This post describes my journey learning Blender. I’m by no means an expert but I leveled up my skill high enough so I was able to create some 3D art.
The resources and links below should serve as a guide on how you should approach your journey to learn Blender.
Dabbling vs. Jumping in Headfirst
I started learning Blender by just dabbling with it and acquiring some basic skills, without really knowing what the goals was. Later on I decided to take it more seriously and properly looked up what a 3D artist actually is and what this type of work entails.
If you’d like to dabble with Blender first, then watch Complete Beginners Guide to Blender by Grant Abbit.
Once you’re ready to get serious watch How to Learn 3D Effectively - The Andrew Price Podcast by Andrew Price.
Resources
Here are resources I used along my learning path.
Communities
It helps to immerse yourself in the field as much as possible. For example, I joined the Discord server Open VFX: The Blender Community.
Blog posts
Educational Videos
Mostly on Youtube.
Grant Abbit
- Complete Beginners Guide to Blender
- Create A Low Poly Well | Beginners Tutorial
- Easy Texturing with Stencils | Blender 2.81 | Beginner
- Loop Tools Addon | Important Mesh Editing Tool | Blender 2.8
- Sculpting in Blender 2.8 | Beginners Detailed Guide | Every Brush
Blender Guru
- How to Learn 3D Effectively - The Andrew Price Podcast
- Ep. 4: How to Learn 3D Effectively - Blog post with links
- Blender Beginner Tutorial Series (Donut)
- How to make Photorealistic Materials in Blender, using the Principled Shader
- Beginner Blender Anvil Tutorial Trailer
- Photorealism Explained
Josh Gambrell
-
The NUMBER ONE issue new hard surface artists forget | Curvature and Shading
-
The RIGHT way to add ridges in Blender | Hard Surface Modeling Tutorial
CG Cookie
- 6 key principles for 3D modeling
- 50 Modeling Issues From Hell (in Blender) - paid tutorial, not bought yet