About the Intensive

Do you want to master one of the most important artistic innovations in the last 100 years from the comfort of your own home without sacrificing mentorship and personal attention?

Ryan Kingslien was an integral member of the team that built the core features of ZBrush including its brush system. He has developed courses and workflows for ILM, Ubisoft, EA, Activision, Disney, Treyarch, Blizzard, and almost every major film and game studio in the world.

Now he and the Vertex Mentor team are developing courses for you. 

Digital Sculpting Is Not Just Software

The problem with most online and in-person digital sculpting training is that it teaches you how to push the buttons but not how to actually make something beautiful.

Digital sculpting is first and foremost… Sculpting!  

That means you need to learn:

• How to simplify forms: A messy sculpture is the by-product of missing foundational skills.  Good news is that they're easy to learn once you get focused.

• How to construct complex characters & forms: Once you're mastered simplifying forms you can leverage that skill to make complex models that would have seemed impossible to you before.

• The importance of convex vs concave form: A sculpture that feels alive comes from very specific elements that the sculptor has mastered.  One of them is understanding the importance of convex forms that push outwards ever so slightly. Concavity is a sign of death.  Convexity is a sign of vibrant life.

• How to "render" form: Classical sculpture since the time of Phidias in the 5th century BC has gifted us with a rich legacy of "rendering": the meticulous modeling of form to capture lifelike light and shadow on your sculpture.  

• How to "imply" form: While Rodin was a master of 'rendering" form he helped us break away from the polished, idealized form of the classical era to a more dynamic, expressive approach to sculpture that left areas unfinished and invited the viewer into the sculpture more.

That's right, learning digital sculpture is...

Yes, of course, you have to learn the software.  You have to learn what buttons to push and what hardware to use.  This is no different than sculpting with clay.  

But once you’ve learned how to work with your material… what then? 

• How do you start to create all the things inside your imagination... After all, it can be difficult enough to learn the software and the new hardware.

• How do you start to feel like you're in control instead of just getting lucky this time... Of course, we all have good days and bad days but mastery is about learning some measure of control.

OK... so my first job when I joined Pixologic was to fly up to ILM and train their artists on ZBrush for Pirates Of The Caribbean Dead Man's Chest... 

Huh? ILM!  What?!  I was nervous.   A wreck really.  I had only been on the job about three days by the time I had my first training session.  

Thankfully the artists were amazing and very gracious as I stumbled and fought my way through live sculpting in front of the best artists on the planet...

... because that is what teaching ZBrush is... its sculpting live in front of folks.

The most important moment came from one of legendary artists whose largely considered the Michelangelo of creature design...

It was in the last class of the day and we were all tired and my sculpture demo was particularly bad...

... I was obviously embarrassed and apologized profusely. I mean I was sweating...

... but this wonderful Artist said something along the lines of, “No, man.  This means that it is a real art.  Not just software.”

And I was instantly... not sweating as much... still embarassed but his words & his kindness in that moment have lived with me every day since.

This is an Art and there is no magic button for making great art.

• Share your passions with the world and build a freelance career out of it.

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• Share your vision with the world and find a community of others like you.

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• Get control over your sculpting processes - Free yourself from technical hurdles.

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  Escape the endless loop of good art-bad art-good art-bad art and create art that you are proud of.

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• Breakthrough and learn to see like a sculptor - empower your unique voice to create great art.

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• Get and use the same training I designed for major studios around the world.

What Ryan's Students Are Saying...

Our Mentors

At Vertex School we offer one-on-one and small-group mentorship from top artists working at places like Blizzard, CD PROJEKT RED, Naughty Dog, Fall Damage, and more. 
Get industry-ready with personalized career training and mentorship from professional film and game artists.