CG Cookie Member Feature: Blaine Jensen

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. I’m 38 years young and I live in Canada. I’ve been involved with computers for as long as I can remember.

My father took the first ever computer course ( I believe they called it an electronics degree then) that was offered where I live, so we are talking the mid-80’s.

I was introduced to computers with a Apple IIC (My children still use this same computer whenever we visit my father.). I learned 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. I made 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 I wanted to be for the rest of my life. But, I had children when I was 19 so I needed to find another career path.

I became a red seal welder, and did that for about 12 years before I decided I needed a change. For the last 5 years now I’ve been managing a cannabis shop.

How did you first get into 3D modeling and animation?

It was actually sort of a perfect storm getting into 3D and animation. During the pandemic, I started a 3D printing business to help support my wife and other front-line workers she worked with.

I was printing ear savers and other things like that for her to take into her work with her. Once we moved past the pandemic, my printer sat around for about a year collecting dust.

We decided why not start printing things I can sell at the shop I manage. I started with lighter cases and storage cases.

Eventually, people started asking me for custom prints. This proves difficult when you have no modeling experience. Because of my apprenticeship for welding, I was well versed and excelled at blueprint design, so I figured I could sit down with Fusion 360 and have a go at modeling. It felt so stiff, and I just couldn't seem to design the things I wanted to.

One of the modelers I had subscribed to released a short series of videos teaching how to customize his lighter cases with Blender. This was the first time I opened Blender, and it was also the last time I opened It for about three months. 😁

What inspired you to start using Blender?

After a few months of being asked for custom prints, I decided I needed to sit down and really look at Blender.

I knew from my past with NLE(Non-Linear Editing) programs like Premiere Pro and Final Cut, that if I just sat down and played around with the program I would eventually figure it out.

So I sat down and started venturing the wide world of youtube and the tutorials I could find on there. I started with the obligatory Blender Guru Donut. Once I finished that, I was hooked. I had posted my results to my friends and people didn't know it wasn't real. That was when the gears in my head started turning.

I got excited at the idea of being able to create these things, whether it's a donut, or an ocean, or a sunset. I was in love. It was an area I had never thought to enter before. All I knew was I needed more. I needed more tutorials, I needed more knowledge.

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 had seen videos on Youtube, and kept chasing more free content to try and help me learn. I kept at it for a few more months, but I struggled with YouTube tutorials.

I was being told/shown what to do, but I wasn't really understanding why I was doing each step of the process. I was starting to run out of gas, I was making these animations or these still renders, 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 year membership 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 probably spent my first day just making a playlist of all the different courses I wanted to take.

Spoiler alert, I’m pretty sure my playlist ended up with everything that's offered on the site. But I was really blown away by the amount of content. There was instruction for pretty much every aspect of blender. I was a little scared, if you will, to post my first submission for a course.

I didn't know what sort of response I would get. Omar got back to me on my submission within a couple hours and it was a delightful response, pointing out all the things I did well, as well 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 Session’s courses are so great! Showing you what you can achieve in just a couple hours!

The minimalism and macro courses were the first ones I started. As a photographer/videographer, the Macro course was the first to stand out to me. The thought that I can make the same sort of macro shots in Blender that I can take with a DSLR, that blew my mind. Kent is a great teacher and he really does a thorough job of explaining everything you’re doing as he goes through it.

This is something 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 a question or help you where you might get stuck on something in a course.

Seeing everyone’s 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, I’d like to say I’m 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 he doesn’t sleep. Huge shout out to Omar.

Can you share a project or achievement that you are particularly proud of since joining CG Cookie?

Honestly, pretty much everything I’ve done since joining. Each course I complete, each project I finish, its better than the last. Being able to visualize my progress and my learning with each project has really been a confidence builder.

A couple months back I found myself going through one of the courses and realized I was doing a lot of the process ahead of the instructor. I was adding color ramps and noise textures, not because I was being told to, but because I knew the natural progression of building up that material or layering up the composition. It hit me, “woah, I think I kinda know what I’m doing now. At least at a basic level”.

But If I had to choose a project or two that I’m most proud of, I’d have to say the Ocean module or the Laptop module from the Session’s Macro course.

As “basic” as the ocean project 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 I ventured out, applying my own materials, taking things I had learned from other courses and 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 that the UI can be overwhelming sometimes. Getting the hang of all the windows or splitting windows took a bit of getting used to. Past that, I don't want to say that I didn’t struggle with things, as I did, but they were really rather minimal.

Nodes changing between versions or hotkeys changing. Booleans are fun. Super frustrating sometimes, especially when 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, take a 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 this process?

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 my booleans on my laptop, so I posted a question about why some were working and some weren’t. I had 4 or 5 answers within an hour or so and it solved my issues. I was able to continue on and finish off my laptop.

There aren't too many communities I’ve 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 to work on other courses at the same time.

Let your learning lead the way. If you want to learn about lighting, go work on that. Don’t feel like you need to work through things in a certain order.

But my biggest advice would be persistence. If you feel like you're lost and you just keep working 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 at some point you’ll realize you know way more than you think you do.

Visit Blaine's CG Cookie Profile