Blender 4.1 Beginner Tutorial series by CG Fast Track – as a complete newbie

Since it’s been 13 years I used Blender so I might as well be a newbie at this point!

Originally I was going to record myself doing it but I’d rather not. It’s boring, it’s distracting and I’d rather type, screenshot and document along the way! I don’t want to edit too much footage either – I don’t have time to do quality editing.

The cg fast track video feels much more clear and well presented with circles and arrows etc so I didn’t finish the donut tutorial first! And cgfasttrack tells you to look at the screen and tells you do do practice drills for muscle memory – it’s amazing! I did drift off and run out with focus at times when it got intense with technical new things so I did what I could.

I can’t vouch for the much more expensive course subscription they have. I am not really interested going in the direction of those courses either. I am not trying to model realistic things in Blender. I’m not sure what paid courses I’d do so I’m stuck with that :S

I’m just very grateful for this tutorial since it got me less resistant and intimidated learning Blender again!

Here are just snapshots as I slowly figure out modeling in Blender. I don’t think I’ll be used to it until I do a lot of it and get mileage.

It takes many hours just to get through and write notes for one hour of the tutorial!! It took me a few weeks or so to get through it as I was fighting through sleepiness, work and other things.

Tadah! The final sword render!

Just note that I’m not going to go too deep into learning Blender – it’s overwhelming. So baby steps.

I feel like I’m being pulled in many directions with all the things Blender can do and it’s not just Blender alone. I got other things I need to get into the habit of learning and study ahhhhh

So far I am doing it for work in my own time and it feels like I’m working all week and weekend without the mental break. Hope to get time to learn and experiment during work hours…eventually I need speak up and make sure I do most/some of it during work hours… :’)

I’m just getting used to it (mileage) and I’m still figuring out what I personally want to get out of learning Blender. I don’t know if there will be a lot of Blender learning blog posts from me or not – I’m just figuring it out!

It is interesting that I am not interested in modeling characters that lean towards realistic proportions. I’m not sure whether I want to model stuff. I still plan to slowly go through tutorials and whatnot and see what gels with me :0 I get a bunch of Blender related youtube videos recommended to me now :’)

I’m still more a 2D artist and voxel artist so I hopefully won’t get too carried away.

Leonie rambles about…

• Oof a meme on trying to learn Blender
  • reading the comments on other people’s struggles make me feel less alone :’)
• Japanese workers quitting with the help of a business to do it (since Golden Week) due to toxic, abusive environment – oof it’s that bad 🙁
• This Cow Started a War (Oki Documentary)
  • angry farmers greedy for government land like they’re the chosen ones and the ongoing terrible consequences for everyone
• Three Kingdoms Adaptations to Get You Started (accented cinema)
  • I don’t have the huge interest to watch that many episodes but interesting all the same!
  • intense politics is not really what I go out of my way to watch though
• The Animation Industry is COLLAPSING (No the robot)
  • I’ve never been part of the animation industry since it’s just out of reach and seems impossible for an autistic hermit like me (you really have to be where the animation studios are and intense collaboration is a huge part of the job) but wow it does feel terrible and frustrating with all the mass layoffs/turnover while executives get bonuses
  • it doesn’t help with the lack of work
• ongoing official cute Pikmin 4 comic that I keep reading
  • suspecting this might become a manga they’d sell later :0
• Wicked trailer
  • it feels faithful to the musical? I’m intrigued but not sure how they’re going to do the latter half of the musical as a second movie
  • I have read the novel at high school too haha
• Peek into the new Qubicle version
  • it actually has angled meshes :0
  • I hope this is good, lets me have the colour picker popup at the monitor of my choice and that the program crashes less :’)
  • some extra features I don’t know I needed would be great too!
  • Yes I use Qubicle for Hipster Whale work and other art programs
• The Spectacular Failure of the Star Wars Hotel by jenny nicholson
  • I have no interest in Star Wars and zoned out during the super nerdy lore bits at times but wow all the potential of a larping hotel squandered!
• Pikmin 4 is peak! Pikmin 4 is Humanity’s Greatest Achievement! (Schaffrillas Productions) – yessss!!
• Kendrick ‘Euphoria’ Actually Explained (What’s the Dirt) and The Beauty of Revenge (Degenerosity on Kendrick vs that predator guy) – trying to understand the layers
• Disney, Race-Bending, and Whimsical Racism (Shanspeare)
• Hey the discord mascot I did for work!
• Shiga: Lake Biwa and Tanuki Raccoon Dogs – A Cat’s-Eye View of Japan (NHK World Japan)
• The new PureRef 2.0 is so good, overview here!! Please do donate/pay for it if able, to support it!
• finished watching the recently ended Grand Sumo tournament
  • feeling ambivalent with the highest division results but yay Nabatame got promoted!

Personal tired ramble & vent again

Recently felt fed up but pushed through out of spite, ego, resentment, envy, shame, feeling neglected/disappointed/overlooked & learning lessons/self improvement, processed some feelings and focused on what can be done better. Managing and letting my negative feelings eventually move on and focus on what I can control and do better! It was a lot of faking it till I make it and hiding negative feelings since I was upset, frustrated & ashamed but these feelings will pass and doesn’t help anyone anyway. Currently there’s still a few things to speak up about and work out but baby steps :’)

I think I only have 2-3 blog readers left – thank you!

I guess a reminder to self: I should strive to ramble less here since I am already tight on time as it is. Well if that’s even possible haha More attention/reach is at my youtube videos as much as I keep linking my blog posts :’) Blog posts haven’t been “cool” for ages but hey people keep claiming it’s the way to go (and through discord) to get away from social media platforms.

Funny how once I resolved to stop keeping twitter up to date with everything, I scroll at my twitter art list (and here) more :’) Feels more casual now…I also got tired of checking my art list and custom feeds daily so I’ll only look if it works for me. I’m not trying to check social media all the time so it’ll probably be whenever I remember/feel like it and not daily ;P

Trying to push my comfort zone and actually comment on things when I feel like it. It is still talking to the void and then hoping for the best since I haven’t been actively social online. Striving to not care about putting posts out there all the time since I’m not trying to be entertaining and I don’t want the toxic side with extreme opinions wear me down too much.

And then Meta apps are forcing people to be part of their genAI thing and making it difficult to opt out at all (only EU regions can, others have to provide proof of the genAI prompts and that data was used from you and affected you in a negative way?? But where is my permission/consent to even opt in???). I am considering not posting everything at instagram too like with twitter? Should I? Hmm.

I don’t know. I feel horrible posting at twitter and threads (strong/extreme opinions, hot takes, toxicity and venting) but not bluesky for many reasons plus it’s more quieter. Also microblogging with memes, wit, personality, jokes, interactions into the void is what I’m not great at ;P I am a rambler.

Instagram also just leaving the fishing rod at the ocean and then walking away. Instagram stories still do reach a fraction of people though. I don’t care as much with instagram’s lack of reach since I know it’s rigged and it’s better than nothing.

Same reason I have not completely quit twitter but I’m more picky with what I post there + check art updates sometimes. I think I shouldn’t even post there anymore unless I need to ask about something or if I want to reach more people :<

Digressing. I’m tired of all the platforms doing genAI :’) Just getting into the habit of glazing + nightshade things I post on the internet at this point.

Also had a moderate family accident/crisis yesterday that took the whole day. Made a mess cooking noodles I haven’t cooked before. Also had to mop up a whole heavy bucket of water from the floor with a mountain of old/unused clothes (where’s the mop???) so it has been quite the anxious, stressful start of the week already :’)

I feel like I “should” focus on the one thing and master it but then I want to juggle many things since doing little parts and rotating focuses/tasks/etc as a habit makes me less likely to burn out from the one thing so yeah I’m torn between going too intense on one thing or juggling many and progress bit by bit. I’m struggling to reach a middle ground 🙁

Anyhoo busy and tired with making art buffer, Blender shenanigans, chores, work and constantly reevaluating my life choices in terms of what should I spend my time on versus what I feel like doing. Slowly doing what I can and trying to not worry about the future. What am I doing :’)

---