Are you new to CG Cookie? Say hi to your new Blender tribe! 🍪

Wes Burke

Welcome, fellow cosmic traveler in search of delicious crumbs of Blender wisdom.

You've come to the right place. So let's get to know each other!

I'll go first: my name is Wes and I founded CG Cookie over 10 years ago...and then immediately forgot why I called it that.  😅Besides 3d art, I'm obsessed with motorcycles, coffee, and creating projects that bring people together. You can learn more about me at http://wesburke.com 

You see, I just love the buzz of creative energy that's generated by us humans making stuff...whether that's decaf coffee, bike engines, or computer graphics.

When I'm not on my Peloton or tweaking my bike in the garage, I'm wrestling hanging out with my 4 kids (yes, four!) or putting out fires - mostly digital ones.

And who are you?

So now I'm curious - what's your name and why are you here?

Say hi and share your story with us, and don't worry - we only bite cookies around here.

1 love
Reply
  • adrian replied

    Rule #1 Don't Crash!!

    Is that a Blender thing??

  • hundheltenkelt replied

    Hello! 

    I'm a Swedish dog trainer who joined CG Cookie  about three weeks ago. We do a lot of online courses (especially with the covid year...) and ideally I would like to learn to make simple animations, explainers, things like that for our course content. "Simple" I'm sure is the wrong word, and it may be a ridiculous goal even - I don't know enough yet to have a realistic understanding of what one person can ever do. 😂


    Regardless though, I really enjoy learning something new and challenging. Blender is a lot of fun! I really enjoy the courses I've looked at so far, and it's absolutely awesome that the lessons can be downloaded. I try to listen to lessons while I'm driving or walking the dog, I can't quite grasp everything with just the audio but at least the content is familiar to me when I can sit down to watch for real - I need to hear things many times to understand even a little, Blender is hard!

    Last week I killed my computer and lost a lot of files, among them my projects. I'd fought really hard with the Stylized 3d forest environment course, it was difficult to understand and I kept making mistakes, but eventually I had the basic setup to start changing things around and experimenting - and then, gone... 

    I'm choosing to think it's a good thing though, because I had such a hard time getting through it I probably should start from scratch again anyway... 😆

    With work and my dog (a young cane corso with lots of destructive energy 😂) I can't spend as much time on Blender as I would perhaps like, but I'll keep pushing forward and I'll see how far I get!

  • Wes Burke replied

    Hah! It certainly does apply to both!

  • Wes Burke replied

    I do subscribe to it's oddly a good thing to have to start over, I even wrote a small blog article on it.  😎https://cgcookie.com/articles/delete-start

    I love that you listen to it before actually taking it. I think this is a smart approach to allow the sub-conscious to noodle on things before you sit down and tackle the lesson. Pleased to meet you, welcome to the Cookie and looking forward to those explainer videos! Happy Blending!

  • Mike Hadden(alataks) replied

    Hi there, I'm Mike! I work for an ecommerce company, but also breed Golden Retrievers with my girlfriend. I am the tech guy for our breeding business (tech guy is an all-encompassing term for 'person who does the creative work and also knows tech stuff' in our house) and I make puppy reveal videos for each litter that goes home. Part of why I want to learn Blender is to spice up these videos, make animations for them, etc. I'd also like to learn game design as well.

    The other part is because I've always been creative and kinda lost that for a while in my life. I went to school to be a music composer, but while I was good at it (great even) I ended up having a family losing touch with that stuff. Fast forward through a bunch of years and I want to get back to when I was drawing and writing stories and making music. 

    I'm setting myself a goal here to not only use what I learn here for my puppy reveal videos, but also to great a game! And then who knows what else from there -- the sky is the limit!

    And because I can... here's a picture of some puppies!

  • Wes Burke replied

    Hey Mike, welcome to the Cookie, and thanks for sharing. What an interesting use-case for Blender. You've piqued my interest. Given we also picked up a puppy during Covid at the Burke house I'm all too familiar with the puppy world. She's doing great though! 

    Love the attitude, I'm excited to see what you create. It's the whether you think you can or cannot, you're right. You've got this and welcome to the Cookie! 🍪

    Depending on what you're looking to build for the videos, the fundamental courses are always a good start to lay that foundation so you can create whatever you think up and even be a bit inspired along the way. Feel free to reach out to me personally or hit up David on [email protected] for any account support, and we'll point you in the right direction. 

    Happy Blending!


    W



  • Mike Hadden(alataks) replied

    Hey Wes!

    Thanks for the welcome reply :) Possibly using it for our breeding business is just one of the many uses of Blender I can foresee for myself, but really I just love the possibilities it can add to where I can go if I really do end up liking this stuff!

    I hit a wall with some basic stuff on YouTube as I learn in a weird way and need a more guided, linear approach. So far everything is great, I'm knee deep in the rocket tutorial and loving it! Just some slight differences between 2.8 and 2.93 (that I'm using) are causing some minor headaches, but also noticing others having the same issue -- loving what I see in the community so far too (for the questions/answers on the videos at least).

    That's so great about the new puppy? What breed did you end up going with? Doggos are a blessing and I couldn't ever see living without them!

    Again, thanks for the welcome and the offer to help personally (and volunteering David haha) with questions -- so far this is a great experience!


    ~ Mike

  • Wes Burke replied

    I'm a huge fan of the rocket project. What better way to end it with an animated rocket taking off! 

    Please don't be shy with questions as your diving in on that or any other course on CG Cookie. Our instructors stalk the forums and other members are fantastic to jump in before we wake up sometimes. 

    She's an Aussie-Doodle, just turned a year this past May. 



  • Mike Hadden(alataks) replied

    Awesome, thanks for that, Wes! And thanks for sharing a pic of your girl -- she's beautiful!

  • tasosn replied

    hello from me too.

      My name is Tasos and I live in Greece I work in a supermarket but in recent years I really like to deal with the world of cg.

     I find it fantastic to create something from scratch and I hope to do it sometime in the future and as a job

     so far I like it a lot of what I see here at cgcookie and I have an appetite to learn and get better.

    these from me!



  • Mike Hadden(alataks) replied

    Hey Tasos! Welcome :) 

  • Wes Burke replied

    Hey Tasos! Welcome to the Cookie. 🍪

    Working in 3D/CG can be incredibly frustrating, yet highly rewarding if you stick with it, are persistent and self-motivated. Which it sounds like you are! 

    If you're brand new to Blender I'd recommend hitting up these two learning flows: 


    Happy Blending and look forward to seeing what you create!

  • tasosn replied
  • adrian replied

    Hey everyone!

    I'm not so new to CG Cookie, but I thought I'd pop in and say hi.

    You may have seen me wandering the corridors of the forum, answering questions, grading exercises, giving feedback on your progress and looking in wonder at all the great stuff in the gallery.

    Those that are new to CG Cookie and haven't already done so, come and say hi in this post, and I would encourage posting a progress thread of your learning curve in the forum, to help keep you motivated by looking back at how far you have come on your journey, and to receive constructive feedback on what you create from the 100's of courses available. You can also take a look at what others are doing, you might pick up some ideas or see something you would do differently and help out someone that maybe struggling.

    That's what stands out here at CG Cookie, not only is there 100's of courses made by the best tutors, but a great community, all supporting each other to create something special.

    You probably already heard about Collab2020 - The Backhoe and Collab2021 - The Spice Vendors House, these two projects gave me personally a huge assist on my learning curve and I would highly recommend getting involved in future Collabs and upcoming challenges, they are designed in away to work along side and boost what you learn from the pre-recorded courses.

    If your looking for where to start your journey, check out Your First Week with Blender and CGCookie learning flow and also The Fundamentals of Becoming a Skilled Blender Artist , if your looking to tackle animation with Blender the Animation in Blender workflow is the place where you can get it moving.

    I wish you well on your journey and hope to catch up with you again soon.

    Happy Blendering.

    Remember when it feels like it's getting tough, give a shout on the community and someone will answer. You can always tag me, '@adrian2301'.

    And Eat Cookies and Carry On...

  • Sébastien Lenaerts(slenaerts) replied

    Heya all,  Séb here.

    Nice to meet you all!

    Happy to find a place to start taking CG seriously.  I'm a digital marketing freelancer from Antwerp, Belgium who wants to move to a more creative and human side of marketing (or if I may really dream : Be part of a movie VFX crew ...).  

    Always been intrigued by digital arts, tried to do some Rhino 3D and 3DStudio max when I was a student a good 15 years ago, but was kinda overwhelmed and never touched it again... until, during Corona I got teased by some VFX react videos... that lead me to some of nice blender tutorials and suddenly it all seemed more accessible and to make sense. So here I am. Wanting to go next level (and stick to it)  

    In addition to 3D i'm also into: Guitar, Coffee, Running, movies and Beers. 

     Cheers!

  • adrian replied

    Welcome slenaerts ,

    I'm sure you will find CG Cookie is a great place to learn Blender.

    The courses are packed with great content and a few exercises to help embed what you have learnt.

    I have already noticed your progress thread is up and running, you were quick off the blocks with that. Sorry, couldn't help use the athlete reference.

    I look forward to following you on your journey, and use  the community to ask questions / feedback.

    Grab your coffee and help yourself to cookies 🍪, there's enough for everyone.

    Beers to celebrate later. 🍻

  • Ryan Sweeney(sweenist) replied

    Hi, my name is Ryan. I'm I Software Engineer by day. I've been involved with Blender and consuming CGCookie content since 2013.

    I like scripting and automating things so the Blender Add-on capabilities are where I tend to spend my time when I do flirt with Blender.

    I live in Indiana with my wife, 3 kids, a dog, and a cat (I usually forget about the cat... he's a recluse). I play in a cover band around town and a into ultra marathons. Apparently, I've become a collector of KHDK Guitar pedals as well.

    Thanks for curating CGC into what it is today Wes and team ❤

  • Dwayne Savage(dillenbata3) replied

    Howdy,

    My name is Dwayne and I'm a Blender Artist wannabe. I want to do 3D animation as a hobby. I joined CGCookie to up my understanding and hopefully skill with Blender. I'm also looking forward to the new Geometry nodes. I also plan on using Blender to spice up youtube videos explaining how to play the Role-Playing Game GURPS. 

  • adrian replied

    Hi sweenist ,

    I have seen you around, CGC is great ain't it, it's where all us cool kids hang out.

  • adrian replied

    Hey dillenbata3 ,

    You are in the right place to boost your understanding and skill in Blender. You should check out the fundamentals courses, they will definitely give you a good start on your journey.

    Fundamentals of Mesh Modelling

    Fundamentals of Digital Sculpting

    Fundamentals of Digital Lighting

    Fundamentals of Materials and Shading

    Fundamentals of texturing in Blender

    Fundamentals of Rigging

    Fundamentals of Animation in Blender

    Also check out the complete Blender Playlists. 

    A good idea is to create your own thread on the forum to keep track of your learning progress. It also helps to keep you motivated by seeing your progress. You can also receive feedback and tips.

    Enjoy the journey.