Even though we’re already a week into 2023, I was curious about our most-watched content from last year.
If you’re looking to learn Blender, there are so many training choices, it can be overwhelming. After reviewing our analytics I’ve found the most watched tutorials for 2022 in the CG Cookie eco-system. Not surprisingly, content related to helping get people get started with Blender and character creation ranked toward the top.
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Most watched Blender Courses on http://cgcookie.com 🍪
Courses on CG Cookie are typically defined as projects or a collection of intentional content to help you achieve a skillset or end result. The time to take these courses can take from a weekend session, all the way to a full year of commitment. Let’s see which ones topped the charts this year.
10 | Fundamentals of Digital Sculpting
Learn all the essential tools, features, and techniques about sculpting with Blender and lay the foundation of one Blender basics method, Sculpt Mode.
Watch the Fundamentals of Sculpting Tutorial
9 | Fundamentals of Texturing
At some point in your Blender 3D journey, you will undoubtedly have questions about textures.
What exactly is a CG texture? How does texturing work in Blender? What is the difference between UV wrapping and UV mapping? How to add textures in Blender? What are the different types of Blender textures?
Watch the Fundamentals of Texturing Tutorial
8 | Fundamentals of Materials and Shading
In this Blender course, learn how to create materials and shaders. Whether you're going for a stylized or realistic look, this 40-lesson course with a practice Blender exercise will teach you how to do it.
Watch the Fundamentals of Materials and Shading Tutorial
7 | Learn How to Rig Anything in Blender with the Fundamentals
Rigs, armatures, bones, parenting, space, and bone constraints: learn all the tools and techniques for rigging in Blender. This is the first step to animating your 3d models or characters in Blender and we'll take it slow, perfect for those starting with the blender basics.
Watch the Rigging Fundamentals Tutorial
6 | Create Realistic Industrial Environments with Blender and Eevee
Learn to build photo-realistic industrial environments with Blender and Eevee in this tutorial course.
Simple Blender 3D modeling techniques combined with robust procedural materials make for a powerful creative experience!
Watch how to create this environment in Blender
5 | Fundamentals of 3D Mesh Modeling
Interested in getting started with Blender 3D Modeling? Then grab a default cube and let's jump right in!
This Blender tutorial course will take you through all the essential 3D mesh modeling workflows and useful Blender tools. Plus, you'll gain an understanding of how various tools work, and not just what buttons to push. Knowing when to use a particular setting or modifier at the right time can cut hours off your project time!
Watch the 3D Mesh Modeling Fundamentals Course
4 | POTHEAD - Create a Hard Surface Character in Blender
With an adorable old robot as your guide, learn how to create a Blender character, step-by-step in this deep-dive course. Workflows include hard surface, subdiv modeling, hand-painted texturing, and procedural textures.
Watch how to create this character
3 | PRESS START - Your Simple First Blender Project
Blender beginners, this project is made for you: practice basic Blender workflows like modeling, texturing, and lighting. Create your very own Blender model and learn the essentials of 3D creation.
Watch this Blender Tutorial for free to get started
2 | HUMAN - Realistic Portrait Creation with Blender
The art of 3D portrait creation is demystified. This Blender tutorial course spans over 28 hours of video, teaching the entire process step-by-step from scratch. 100% Blender. No Zbrush, no Substance, no commercial add-ons or textures. Everything you need to know about creating photorealistic human faces
Watch how to create realistic humans in Blender
1 | Blender Basics - An introduction to Blender 3D 🏆
In this Blender tutorial, you're going to learn the essentials of Blender. Navigating the viewport, understanding edit mode to working with Blend files.
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Most watched Blender Youtube Videos 📺
If you’re looking for a full experience, joining CG Cookie as a Citizen is the way to go to seriously learn Blender. Though there is a ton of great content on Youtube to piece together, CG Geek, Ducky 3D, and Southern Shotty to name a few.
The CG Cookie youtube channel serves as a creative outlet for our instructors and enables us to kick out a quick tip or trick that may not fit into the larger curriculum here on CG Cookie.
In 2022 the channel received 6.4 million views, with just over 341,000 hours of watch time.
Here are the top videos we released in 2022.
10 | Why Blender Why Trailer (85k views)
Why Blender Why videos address your most common Blender questions in bite-sized answers.
For this project, creator Omar Domenech recreated the Blender interface in Blender to take you inside Blender 🤯 Learn more about how and why this series was created in Blender.
9 | Three Node Recipes To Get You Started In Blender Geometry Nodes 3.0 (86k views)
Chris Bailey takes us through 3 quick and easy node recipes for creating cool effects in Geometry Nodes in Blender 3.0! Learn to extrude curves and add depth to geometry, distort the surface of a mesh with noise, and cause instances to point to a moving object in your scene. These three-node recipes will be a powerful addition to your Geometry Nodes tool kit.
8 | 26 Essential Blender Tips for UV Unwrapping Subdivision Surfaces (128k views)
Speed up your UV unwrapping workflow in Blender with these tips from CG Cookie's Pothead character creation course!
7 | BLENDER BASICS 1: Intro to Blender 3.0 and CG Cookie (136k views)
Whether you're completely new to the world of 3D graphics, switching over from another 3D Software, or a rusty returning hero from the 2.5 days, the Blender Basics will guide you through your first steps in Blender 3x!
6 | Top 6 Blender Nodes to Make any Material in Blender (150k views)
Chris Bailey takes you through the top 6 Blender shader nodes you need to make ANY material in Blender! If you want to start creating your own procedural materials or want to sharpen your existing skills as a CG artist this Cg Cookie Blender tutorial is for you!
5 | How good is “Spring”? Blender Animated Short Film Review (158k views)
Spring is the story of a shepherd girl and her dog, who face ancient spirits in order to continue the cycle of life. This poetic and visually stunning short film was written and directed by Andy Goralczyk, inspired by his childhood in the mountains of Germany.
The Spring team used the development version of Blender 2.80 for the entire production, even before the software was in official Beta.
Hot on the heels of its premiere, we're excited to dive into the latest short film from the Blender Animation Studio. Join Kent Trammell, Jonathan Lampel, Wayne Dixon, and Tim Von Rueden as we discuss the film as movie lovers and Blender heads.
4 | Six Key Principles for 3D Modeling (183k views)
If you're getting started with modeling in Blender, these are the 6 key tips you have to know to get your skills to the next level.
There is a lot of noise when it comes to 3D modeling in Blender, but it can all be simplified into a few basic rules that apply to any model you are creating.
3 | Let’s make coffee: Blender fluid sim (Manta flow) for beginners, (208k views)
In this exciting Blender tutorial, CG Cookie contributor Chris Bailey shows us how to get started with manta flow and fluid simulations in Blender. This video gets straight to the facts and shows you everything you need to know to get started creating cool fluid simulations for your blender projects! Let's make some coffee! ☕️
2 | The ONLY 5 Modeling tools you need to make anything in Blender (379k views)
Chris Bailey takes us through the top 5 Blender beginner modeling tools you need to model ANYTHING in Blender! Start with nothing but a cube and use these tools to take your model in any direction. If you want to start 3D modeling or want to sharpen your existing skills as a CG artist this tutorial is for you!
1 | Making Photorealistic 3D Portraits From Scratch (553k views) 🏆
Have you ever wondered how realistic 3D portraits are created from scratch? No scan data, no Metahuman, no photo textures - just an artist, a Wacom tablet, and a FREE 3D creation application called Blender.
Sneak a peek into the world of hand-made 3D portraiture to see how skills like digital sculpting, texture painting, materials, hair grooming, and rendering combine their powers to create stunningly realistic faces.
All the footage in this video comes from an in-depth tutorial course spanning over 28 hours of real-time instruction. If you want to learn every detail of the workflow, watch the course as a CG Cookie subscriber.
