Mastering Blender and Navigating a Creative Career with Elijah Sheffield

School of Motion Podcast

Blender artist and motion designer Elijah Sheffield shares how he transitioned into 3D, built a standout demo reel, and turned personal projects into career-defining moments. Check out the corresponding blog post (with episode highlights) here: https://www.schoolofmotion.com/blog/elijah-sheffield-blender 👉 CHAPTERS 👈 00:00 Coming Up 00:22 Elijah Sheffield's Background and Early Career 01:29 Discovering Motion Design 03:32 College and Grad School Experience 13:30 First Job and Career Challenges 18:11 Finding the Motivation to Make Demo Reel Pieces 23:31 Transition to Freelance 26:41 Social Media's Impact on Career 34:52 Having a Freelance Plan 42:00 Pain and Rainbows of Freelance Work 44:18 Challenges and Rewards of Learning Blender 49:35 Finding a Style 55:16 Blender Learning Curve 01:03:28 Integrating Blender into Your 3D Pipeline 01:20:21 The Future of Blender 01:24:12 That's a Wrap!

🗒️ SHOW NOTES Artists: Elijah Sheffield https://www.behance.net/sweetboymotion# EJ Hassenfratz https://www.youtube.com/@eyedesyn/videos Myles Bolden https://mylesjbolden.myportfolio.com/ Jonathan Winbush https://www.youtube.com/@JonathanWinbush/ Norm MacDonald https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norm_Macdonald Chris Smith https://csmithstudios.com/ Joey Korenman https://www.linkedin.com/in/joeykorenman Andrew Kramer https://www.videocopilot.net/

Studios: School of Motion https://www.schoolofmotion.com/ SCAD (Savannah College of Art and Design) https://www.scad.edu/ Pixar https://www.pixar.com/ DreamWorks https://www.dreamworks.com/

Work: Museum of History and Magic https://www.museumhm.org/ Killdozer https://www.instagram.com/sweetboy.motion/p/Cw0os46AIZN/ Spider-Verse https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spider-Man:_Across_the_Spider-Verse Ninja Turtles Arcane https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arcane_(TV_series)

Resources: Greyscalegorilla https://greyscalegorilla.com/ Maya https://www.autodesk.com/products/maya/overview?term=1-YEAR&tab=subscription ZBrush https://www.maxon.net/en/zbrush Cinema 4D https://www.maxon.net/en/cinema-4d Blender https://www.blender.org/ Unreal Engine Course https://www.schoolofmotion.com/courses/unreal-engine-for-3d-artists Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/ Demo Reel Dash https://www.schoolofmotion.com/courses/demo-reel-dash

Arnold https://www.autodesk.com/products/arnold/overview Eevee https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/latest/render/eevee/introduction.html Grease Pencil https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/latest/grease_pencil/index.html Clay Pencil https://pepeschoolland.gumroad.com/l/ibbls Donut Tutorial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0J27sf9N1Y&list=PLjEaoINr3zgEPv5y--4MKpciLaoQYZB1Z STL files https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STL_(file_format) Blender Market https://blendermarket.com/ Freelance Manifesto https://www.amazon.com/Freelance-Manifesto-Modern-Motion-Designer-ebook/dp/B071JRYMSG