Learn to make awesome Character Art
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Make Game-Ready Character 

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A complete 9 module roadmap for creating game-ready characters built from over a decade of AAA experience.

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Improve as an Artist

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More Community,
More Tools,
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Over the past few years, I’ve learned what it actually takes to create a professional, studio-ready portfolio piece that stands out and gets noticed. Whether you’re polishing your first character or refining your workflow for your next big role, this course is designed to help you get there faster with structure, accountability, and feedback every step of the way.

There’s no secret... Just the right structure, mentorship, and community to help you grow.

How The Class Works

Everything you need to build a job ready portfolio piece. From technical skills to professional structure and support.

Create a Game Ready Character

Follow J through a full character pipeline from choosing your concept to final presentation. Learn the techniques used in AAA studios to sculpt, retopo, texture, light, pose, and render a character ready for your portfolio. You’ll finish with a complete professional quality piece and the skills to do it again.

Create a Game Ready Character
Downloadable Project Files

Downloadable Project Files

Every step of the way you’ll have access to the same files J uses in the lessons. That means sculpts, UVs, Substance files, Unreal Engine projects, and more so you can follow along and reverse engineer real work as you go.

Community Support

You don’t have to do this alone. Join a Discord full of supportive artists, get feedback, share progress, and learn alongside other students. Whether you’re stuck on topology or looking for inspiration, the community is there to help you keep going.

Community Support
Live Pro Class

Why Go Pro

Join me live every week until July 2026 for real time walkthroughs, Q and As, and insights that keep you progressing. You’ll learn alongside a focused group of artists with direct feedback, structure, and accountability as you move through each stage of the pipeline.

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Create a Character

Follow along step-by-step to create your next Character model together as a class

Project Files

Download the actual source files from the demo project to learn from or use in your own

Weekly Live Feedback

As a PRO member, you gain access to weekly LIVE feedback with me. Right until July 2026

On Demand

 Learn at your own pace. With immediate on-demand access. No deadlines.

Meet Your Instructor

One Portfolio Piece Can
Change Everything

JHill old photo
JHill speaking
JHill mic

Hey! I’m J 👋

I started making 3D characters almost 20 years ago with no idea how to sculpt, texture, or render properly. I was obsessed. From forums to classes to late-night experiments.

After years of those experiments, I finally built a portfolio and that changed everything. My work has opened doors to game studios, collaborations, and teaching opportunities. It also led me to work on games like APEX Legends, Titanfall 2, Evolve, and Back 4 Blood.

That first portfolio kickstarted a 15+ year career and a passion for helping others do the same.

Now I've built Character Class. With over 900 students and 100+ hours of content. It’s helped artists around the world create the kind of work that gets noticed, with feedback, structure, and a community behind them.

Class Features

Lesson Videos

70 lessons with commentary in 4k quality. Choosing the initial concept art to presenting the final model 

Bonus Videos

24 Q&A's videos from previous groups. 19 pre recorded guest speakers. 

Project Files

Downloadable References, Zbrush tool, Low Poly model, Substance Painter file, Unreal Project

Private Community

Access to our private class server with peers and professional character artists

Unreal Engine Project

downloadable project with master materials and a level ready to drag & drop your asset. Includes the class demo character

Closed Captions

English closed captions available on all lesson videos

Get feedback & community support

Submit your projects and receive feedback from a professional

Stay motivated and inspired with a community of your peers

Get all your questions answered no matter what

 Class Schedule

Nine in-depth modules guiding you from foundational principles to production-ready character creation.

Module 1 Module 1 image

Build Solid Foundations

  • Professional software setup
  • Clean, efficient modeling
  • Building and customizing basemeshes

Key Takeaway: Start with the right setup and confidence to create efficiently from day one.

Module 2 Module 2 image

Plan With Purpose

  • Picking the right concept
  • Building reference libraries
  • Blocking out early shapes

Key Takeaway: You’ll leave with a clear creative roadmap that makes production smoother and faster.

Module 3

Sculpt With Confidence

  • Sculpting believable materials
  • Balancing detail and form
  • ZBrush and Maya workflows

Key Takeaway: Build a complete, professional-quality sculpt ready for the next stage.

Module 4

Craft Realistic Faces

  • Facial structure and anatomy
  • Reference-based sculpting
  • Adding life and emotion

Key Takeaway: Create faces that connect emotionally and elevate your entire character.

Module 5

Optimize for Games

  • Retopology workflows
  • Quad Draw tools
  • UV mapping best practices

Key Takeaway: Finish with a game-ready mesh that’s light, clean, and optimized.

Module 6 Module 6 image

Texture With Story

  • Baking high-poly details
  • Texturing skin and fabric
  • Adding realism and wear

Key Takeaway: Learn how to make your materials tell the story of your character.

Create Game-Ready Hair

  • Hair-card creation and layering
  • Grooming and cleanup
  • Rendering hair in Unreal

Key Takeaway: Master a proven workflow for believable, production-ready hair.

Module 8 Module 8 image

Render in Unreal

  • Exporting and importing assets
  • Lighting and materials setup
  • Eye and reflection rendering

Key Takeaway: Render your character like a pro using real-time, cinematic techniques.

Module 9 Module 9 image

Present Your Work

  • Dynamic posing techniques
  • Path-traced rendering
  • Publishing to ArtStation

Key Takeaway: Finish with a portfolio-ready presentation that captures attention instantly.

Industry Experts

Interviews from Industry Experts from Major Games & Studios

Glauco Longhi

Lead Character Artist @ Sony Santa Monica 

 

Frank Tzeng

Character Art Director @ Naughty Dog 

 

Jamir Blanco 

Character / Creature Artist @ Bizzard

 

Dan Crossland 

Character Art Director @ Ninja Theory

 

Renaud Galand

 Lead Character Artist on Overwatch

 

Vimal Kerketta

 Lead Facial & Creature Artist @ Dneg

 

Sefki Ibrahim

Character Artist @ Epic & ILM

 

Hazel Brown

 Lead Hair Artist for Games

 

Hanno Hagedorn

 Lead Character Artist on Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order

 

Marco Plouffe

Character Designer/Artist and Co-Founder at Keos Masons

 

Jared Chavez

Senior Character Artist @ Sony Santa Monica 

 

Patrick 4D

 3D Artist specializing in photorealism within the food and product space.

Justin Holt 

 Texture Art Director @ Epic Games

 

Chris Gillett

 Character Outsource Lead @ Epic Games

 

Colleen Larson 

Senior Character Artist @ Naughty Dog

 

Gary Huang 

 Character Art Director @ Respawn

 

Peter Zoppi

 Lead Character Artist @ Treyarch

 

Amanda Irani

Senior Character Artist @ Sony Santa Monica

 

 

What Students are saying 

See All Testimonials

Watch a review of Character Art for Games

Create your Best Character

 

LIVE FEEDBACK

Pro

$595

  • WEEKLY LIVE FEEDBACK - Until July 2026
  • Self Paced Course Consuption
  • Free access to XGen for Characters Mini Course
  • Exclusive PRO Discord Channel
  • All Videos 100+ hours of content
  • Updated Project Files
  • Unreal Engine Project
  • J's Basemesh Kit ($30 value)
  • J's Skin packs ($15 value)
  • Access to Community 
  • Lifetime Access

Essential

  • All Videos 100+ hours of content
  • Project Files
  • Unreal Engine Project
  • J's Basemesh Kit ($30 Value)
  • J's Skin packs ($15 Value)
  • Access to Community Discord for access to JHill and our team of professionals
  • Lifetime Access

$395

All the Essentials

Your Best Character.

Guaranteed.

30 Day Money-Back Promise

 

We want the investment in this course to be an absolute no-brainer for you. If you’re serious 😉

 

That means giving it a proper go. Dive into the lessons, explore the content, and see what you can get out of it. If within 30 days of your purchase you’re not 100% happy with the experience, just send us an email, and we’ll refund your full payment.

 

We’d love for you to make the most of the course, but if it’s not for you, that’s totally fine too.

Frequently Asked Questions

There's no such thing as a dumb question.

Join the class today!