Professional 1-on-1 3D Character & Creature Sculpting Mentorship
Characters. Creatures. Clothing. — Production Sculpting and Art Direction with Aleksandr Kirilenko (Körln)
Format: 10 live 1-on-1 video sessions, 2 hours each (20 hours total)
Price: $2,000 USD; custom payment plans available; 20% student discount ($1,600)
Software: ZBrush (primary), 3Ds Max (interchangeable), Topogun, RizomUV, Substance Painter, Marvelous Designer, Marmoset Toolbag
Level: beginners to advanced — some knowledge of 3D fundamentals is a must
Includes: Free 30-minute intro call before any commitment; personal referral letter on completion
Taught by: Aleksandr Kirilenko — 15+ years in production at Ninja Theory, Blur Studio (Netflix), Platige Image, Prime 1 Studio, Ralph & Russo, Sony
Contact: aleksandr@korln.com
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Who this mentorship is for
3D artists who can already execute but want to bring their work to a professional production or hiring standard.
Character artists preparing a portfolio for game, film, or collectibles studios.
Artists transitioning into characters and creatures from props, hard-surface, or environment work.
Students and recent graduates of 3D programs who want individual guidance rather than a classroom setting.
Working artists looking for senior-level feedback on a specific project or piece.
Who this mentorship is not for
Complete beginners. You should already be familiar with ZBrush and the fundamentals of 3D character construction. A structured beginner course is a better starting point.
Artists looking for technical pipeline instruction. In-depth work with hair cards, shader graphs, rigging, and engine setup is outside the scope of the mentorship.
Anyone looking for a passive video course. This is live 1-on-1 work, with practical assignments and development between sessions.
See it in practice—a short excerpt from recent sessions:
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What the mentorship covers
Bodies — organic sculpting. Anatomy as living structure rather than memorized muscle maps: proportion, gesture, weight, and the landmarks that make a figure read as alive rather than assembled. No books or anatomy atlases, I work with the best tool on the market—3D scans.
Creatures — invented anatomy. Real anatomical logic applied to non-human forms, so a creature reads as biologically plausible and deliberately designed rather than assembled from reference.
Clothing and fabric. Fabric behavior learned through observation, not only simulation: why a fold forms, where tension sits in a garment, how cloth describes the body beneath it. This is a documented specialty — published tutorials cover both figure and clothing sculpting.
Art direction and full-character coherence. Silhouette and read, posture and gesture, proportion at character scale, and whether surfacing and presentation stay consistent with the forms underneath. The complete piece is directed the way a lead directs work in production.
Market-specific portfolio direction. Having shipped work for both Western and Asian productions, I can shape your piece toward a specific market's hiring bar — a Japanese studio and a Western studio read a character differently, and generic portfolio advice ignores that.
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How the teaching approach differs
The way I teach form and anatomy is deliberately different from traditional academic instruction. It is focused on efficient execution in production — how work is actually developed, refined, and evaluated in a studio environment — rather than on achieving anatomical completeness for its own sake.
Many sculpting challenges are less about adding detail and more about accurately seeing and interpreting form. The core of this mentorship is developing that ability and learning how to translate what you see into a successful sculpt efficiently. The goal is to understand what needs to change, why it needs to change, and which tools and approaches can achieve it.
If you have studied anatomy conventionally but find that this knowledge does not consistently translate into your sculpts, this is often the missing link.
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How it works
Free 30-minute introductory call. No commitment or payment. This gives you an opportunity to see whether my approach and teaching style are a good fit before you commit to the mentorship.
10 live sessions, 2 hours each, scheduled at a pace that works for you rather than according to a fixed weekly calendar.
Work between sessions. Each session ends with clear direction for the next stage of the work. You apply it independently, and we review your progress in the following session. This creates a feedback loop similar to working with a lead in a production environment.
Built around your own project — whether it is portfolio work, a personal project, or a character developed with a specific studio or role in mind.
Referral letter on completion. A signed personal reference that you can include with job applications.
Free excerpts from past sessions and tutorials: https://www.youtube.com/@aleksandr_korln/videos
For any questions please contact me directly: aleksandr@korln.com
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The testimonials
"In terms of the artwork, this is looking phenomenal. I honestly can't think of a single thing to critique right now... I have half a mind to study from you haha."
— Jean-Marc Verite, Producer at Vertex School: https://www.vertexschool.com/
"Being my senior while working at Ninja Theory, Aleksandr has naturally gone beyond what was asked of him [Junior Artists Mentor] to fulfil this role and was a source of support and safety and of course a library of knowledge... He is a dependable and honest guide with the calm demeanour of a stoic."
— Niels Timmerman, Freelance Lead Character Artist: https://www.artstation.com/timmermanniels
"Being new to Marvelous Designer and the world of costume production, Aleksandr was a wonderful guide for me. With his wealth of technical knowledge and generous willingness to help, he enabled me to bring my project from concept to simulatable 3D model within just a few weeks."
— Rebekka Tomasdóttir Hoch, 3rd year student at The Animation Workshop: https://animationworkshop.via.dk/
"I got really useful information about creating gaming characters... Thanks again for that good explanation... You're awesome!"
— Suhail Sheikh, Senior Character Artist: https://www.artstation.com/suhailsheikh