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

By killing off Optimus Prime, he was responsible for teaching me how a cartoon could stir real emotions in people, it wasn't just pure kids entertainment. He will be missed.

Here's some more doodles from the last few weeks, including one from September's Workshop Academy drink 'n draw. All these sketches and more will be included in my "Sketchbook Vol 2" paperback book to be released early next year #robot #bot #mech #mecha #droid #doodle

This #ThrowbackThursday are my starship hull tests, fun little abstract paintings showing the hull plating of giant alien motherships. Collected them all into a pdf book available here: artofsoulburn.gumroad.com/l/ndqhx For those who love the #greeble !

A new written tutorial that discusses shadows, combining century old traditional 2d practices with a few thoughts on how this applies to modern digital 3d. Will be using this for my upcoming classes. www.neilblevins.com/art_lessons/... #arttip #lighting #shadows

This #ThrowbackThursday is #faceyourart also known as #facetheartist where I show off some of the faces I've made over the years. Of course mine are mostly #robots and #aliens :)

The past several months I've been helping out on a short film as animation production designer. The film is a prequel to "The Vale", an upcoming book by New York Times Best Selling Author Abigail Hing Wen. Come to the LA Comic-Con, Sept 28 to see me take part in a panel on the project

Wow! So while I still wish this case would’ve gone to trial, and believe the amount given per work should have been EVEN higher, $1.5 billion in settlement AND the destruction of infringing datasets is still a fantastic start! Congratulations to all those involved as these things are not easy!

It sucks that it wasn't more but $1.5bn is a lot considering that's basically all the revenue they made this year so far, revenue that cost them billions to make. This is meaningful

This #ThrowbackThursday is the "Spiky Alien Landscape". Cliche yes, but a ton of fun to paint and a good way to explore compositional ideas. #scifi #art #painting

#ADAPTONE Launches #ADAPTLive Webinar Series: the exclusive online series, which features artist #LorinWood, kicks off this September with live demos, lectures, and Q&As for artists worldwide. bit.ly/4221KP3 #ConceptDesign #AnimationWorld #VFXWorld

Here's some more sketches from the week, including one from August's Workshop Academy drink 'n draw. #robot #bot #mech #mecha #droid #doodle

It was really interesting finding out what students knew and what they didn't when I taught a 3d class at CCA a few years ago. Now that I'm teaching the class again, I'm going to post a few videos on some basics to help fill in the knowledge gaps www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAp1... #arttip

This #ThrowbackThursday I can't believe it's been 7 years since the #Incredibles2! I was lucky enough to be given the Underminer Drill Vehicle to work on, where I did the exterior and interior modeling and texturing + some design work + the texturing of the escape pod. So many rusty pipes! #Pixar

Interesting perspective on what led to so many “humans piloting super robots” animes and whether enough of the younger generation are interested in the same fantasy to keep it going

Work continues on my new robot related sketchbook, hope to release it early next year #robot #bot #mech #mecha #droid #doodle #drawing

[pt1] My last siggraph was 2005, so after a 20 year hiatus, decided to visit this year’s show in Vancouver. A lot has changed, and much stays the same. First, for attendees who didn't miss 20 years, the shrinking of the exhibition floor was probably gradual, but for me it was quite shocking...

This #ThrowbackThursday, for some reason I've always been drawn to the #Cyclops when painting robots, I suspect it's because the single eye feels so alien and off putting, makes for a perfect robot villain #scifi #scifiart #illustration #animatedfilms #vfx #gamedev #robot #droid #mech