You don't know why it's not working
Your sculpt looks "almost right" and you can't see what's off. Forum feedback is shallow and slow. Without trained eyes on your work, you repeat the same mistakes for months.
Limited SpotsOne-on-One MentorshipSeason 2 · 10 Weeks
Finish a portfolio-ready character with a Senior Artist reviewing every step.
Ten weeks of direct, one-on-one guidance from a Senior 3D Character Artist who works inside real studios every day. Not a recorded course. Not a cohort. Your work, on screen, every single week.
Start Now!
Investment$600or 3 payments
E-Line Media · EndstarAngel Studios · The Wingfeather SagaPUGA Studios · Wonderbox, Dice Dreams
The real bottleneckTutorials taught you the tools.
Tutorials taught you the tools.
Nobody is looking at your work.
The industry got harder. Junior roles are scarce, and your portfolio competes with laid-off artists with years of studio experience. What separates the artists who break in is not more content. It's targeted feedback from someone who knows what studios actually look for.
You never finish the full pipeline
You can sculpt, but blockout to grooming to final render is a different game. Studios hire artists who can close a character, and unfinished projects don't make a portfolio.
You're learning alone
Self-taught means self-doubting. No one tells you if you're on the right path, what to study next, or whether your work is getting closer to industry level.
This is not a course
It's a mentorship. The difference is who's looking at your work.
Recorded course
- You watch someone else's character get built.
- Zero feedback on your own work.
- When you get stuck, you're on your own.
Cohort / bootcamp
- One instructor split across 15–30 students.
- Minutes of attention on your piece, if any.
- The pace is the group's, not yours.
One-on-one mentorship
- Every session is about your character, your file, your decisions.
- A Senior Artist correcting your course every week.
- Structured 10-week path with a finished piece at the end.
How it works
A simple weekly rhythm, built around you.
Live 1-on-1 session
A weekly live feedback session on Google Meet, just you and Vini. You pick the time slot that works in your time zone.
Private Discord
Direct access in a private mentorship channel. Post your progress, ask questions, get unstuck without waiting for the next call.
Structured lessons
Each week's topic comes with lessons available on the learning platform, so session time goes to your work, not to basics.
One complete character
From the very first blockout to a portfolio-ready final render, with feedback and support at every stage of the process.
Industry tools
The software you'll master.
sculpting
modeling
Substance Painter texturing
grooming & render, optionalMentorship schedule
The 10-week journey
A complete character pipeline: sculpture in ZBrush and Blender, texturing in Substance Painter, grooming and rendering in Houdini.
Blockout
Retopology
UVs & Baking
Texturing
Final RenderModule 1: Sculpture & Character Foundation (ZBrush & Blender)
Week 1
Primary Forms & Blocking. Focus on silhouette and proportions. Use ZBrush for initial blocking for a more organic start.
Week 2
Head & Facial Features. Deep dive into facial anatomy, planes of the face, and character personality in ZBrush.
Week 3
Hands & Anatomical Detailing. Refining the secondary forms of the body and hands in ZBrush.
Week 4
Hair Block-out. Sculpting the primary volumes of the hair to define flow and silhouette.
Week 5
Clothing & Accessories. Hard-surface modeling in Blender or organic cloth sculpting in ZBrush.
Week 6
Posing & Composition. Bringing the character to life. Final silhouette check and refinement of the pose.
Module 2: Advanced Grooming & LookDev (Houdini & Substance)
Week 7
Texturing & PBR Workflow. Creating high-quality textures in Substance Painter.
Week 8
Intro to Houdini Grooming. Setting up the Houdini environment, creating guides, and initializing.
Week 9
Advanced Grooming & LookDev. Refinement of clumping, frizz, and technical noise.
Module 3: Final Presentation (Houdini)
Week 10
Final Rendering & Portfolio. Rendering high-resolution passes and portfolio presentation.
The standard you'll be chasing
Characters built with this exact pipeline.
Every one of these went through the pipeline you just read: sculpt, texture, groom, render. The next character to come out of it is yours.
Your mentor
Feedback from someone who's inside the industry, not just talking about it.
Hi, I'm Vini Cavalcanti. I'm a Senior 3D Character Artist with 10+ years of experience in the games and entertainment industry, focused on visual development and stylized characters. I'm currently part of the team at E-Line Media, working on the game Endstar, and throughout my career I've contributed to productions like the animated series The Wingfeather Saga (Angel Studios) and games like Wonderbox and Dice Dreams at PUGA Studios.
I've mentored students who now work in the industry, and I know exactly which challenges come up along the way because I've been through them too. In this program, the feedback you get every week is the same kind of review that happens inside a studio.
Senior Artist10+ years expIndustry activeEN sessions · PT-BR friendly
Honest fit check
Who this is for. And who it isn't.
This is for you if
- You want to build a complete, portfolio-ready stylized character with professional review at every stage.
- You're an aspiring or junior character artist who's tired of guessing whether your work is good enough.
- You can commit a few hours per week for 10 weeks to your project.
- You have ZBrush and Blender installed (Houdini is optional). No prior experience level required: the program starts at the blockout.
Your result: one complete stylized character, blockout to final render, reviewed every week by a Senior Artist.
This is not for you if
- You're looking for a job guarantee. No serious mentorship can promise that, and this one won't either.
- You want a self-paced video library to binge. That's what the courses are for; this is live, scheduled work.
- You won't have time to work on your character between sessions. The weekly feedback only works if there's progress to review.
Mentees
Artists already on their way.
I had three years of half-finished sculpts before this. In week two Vini pointed out a proportion habit I never noticed, and suddenly my characters stopped looking "off". I finished my first complete piece and it's now the opener of my portfolio.
The 30 minutes are dense. He opens my file, marks exactly what to fix and why a studio would care, and I leave with a clear plan for the week. The Discord channel between sessions saved me at least twice when I got stuck in Houdini.
What surprised me was the honesty. No hype, no promises, just direct feedback from someone doing this job every day. Ten weeks later I have a character I'm genuinely proud to show in applications.
Career prospects
A craft the industry pays well for.
Avg. salary
$90k
per year, US market
Freelance
$35–60
per hour
Demand
Growing
games & animation
Salary by level
Junior$50k–70k
Mid-level$70k–95k
Senior$100k–140k
Lead$120k–170k
* Based on public US market data (Glassdoor, LinkedIn Salary). Salaries vary widely by country, studio and portfolio. This program teaches the craft; no income is guaranteed.
Limited SpotsOne-on-One Mentorship
Vini Cavalcanti Mentorship Program · Season 2
- 10 weeks of one-on-one mentorship
- Weekly live feedback session, booked in your time zone
- Private mentorship channel on Discord
- Structured weekly lessons on the learning platform
- One complete character: blockout to final render
- Portfolio-focused review in the final week
$600one payment, or split in 3
Because every session is one-on-one, each season has a hard cap on students. When the spots are taken, enrollment closes until the next season.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Can't I just learn this for free on YouTube?
You can learn the tools on YouTube, and you should. What free content can't do is look at your character and tell you why the silhouette reads wrong, where the anatomy breaks, or what a studio reviewer would flag first. That feedback loop is the entire product here. The lessons exist so the live sessions can be spent on your work, not on button-pressing.
Am I good enough for a mentorship?
There are no skill prerequisites. The program starts at primary forms and blocking, so it meets you where you are. All you need is ZBrush and Blender installed (Houdini is optional for the grooming module). If you can open the software, week 1 is built for you.
Will this get me a job in the industry?
No one can honestly promise you a job, and you should be suspicious of anyone who does. What this program gives you is the strongest asset for applications: a complete, portfolio-ready character reviewed at every stage by a Senior Artist who works inside studios, plus a clear understanding of what hiring reviewers look for.
Is 30 minutes per week enough?
Thirty minutes of focused review on your file goes a long way when it's every week and it's only about you. Between sessions you have the private Discord channel for questions and progress checks, and the weekly lessons cover the technique. The live session is for course correction, which is exactly what self-taught artists are missing.
How do the sessions and time zones work?
Sessions run on Google Meet. Each week you book your slot through a scheduling link, picking the time that works best in your time zone. Mentees in Europe and North America are fully supported.
How much does it cost and how do I pay?
The full 10-week program is $600, paid once or split into 3 payments. Checkout is processed securely and international cards are accepted. For comparison: a single mentored course at the big online schools runs $600–$1,200, with one instructor shared across a full class.
What software do I need?
ZBrush and Blender installed, plus Houdini (optional) for the grooming and rendering modules and Substance Painter for texturing. The schedule above shows exactly which tool each week uses.
Ten weeks from now, you have a finished character. Or another folder of WIPs.
Spots are limited because every session is one-on-one. If you're ready to stop guessing and start finishing, this is the seat next to a Senior Artist.