Meet-the-Member Ryan: "I want to make game characters with Blender"

Finding Blender during the Pandemic

Based in California, Ryan came to Blender via his true passion - game development. "Making games has been one of my goals," says Ryan "and it was a chance to learn to be more creative and artistic."

Like many of our members, Ryan has always had an appreciation for art, but never actively pursued it.

During the pandemic, Ryan tried his hand at making games and realized he is going to need characters to fill his worlds with: that's where Blender enters the picture.

The Cookie That Started it All

Ryan's arrival to CG Cookie was perhaps no coincidence...since one of his first Blender models was a cookie. 

Ryan's cookie render, made in Blender

Incidentally, chocolate chip is not Ryan's favorite. "I would always opt for the danish butter cookies or Knott's shortbread cookies with the jam in the middle," he says.  

Learn Blender, Make Game Characters

Ryan proves that having a vision is crucial to keep your motivation high, which is why we encourage our members to set a clear goal for their Blender journey.

For Ryan, it is populating the games he wants to make in the future: "I'd love to create characters and make my own assets in Blender," he says. His main pursuit of character modeling also ties well with his hobby of figure collecting.

And he's well on his way. "I never thought I could create models myself," says Ryan - that is, until he took Kent Trammell's sculpting courses on CG Cookie. "These are super fulfilling!" 

One of Ryan's creations is the shark from Kent's classic Sculpting course. 

Game development is the goal of many of our members and Blender is an indespensable tool in any game dev's utility belt - and Ryan's Lifetime Membership ensures he'll never run out of fresh things to learn.

(Watch: Fundamentals of Digital Scuplting with Blender)  

Ryan, we look forward to playing one of your games in the future!