If you can’t learn Blender | Motivation for 3D artists

I can’t tell you how many people I met in the past who wanted to be a 3D artist but now they aren’t. Not because they couldn’t, but because they did not approach the process with the right mindset.

It is easy for the human mind to focus on negative thoughts than to focus on positive ones. And it is easier to give up than to swallow the initial pain in silence and keep moving forward without complaining or doubting oneself.

If you want to learn Blender or any other 3D software for this matter, I can tell you with confidence that it is entirely possible but you need to have the right mindset to be able to achieve this goal successfully to a certain extent because.

---

It is a life long journey

This will be something that you will do for years or even decades, it is not something that you will do
for a couple of months then forget about it. The truth is, you will probably spend a few years in your journey from an absolute beginner to becoming a professional. And let me tell you that it is a fun journey if you have not been through it yet.

The joy of being able to create something visually stunning out of polygons and vertices is just indescribable, and only those who chose to stay long enough will be fortunate to experience it.

Time is going to pass anyway, the question is what have you accomplished in your life. The 3 or 4 years that will take you to become a good 3D artist will pass anyway, but you will not be the same. You will either be another uncreative person on this planet who consumes what others create or you will be an artist who will entertain the world with his impressive creative artwork. Not to mention that if you have the right approach, you can learn Blender faster that you think.

The problem with the majority of people is that they just can’t believe in themselves. They can’t envision themselves as successful artists.

Your job is to trust your innate potential and act accordingly: don’t concern yourself with too many details. Just visualize yourself on the other end of the tunnel and everything else will fall into place.

---

We all have doubt

It is human nature to resist growth and progress, it’s not just you. Everyone who ever tried to learn Blender, something new or to do something outside of their comfort zone felt discomfort and resistance to achieving the things they wanted so badly.

The majority of new potential Blender 3D artists will think to themselves that they are probably not cut off for this. Or it is out of their league because it is for the other guy or girl who’s more talented. But the truth is, we all have creative potential, the difference is there are people who nurture this potential with belief and self-trust and there are people who kill their dying light of creativity with self-doubt and fear.

Believe it or not, but even professionals feel like this sometimes. Because art is a journey of growth and you need to do the work whether you feel like it or not until it becomes natural to you.

Most people think that being a 3D artist is all about the techniques and learning the tools, watching tutorials, courses, and so on. But I would say that this is only about %20 of it, because the most important thing that will guarantee success on your journey to learn Blender and to be a 3D artist is overcoming the psychological challenges that you will face down the road. Such as self-doubt, fear, a sense of inferiority, and lack of talent.

---

You are already on the right track you just can’t see it.

Many times in our lives, we fail to see that we are on the right track and we veer off to the sideline. Because we are impatient and we want to know that everything is going to work out exactly how we want it beforehand which is not possible.

As Steve Jobs said:” you can’t connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking backward. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in the future”.

You have the seeds of being a great artist but the question is whether you are going to plant the seeds, nurture them with hard work and believe that it will all work in the future of your aim to learn Blender.

There are many reasons that you can think of for why it is not possible. However, there are also many reasons why it is possible, so I suggest that you listen to the later. Because they will help you muster the courage to keep moving on until you start seeing results.

---

Everything worthwhile is hard before it is easy

To learn Blender or any other 3D software, it’s not very hard but you need to put in the effort especially in the beginning. There are many new concepts that you need to understand, there are a lot of tools and features to remember and this might feel overwhelming at first. Some people approach learning a software such as Blender expecting to be a piece of cake. But like any other thing, you need to learn in school or in life, in general, you need to approach it systematically, you need to give yourself time so your mind can adapt. Because there is no way you are going to learn a whole 3D package in few weeks

If you give yourself the time you will be able to do things without even thinking about it, because we as human beings we are creatures of habit. And those who are good as 3D artists are just like that since they trained themselves over time to be this way.

As Will Durant said: “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act, but a habit”.

From my personal experience, I believe that 90% of the work in your journey of becoming a 3d artist and to learn Blender is in the early stages. I mean in the first few weeks, because you are just learning new things that you might think of as hard. But you are also fighting against all the negative emotions and thoughts trying to prevent you from being successful.

George Leonard in his book called “Mastery” talked about the three archetypes or approaches to learning or obtaining skills such as being an artist. The goal is to be a master, but for the most part, people are dabblers: they try to learn a new skill today, and tomorrow they quit and try to learn an entirely new thing because mainly they lack the traits of becoming a master. But those who succeed follow the path of mastery. As George Leonard said:

“At the heart of it, mastery is practice, Mastery is staying on the path” _George Leonard.

---

This is a chance for having a better life

If you want to be a happier person, make money or contribute to society, it is all possible if you can learn Blender and even master it.

The joy that you will derive from working on 3D projects and creating worlds that you can navigate through is amazing and if you are being paid to do it it’s even better. If you become very good as an artist people will hire you to work for them and you can also work for yourself. You don’t even have to do it full time if you have a job or something like that. You can just use few hours a day to make extra money online or have fun working on personal projects. Which adds more meaning to your life instead of spending all your time doing useless things that leave you depressed after.

Also having skills as 3D artists allows you to be a contributing individual, not just a consumer of what others create. There are actually many ways of doing this which will make you feel better about your life.

---

This is a marathon, not a sprint

If you decide to learn Blender, don’t burn all your energy at the beginning like most people do, don’t try to go all-in at the beginning to be left tired and desperate a few days later. This is a marathon, so you need to have a strategy.

Don’t force yourself to chew more than you bite, you can set only a few hours per day or per week to learn because this way you will not get overwhelmed or burned out. You must avoid this as a beginner at all costs, you don’t want to do it too much until you hate it and quit altogether.

Thinking long term is the answer here, being able to achieve your goal in 5 years is better than trying to do more than you are capable of and ending up with nothing in the end.

---

Don’t compare yourself to others

Every one was once a beginner, even professionals who can create mind-blowing masterpieces. So please don’t try to compare your first few steps to someone who walked millions of steps because this will most likely discourage you. There are some people who get inspired but unfortunately, most people get discouraged since they can’t imagine themselves in the same position where these great artists are.

Compare yourself to yourself, I mean make sure that what you are doing today is better than what you have done yesterday and over the weeks and months, you will become better.

All artists that you look up to were in the same position you are in right now but they did not quit, so you don’t have any valid excuses due to the fact that people have done it before. The good thing is that it’s not a competition where there is going to be only one or two winners: everybody can be great artists and can help each other to be even better.

---

This opportunity will probably never knock on your door again

We as human beings we can’t really control when we get inspired to do things. So if you feel like learning 3D right now you better take advantage of the opportunity by taking action right now.

You don’t have anything to lose but a lot of things to gain. So if you put this off for a while hoping to get back to it later when you feel like it might end up taking forever (meaning that there is a risk of losing this opportunity forever).

I am sure with 100% confidence that if you want to learn Blender or any other software, it is entirely possible if you keep going forward at a reasonable pace without ever giving up.

There are a lot of examples of many artists who came before you who were able to do it, and many other artists who will come after you and become great artists. Not because they are super talented and you are not, but because they wanted it bad enough.

Even though talent might be a contributing factor it is not an excuse if you don’t have it.