Posted a little Video Essay on how your digital art tools might overly influence your design choices, and how to combat that / use it to your advantage: www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1Hu... #arttip

I just got the horrible news that artist Chris Stoski has passed away. As well as working at some of the biggest named companies in FX and animation (ILM, IMD, Matte World Digital), we were so lucky that he agreed to contribute to our indie book project "The Story Of Inc" back in 2015...

New short video up on youtube about what are Visual Design Pillars, and how to use them to craft your projects www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDk_... #arttip #artdirection #productiondesign #gamedev

Happy 40th to #Pixar, which was founded on Feb 3rd 1986. So privileged to have contributed to its legacy.

Another Procreate painted doodle of a robot head, this one painted on a plane between San Francisco and Seattle #robot #bot #mech #mecha #droid #doodle #illustration #sketch #scifi

Trying to decide if this weekends double feature of Iron Lung and Melania should be named “Ironania” or “Melalung”.

Been interviewing GenZ artists about visual trends, how the generation consumes art, where they go to find it, what styles speak to them, etc. This articles goes over some of my early findings. www.neilblevins.com/art_lessons/... #arttip #artist

Here's a robot doodle from the Workshop Academy first drink 'n draw of the year. #robot #bot #mech #mecha #droid #doodle

We don’t have to have this future. It is not inevitable. Yes AI will never go away, but how the AI is used, that is where we the people can say NO.

New Video discusses a challenge I gave my students, paint a landscape in 30 Digital Brush Strokes, and how doing exercises like this can help you with composition and form. #illustration #painting #thumbnails #art #arttip #artist #landscape www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTaC...

Another from my Space Baroque IP, showing Venrusi pilgrims visiting the crystal caves of the Zylolyz homeworld. #scifi #caves #illustration

Something a little different (can't rightfully rant ALL the time)... ...just looking through the archive drives, and found this cheery fellow back from a game project that was inspired by Diablo. So many errors, but damn it, I still like this guy :) #characterconcept #conceptart #oldwork

Procreate painting meant to emulate an oil painting. Didn't just use oil paint brushes, but tried to pick a subject and visual style that would lend itself to the medium. For a first try I think it works, more to come as I continue to experiment #procreate #painting #digitalart

Had a great time on Saturday as a judge in the Seattle chapter of the Visual Effects Society (VES) Nomination event. Our job was to help narrow down a list of 100s of entries & produce the short lists, final awards will be voted on in Feb! Thanks to everyone who submitted, so much excellent work!

Dear God. So here's my current Instagram feed: Post from someone I follow Suggested For You Post from someone I follow Suggested For You Ad repeat... 40% content I want to see. Can we please as a community agree to move off that platform? I don't want to leave but too many people only post there.

A Procreate painted doodle of a robot head, started with a silhouette and then went to town. Helmet kinda reminds me of a mushroom, or maybe that bonnet that Strawberry Shortcake wears #robot #bot #mech #mecha #droid #doodle #illustration #sketch #scifi

First new Educational video of 2026! This tutorial is on creating a simple toon material in Blender, using either a facing ratio or the grease pencil, and then adding extra features such as varying the outline width by illumination. www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7FL... #blender3d #toonshader #anime

Here's my top 9 for 2025. This has been a very difficult year both personally & for games / films as we saw even more job losses. But it's time to stop waiting for my future to find me, & it's time to make my own future. More to come soon. In the meantime, I wish everyone the very best end of year!

Shall we finish off the year with some #GreenArt ? Happy holidays! #scifi #illustration

This is true even beyond AI. Use primary references for your mood boards, try and always go back to the source, you will discover new and creative things. Keep existing art/film/games ref to 10%. Don’t use games of thrones as a reference, use what inspired game of thrones as a reference.

Two quick tutorials, one on the difference between General and Specific patterns in 3d software www.neilblevins.com/art_lessons/... and the 2nd some example files doing scattering with Geometry nodes in Blender (video coming 2026) www.neilblevins.com/art_lessons/... #3d #texturing #blender

The sketchbooks are starting to arrive to customers! Thanks Robert, and everyone else who's bought them already www.amazon.com/Neil-Blevins...

Big thanks to RenderRam for doing an extended interview with me on the olden days of 3dsmax, my shift to Blender, the SoulburnScripts, GenAI, and so many other topics. Hope some of you find it interesting, & subscribe to Vjekoslav's channel, he's got some good stuff! www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCLH...

The holiday shopping time is upon us, and maybe a dual dose of sketchbooks would be a gift for your scifi loving friend or family member? Check them out here: www.amazon.com/Neil-Blevins... and www.amazon.com/Neil-Blevins...

Here's the trailer for the anime based on the manga that "Edge Of Tomorrow" was based on. Looks cool. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cw3S...

Just doodlin'. Wonder if Vol 3 of my sketchbook series should be spider mechs #robot #bot #mech #mecha #droid #doodle #illustration #sketch #scifi

Movie you’ve watched more than six times with a gif. Hard mode: no Stars (Wars nor Trek), LOTR, or Marvel, Disney Animated or Pixar.

Production Designer, Environment Concept Artist and Matte Painting master Dylan Cole releases his first book and it's amazing. If you are an environment artist and have never heard of this guy, you are missing out, get this book ASAP. #Avatar

I'm posting up a storm on my educational site and on youtube, check out these 4 new lessons. 3 are videos and 1 is written. They can be found here: www.youtube.com/@ArtOfSoulbu... and www.neilblevins.com/art_lessons/... #blender3d #blender #vfx #animatedfilm #gameddev #procreate

Thanks to everyone who's bought my new book, here's a closer look at some of the pages from "Neil Blevins Sketchbook Vol 2: Robot Heads", buy it here: www.amazon.com/dp/099920324... and see a page flipthrough here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWwl... #robot #bot #mech #mecha #droid #doodle #sketch

"Neil Blevins Sketchbook Vol 2: Robot Heads" has been released! Softcover edition here: www.amazon.com/dp/099920324... To everyone who buys a copy, thank you so much for the support, hope you enjoy it! #robot #bot #mech #mecha #droid #doodle #illustration #sketch #scifi

Today's #ThrowbackThursday is my time on #Pixar 's Walle. Did lots of different things, from Modeling to Texturing to Previs. I contributed something to each of these shots, of course any single frame from a film involves contributions from 100s of artists, I was just lucky to have been one of them.

I donated earlier this year, if you use the software, I hope you do the same.

Two brand new heads that will be included in Vol 2 of my sketchbook series along with 121 other robot head doodles. #robot #bot #mech #mecha #droid #doodle #illustration #sketch #scifi

Here we go! After 2 years of doodling, my second sketchbook will be released in a little less than 2 weeks. 64 pages, softcover, sold worldwide through amazon, 123 Robot heads in traditional pen and ink. #robot #bot #mech #mecha #droid #doodle #illustration #sketch #scifi

Sketchbook Vol 2 proof has been approved! #robot #bot #mech #mecha #droid #doodle #illustration #sketch #scifi

Here's a double shot of written lessons, the first is using everyday objects to design robots www.neilblevins.com/art_lessons/... the second goes over a ton of camera related terms like aperture, ISO, shutter speed, etc and how they relate to each other www.neilblevins.com/art_lessons/... #arttip

A little painting demo I did for my students in Procreate. Visit here to see the timelapse of the painting: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wmy7... #procreate #painting #illustration #arteducation #landscape

My new robot heads sketchbook is almost done, will post once I get the printed proof, in the meantime, here's a few more doodles that made the cut #robot #bot #mech #mecha #droid #doodle

2 new written tutorials uploaded. I promise new videos in the new year once I finish teaching, but until then, hope you find these interesting. The difference between additive and subtractive color www.neilblevins.com/art_lessons/... and painting metal materials www.neilblevins.com/art_lessons/...

While at #lightboxexpo2025 picked up 2 books, the pen and ink sketches of Longque Chen, and Eddie Smith's (Halo OG) first sketchbook. Awesome stuff, if you see Longque at another con, pick up his book, or you can get Eddie's here: www.edsmith-visualatrium.com

Just got back from #LightboxExpo2025 and I noticed my hotel had some wallpaper that looked suspiciously like one of my megastructure paintings (or is it the other way around?) :D Hexagons are fun!

Finally arrived at Lightbox expo after 2 cancelled flights and an aborted landing at Burbank. The talk on making art books went well, second photo is the talk, got lots of positive feedback and good questions. Rest of the show will be checking out art and other panels #lightbox2025 #LBX2025

4th StarTrek Making Of book from Titan, this time Search For #Spock. Not my favorite of the Star Trek films, but the story of how it came to be is compelling, plus lots of gorgeous artwork. #Startrek

Got a chance to do some still life painting last week. No worry about commercial viability or the impending AI doom, just us pushing digital paint around in Procreate trying to match the lighting on a bust. Not a perfect replica, but feel I captured the vibe. So refreshing. #painting #illustration

I grabbed a copy, so should you :)

Looks like another #PortfolioDay Showing off some personal favorites and maybe a couple of portfolio pieces that are a bit more obscure

Come see me at #LightBoxExpo for my talk on how to Create, Finance and Publish your own Artbook. If this has always been your dream but you don't know where to start, this talk will go through all the self publishing steps in detail! lightboxexpo.com/schedule/lis... #lightbox #lightbox2025 #LBX2025

Today for #ThrowbackThursday we're doing #PurpleArt Considering my love of the color purple, I'm surprised I don't have a ton of purple artwork. Something to fix in the future #scifi #art #painting

Even in a world with a billion youtube videos, I still get many questions on what books do I recommend for learning how to make art. So here's a list of some of my favs and why you should consider getting them: www.neilblevins.com/art_lessons/... #arttip #artressources #artlessons #arteducation