Discover Blaine Jensen's journey from a lifelong passion for computers and filmmaking to learning Blender for 3D modeling. Learn how he transformed challenges into opportunities, with the help of CG Cookie's supportive community, to create stunning 3D art. Dive into his inspiring story of persistence, learning, and growth in the world of 3D design.Hey Blaine, could you tell us a bit about yourself?My name is Blaine Jensen. Im 38 years young and I live in Canada. Ivebeen involved with computers for as long as I can remember. My father took the firstever computer course ( I believe they called it an electronics degree then) that wasoffered where I live, so we are talking the mid-80s. I was introduced to computers with aApple IIC (My children still use this same computer whenever we visit my father.). Ilearned basic command language when I was a child, but never really did much with it.When I was a teenager, I started filming my friends and myself doing various sports. Imade snowboard films in the winter, and in the summer I made mountain bike,skateboard, and Moto Trials films.Behind a camera and sitting behind Adobe Premiere (6.0 at the time) was where Iwanted to be for the rest of my life. But, I had children when I was 19 so I needed to findanother career path. I became a red seal welder, and did that for about 12 years before Idecided I needed a change. For the last 5 years now Ive been managing a cannabisshop.How did you first get into 3D modeling and animation?It was actually sort of a perfect storm getting into 3D and animation. During thepandemic, I started a 3D printing business to help support my wife and other front-lineworkers she worked with. I was printing ear savers and other things like that for her totake into her work with her. Once we moved past the pandemic, my printer sat around forabout a year collecting dust. We decided why not start printing things I can sell at theshop I manage. I started with lighter cases and storage cases. Eventually, people startedasking me for custom prints. This proves difficult when you have no modelingexperience.Because of my apprenticeship for welding, I was well versed and excelled at blueprintdesign, so I figured I could sit down with Fusion 360 and have a go at modeling. It felt sostiff, and I just couldn't seem to design the things I wanted to. One of the modelers I hadsubscribed to released a short series of videos teaching how to customize his lightercases with Blender. Thiswas the first time I opened Blender, andit was also the last time I opened It for about threemonths. What inspired you to start using Blender?After a few months of being asked for custom prints, I decided I needed to sit downand really look at Blender. I knew from my past with NLE(Non-Linear Editing) programslike Premiere Pro and Final Cut, that if I just sat down and played around with theprogram I would eventually figure it out. So I sat down and started venturing the wideworld of youtube and the tutorials I could find on there. I started with the obligatoryBlender Guru Donut. Once I finished that, I was hooked. I had posted my results to myfriends and people didn't know it wasn't real. That was when the gears in my headstarted turning. I got excited at the idea of being able to create these things, whether it'sa donut, or an ocean, or a sunset. I was in love. It was an area I had never thought toenter before. All I knew was I needed more. I needed more tutorials, I needed moreknowledge. I wanted to squeeze every bit I could out of Blender.How did you discover CG Cookie?One of my customers at my store recommended CG Cookie to me. I hadseen videos on Youtube, and kept chasing more free content to try and help me learn. Ikept at it for a few more months, but I struggled with YouTube tutorials. I was beingtold/shown what to do, but I wasn't really understanding why I was doing each step ofthe process. I was starting to run out of gas, I was making these animations or these stillrenders, but I still didn't really feel like I knew what I was doing at all.Enter CG Cookie. I signed up for a month of CG Cookie in April of this year (2024). I think I only made it two weeks into the CG Cookie courses before deciding to swap to a yearmembership because I knew I was going to be in this community for the long haul now.What were your initial thoughts when you first joined the platform?Honestly, I was like a kid in a candy store. There were so many Blender courses, I probablyspent my first day just making a playlist of all the different courses I wanted to take.Spoiler alert, Im pretty sure my playlist ended up with everything that's offered on thesite.But I was really blown away by the amount of content. There was instruction for prettymuch every aspect of blender.I was a little scared, if you will, to post my first submission for a course. I didn't knowwhat sort of response I would get. Omar got back to me on my submission within acouple hours and it was a delightful response, pointing out all the things I did well, aswell as making notes on what I could have done to take my render to the next level.Which courses have you taken or the most beneficial?Kent is an absolute legend! The Sessions courses are so great!Showing you whatyou can achieve in just a couple hours! The minimalism and macro courses were the firstones I started. As a photographer/videographer, the Macro course was the first to standout to me. The thought that I can make the same sort of macro shots in Blender that Ican take with a DSLR, that blew my mind. Kent is a great teacher and he really does athorough job of explaining everything youre doing as he goes through it. This issomething that is sorely lacking in the free tutorials that are out there on the internet.The community has been great as well. Everyone is always willing to lend a hand with aquestion or help you where you might get stuck on something in a course. Seeingeveryones work in the gallery is also a big inspiration. Some of the pieces make me want to revisit and rework some of my previous submissions. As a side note, Id like to say Im pretty sure Omar doesn't sleep. I don't know how he manages to always be around and help people out. Like I said, I'm pretty sure hedoesnt sleep. Huge shout out to Omar.Can you share a project or achievement that you are particularly proud of since joiningCG Cookie?Honestly, pretty much everything Ive done since joining. Each course I complete,each project I finish, its better than the last. Being able to visualize my progress and mylearning with each project has really been a confidence builder. A couple months back Ifound myself going through one of the courses and realized I was doing a lot of theprocess ahead of the instructor. I was adding color ramps and noise textures, notbecause I was being told to, but because I knew the natural progression of building upthat material or layering up the composition. It hit me, woah, I think I kinda know whatIm doing now. At least at a basic level.But If I had to choose a project or two that Im most proud of, Id have to say the Oceanmodule or the Laptop module from the Sessions Macro course. As basic as the oceanproject was, the results were absolutely stunning. I loved how my version came out.Almost dreamy with the bokeh and the reflections. My laptop project was the first time Iventured out, applying my own materials, taking things I had learned from other coursesand applying them to this one.What challenges have you faced while learning Blender or during your projects?At first, it was definitely the user interface. Coming from NLE programs, I knew thatthe UI can be overwhelming sometimes. Getting the hang of all the windows or splittingwindows took a bit of getting used to. Past that, I don't want to say that I didnt strugglewith things, as I did, but they were really rather minimal. Nodes changing betweenversions or hotkeys changing. Booleans are fun. Super frustrating sometimes, especiallywhen you have 12 or 15 booleans hanging out in the modifier stack.Sometimes, it's a matter of running out of gas. Sometimes I just need to step back, takea day, and come back to the project with a clear head.How did you overcome these challenges, and what role did CG Cookie play in thisprocess?The community is a huge help here. I love that you can post a question, and generally, within an hour, someone has responded with an answer. I ran into issues with mybooleans on my laptop, so I posted a question about why some were working and somewerent. I had 4 or 5 answers within an hour or so and it solved my issues. I was able tocontinue on and finish off my laptop. There aren't too many communities Ive seen that are as supportive and helpful as CG Cookie.What advice would you give to new members of the CG Cookie community?Stick with it. It can seem daunting. Start with the foundations, but don't be afraid towork on other courses at the same time. Let your learning lead the way. If you want tolearn about lighting, go work on that. Dont feel like you need to work through things in acertain order.But my biggest advice would be persistence. If you feel like you're lost and you just keepworking through projects, feeling like you're just following along and not learning per se.Trust me, it all sinks in after some time. Your confidence will build more and more, and atsome point youll realize you know way more than you think you do.Visit Blaine's CG Cookie Profile