PRESS START: Your Simple First Blender Project

Instructor:
Jonathan Lampel

Looking for a simple modeling, texturing and lighting Blender project?

This Blender course is...

✅ made for beginners (or those who need a refresh)
✅ perfect as your first Blender project
✅ possible to complete on a weekend
✅ designed to be customized by you
❌ for creating a real game console (sorry!)

Oh, did I mention... we're keeping it light 
Creating in Blender should be fun, first and foremost. 

That is why we're bringing back an iconic 80s handheld gaming console from an alternate CG Cookie universe.

This object, though eternal and glorious, is just an example for teaching you the Blender workflow... so you can get up and running on creating your own endless Blender projects.

Totally new to Blender?

Watch the Blender Basics first 
Don't worry: it's quick. You'll learn to navigate in 3d space, move objects, and more. 
Stream the Blender Basics

1️⃣ First, we'll model the console

In this part, you will learn how to...

  • model in Blender from a reference image
  • create your own mesh shapes
  • use the most important modeling tools
  • use modifiers (makes your life easier!)


2️⃣ Next, we'll add materials and textures

A model without textures is like a rhino without a pink bow on its horn. Just... boring.

Learn how to:
  • add materials
  • apply and customize textures 
  • load an animation
  • use a generated pattern

3️⃣ Let's light this and get to rendering

To make our model shine, we will apply nice, basic Blender lighting and render it out for the ultimate beauty shot.

Ultimately, you can make your own little pocket game console and customize and shape it however you want.

Plus: Learn how to troubleshoot and avoid pitfalls

Starting with Blender can be overwhelming. I'll show you the mistakes to avoid and the tricks I wish I knew when I was first starting out.

Feeling lost? We're here to help.

As CG Cookie member, you can ask any questions along the way and we will help you out with any roadblocks.

We also want to see your result: share your final render in CG Cookie Gallery so the rest of us can see your masterpiece! 

We love sharing your work on our social media, so make sure to tag your @ handles to your profile.

Get Caught Up

Are you brand new to Blender?

These courses should help you get up to speed in no time.

Awarded upon completion:
100xp +
Course Curriculum
36 Reviews
  • d
    demonslayer112 ·

    Hmm...however, this may help someone create a case for a homemade game console! So i claim a big ✅!

  • cameramannz1986 ·

    Having used blender for about nearly 3 years I know a lot of stuff but by doing beginner tutorials like this one I have picked up a lot of little tricks that I did not know about

  • J
    José Chong(Joshumi) ·

    I'm new to modeling in Blender. I have experience in other CADs like Fusion and Alias. I can confidently say that blender will be my main software.

    From what I can see this has the ability to model in a combined way, I'm excited to learn how to model more complex surfaces and use things like modifiers and material nodes.

    The course seemed clear to me and my doubts were resolved in the course of the videos. I asked a question on the forum and it was answered within a few hours.

    So far I am satisfied with this kind of tutorials.

  • UNIQASPERMA ·

    At first glance, I almost didn't do this course because I felt like I could finish the portable gaming console with the knowledge that I had. But at the same time, something told me that the courses here were enriched with essential information and I shouldn't miss this opportunity to further solidify my basics. And now that I have just finished the modeling module, I feel so happy that I'm doing this course! I've learned a lot of important things, especially points that many basics courses tend to overlook. Thank you Jonathan and CG Cookie.

  • Kendrick Granville(KreativeKendrick) ·

    I am beyond happy with my purchase of the CgCookie subscription and this course in particular. I think it is an amazing course and you won’t be disappointed with your investment. The instructor Jonathan examples everything very clearly although a bit fast (which is easily fixed by slowing the video speed down to (0.75 for me)) for beginners. It also fun and not a simple tedious slog of a course/project which I think is important to mention. Jonathan doesn’t sound like an uninterested teacher but more so a friend showing another friend a piece of software! In my experience you begin to learn hotkeys quickly and my understanding of what I was doing and maneuvering the camera in 3D space (which is essential) became drastically easier by the end of the project. I became able to troubleshoot my own problems and fix them myself which is epic since I’ve never done anything like this before in my life…that being said the community here is awesome!! They will always get back to you if you have a question. That was the MAIN reason I bought this subscription here instead of doing standalone YouTube video courses because of the potential for help for specific problems that can be hard to pinpoint in a google search. Over all I would recommend this and blender beginner course CgCookie has over on YouTube to anyone interested in pickup up 3D art.  I will be doing all the fundamentals course on here :D hope to see there too!

  • t
    travezripley ·

    Returning to the world of Hard Surface, and Blender. This was a great intro, well worth the time investment.
    I look forward to continuing within the CG Cookie World and Mastering Blender and 3D again.
    You guys have great content, amazing instructors and most of all FUN!

In playlist: Getting Started