Mastering Blender and Navigating a Creative Career with Elijah Sheffield

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