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Blender 3D Modeling Tutorials For Beginners: The Ultimate Collection

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Learning to model is crucial for anyone trying to master Blender. As the foundation of everything in 3D graphics, modeling is a necessary hurdle that every student will need to leap.

Luckily there's plenty of help online to teach yourself how to model.

One of Blender's best features is the large community behind it. Over the years they've created an abundance of learning resources and this guide offers the best of the best when it comes to modeling in Blender.

No matter your budget or current skillset this list is sure to help.

Free Tutorials

Beginner Modeling Tutorial (Multipart)

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Blender Guru is one of the most popular Blender YouTube instructors.

I often point students to these lessons when they're just getting started with Blender in general.

In this series Blender Guru teaches the fundamentals of modeling. But instead of doing a car or a character, students will learn how to model a medieval blacksmith's anvil.

Why?

Because modeling more complicated objects can be difficult for beginners. It's likely they'll run into trouble and give up. Blender Guru argues that starting with something simpler like an anvil is better for learning the principles of 3D modeling.

Character Modeling

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After you've learned some of the basics it's time to try a character.

Since characters are the bread and butter of most 3D graphics, it's good to tackle this subject early on and keep practicing.

This 10-part series will walk you step-by-by through the modeling process in Blender. It covers everything from modeling a character's face to the hands and feet.

With this series you will get an in-depth look at the first steps necessary to building high-resolution characters for video games or movies. These are the foundational skills needed to succeed in computer graphics so this lesson is essential for all beginners.

Modeling Charmander

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In this tutorial by 3D artist Arturs Luksis you'll observe the workflow of character creation in Blender.

More specifically you get to build a beloved Pokemon character from scratch with lots of guidance.

Starting with a low-poly model, the artist continues through the creation of the high-resolution character as well as texturing, rigging, weight painting, and animation.

This tutorial will teach the full workflow of character modeling in Blender. This is truly a powerful showcase of Blender's tools and features.

Star Wars Tie Fighter

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Focusing on hard surface modeling, top YouTube talent CG Geek demonstrates the process of creating a high-resolution Tie Fighter from the Star Wars universe.

CG Geek shows you how to take your modeling skills to the next level by using the mirror modifier to achieve perfect symmetry.

Add Blender's subdivision surface modifier to pump up the detail without losing the original geometry. Working in this non-destructive manner will add lots of flexibility to your workflow.

The techniques in this video will translate well to other hard surface objects such as cars and planes where angular precision and tight geometry are key.

Gun Hard Surface Modeling

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With this Oranhunter Modeling video you'll get a chance to further develop your hard surface modeling skills by making a weapon.

Specifically you'll be making a gun from Blizzard's blockbuster game Overwatch.

This tutorial offers some tips and tricks for keeping your polygon count low without sacrificing detail.

By focusing on keeping good quads(four-sided polygons) it's easier to develop a clean model from scratch. This will be important later when it comes to texturing and animating the object.

Oranhunter Modeling combines the mirror modifier and the subsurface modifier to gain accuracy, speed, and detail.

Combining these two modifiers is a common technique used by many Blender artists.

Create Any Low-Poly Animal

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Low Poly scenes are still the rage and making them in Blender is a breeze once you learn the ropes.

In this video you'll pick up some simple techniques for making low-poly models even if you've never done it before.

Grant Abbitt is a YouTube tutorial superstar who offers short videos and a relaxed teaching style. In this 10-minutes tutorial Abbitt walks you through the process of low-poly modelling with step-by-step instructions.

If you need some further explanation about the topics covered in this modeling tutorial, such as the mirror modifier, check the links in the description featuring even more of Abbit's guides.

Game Asset Modeling

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This advanced Blender tutorial by 3D artist AlienMinefield is targeted at those who are already comfortable with modeling in Blender.

You should know the basics of modeling and texturing before diving in since this can be a complex subject.

But this multi-part series teaches the workflow of game asset creation including object modeling, UV-unwrapping, and UV-packing.

Creating a complex model is difficult but planning can save you trouble down the road. Artists will often model an object in a way that makes it easier to add materials and this is exactly what you'll learn here.

Artists looking to work in games will want to check out this Blender tutorial. The skills used to create industrial crates will easily lend themselves to other objects that you'll find in a production workflow.

Blender Hair Tutorial

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Creating hair in any 3D program is no easy task. But Nazar Noschenko will guide you through making realistic hair using particle systems in Blender.

By stacking particle systems and slowly working up the head from the base of the neck, 3D artist Nazar Norschenko achieves a highly sculpted and realistic figure with a stylish hairdo.

It's a somewhat painstaking technique but the results speak for themselves.

If you want to achieve high resolution hair for your characters you'll need to work with Blender's particle system and hair settings. This video offers a fantastic intro to the subject.

After modeling the hair you'll learn how to take it a step further and render the final image by adding color and other effects.

Blender has fully equipped lighting and rendering features that can be used to create almost any effect you desire.

Creating A Nature Scene

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This wonderful tutorial by Wayward Art Company offers a step-by-step guide to constructing an elaborate nature scene in Blender.

Starting with a blade of grass, the instructor shows you how to build an inspiring scenic view complete with trees, mountains, and clouds. No detail is left out in this 45-minute Blender demo.

You'll even learn how to use particle systems to add moss to your trees and rocks.

Once you've created the set pieces and added your lights, creating interesting images becomes a simple matter of positioning your camera and adjusting the scene.

Blender's powerful rendering features give you plenty of possibilities to explore. Render often and adjust accordingly.

Simple Trees

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This 15-minute tutorial video by Toxicity Game Dev teaches beginners an easy method for making an unlimited number of low-poly trees. In just a few minutes you could have a low-poly forest ready to go.

Aimed at game development, this tutorial will show you how to get the most out of Blender while making game assets.

One helpful trick is to set the origin of the object to its base.

Not only will it scale along the ground plane, but game engines like Unreal and Unity look for the origin when instantiating objects in the scene. This makes it easier to place them when building game levels.

Using these methods will make it easier to work with your models in any modern game engine.

Rocket Plane Modeling

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This half-hour video teaches a bunch of useful tools for modeling in Blender.

For example: you'll learn how to make a WWII rocket plane as an easy introduction to hard-surface modeling. This step-by-step process can teach a whole lot so it's best to move slowly and carefully.

This is a good tutorial for artists looking to hone their skills in creating vehicles for games.

3D Isometric Game Tiles

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Here's a fun guide teaching you how to create cute and colorful tiles for an isometric scene.

Follow along with the time lapse to see how the artist builds low poly models and applies materials to create the final look.

By playing with materials it's relatively easy to get effects for dirt, grass, and water. Adding stones and individual blades of grass gives the scene a high-quality finish.

Create A Realistic City

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Blender's community has created some fantastic add-ons that can be extremely useful.

One of these is the Open Street Map add-on which can generate real life buildings and street lay-outs fast.

By visiting the main website Blender artists can export a map of any city they want. After installing the add-on and enabling it in Blender it's easy to import the data and generate a copy of the map complete with buildings and real-life city layouts.

Open Street Map is powered by an open source community of mappers that contribute data about streets, buildings, and more.

By combining this add-on with Blender's rendering tools you can follow along with this tutorial to create a beautiful cityscape within just one hour.

Awesome Modeling Hacks

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Zacharias Reinhardt offers a list of 14 tips to improve your Blender experience. There's also some links in the description to modeling courses for those looking to up their game.

These are some very handy tips that will save you time and frustration. Blender is a such a large program that it can take a long time to discover all the hidden shortcuts and special features.

Everything on this list is useful, but my personal favorites include combining the bevel and subdivision surface modifiers to get crisp, high-poly models. And resetting the key frame positions with a hidden shortcut.

Premium Courses

Premium video series are designed to accelerate your development by learning from high-quality sources.

Professional instructors and long-format tutorials offer a better approach for most people getting into the 3D world.

So whether you're a complete beginner or just looking to take your skills to the next level, the following courses are a perfect place to start learning how to make amazing Blender artwork.

Intro to Modeling in Blender

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This beginner's guide will teach you everything you need to get started in Blender.

3D artist Justin Marshall teaches some of the skills that landed him a job at Sony Imageworks in Los Angeles.

This series focuses on foundational knowledge that will be used all the time as you progress in Blender.

After covering the most basic information about polygon geometry the instructor introduces all the tools needed for modeling in Blender.

However this series takes a slightly different approach than other beginner tutorials. Instead of covering all the options for modeling in Blender, Justin Marshall narrows the focus to only the most useful tools.

Creating Assets

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In this tutorial series by artist Mark Masters you'll explore how to make an asset in Blender from start to finish.

You'll begin with a basic model and then move onto UV unwrapping and material creation.

Masters will take you through the process of building a realistic soda bottle using Blender 2.77.

Throughout the series you'll find expert advice on Blender's toolset to create polished, professional assets. Perfect for anyone looking into 3D work as a career.

By the end of this course you'll have all the skills necessary to take full advantage of Blender's asset creation pipeline and bring your own ideas to life.

Designing & Modeling a Sci-fi Prop

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3D environment artist Denis Osmanbegovic covers a lot in this series along with sharing a few skills that landed him a job as an artist on Halo 5.

With this course you'll learn how to create a 3D sci-fi prop for a game or movie all from scratch.

You'll begin by learning how to adjust Blender's settings to get the most of the modeling tools before moving onto shaping a basic object. Then you'll learn how to apply materials and lighting to create a rendered image.

Osmanbegovic's goal is to teach you how to use Blender efficiently so that you can be more productive as you continue learning.

Creating a Cartoon-style Character

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This lengthy series from Pluralsight teaches the ropes of character creation in Blender.

By exploring various modeling techniques, instructor Costas Frost teaches you how to work on your own and encourages everyone to experiment with Blender's toolset.

This video course focuses heavily on cycles rendering and cycles materials. By the end you'll have a solid grasp of the Blender character modeling workflow.

Designing a Low Poly Game Environment

Design lowpoly game environment in Blender

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Moving back into low-poly work we have this incredible series tailor made for environment artists.

Anyone looking to work in mobile game development or as a freelancer will want to check out this course by Jeannot Landry.

Game content creation is one of the most common jobs for freelance 3D artists. In this Blender series you'll learn some techniques for creating low polygon environments that are perfect for mobile gaming.

You'll also study the pipeline for hand-painted assets and environment creation using Blender. By the end of this series you should have enough knowledge to build your own game assets and start building up that 3D portfolio.

Author: Josh Petty

Josh is an artist and game developer who specializes in sci-fi, fantasy, and abstract art. His work employs vibrant colors and combines elements of glitch art, outrun, retro-gamming, neo-geo, and conceptual art. He trained as an oil painter before picking up 3D modeling, animation, and programming. He now runs Brain Jar, a small game development studio that focuses on experimental, narrative-driven content. You can learn more on the website or on Twitter @brainjargames.