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Ashly Sanford
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About

Ashly Sanford

3D artist & production systems designer

I’m a 3D artist and production systems designer with 12+ years across high-end CGI, color and material development, and digital fabrication. I stay close to the visual work while developing the methods that help a team carry it through production.

At Jeff Koons Studio, I lead color development and digital-to-physical workflows for complex sculpture. Earlier, I led CGI production at Shootdigital, including a visualization system spanning more than 4,000 Maharam textiles. My work also includes digital sculpture for film and color development for collectible figures.

How I work

Hands-on knowledge.
Better production methods.

My background is in modeling, visualization and systems design. Years of working through production problems by hand taught me where precision matters, where a process breaks down, and what a useful tool needs to do.

I now use AI-assisted development to automate parts of those established workflows: color separation, vector and 3D spline creation, mask preparation, and internal production tools. I define the problem, guide implementation and evaluate the results. Visual judgment and material knowledge still guide the decisions.

I trained in classical painting, sculpture and printmaking at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. That foundation continues to inform how I judge form, light, color and surface.

Selected experience

Across studios and disciplines.

2016–present

Jeff Koons Studio

Project lead · Color systems, 3D workflows & digital fabrication

2014–2015

Shootdigital

CGI production lead · Product visualization & repeatable pipelines

Selected projects

Film & collectibles

Digital sculpture for Spider-Man: No Way Home and Day Shift; color development for Super7 / ThunderCats.

Tools & technologies

A toolkit built around the work.

Tools I use across 3D production, capture, materials, spatial planning and AI-assisted development.

3D modeling & rendering

Cinema 4D · Blender · ZBrush · Octane Render

Capture & preparation

Agisoft Metashape · RealityScan (Epic Games) · RizomUV · Wrap3D

Materials & image-making

Substance Painter · Photoshop · Illustrator · After Effects

Spatial & interactive

Unreal Engine · TouchDesigner

AI-assisted toolmaking

Python / FastAPI · React / TypeScript · SQLite

Development collaborators: Claude, Codex & ChatGPT