The Complete Tutorial on Using Blender for 3D Modeling and Animation
34 Blender tutorials to boost your 3D modelling and animation skills
Blender tutorials are often the best way to get started using this incredible free and open-source 3D software. Blender is a powerful package, so getting started can be a little overwhelming if you're going in cold. And even if you're not a beginner, there are always new things to learn to unlock new creative possibilities or speed up your processes, and you may be wanting to see what's new following the release of Blender 3.6 LTS in June 2023.
To help, we've rounded up the best Blender tutorials we've found, from novice to pro-level advice. These Blender video tutorials should help you either get up and running or raise your game when it comes to 3D modelling, animation, rendering and composition. You'll pick up fresh tips from expert 3D designers and learn about new techniques (for other options, see our pick of the best 3D modelling software)
We've grouped these Blender video tutorials into three sections. We start with the best Blender tutorials for beginners, but if you're not a novice, you can use the quick links at the top of this article to jump ahead to our intermediate Blender tutorials or Blender tutorials for professionals.
The best Blender tutorials
Blender tutorials for beginners
01. Blender 3.6 beginner tutorial
If you're about to start working with the latest version of Blender (3.6 LTS), be sure to check out this helpful Blender tutorial from CG Fast Track. It'll take you through all you need to know to get started with Blender's latest stable version. It's quite a lengthy one, split up into three parts so make sure you set the time aside to watch it as it's absolutely worth it.
You'll make a sword and a stone animation to learn the skills on the job, and as some students have noted in the comments, it can be exciting and motivating for beginners to start out with something so cinematic rather than the usual "donuts and bananas"
This beginner Blender tutorial takes a different approach. Rather than taking a fast-track approach to one complete end-to-end process, it breaks things down into 10 specific tools that Blender newbies need to learn how to use, including applying transformations, the loop cut, array tool, extrude tool, moving the camera and speeding up rendering. It's all presented by an animated Brad Colbow.
03. The basics of realistic texturing in Blender
In this video lesson from Andrew Price, he reveals the secrets of realistic texturing. Discover how to take a texture and create some variations of it, using Photoshop or a Photoshop alternative, then putting them into Blender. Want more? Andrew has a whole host of excellent Blender video tutorials on his YouTube channel.
Daily design news, reviews, how-tos and more, as picked by the editors.
04. Creating meshes in Blender
In this video, the Blender team run through how to create a mesh an object made of polygons. Here you'll learn the difference between a polygonal mesh, and a NURBS surface, and why modelling with polygons is a preferable option.
In this series of lessons, Blender artist Beorn Leonard explains all the fundamentals of character animation in Blender. Highlights include working with timing and spacing, overlapping motion, animation walk and run cycles and understanding IK and FK.
06. Blender Lighting and baking workflow
Get to grips with the complete workflow for setting up lighting for an outdoor scene, in this top-quality Blender tutorial. You'll learn how to bake light for a blazing fast render, taking 14 seconds per frame rather than eight minutes.
07. Greenscreen masking for VFX in Blender
Add some Hollywood flair to your projects. Here you'll learn the basics of masking and chroma keying in Blender just the thing for mixing real world footage with CG via a bit of green screen action.
08. Introduction to rigging in Blender
Lee Salvemini is kind of a big deal in the Blender community. He worked on Sintel, Elephants dream and spent two years on Star Wars video game titles for LucasArts. In this free video tutorial for Blender Guru, he presents a complete beginner's introduction to rigging. The video above is part one of the series, with parts two and three available on the Blender Guru site.
09. Introduction to camera tracking
Blender comes bundled with an awesome feature called Camera Tracking. Camera Tracking is a process that involves using real footage and tracking its motion so that 3D elements and VFX can be added to it. This tutorial, again from Blender Guru, gives you a complete beginner's introduction to what this tool is and how to start using it right now.
10. Blender shortcuts: hotkeys you need to know
This tutorial contains shortcuts that are super-useful, and that help to streamline your workflow. They'll allow you to cut out some of the fiddly bits, meaning your texturing process will be much improved.
Intermediate Blender tutorials
11. What's new in Blender 3.6 beta
Blender 3.6 was made available in beta in May 2023, and while this release mainly focuses on performance improvements, there are also some new features. In the video above, AskNK talks us through some of the highlights, from the UI to rigging and animation, modelling improvements and updates to Geo Node and Viewport.
12. Cut your render time in half in Blender
Tired of waiting forever for your stuff to render? This short but sweet video could help you speed things up. 3D artist Nathan Duck talks you through his process and how he cuts down render time to a minimum, from addressing issues like sample count and denoising data to getting the right hardware in place.
13. Animate text in Blender
This text effect Blender walkthrough comes from the team at tutor4U. It demonstrates how to make an animation of vines growing to form a word, and techniques that might be helpful when creating your own 3D typography.
14. How to speed sculpt in Blender 2.80
Character and creature designers who use 3D sculpting software will often do speed sculpts. These are 10-30 minute sculpting sessions where you practise blocking out your design asquickly as you can. This tutorial explores Blender's speed sculpting tools, and teaches you how to use them.
15. How to create interiors with Blender's EEVEE
This tutorial from Pierrick Picautruns through how to use Blender's EEVEE engine to create the interior found in the Noara game teaser. You'll understand how to set EEVEE properly to a render a nice-looking, dark interior scene, and how to deal with its limitations. Picaut will go over some shader tricks, and the use of light and reflection probes.
16. Model a complex 3D city scene
Creating a detailed city scene is no small undertaking, and requires a significant amount of repetitive, and sometimes boring, modelling actions. Rather than just enumerating point by point what he's doing, in this 3D World city scene tutorial Mateusz Wielgus breaks down his workflow into pieces and presents them as a series of general steps and tips that you can easily follow.
17. Create a morph between two shapes
Morphing an object from one shape to another smoothly is an impressive 3D trick to be able to pull off, and in this quick tutorial from Blender Nation you'll learn not one but two different techniques for creating an amazing shape-shifting effect.
18. Create a spaceship
In this two-part video-based Blender tutorial from Blender Guru, you'll learn how to model a concept spaceship; how to use your own sketches as reference; and how a combination of modifiers can aid you in modelling. The Blender Guru site also has concept sketches and the finished .blend file to help you get to grips with it. You can find part two here.
19. Create a realistic planet Earth
This tutorial uses several textures from NASA to create a realistic planet Earth using Blender Cycles. The tutorial from Blender Guru shows you how to create easy texture mapping for spheres; how to use maps to make more convincing materials; how to create a realistic sunflare entirely in Blender; and how to add glow, colour grading and a warp effect in the compositor.
20. Make realistic bread
In this easy-to-follow tutorial, discover how to make tasty-looking bread in Blender, using displacement, subsurf scattering and more.
21. Model a low-poly T-Rex
This hour-long beginner tutorial walks you through how to model, uvmap and texture a low-poly T-Rex in Blender.
22. Animate a flame using materials
In this superb Blender tutorial, Bassam Kurdali shows how procedural materials and the software's compositing tools can create movement.
23. Create an energetic fire and water scene
Blender tutorial guru Andrew Price returns to show you how to simulate real-world flame and fluid effects. His digital weapons of choice? Enter Blender's fluid and smoke simulators.
24. How to enhance a game level environment
In this video-based Blender tutorial, 3D expert Christopher Plush shows how to create low-overhead in-game effects that won't tax your players' machines.
25. How to use hair assets in Blender 3.5+
This Blender tutorial from Stache offers a quick overview of the added hair and grooming assets that were added in Blender 3.5 in March 2023. It introduces the Generate Hair Curve Node, the Interpolate Hair curve node, the trim hair curve node, the hair curve noise node, the frizz hair curve node and more and explores the geometry nodes aspect of these hair elements.
Blender tutorials for professionals
26. Create stunning tileable textures
Blender's Dynamic Topology system is, amongst other things, a great tool for creating nice-looking, tileable textures. In this tutorial, Pierrick Picaut explains how to create stylised wooden and stone tileable textures from sculpted surfaces.
27. Rig a 3D vehicle
Discover how the rig for this futuristic combat jet was created, by following this expert animator Dennis Haupt's insights. You'll learn how a bone constraint works in Blender and how to set it up, and also how a bone constraint affects the animation skeleton.
28. Create a realistic water simulation
This Blender tutorial by Andrew Price shows you how to create realistic fluid effects and render it using the new Cycles rendering engine.
29. Make animal fur with cycles and particle hair
Jonathan Lampel demonstrates how to use multiple particle systems to add realistic hair to an animal and how to easily set up a great looking fur material using Cycles' new hair shader.
30. Photorealism explained
"If you're a CG artist hoping to work in the industry, photorealism is the most important skill you can focus on," says Andrew Price on Blender Guru. "It not only helps you to learn and understand how real life looks (a crucial step for creating cartoonish exaggerated styles), but is also highly in-demand for Hollywood, gaming studios and new industries." Price's guide lasts for nearly an hour, but is packed with helpful tips and tricks.
31. Animate a circular swipe
Bassam Kurdali's video explains how to set up a clock face-style swiping action using the popular open-source 3D package. You can also download the accompanying project files for this tutorial.
32. Camera mapping
Here, Andrew Price explains everything you need to know to do camera mapping using Blender.
33. Fun with rigid bodies
Bring the destruction! Andrew Price demonstrates how to go wild with Blender's rigid body simulator, making a chain, a wrecking ball and a load of stuff to destroy in an entertaining manner.
34. Making Materials in Blender
If making 3D materials in Blender seems like a scary idea, 3D artist Nathan Duck is here to show you otherwise. In this 16 minute video he walks you the process of making a procedural galvanized steel material, to show how easy this process is in practice.
If you find you need more powerful hardware to run Blender on, see our pick of the best laptops for 3D modelling and the best laptop for CAD.
Blender 3D Modeling Tutorials For Beginners: The Ultimate Collection
Blender 3D Modeling Tutorials For Beginners: The Ultimate Collection
Resources3DWritten by Josh PettyDisclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. That means if you buy something we get a small commission at no extra cost to you(learn more)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 theres plenty of help online to teach yourself how to model.
One of Blenders best features is the large community behind it. Over the years theyve 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)
Check Out This Tutorial
Blender Guru is one of the most popular Blender YouTube instructors.
I often point students to these lessons when theyre 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 blacksmiths anvil.
Why?
Because modeling more complicated objects can be difficult for beginners. Its likely theyll 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
Check Out This Tutorial
After youve learned some of the basics its time to try a character.
Since characters are the bread and butter of most 3D graphics, its 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 characters 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
Check Out This Tutorial
In this tutorial by 3D artist Arturs Luksis youll 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 Blenders tools and features.
Star Wars Tie Fighter
Check Out This Tutorial
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 Blenders 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
Check Out This Tutorial
With this Oranhunter Modeling video youll get a chance to further develop your hard surface modeling skills by making a weapon.
Specifically youll be making a gun from Blizzards 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) its 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
Check Out This Tutorial
Low Poly scenes are still the rage and making them in Blender is a breeze once you learn the ropes.
In this video youll pick up some simple techniques for making low-poly models even if youve 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 Abbits guides.
Game Asset Modeling
Check Out This Tutorial
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 youll 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 youll find in a production workflow.
Blender Hair Tutorial
Check Out This Tutorial
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.
Its a somewhat painstaking technique but the results speak for themselves.
If you want to achieve high resolution hair for your characters youll need to work with Blenders particle system and hair settings. This video offers a fantastic intro to the subject.
After modeling the hair youll 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
Check Out This Tutorial
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.
Youll even learn how to use particle systems to add moss to your trees and rocks.
Once youve created the set pieces and added your lights, creating interesting images becomes a simple matter of positioning your camera and adjusting the scene.
Blenders powerful rendering features give you plenty of possibilities to explore. Render often and adjust accordingly.
Simple Trees
Check Out This Tutorial
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
Check Out This Tutorial
This half-hour video teaches a bunch of useful tools for modeling in Blender.
For example: youll 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 its 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
Check Out This Tutorial
Heres 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 its 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
Check Out This Tutorial
Blenders 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 its 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 Blenders rendering tools you can follow along with this tutorial to create a beautiful cityscape within just one hour.
Awesome Modeling Hacks
Check Out This Tutorial
Zacharias Reinhardt offers a list of 14 tips to improve your Blender experience. Theres 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 youre 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
Check Out This Course
This beginners 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
Check Out This Course
In this tutorial series by artist Mark Masters youll explore how to make an asset in Blender from start to finish.
Youll 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 youll find expert advice on Blenders toolset to create polished, professional assets. Perfect for anyone looking into 3D work as a career.
By the end of this course youll have all the skills necessary to take full advantage of Blenders asset creation pipeline and bring your own ideas to life.
Designing & Modeling a Sci-fi Prop
Check Out This Course
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 youll learn how to create a 3D sci-fi prop for a game or movie all from scratch.
Youll begin by learning how to adjust Blenders settings to get the most of the modeling tools before moving onto shaping a basic object. Then youll learn how to apply materials and lighting to create a rendered image.
Osmanbegovics 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
Check Out This Course
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 Blenders toolset.
This video course focuses heavily on cycles rendering and cycles materials. By the end youll have a solid grasp of the Blender character modeling workflow.
Designing a Low Poly Game Environment
Check Out This Course
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 youll learn some techniques for creating low polygon environments that are perfect for mobile gaming.
Youll 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.
