If I started Blender TODAY, this is what I would focus on.

Hinzugefügt: 2026-05-27

[00:00:00]I've used Blender for 14,000 hours, made tons of characters, environments, and animations over the years, developed plugins for the software used by thousands of people, and I have taught thousands as well, including both total hobbyist beginners as well as veterans in different parts of the creative industry, and I've still never done the donut tutorial before. In this video, I want to go over eight insights I've learned from using Blender for so many years that aren't talked about a lot, but are going to help you out on your journey because after all, a lot of it is kind of a mental battle and a lot of us know that there are tutorials out there, but what really matters is your mindset and whether or not you can push through. So, let's get into it. Also, if you're new, check out my complete beginner tutorials. Number one, there will always be a depressive phase you have to push past in the beginning to make a great piece of art. Look, I've been doing this for many years. And even though I might make it look easy in my YouTube videos, the reality is in everything I make, there's a sort of depressive phase, as I like to call it, for each piece of art that I make. And what this depressive phases is, it's the point where I've spent a bit of time on the work. But it's that limbo where I question whether or not the final result is even going to look good. The only difference between years ago and now is that when I get to this depressive phase, quote unquote, I know it's going to pass because I've just been through it like so many times. And I just recognize that this is part of the process. So if you're ever making a 3D scene or model and you start crushing yourself, just understand that you're not crazy at all and it doesn't mean that you're bad. So for example, let me show you one of my works that I created at the start of the year.

[00:01:47]Now, while I was making this, there was a sort of depressive phase where I tried one version and didn't really work out that well. But in spite of that, I didn't give up. I kept pushing through and tried another version eventually, which happened to be the final result that you saw. Inevitably, when you mess up and you're in this depressive phase of making it work, when you push past it, there's just so many new things that you're going to learn that are going to benefit you in the future. and just add to your experience and so you'll just get used to it more and more. Two, normalize the ugly phase. So this is quite similar to the last point. The ugly phase is something that happens in every rendered piece of art that you'll make. It's kind of like a raw piece of meat that isn't cooked yet. Not super delicious unless you're eating that for whatever reason. But when the art is in this ugly phase, a lot of people give up and they just think that they're bad.

[00:02:31]And they get into this mental trap of thinking like, "Oh, other people are just all so much better than me and this and that." But in reality, it's something you have to push through. And generally, the way you push through it is by checking the various factors that make a work look good. I always ask myself like, is there a clear focal point? Is the lighting good? Is there enough detail? Is there too much detail in certain areas that distracts from the focal point? And etc, etc. So, when you ask these questions and when you compare the work that you're making to what you're taking inspiration from, it will reveal ways that you can push the work further. And once you do that, you'll start to reach a final product that actually looks nicer. And of course, at a certain point, you have to call it finished. Uh, generally before finishing, I take a break from looking at it for a few days at least. And then after that, I take one last look, maybe just make a couple of final changes and then be done with that and move on to a new project. Number three, talent is a cope and doesn't actually exist that much. So, when I started art, I was absolutely horrible. I mean, come on, guys. Do you seriously think if you stumbled across my art back in 2019, you would have thought that I would eventually be remotely capable of what I can make now? To be honest, I don't think anyone would have thought that, even maybe not even myself. And the people I went to school with at the time, they thought my animations were funny and they liked them, but I don't think anyone ever thought that it was going to actually go anywhere. I'll concede that talent maybe slightly exists, but it's very, very, very overexaggerated for some reason. And I think a lot of times it's a convenient thing that people just tell themselves or use as an excuse like, "Oh, I'm not talented." And they use that a lot. But let me tell you a story. When I was in college, for example, really there was a long period of time where I was just trying super hard. I was actually making some illustrations at the time, but I just felt like I wasn't progressing with my art no matter how hard I was trying.

[00:04:08]And I could have chocked it up to being like, "Oh, I'm not talented, so I'm just going to quit." But I kept going and eventually I got out of that phase because I just kept on trying new things and experimenting and just trying to push through. I think generally for everyone, it's not that you lack talent, but it's more so about lacking consistency. because I found that being consistent is really just that one thing which has totally moved the needle for me over the past 7 years. And even if you don't have any intention of becoming good, if you're just consistent for a while with anything, I mean, it kind of just happens whether you like it or not.

[00:04:38]And so during some of those hard times on my journey, I felt like maybe it was just luck and I was unsure of whether anything I was trying was going to work out eventually. But despite that, I always kept going and I just didn't have an enemy to quit. And just not quitting is super important. Number four, the result of 3D is a visual product and no amount of technical skill will save you.

[00:04:56]So, there are people out there in the world who are more brilliant than me on a technical level. They can do all of these super super complex things with shaders or coding, but they can't make a character that looks beautiful. And that's because these two skills are not really the same thing. Understanding what makes a good visual output and a piece of art look good isn't the same as being able to do some technical tasks.

[00:05:16]The technical part is just a tool actually that helps you make the visual result. Albeit a very useful tool that lets you do lots of crazy things. So you absolutely should learn them. But honestly having proper observational skill which is something you build by creating art over time whether it be 3D art, 2D art, traditional or digital, it doesn't matter. The point is as you create more art, you will build these skills more and more as time goes on.

[00:05:38]Five, learn new things from different people. So over the years I've watched tons of different courses and all of that. It's cool to see different ways of people doing things and you can of course combine ideas together to make your own works and that's the benefit of it. This is good because people naturally have strengths in certain areas. So, it's great to learn how they do what they do. And if you're interested in a certain topic, you should then research about it because when you learn about any new topic, it will give you new information that you can then apply to whatever it is that you want to make. As after all, as I emphasized earlier, these things that you learn in Blender are just simply tools to create a visual result, right?

[00:06:11]And by the way guys, if you want to get started, you can once again check out some of my tutorials here on this channel. They teach you even if you're completely new. Number six, when you feel hesitant to make something due to procrastination, just try taking inspiration. So for example, when I start a new project, there's always a little bit of procrastination that might happen. But really, there's nothing I can do to magically fix the problem other than to try and just start taking inspiration and just getting started on it. So, when you go to a site like Pinterest, you'll get all sorts of ideas and things you can add to your inspiration board. And this is amazing because it's basically a loweffort way to get easy dopamine. And doing that kind of just like makes it motivating for you to actually start your project.

[00:06:50]I said like an easy way to get dopamine, but I mean it's productive because you're gaining inspiration and you're finally actually thinking about the project that you want to make. Number seven, you'll learn the most by attempting different types of projects with different elements. So, by attempting different types of projects that you want to make, doing this will give you experience and you'll make mistakes that next time when you make a similar thing, it will just be really easy compared to as it was before because you have it mapped out in your mind. And trust me, I get it. Sometimes we procrastinate because, you know, you don't want to face that difficulty. But the reality is, even if you just try to do a little, uh, you'll be surprised at how much you learn in just a short amount of time from trial and error on its own. If you wanted to make a snowy scene, for example, you don't have to make a full one. You can literally just spend like an hour trying to make some prototype version of it. And if you're new then in that time period there are things that you might need to look up and with that you'll be learning so many new things so quickly. And of course later on you can make an actual full project and do whatever. Last thing I want to say is that there are multiple ways of doing things. For example, let's say I wanted to make a cylinder. One way is I could obviously just add a cylinder here. But another way is I could add in a circle like this. Adjust whatever verticy count I want. go into edit mode and then hit easy to extrude everything down. Then I can fill up the top of course like this by hitting the F key.

[00:08:06]So there's just multiple ways you can do things. So yeah guys, ultimately you never need to fully box yourself into doing everything one way. You can play around and find what feels right for you. And naturally as you gain more experience, this will become clearer. I think often times people who are new feel like they need to follow whatever tutorial they're doing completely exactly. But it's better if you just start playing around honestly while you're doing that. And you can even then come up with your own way of doing things based on what you see other people do. And from there, it really just comes down to the repetitions and the experience that you're going to get from, you know, just practicing. Thanks for watching, guys. If you want to learn to make anime or painterly style characters, animated scenes, and more all in Blender 3D while learning at your own pace, you can check out my masterclass program in description. Have an awesome day.