Anytime we visualize light / sound waves they are 2 dimensional drawing, so how do they actually work in a 3 dimensional space? Are they more like ripples (like a stone thrown into a pond)?
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It’s important what is being shown in that 2D example.
A sinusoid graph in not THE wave, it’s just a graph. What’s “waving” is the value it represents. And any point on 3D space can be given those values.
In the case of sound, it’s the local pressure. It’s a bit easier to visualise because it involves actual molecules moving back and forth. So you can imagine a series of balls hitting one another and causing the next one to hit the next etc., in an expanding circle or sphere.
With light it’s difficult to visualize, because the thing that’s “waving” is the local values of the electric and magnetic fields. There’s nothing physical moving or bumping. So the best you can really do is just imagine the spheres representing the peaks and valleys spreading.
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