About Anna Schmelzer — 3D Character Artist & Character Modeler
Freelance 3D Character Artist & Digital Sculptor
Hannover · Working internationally
I'm a freelance 3D character artist and digital sculptor based in Hannover. Ten years of it now, mostly in ZBrush, and mostly in the categories that punish shortcuts: feature film VFX, commercial toy design, collectibles, miniatures, and digital portraiture. My clients are split fairly evenly between Europe and international studios.
My film credits are shotsculpting with Framestore London — Tom & Jerry in 2021, and Disney's live-action The Little Mermaid (Arielle, die Meerjungfrau) in 2023. On the commercial side I've sculpted Schleich's Bayala fantasy range since 2015, brand campaign work for Aixsponza, interactive web characters for Dogstudio including Jaxon, and stylised character design for Toyfight. I also work with Maxon as a ZBrush expert: beta testing ZBrush for iPad, presenting solo at IBC 2024 in Amsterdam, and the Mermaid Diorama they acquired for the Apple App Store launch.
Three of my personal pieces have been recognised where it counts. ZBrush Top Row in 2019 for Stranski and again in 2021 for Portrait with Waves. CG Society Hall of Fame in 2020 for Batgirl and 2021 for Portrait with Waves. And a feature in the November 2021 print edition of 3D World Magazine.
I studied architecture at TU Darmstadt before moving into computer graphics, and it still shows — I tend to build a character structurally, from the inside out. After that came an Advanced Character Animation diploma at Animation Mentor, and ZBrush certification from Ryan Kingslien in 2013, among the first artists to get it.
At the moment I'm adding Houdini and Unreal Engine 5, because more briefs now want someone who can sculpt and also deliver into a real-time pipeline. If you'd rather just look at the work, my ZBrush character portfolio is here. The longer project write-ups and the older archive live at character-modelling.com/history.
IBC 2024 — Featured by Maxon
Maxon invited me to give a solo session at IBC in Amsterdam in 2024, on using ZBrush for 3D printing and advertising. Thirty minutes drawn from a decade of production toy and miniature work, and I brought something to show for it: a Wacom pen holder figurine, sculpted in ZBrush, printed, and passed around on stage.
Hosted by Maxon on the IBC 2024 main programme. Maxon is the developer of ZBrush.
Core Sculpting
ZBrush (certified, primary tool)
3D Modelling
Maya · Blender 3D
Texturing & Surfacing
Substance Painter · Substance Designer · Mari · Photoshop
Rendering
Octane Render · Arnold · Cycles Render · Keyshot
Emerging Pipeline
Houdini (active learning) · Unreal Engine 5 (active learning) · MetaHuman prep
AI-Assisted Workflow
Kling AI (character animation) · Runway Gen-3 (atmospheric motion) · Luma Dream Machine (orbital camera) · ControlNet/ComfyUI (render enhancement)
| Award | Year | Work |
|---|---|---|
| IBC 2024 — Maxon Presentation | 2024 | Watch presentation |
| Film Credit — Shotsculptor | 2023 | The Little Mermaid — Framestore |
| ZBrush Top Row | 2021 | Portrait with Waves |
| ZBrush Top Row | 2019 | Stranski Collectibles |
| CG Society Hall of Fame | 2021 | Portrait with Waves |
| CG Society Hall of Fame | 2020 | Batgirl |
| 3D World Magazine (print) | November 2021 | Portrait with Waves |
"Some of my cover renders use an AI-assisted composite. The sculpts themselves are hand-built in ZBrush — the AI generates the environment, lighting and atmosphere around the geometry, much the way a photographer builds a set around a physical sculpture. Inside every project you'll find the ZBrush clay renders, so you can see the unaltered sculpt for yourself."