What I Wish I Knew Before I Started Learning Blender 3D 

Hi Brad! The reason your art-hut didn't look as well is the lightning. Just like in painting, you have to find a lightning setup which emphasizes forms and space. (enabling depth of field looks pretty on this style as well) And don't be afraid to post-produce your render in Photoshop!

Blender is such a powerful software but it is definitely hard to learn. I've been using it for 6+ years and I still feel like a beginner! I definitely agree with you about the importance of repetition though, once you use a feature a few times, the seemingly infinite amount of buttons and options start to become clear and truly epic things can be created.

I'm a teacher who decided to switch my college 3D class from 3dsMax to Blender this semester. My classes started on their donuts back in January and can totally relate with your experience so far. Thanks for sharing.

I've been using max for 20 years and in the meantime I learned many new programs. Recently switched to Blender, but not completely. One thing I realized 10 years ago is that it's best to first just watch tutorials, from beginner's to advanced lessons, without even trying to follow them, just watch and soak in as much as you can. Then you start again, watch a video and then repeat what they did. That's how I learned at least 5 pretty complex programs in pretty short time. Unreal engine is one of them. My first practice project in Unreal engine was actually my first job in UE for which I got payed. 8 years and few more programs later, still living from UE.

"I want to run but I can't even walk yet" - this sentence best sums up the learning process. Thanks for this video! I will follow in your steps and hope to learn something like you.

What I love about 3d is the ability to render your art at different angles.

"Make a donut!" indeed; it's _the_ tutorial these days, and he's been keeping it updated for major Blender revisions. I love how mine turned out! 😁👍 btw, if you think dedouze's art looks amazing on a monitor, you should see it in _actual 3D!_ One of those scenes was a demo included on the Looking Glass Portrait lightfield display. 🤩

Oh my god, I'm so glad you mentioned your experience going through the tutorials - having the exact same experience. Sooo long and they make it seem SO easy!

Just about to dive into blender and found all this very helpful, Thankyou!

Great to see how your experience with Blender went! :D This message to anyone - Feel free to suggest any tutorial ideas that you think might have been hard to track down out there on your initial journey, there are lots of creators willing to share workflows to make it as easy as possible to jump in on any part of Blender. Thanks! :D

This is excellent advice. I've been using Blender since before RU-vid was much of a thing. Having a good supply of vids and then putting your own spin on it is priceless. I see people who are new to 3D and they're advancing way faster than I ever did. Awesome work.

Thank you for walking us thorough your experience Brad! Really useful!

Dude Brad I love you sharing your learning journey! Not everyone seems comfortable, the openness is just awesome. Thank you for doing what you do!

Oh man. Didn’t expect to see this video today but am so excited that you’re on the Blender learning train. Would be cool to see some usage of 3D tools on your product review vids. Love your content!

Thank you!! Finally someone who understands. Ive just started learning blender through watching tutorials and I gotta say it's exciting and overwhelming at the same time. I want to dab on everything, but figured I need to focus on one thing at a time. I am currently learning how to do exterior models of buildings. It's a slow process but I'll manage

Congratulations on your blender journey, thats pretty good going :O) it is a constant learning experience no matter how long you have been doing it a week or 20 years always something, it is fun and we all want to run before we walk so i think we all know exactly how you feel. i love Blender and its community! keep up the great work/learning you are doing great! :O)

thanks for keeping my excitement and motivation up for continuing my journey learning Blender. I have no art or cg background but i love learning new tech. Your words and energy make me want to get back in there and finish the isometric room i started :)

This was so encouraging! And thank you for providing a roadmap for absolute newbies. I'm currently doing the Blender beginner tutorials on the Blender RU-vid channel, and then occasionally other short and sweet tutorials when I just want to create something. I will definitely be starting the donut one next!

I’m so excited that you are learning Blender too. I’ve been at it for a month or two. I’ve been a fan of your drawing videos and now I can see your Blender stuff. Cool!

Thank you so much for sharing this! It gave me more hope in my journey with blender lol. I started learning blender 3 weeks ago maybe a month now just like you and literally EVERYTHING you experienced I have as well! So that being said good luck with your journey!

thank you for making this video! I'm about to jump into blender so I'm right there with you! I love that your approach to tutorials can be applied to learning a new software in general!

Hello Brad, great advice all around! I especially appreciated the tip about learning Blender in general as opposed to jumping into the Grease Pencil, which I was thinking about doing. You are helping countless others wisely plan their time! Good luck to you on all your future endeavors!

Great overview and sharing around your experience. Good tips (keyboard + mouse) for sure. Your end results are really good for just being a month in. Your tenacity and drive to try different tutorials for different styles is inspiring. Thanks for the resources.

I literally just started learning blender for the past few weeks, saw your video and was like no way!!! Nodding along through the entire video - I found some courses on Skillshare really good as well, along with youtube content. This is the first time I have ever touched 3D and as you said, want to run and make 3D masterpieces but am breaking down the skills into modelling, texturing and lighting and slowly building each of the skills! WOULD LOVE to see more blender work you create!!

This was really great and I’m excited to see what else you do in 3D!

Must be something in the water! I started seriously exploring Blender about a month ago, and it’s been really cool to see that a bunch of other creators that I follow started learning it around the same time! Awesome progress and great video! Excited to see where you take it next!

SIR!!! Your transparent, clear communicative, humble approach of this was so encouraging! Earned my subscription!

seeing what you have created is quite good progress in a month. I've been using blender for 3 years now and comparing my old projects to the new ones makes me proud of myself, a little bit of patience is require

sometimes its hard to do low poly art because you want to add every detail.. but there really is a art to capturing your vision with a few elements as possible!

You remind me when I started to learn Maya back in 2008. It was a slow process but I managed. I'm also trying to learn Blender, I think is a better 3D software and you can do anything there (even videoediting)! As I already have a 3D background it wasn't that bad when I began but still is very different than Maya or 3DMax or Cinema4D. I hope to see soon more of your Blender work. Take care man!

i'm so happy to find this. i'm so excited to start learning and making stuff

just getting back into blender and watching this video definitely helps me a lot not to stress out if I mess up or miss a step

Your wisdom in learning new software really shows! Thanks for the encouragement to not obsess over small mistakes when learning.

When i want to make something more complicated I'm always watching someone else doing it basically because there are SO MANY useful tools that you can forget about or just the view that they have on modeling things as more professional artists makes me so much more comfortable when I'm working

thanks so much for sharing! i've been coming at blender over the last week or so purely from the texturing end and it's been sort of a wild adventure of transferring between blender and my preferred art program. i'm about to start in on learning the actual modeling part of the program and this was the perfect video for me to find---keeping your learning experience and tips in mind will help me learn more efficiently. great video!

Thanks for sharing your journey! I'm learning blender as well and I relate to everything you said lol.

This is exactly what I need - a walk-through, with links where helpful, of a "I started here - and now I'm here" process. Thanks a ton. I'm going to follow along with you until I get to that happy 'solo' stage. Roger

Great Video. I too followed the Donut tut. The one person whose style helped me learn most is Grant Abbitt. His series of low poly tuts are great, and he goes at a great pace, even telling you to pause and go ahead and see if you remember how to do something he's already taught you. I highly recomend his vids.

I am so happy this video came out, THANK YOU

Hey Brad, thanks for this video, and mostly for your sincerity and enthusiasm. I've also been teaching myself Blender over the past couple weeks. I did make it all the way through the donut to the animation, but don't feel bad about not finishing because the blender guru guy said something like 97% of people don't make it through all the way to the end. I have to laugh a little because it's clear that along with your passion is a bit of impatience, in hopping from project to project without finishing, and then later you admit as much. You want to be good right away. I can relate to this feeling! But I have observed some of this energy across-the-board with tech people, even gamers, who seem these days to enjoy finishing a game as fast as possible. That's never been me, and that's not me. I like to take my time enjoying the entire game universe and I'm in no rush to complete it. I feel I have equal passion for learning blender, but I don't mind the detours; I don't mind stopping the tutorial for even half an hour to work something out, because that is all good learning too. There was someplace in that tutorial where I got off the path and I redid that part of the lesson like five times until I got it. Working through these problems and solving them is extremely important to me (tho not so much aligning with the exact same image at the end, either. I'm with you on that part). It's the repetition & the application of the new methods and tools that are important. But when I stop to work out a problem, I feel like I'm getting an even deeper embedding of that knowledge and process. But everybody works differently. Even if you and I, or 10 other people with 10 other ways of learning, approach it differently, I think the most important part is knowing how you work and working with that. In any case, mostly wanted to thank you for the video. Enjoy your journey!

I needed to hear all of this - THANKS!

Great Video! This has inspired me to get back in touch with Blender. I've familiarised myself with some of the tutorials you mentioned here and some others as well. I often felt frustrated midway tutorials compelling me to give up on those. But the final render's sure worth it!

Brad you’re the man dude! Love your videos!

Unique and excellent, encouraging video. Have learned over half a dozen 3D programs over the years and the stages you describe are exactly the same experience each time you learn a different one. Great video and excellent Links! Thanks.

I love seeing other people's progress, not only versus my own, but to see the possibilities. Blender is amazing, I like being creative and 2D digital only gets me so far... I'm about 3 and a half months into it altogether. I like your isometric projects, I wanna get into those... maybe tomorrow I'll see what one is like. Great work, bud.

Thank you for this list. I just started learning Blender myself and I can't wait to dive into these tutorials.

Insane rationality and motivation there Brad! And your energy is through the roof! 😄 Love your vids TQ : )

Nice video! Very informative and hyped me up to learn Blender! Appreciate ya!

Oh wow, thanks for the feature Brad, I'm glad you found my video useful! Haven't had much time to make vids due to work commitments atm, but I hope my up coming content helps on your blender journey, good luck 😁🙌

Brad, thank you for referring this newcomer to the donut. I came to RU-vid to learn Blender software and not sure where to learn and build a foundation. You've been a great resource :)

Thanks for your perseverance to finish the tutorials and forcing that discipline 💪 thanks for sharing with us too, keep up the great work, your building looks sick!

Your videos are really helpful with opening me up to new stuff

Brad!! This is cool - thanks for sharing your journey! I'm working on learning Blender and it's been really encouraging to see where you're at with it. Following on Twitter and here too! :D

Thank you for this. I'm an illustrator, and almost exclusively use Adobe Illustrator. I spent much of the last weeks trying to wrap my head around Blender to possibly expedite some of my process, and it has been an unwieldy beast that netted some models I can use as reference but not show anyone. :D I have had a VERY similar time pecking around various tutorials in hopes of having some breakthroughs, but end up hitting my patience limit and move onto the next tutorial that seems like it may offer a better jump into the ease I have drawing 3-D on a plane. Your video helped me realize I need to finish a tutorial before I move to the next, and offered some great options to work through. I appreciate you sharing your experience.

Love your response bro im just now getting into blender myself WISH ME LUCK BRO!!!

Great Video. Thank you for the insight and perspectives

Starting to learn Blender. Thank you for this video. All the best to you and me!

Watching this is practically watching a replay of what I did to learn blender when I started out, I also tried to do something too big for me at the time and ended up failing... Now it's my hobby, I get paid for it every now and then, and I have an incredible amount of fun every time.

I think the point about redoing something without the tutorial is so good. It really makes you think about what you’re doing instead of just going through the motions

This is a GREAT video. I loved it. Thank you for sharing.

Oh man, the lifetime pet peeve of mine is never having learned to draw… you showed it clearly what a great toolset to have with the art hut, creating a high level concept art-ish sketch gave the whole picture of what’s really needed to be done on the modeling phase. I dig these moments so much… now, onto learning some basic drawing skills.

Thanks, Brad! That video gave me hope as I'm stuck in the begining of hard tuts =). But I'll start from the begining again.

Awesome vid, pretty much summed up my experience with Blender so far. But you also highlighted a couple of tutorials I'd not found yet too. Thanks 👍

Omg, THAAANK YOU for saying that even though some tutorials are only 30 minutes or so, that it could take an entire afternoon! I thought it was just me and was hard on myself but it's a steep learning curve but ooohh soooo fun! Now, the lighting has me all thrown off. I think i need to slow down and step through a tutorial on that because it was one of the most frustrating things for me.

Great content! never a dull video with you for tech artists

Welcome to the Blender gang, Brad! Hey, relax, you're going to be here for a looong time! I've been a daily user for well over ten years now and still get excited every time I open it! I still haven't even got my teeth into Grease Pencil yet, but I'm in no rush - here to stay :] If I could give you one bit of advice (you did ask!) - I don't know which option you chose at the start, but I would urge you to PLEASE at least give Right Click to Select a try! For at least a week... or a month... or a year!! Honestly, I'm an old school user and the new kids whined and whined until they put left click up as an 'up front' option, but it's just not right! There's some sort of zen 'click flow' magic that happens with rit=ght click select - something about the way you click through into an object and into edit mode... I don't know, it's unexplainable, but Right Click FTW!! Also, enable Pie Menus! ;D

Great job on the Loom ad. First sponsor section I've ever voluntarily listened to completely.

Your video and also that loom ads are very useful! Thanks man . People are also so stingy with the learning process for this

Brad, thanks. This was very helpful and encouraging.

This is definitely what I needed hahaha coming from illustrator it is overwhelming . Thank You Brad

Awesome models! Love them 😍❤️

Hi brad, I went through the same experiences back when I was trying to learn cinema4D and your next step need to be modelling your own piece by applying different tutorials into your piece, this way you will get a creative original piece of yours, it took me years to master C4D but it is really worth it. By the way, I started with blender but found it tough, I moved to c4d then back to blender which was a piece of cake. Good luck 👍

This is great 👍 Thanks for sharing. I am trying to start off in blender and this helped a lot.

It's frightening how your experience is so relatable ❤

Great video!! its great to learn from others' learning experience and their takeaways. Thank you for the insights!!

I used to do a lot of blender a few years ago, but blender guru was key to learning how to do anything the basics. Great video and look forward to your progress.

This will help immensely as I start my blender adventure today, thanks Brad for the stellar video!

I’ve been using blender for a couple years and the journey you’ve described was very similar to mine in the beginning! I only wish I had learned earlier what you talk about in the video, that sometimes it can really help to be Ok with it not being “perfect”!

I'm right there with you. Almost 20 years as a designer and just now jumping into Blender. My suggestion, watch the video at 2x speed before jumping in to blender. Then watch again as you work using a Pitcher-in-Pitcher extension. Thanks for dropping those links!

Great Idea to review the existing tutorials out there and hear about your experiences

Inspiring! I look forward to trying it out!

This was excellent, I'm just starting on Blender (literally just installed it) and this video is great to set expectations. I opened Blender for the first time and like you say, this is hard to just figure out by yourself. Once you use photoshop and illustrator, there are many other programs you can figure out, this one I couldn't move farther than the cube. Thank you!

This helps immensely 🙏much love keep grinding

THANK YOU FOR THE ROAD MAP, I WAS NOT ABLE TO UNDERSTAND LIKE JUST WHERE TO START! THANK YOU BRAD!

Great advice! Thanks for your insight.

That tip with redoing the tutorial in a new doc is gold. I was thinking about how I'd retain all the info i think ill do that now too!

Stoked about your video.. but oddly enough, the Loom ad was exactly what i needed for something completely unrelated

I've been using Maya for over 10 years now and Blender is still one of the hardest pieces of software for me to try use. Also in regards to the mouse, I almost exclusively use a pen tablet when doing 3D (top button right click, bottom middle click), I find it way more precise and natural to work with.

Brad, thank you. I've learn a lot from your videos and never say thank you. Thank you, Brad.

Wonderful video! I'm at the point where I've downloaded blender and opened it, but get then I get scared lol. But the humble approach you have here, and the way you show your progress really inspires. Today is the day of my donut! 🍩 Thanks for making this video, my friend.

Great video, been dreading Blender, and actually you’re giving me confidence to go for it👊👊thx 👌🙏

Great new series - pls keep it up - love your style

This is great Brad! Blender does have a longer learning process but is so powerful.

Im just a few weeks into my blender journey and I think completing tutorials to your personal satisfaction is great advice. It doesn't have to be perfect, you just have to learn something. Then move on! learn something new! practice what you learned

I’m just starting w blender and have been frustrated with the speed of the people making tutorials. I stumbled on your 10 things to know video and it made sense. I going to start over w the donuts. Thanks for the help!

I also started pretty recently...around mid January. I'm rooting for you!

I have an iPad and a Mac studio, I liked the guru’s tutorials because he also covered the mistakes you might make and he is slow paced which helps

thank you for this video i just started blender i cant wait to check out the stuff you looked at

Hey, I am trying to learn Blender myself, and this video was very helpful and motivating - thank you so much! :)

I just started learning blender because i want to eventually make games. After trying a game maker tutorial, it lead me to blender for asset making as well as for animations. Im more than half way through the donut videos and have jumped into the 3d modeling for some basic 3d printing work. Its so much fun and its nice to know your first month sounds about how mine is going. It sounds like I'm doing alright. Thanks for this vid as its helped with my own confidence.