible you can hold in your hands.
 Career
Build portfolio-level characters that open doors to freelance, studio jobs, or your own collectible or 3D Print business. You never know what opportunities will open up for you until you try.
The 3D Character Workshop started as a single course teaching how to sculpt Cate Archer, the character shown here.
Since then, the workshop has grown over eight years beyond that single course into a complete training environment for stylized character sculpting.
Hundreds of hours  of instruction covering everything from:
• the  artistic foundations of appealing characters
• to the  full production pipeline .
Lion-O, Sculpting and 3D Printing Course
This is my newest training! It's a full 34 hours. A complete sculpt-to-collectible pipeline.
I'm a huge fan of 80's cartoons like He-Man and the Thundercats. So I decided to sculpt Lion-O as a fan art piece and take you along for the journey.
This project follows every stage of building a stylized character and preparing it for print, so you can build your own.
The training covers:
- blocking out the character
- refining stylized anatomy
- developing pose and appeal
- preparing the sculpt for printing
- slicing and keying parts for production
Guest instructors, Wekster and Derek Jackson, demonstrate both filament and resin workflows, so you see the entire journey from digital sculpt to final physical piece.Â
This is the exact process I use when creating collectible characters professionally.
Real Projects + Real Decisions = Real Characters
3DCW
Basics Course
A beginner-friendly entry point that focuses on the core skills behind appealing characters:
-
blocking out characters confidently
-
developing stylized anatomy
-
training the eye for proportion
Cate Archer
Game Character Course
A complete character creation process from concept to final render. We focus on:
-
translating concept art
-
refining stylized forms
-
presenting a game-ready model
Sir-Loin of Beef
Game Character Course
A full game-ready character pipeline.Â
The walkthrough focuses on
-
sculpting exaggerated proportions
-
learning retopology, UV’s, & baking
-
texturing in Substance Painter
I Provide Much More than Just a Course Library
The courses above give you the path. They are structured projects that build and sharpen the core skills professional sculptors rely on every day.
The Live Q&A's Go Even Further!
Every month, I host a live session where you can bring questions, share work, and watch real sculpting problems get solved in real time.
Plus, I'm in the community seven days a week, giving feedback and answering questions on actual student work.
Together with the course line-up, it's a learning environment you'd be hard-pressed to find anywhere else at any price.
But there's still one more piece that students consistently say changes everything...
A Community That Feels More Like a Sculpting Club
A friendly, active, passionate group of sculptors at every level, sharing works in progress, joining challenges, swapping tips, and pushing each other forward. It's the kind of place where you pop in to show a WIP and end up staying because someone else is working on something amazing.
It's also a safe space to post without fear. No public forums, no harsh critics. Just people who are genuinely rooting for you to improve.
The courses and community all live in one place, with a dedicated mobile app so you can stay connected wherever you are.
I'm so proud of my student's work!
Here is a small sample.
What are students saying?
If you’re ready to start sculpting the characters you've dreamed of, you’re welcome here!
You've seen what the workshop is:
- Real projects
- Real instruction
- A community of artists learning and making things together.
If that sounds like your kind of place, I'd love to have you.
Both options below give you full access to everything, immediately. Same content, same community. Same guarantee.
The choice is yours.
Try It Risk-Free for 14 Days.
Get in, explore the courses, dig into the community. If, within 14 days, you decide it's not the right fit, send me a message, and I'll refund you in full. No hoops, no hard feelings.
I want you in here because it's genuinely right for you, not because you felt stuck.
