What I Learned Making My First 10 Models in Blender, Starting With a Hamburger

#1: Hamburger#

First, I made a hamburger while watching a tutorial video.

From below, the bun is out of shape.
You can’t see it in the picture, so it’s fine.

Done! What a moment

#2: Bear#

Next, a bear. (tutorial video)

Thanks to the careful explanations, I finished it.

Then again, you could say I was just pressing the shortcut keys and changing settings as I was told.

There are so many features that I couldn’t connect each step with what it was for.

For now, I’m making things by copying along.

A dark chapter: my failed Usagi#

At this point I thought, “If I customize the bear, couldn’t I make Usagi, the rabbit from Chiikawa (a popular Japanese character series)?” and gave it a try.

Total defeat.
Unwrapping it and painting the colors didn’t go well, and I couldn’t make the face asymmetrical.
The ears are floating, and there’s a weird smudge on the arm.

But trying it made the workflow clearer,
along with what I don’t understand and what I can’t do yet:

• How to paint an asymmetrical face
• When making a character from an anime or similar, line up reference images and match the proportions
• I want to split an object into parts (like the ears)

I’ll get my revenge someday.

#3: Mini room#

Let’s get used to it by making lots of things! So I made a small room (tutorial video).

So cute!

Something can look fine from the front and be off from the back.

In 3D, you have to adjust everything a full 360 degrees: up, down, left and right.

Moving the view, like spinning it around while holding down the mouse, is hard.
I learned that a numeric keypad helps, so I bought one.

I’d been wanting a numeric keypad for drawing on my iPad anyway, so it was two birds with one stone!

#4: Desk and chair#

This time, I only looked at the finished piece and experimented to see how far I could get with what I’d learned.

Then I reviewed it with the tutorial video.

Even for the same shape, there seem to be lots of ways to make it, in different steps and with different features!

For the wooden parts of the chair, I made the four lower pieces and the two upper pieces with the Mirror feature,
but the video made them as two short pieces and two long pieces.

Little by little, for simple things, I’m starting to guess, “I bet this shape is made like this.”

#5: Capsule#

Next, a capsule (tutorial video).

Even doing exactly what I was told, it didn’t turn transparent like the example!?
When I got stuck, I asked AI, and it turned out I was just in a different view mode (not the tab I’d been modeling in). Even beginner mistakes like that, AI spots right away.

#6: Jam jar#

Next, a jam jar (tutorial video).

I can make the shapes of models pretty smoothly now!

I still don’t really understand the settings for color and materials.

#7: Coffee jelly#

Next, I tried making a jelly (tutorial video).

I love coffee jelly

While I was making it, I thought it looked great,
but looking at the finished image, the cream looks like glue.

And it’s darker than I expected?

It looked fine on screen, but when I rendered the image, the cherry fell off.

When I asked AI, it said it had to do with the animation timeline. I fixed it as it told me and somehow finished it.

Doing the same steps as the video and still not getting the same result: a classic Blender moment.

#8: Pudding#

Making sweets is so fun!
This time I made a retro-style pudding (tutorial video).

The cherry looks just right

By now I’d memorized the operations I use a lot, and I could do them quickly.

I made quite a lot with just free videos ✌️

#9: Doughnuts#

Searching for videos got tiresome, and I thought a book would be the best way to learn the basics all together, so I bought one.

I wanted to make interior-style things, so I chose a Japanese Blender workbook full of cute things I wanted to make.

The book is for an older version of Blender, so some steps are a little different.
When I get stuck, I ask AI as I go.

#10: Desk#

My 10th model was the second project in the book: a desk.

I was surprised how easily I could put wood and fabric materials on it.

Making things and seeing them take shape is fun ♪#

After making 10 models, I’m starting to get a sense of what Blender can do.

So far I’ve only been making 3D shapes, but it seems you can combine them to make big backgrounds, make animations, and move characters, too.

Looking into it, it seems you can also do anime-style 2D looks, not just 3D, so I’m thinking it could be fun to make a hand-drawn-looking header for my blog.

First, I’ll finish the book and build up my skills!