I’ve really enjoyed playing and learning in Blender, and I’ll keep posting more renders on Instagram, if I’m not too embarrassed by them. It’s so much more tactile than anything else I’ve used in this space.

You get faster every time you hop in, and find yourself quickly tapping shortcuts and blasting through renders and new concepts. I don’t think I’ve ever come across software that rewards experimentation quite like Blender does. The second render I made in Blender with a few environment add-ons. I found myself in a place where I couldn’t afford to continue my C4D subscription, so I decided to give Blender a try, and it blew my mind everything that’s included in this free open-source software. A photo-scanned model of my Halloween pumpkin.Īs a longtime Cinema 4D dabbler, Blender is truly the first CG software that I felt inspired by on the level that I wanted to spend hours and hours learning it, making sure I knew every nook and cranny. While I definitely don’t feel like I learned much this last year, spending a lion’s share of the time unproductively tending to the weeds in my Animal Crossing village (and I already knew how to make mediocre bread), there’s one thing I did take the time to learn-Blender.

It’s been a trendy media talking point over the last year or so on how we should all be using these pandemic-laden times to learn a new skill or trade. Here are my favorite resources for hopping aboard the Blender train. Blender is a powerful tool that’s only getting better.

Blender 3d beginner tutorial