iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Neil Blevins @artofsoulburn.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

This #ThrowbackThursday while people have seen more robots out of me, I do enjoy designing alien #creatures and monsters now and again as well. Here's a few I've made over the years.

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Neil Blevins @artofsoulburn.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Another 2 tutorial Tuesday, a video showing a technique for making scratch textures using a scratchboard youtu.be/M6JyiwAF49Q and the other on Enhancing Bumps Through Rake Lighting, for those who light or shade in 3d youtu.be/85uYTfQZTJw

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Reposted by Neil Blevins

Lee Petty @leepetty.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

BTW, Ducks is brilliant. Thanks for that.

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Neil Blevins @artofsoulburn.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

After 18 yrs, my educational youtube channel just passed 1 million views! Hasn't been terribly profitable, but I'm not doing it for the money, I'm doing it because I enjoy contributing to the art community I care about. Thanks to everyone who has been a part of the journey youtube.com/artofsoulburn

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Neil Blevins @artofsoulburn.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Another 2 tutorial Tuesday, this is tree week, whether 2d or 3d. How to create a tree brush in affinity: youtu.be/ivX2Oku785U And for the modelers among you, tips for modeling betters trees in any piece of 3d software you choose youtu.be/2fg3NpzvMxs

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Neil Blevins @artofsoulburn.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

A little Bonus video tutorial for the week talking about the difference between explicit and implicit procedural noise: youtu.be/ODymscb48iQ

youtu.be

Implicit and Explicit Procedural Noise

YouTube video by ArtOfSoulburn

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Neil Blevins @artofsoulburn.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

This #ThrowbackThursday About 30 years ago I made a series of #Fonts in #Fontographer While I am no font expert, I had a ton of fun developing these, and still use the skills (but not the software) today for logo work.

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Neil Blevins @artofsoulburn.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Trailer for Bard Bird's new animated film "Ray Gunn". Wish I'd had a chance to work on this, but we'll always have The Incredibles 1 and 2 :) www.youtube.com/watch?v=VL-x...

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Ray Gunn | Official Trailer | Netflix

YouTube video by Netflix

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Neil Blevins @artofsoulburn.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Two more videos, the first I show a common example of a False Color Texturing, bundling 3 separate masks into a single image split by color channel. youtu.be/dQ2G0Z_y9Xk Then I give some book recommendations for art students (and pros, aren't we all lifelong students?) youtu.be/q4Q1oOuXMmw

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Neil Blevins @artofsoulburn.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

This #ThrowbackThursday it's everyone's favorite shape, the #sphere! It's curved in 3 dimensions, it lets us play many sports, and we wouldn't have a world without it.

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Neil Blevins @artofsoulburn.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

One of the most visually daring scifi films ever gets a new art book, #FifthElement A bit of a different format, rather than just art, this contains the script to the film with concept art peppered all throughout related to the scene. It's almost like a narrative artbook. Recommended!

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Neil Blevins @artofsoulburn.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

This video is part of my making of series. I take the Passenger Rescue Drone I surfaced a few weeks ago and go through all of the materials / textures showing how they're made. Hopefully this practical example is helpful! youtu.be/WMBZWFxOXFw

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Neil Blevins @artofsoulburn.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Another two videos, the first is for #Affinity and #Photoshop users, giving a trick to create spun textures for cymbals, pots or robots youtu.be/WSBdUHXW9Oo Then one more Basic Material for Blender, Powder Coated Steel www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1td...

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Neil Blevins @artofsoulburn.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

This #ThrowbackThursday years ago I made a whole bunch of these funny aliens that were all mouth and not much else. I called them "Suckers", and had great fun trying to come up with as many variations as possible. All made in 3dsmax and photoshop.

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Neil Blevins @artofsoulburn.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

A Two-For Tutorial Tuesday! Here's two videos, one on creating Polished Metals in #Blender (should I use Metallic?), and one for creating Glazed Pottery youtu.be/G6WkwCeAH6I and youtu.be/8mm_S_Q9m9I

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Neil Blevins @artofsoulburn.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Another new making of book, the 4th and my favorite #StarTrek film. Really well made as usual, curious if they will make a 5th since Startrek 5 wasn't nearly as beloved as the first 4.

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Neil Blevins @artofsoulburn.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

This #ThrowbackThursday I celebrate the #futurecities I've illustrated over the years, both the bright and dark futures. May the dark ones remain science fiction #architecture

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Neil Blevins @artofsoulburn.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Made a new video that discusses 5 tips that relate to the way the human eye and brain perceives and interprets #Color when producing paintings, films or games. Color Relativity, Color Blindness, etc. www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Coq...

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5 Tips About The Way Humans Perceive Color

YouTube video by ArtOfSoulburn

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Neil Blevins @artofsoulburn.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Really interesting 11min video trying to unpack why it takes 10x the number of people to make what is essentially the same game 20 years later. Layers of unneeded management might be too simplistic an answer, but it is certainly a factor. www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5qK...

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The Invisible Layers Holding Games Back

YouTube video by Laura Fryer

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Neil Blevins @artofsoulburn.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

This #ThrowbackThursday My time on the first #Cars film at #Pixar This year is its 20th anniversary. Helped model and surface a number of environments for the project, my first time using Slim, the node based material editor for prman. Here's a number of the sets I contributed to.

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Neil Blevins @artofsoulburn.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Last year I had my students make a 3d animatic for a film based on a short story called Go. Now. Fix. by Timons Esaias. Took one of the characters they designed and did a more finished 3d model which I'll use in my teaching this year. Final model in max / blender, & shaded in blender.

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Neil Blevins @artofsoulburn.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

In this video tutorial, I discuss the importance of checking all your 3d assets in a neutral lighting rig to ensure your textures and materials will react to light as expected. I also do a demo on how make one in #Blender3d www.youtube.com/watch?v=37wW...

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Creating A Neutral Lighting Rig In Blender

YouTube video by ArtOfSoulburn

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Neil Blevins @artofsoulburn.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

I find painting alien rock landscapes very relaxing, a great way to unwind after a day of intense artistic thinking, analyzing and decision making. Here's one painted primarily in #Procreate, going for a more stylized color palette.

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Neil Blevins @artofsoulburn.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

As I continue my switch to #Blender3d, one thing I thought I was going to miss was the asset browser I wrote years ago for 3dsmax. Turns out Blender has one and it's actually quite good. This video goes over how to use it to save and recall material/object/env assets www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYMm...

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Neil Blevins @artofsoulburn.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

This #ThrowbackThursday it's #Pixar The Good Dinosaur. I was part of the asteroid team, sculpted the hero rocks, then FX team made the final belt which included hero & procedural rocks in the distance. Also did temp shading, with a final pass by another artist. Also textured a ton of corn.

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Neil Blevins @artofsoulburn.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

The new Art of #Avatar3 book has arrived, and once again it's filled with some of the best art in the industry, and quite detailed stories about the thinking behind the designs. Really well done.

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Neil Blevins @artofsoulburn.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

Back in the late 90s - early 2000s, I had carved out a niche for myself doing lots of #WiresAndTentacles So for this #ThrowbackThursday lets go way back, including an image I made in 1997 using 3dstudio max r2.

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Neil Blevins @artofsoulburn.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

With the latest layoffs at my alma mater #Pixar, I'd point out there's 2-3 Pixars worth of amazing talented people in their prime looking for work who want to make movies. If only investors had a fraction of the vision Steve Jobs had back when he started the company, they'd fund them to make magic.

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Neil Blevins @artofsoulburn.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

Here's a video discussing how to use #Blender3d to make a Distance Texture, which created a gradient that can be used to mix between multiple colors, patterns or materials based on a distance in world space. www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQ2W...

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Changing Material Based On Distance In Blender

YouTube video by ArtOfSoulburn

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Neil Blevins @artofsoulburn.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

Wow! Instagram’s AI just inflated my resume! This is why you should never believe these AIs on facts, it’s just a guessing machine (I did used to work at Pixar, I have been an art director, but I was never an art director at Pixar)

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Neil Blevins @artofsoulburn.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

Only recently found out you can do 3d texture painting on 3d models in #procreate This video shows the workflow youtu.be/CoyjgRWESKo

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3d Texture Painting In Procreate

YouTube video by ArtOfSoulburn

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Neil Blevins @artofsoulburn.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

For the next week (July 13th-20th) my pdf bundle is a full 50% off! Get pdf copies of all 5 of my scifi artbooks. Check it out here: artofsoulburn.gumroad.com/l/kufndh and use promo code ybg48bu at checkout.

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Neil Blevins @artofsoulburn.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

This #ThrowbackThursday let's temper that summer heat with winter, and look at some #snowy environments!

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Neil Blevins @artofsoulburn.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

4 quick videos on creating Glass, Rubber, Xray and Leather materials in Blender. These materials are basic, but if you're just getting started in Blender, it will give you an overview of the material building process as well as commonly used nodes. #blender3d #texturing www.youtube.com/artofsoulburn

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Reposted by Neil Blevins

Riker Googling @rikergoogling.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

are tribbles afraid of fireworks

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Neil Blevins @artofsoulburn.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

Probably the best #StarWars in the last decade, so happy it finally gets an artbook. Lots of stories in this one, really well researched and written, as well as the beautiful art of course :)

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Neil Blevins @artofsoulburn.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

This #ThrowbackThursday is all about #spores I've always loved electron #microscope photography, and was inspired 20 years ago by my buddy Michael Spaw and his explorations to do my own takes on the subject.

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Neil Blevins @artofsoulburn.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

Did you know you can use WASD to move your camera in Blender? This tutorial discusses this often overlooked method, along with other methods, and makes the case for which method works best for a particular situation. youtu.be/OOZt83Fow-s #camera #blender3d

youtu.be

Using WASD To Control Your Camera In Blender

YouTube video by ArtOfSoulburn

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Neil Blevins @artofsoulburn.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

A video where I discuss various techniques for fixing the lighting direction on a photobash painting. Did a video on this 5 years ago in Photoshop, this version uses Affinity www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_B1... #madeinaffinity

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Matching Lighting Direction In A Photobash In Affinity

YouTube video by ArtOfSoulburn

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Neil Blevins @artofsoulburn.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

After I don't know how many years of dev, @faustodemartini.bsky.social 's Magnum Opus is here, and it's spectacular. Contains a full illustrated novel + pages & pages of 3d concept art and models. This book is thick, the paper quality is some of the nicest I've ever seen. Bravo!

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Neil Blevins @artofsoulburn.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

Here's my doodles from June's Workshop Academy drink 'n draw in Seattle. #robot #bot #mech #mecha #droid #doodle

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Neil Blevins @artofsoulburn.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

For this #ThrowbackThursday this is perhaps less of a "color" and more of a vibe, #darkart While I haven't done actual horror related art in decades, I still have a number of pieces of art that channel a dark and somewhat spooky vibe. Here's a sampling.

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Neil Blevins @artofsoulburn.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

A video on the basics of drawing in perspective. If you're a seasoned pro, you know this stuff already (a couple of tips at the end may be useful), but if you're a young artist who hasn't learned the basics of 3 point perspective, or new to #affinty, check it out: youtu.be/9wmUpiPbFFA #arttip

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Intro To Drawing And Painting In 3 Point Perspective In Affinity

YouTube video by ArtOfSoulburn

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Neil Blevins @artofsoulburn.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

With last week's color yellow, I've done the full spectrum of colors on social media, so for this #ThrowbackThursday, I suppose a lack of color can be counted as a color, so let's do #greyart

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Neil Blevins @artofsoulburn.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

A new little video essay on the importance of Working Rough To Fine when making a piece of artwork www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6o9... #arttip

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Working Rough To Fine

YouTube video by ArtOfSoulburn

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Neil Blevins @artofsoulburn.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

Just got the amazing @nathanfowkes.com new art and instructional book. Great stuff, well worth checking out, he is an environmental master.

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Neil Blevins @artofsoulburn.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

After Obsession & Backrooms owned the boxoffice, 2 Indy horror films made by young YouTubers, the lesson many took away was that this was a horror only phenomenon. With the success of TADC, hope folk will realize it’s not the type of film, it’s something deeper about genz, indies and originality.

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