I first started using Blender in September 2021, having previously had no experience or particular interest in 3d or CGI or anything of the sort. My initial idea was to learn enough to be able to do music videos, which I've still not really done, though I have made several animations and used it for EP cover art.
My general approach to Blender is to try and do everything myself: modelling, texturing, animating, etc, though I am quite happy to use character generator add-ons for humans, mainly because the one real attempt I made at sculpting resulted in some horrific topology that I think would be impossible to animate. I have also tried, with varying levels of success, to learn how to use geometry nodes for generating things like plants and rocks and landscapes, but I suspect that that approach isn't really for me, as I quickly get out of my depth trying to understand the mathematical functions of different nodes. I have still managed to kind of frankenstein bits of different node set-ups into making some useful tools, especially for making plants and flowers, and to a lesser extent, trees. I have so far resisted any urge to use photoscanned textures, preferring instead to try and do everything with procedural shaders. Likewise, I don't want to use objects and characters and animations made by other people if I can avoid it: the one exception to this so far has been the skull that appears in "The Alchemist's Study", which was a downloaded asset as my attempts at modelling or sculpting one myself were just rubbish. At some point, I do want to try doing some sort of motion tracking or performance capture to help with character animation, as I think I've now done enough of it to know that I don't really enjoy animation. I do really enjoy modelling and texturing and putting together scenes though.
Anyway, click on a thumbnail below to see more of that project.
 The Alchemist's Study [2024] |
 Varney Pays A Visit [2024] |
Coming Soon-ish |