Cg Cookie - Introduction To Character Modeling In Blender Direct
You do not start with a single vertex. You start with cubes and spheres.
To avoid disappointment, it is vital to know what this course leaves out.
This Introduction to Character Modeling course stops once the mesh is modeled and UV unwrapped. It does not cover:
Think of this course as building the skeleton and skin. The clothes, colors, and movement come later.
Rigging scared her most. Bones, weights, inverse kinematics—it sounded like medieval torture.
But CG Cookie’s introduction kept it gentle: a simple armature, automatic weights, a test pose.
She selected Grum’s arm bone, rotated it, and his hand lifted.
Then she added a shape key—a smile.
She dragged the slider. Grum’s mouth curved upward. His eyes squinted slightly because she had learned to add a corrective shape key for the cheeks.
He smiled.
Maya sat back in her chair. The room was dark except for her monitor. Somewhere outside, a car honked. But inside that gray digital void, a little green goblin was grinning at her.
Week two was about faces.
Jonathan stressed: “A character’s soul lives in the eyes, but the eyes live in the skull.”
Maya built eye sockets, a nose bridge, and a jawline using nothing but quads. She learned why triangles were dangerous (they pinch) and why ngons were forbidden (they misbehave when animated).
For the first time, she understood topology not as a rule, but as a language. Every polygon spoke to how the skin would move when Grum smiled, frowned, or screamed.
When she added two UV spheres for eyeballs and gave them glossy black pupils, Grum stared back at her for the first time.
She laughed out loud.
The hardest chapter came next: UV mapping.
Maya had heard horror stories—textures stretching, seams appearing like scars across a character’s face. Jonathan demystified it. CG Cookie - Introduction to Character Modeling in Blender
“Think of your 3D model as a cardboard cutout. UV unwrapping is flattening that box so you can paint on it.”
She marked seams along the back of Grum’s arms, under his chin, inside his ears. Then she hit Unwrap and watched his polygonal skin spread across the UV editor like a strange, colorful butterfly.
She painted a simple skin texture—green, because goblin—and added a leather vest. When she applied the texture, Grum looked less like math and more like a person.
The workflow relies heavily on the Subdivision Surface modifier. You will learn how to model a "low-resolution" cage that smooths into a high-resolution character. This involves mastering techniques like:
Rating: 9.5/10
Pros:
Cons:
The Bottom Line: If you are serious about moving from "Blender hobbyist" to "character artist," this course is arguably the best $30 you will spend. It holds your hand without patronizing you. It corrects bad habits before they form.
The free YouTube route is tempting, but it is also a maze. The CG Cookie - Introduction to Character Modeling in Blender course is the map. It gives you a clear destination: a finished, clean, animatable character ready for the next stage of production. You do not start with a single vertex
Ready to start? Visit CG Cookie’s website, start a free trial (often 7 days), and go straight to the "Introduction to Character Modeling" course. Have your reference image ready, and remember: Every vertex has a purpose.
Happy modeling, and keep your topology clean.
Course Description: In this course, you'll learn the principles of character modeling, from understanding the basics of Blender's interface to creating a fully formed character model. The course is designed for beginners and intermediate learners, covering the essential tools and techniques needed to create a character model.
Course Outline:
Key Takeaways:
Target Audience:
Software and Resources:
Course Format:
By the end of this course, you'll have a solid understanding of character modeling in Blender and be able to create your own character models. Think of this course as building the skeleton and skin