Creating a Collectible – The Traditional Way by Alban Ficat

Preview: Alban Ficat has been sculpting licensed pop-culture and animation collectibles out of Paris since 2005, and this master class is the behind-the-scenes look at how that actually gets done — by hand. No subdivision surfaces, no retopology. Just clay, wire, hand tools and a lot of patience. If you’ve ever wondered how an official Studio Ghibli piece like Mei and Little Totoro goes from an approved design sheet to a physical master, this is the walkthrough. It’s a useful reality check for anyone who works in digital sculpting and wants to understand form without a Wacom in the way.

🎯 What you’ll learn

• Build a stable armature and blocking structure that survives the whole sculpting process.
• Judge proportion and silhouette from reference art, orthographic sheets and turnarounds.
• Sculpt convincing faces, expressions, hair and fabric folds in epoxy putty and polymer clay.
• Work to a licensor’s approved design without losing the character in translation.
• Finish, clean up and photograph a master for molding, casting and portfolio use.

✅ Requirements

• Skills: A basic understanding of volume, proportion and 3D form; some drawing or sculpting experience is helpful but not mandatory.
• Tools: Sculpting loop and rake tools, wire and a base for the armature, epoxy putty or polymer clay, printed reference material.
• Hardware: A well-lit bench with a turntable, good ventilation or dust extraction, and a phone or camera for progress shots.

📝 Description

Most character courses start you in front of a screen. This one starts you at a bench with a lump of clay and a set of hand tools, which is exactly how a lot of licensed collectibles still get made. Alban Ficat walks through the whole build in order — armature, blocking, detail, finish — and explains why each step exists instead of just showing the result. The armature section alone is worth the time if you’ve ever had a sculpt collapse halfway through.

The real value here is the licensing side. Working on an official Studio Ghibli piece means the design is fixed and there’s an art director on the other end of the email. Ficat covers how to keep a licensed character on model while still making the sculpture read as a solid, three-dimensional object rather than a copy of a drawing. That tension between accuracy and good form is the part most newcomers underestimate.

He also treats the physical sculpt as part of a pipeline, not an end point. The master gets cleaned, primed, photographed and eventually molded — and the course shows how decisions made early in the block-out affect whether the final cast holds up. If you’re a 3D artist looking to sharpen your eye for volume, or a hobbyist who wants to move from garage-kit dabbling toward professional collectible work, the workflow transfers directly.

🧑‍🎓 Who this course is for

• 3D artists and digital sculptors who want to understand real-world form before they touch subdivision surfaces.
• Hobbyist sculptors and garage-kit makers aiming at professional collectible standards.
• Character designers and prop makers moving into licensed or animation-related merchandise.
• Anyone curious about how physical sculpting survives in a largely digital industry.

🧑‍🏫 About the Author

Alban Ficat is a Paris-based traditional sculptor who has been working on licensed pop-culture and animation collectibles since 2005. His portfolio spans official merchandise and collectible pieces, including Studio Ghibli releases such as Mei and Little Totoro. He works primarily by hand rather than in digital sculpting software, which makes him an unusually direct source on the armature, blocking and finishing stages that digital artists often skip entirely. His class for IAMAG Master Classes is a straightforward look at his working method rather than a highlight reel of finished pieces.

🏁 Final Result

• A completed hand-sculpted character collectible, built from armature through to a finished, primed master.
• A reference-based workflow you can repeat on any licensed or original design.
• Clean portfolio photographs of the finished sculpt, ready for client or studio review.
• A piece prepped for molding and casting if you want to take