Into the Third Dimension
I'm diving into Blender to enhance my art!
This week will be a short and sweet look at what I’m currently diving into: learning Blender, a 3D modeling program.
I attempted learning Blender a few months ago because I knew the mandala videos needed to be more engaging, but I wasn’t in a place to devote any focus to learning another software program.
This year has been uncomfortably turbulent with the last couple months being the bumpiest of all. I’ve been holding on to the small moments of clarity for dear life and, thankfully, I can feel things beginning to settle a bit.
One of the moments of clarity was realizing that the order with which I’ve been doing things is completely out of wack.
Thinking back, I spent years learning Photoshop before I came up with the idea for the location collages. When the collage idea popped into my head, creating them was relatively easy because I already knew what I was doing. The challenge was putting the art out into the world, not so much creating it.
This time around both the idea and the execution of it have only been glimmers. I somewhat know what I want to make and only have a beginner level skill to make it with. In the spirit of “embrace imperfection” and “fake it ‘til you make it,” I’ve been trying to develop both the idea and the skill simultaneously, which has resulted in hitting roadblock after roadblock and then beating myself up at my inability to bring it all to fruition.
Continuing to beat myself up for something as difficult as building an entirely new career from scratch is, of course, nonsensical. To make things easier, for the time being I’m going to shift my focus away from the execution of my idea and towards learning how to make artwork that matches what’s in my head. Of course my brain is still noodling about the execution in the background, but for the most part I’ve been able to remind myself that good artwork comes first.
I’ve been taking classes on Skillshare which is an absolutely phenomenal resource that I’ve had a subscription to for a number of years. Aside from various types of software, there’s a broad range of class topics such as illustration, marketing, interior design, baking, knitting, and so much more! If it sounds like something you’d like to try out, use this link to get one month free!
So far I’ve taken a 5 hour long introduction to Blender that went over the entire user interface, and two 3 hour project classes where you build something step by step. In the class I just finished, I built a flying bumblebee!
Until now, almost all of the programs that I’ve learned have been Adobe software. Adobe creates their programs to be cross-compatible, so if you learn one, learning the others isn’t quite as difficult. Blender, however, is not even remotely the same. There are some very slight similarities to After Effects, like parts of how the animation, camera, and lights work, however that’s all.
On top of learning the software, I’m also re-learning how to use a mouse. Blender requires a middle button and a scroll wheel to move around the interface. When a laptop became my sole computer over 5 years ago, I just adapted to only using a trackpad. Using a mouse again has been kind of like getting on a bike after you haven’t ridden one for a long time. You still know how to ride, it’s just really awkward for a little bit.
I’m truly starting from the very beginning with Blender which is both exciting and somewhat daunting. Each day I sit down to work on a class, though, I’m thrilled to do it. My brain, of course, is still wanting to rush to take what I’m learning and apply it to the mandalas right away, but I’m doing my best to remind myself that the feeling of needing to rush ahead is what got me where I am in the first place. Slowing down and just feeling comfortable in the software is the first step.
Until the next newsletter, be well!
Giesla
