In the world of Today; books and guides on how to use certain pieces of software or utilize certain techniques have largely been replaced by videos – by the time a book is written and published the content within is likely to be outdated.
Such is the pace of the modern world…
Instead we have the likes of Youtube content creators; many of whom are experts in their field who willingly share their knowledge online and build a following from that.
This genre of education and “edutainment” has grown and grown and grown over the last 10 or so years – far more than there was when I was completing my undergraduate back in 2016 and since then I’ve kept a small collection of creators bookmarked for reference and future use.
So I thought I’d share some of them today – hoping that maybe you might get some use out of them too!
Starting in no particular order –
Arvid Schneider:
Arvid Schneider is a lighting supervisor at Image Engine in Canada, but his youtube channel is a gold mine in terms of 3D resources; modelling, texturing, Houdini and lighting, Arvid pretty much covers it all.
He has hundreds of hours worth of content so if your curious about any of it take a look!
Arvid Schneider youtube channel
Ian Hubert:
Ian Hubert is probably most well known for his “Lazy Tutorial” series – where he spends approximately a minute explaining how to do make certain things or certain special effects in Blender; it’s to the point and direct – no fanfare.
His short films are a treat as well – most of which are made entirely in Blender with the help of an actor and a greenscreen!
The results speak for themselves so have a peak.
Ian Hubert Youtube channel
William Faucher:
William Faucher is a CG artist who primarily covers Unreal engine for VFX; demonstrating lighting techniques and his blueprints to create things like rain, snow and fog.
He really showcases the power of Unreal Engine for creating CG so if that’s your jam see the link below –
William Faucher youtube channel
Clinton Jones (Pwnisher):
Clinton Jones is likely most famous for his work with Corridor Digital; another channel that has previously inspired a new wave of creators and prospective VFX artists around the world.
Clint went his own way some years ago and started up his channel where he covers working with 3D scans, Materials, Unreal engine and even what to look for when buying or building a PC for VFX.
He also sponsors large community challenges and competitions and getting your name in a competition is a fantastic way to grow your own personal brand as an artist and also just to push your skills.
Clinton Jones (Pwnisher) youtube channel
Polyrendr:
Polyrendr does full length tutorials – covering the entire modelling process in Maya all the way to Substance Painter.
I always find it useful to watch another artist work; often picking up methods I hadnt otherwise thought of or using them to reflect on my own workflow.
Polyrendr does this all for free.
Wes McDermott:
If you’ve ever followed a Substance Painter tutorial you’ll likely recognize the voice behind them – that voice belonging to Wes McDermott; who still heads up the Substance Painter team at Adobe.
So not only do you have Adobe Substance official tutorials and getting started series – you have Wes himself explaining the ins and outs too – his channel covers some lesser known or niche things which I’ve come to find very valuable.
Wes McDermott youtube
Michael Pavlovich:
Michael Pavlovich is a staple when it comes to Zbrush – with thousands of hours worth of instructional videos and tutorials; guides on each version of Zbrush going through whats new and as of late tutorials on how to use Metahuman (Unreal engine’s own character creator).
If you’re starting from scratch with Zbrush Michael Pavlovich likely has you covered.
As I mentioned earlier in this article – videos and virtual media has largely replaced things like books – physical media that cant be overwritten or corrected once published.
So this begs the question;
Are books obsolete?
In a word – no.
At least I dont think so; what got me thinking about this was the recent Tiktok shut down over the weekend in the US; to only then come back online just yesterday after months of threats and arguing back and forth with the US government.
Tiktok is an entertainment platform of course – not necessarily for education; but like youtube there is a wealth of content on the platform that is genuinely useful.
Art, recipes, quick fixes and life-hacks.
All of that gone at the whim of whomever is in charge of Tiktok.
So while it’s rare to see these giants of the internet truly disappear for good – even Vines still get shared around now and then – I think it’s wise to remember that we dont own this content; it’s not a physical medium that we can pass around in person or store away on a bookshelf forever.
I still reference some old anatomy books when Im drawing or sculpting or read Loomis or Michael Hampton when Im drawing a character and even if that book goes out of print; I own it – the publisher cant come to my house and take it off my shelf.
So if you can – find a way to save that favourite tutorial or demo on Youtube.
And I hope the above list of creators has been useful.
Take it easy,
– Brandon
THE ART OF VISUAL EFFECTS AT ESCAPE STUDIOS 