First of all the long story short: I’m 26 and have been a Blender user for several years now, having gained quite a bit experience with most of its features. I don’t yet have a job in real life… and for motives I shouldn’t get into, I cannot get one currently. Because reasons and people, I now risk being left without any income and ending up on the streets rather quickly. Therefore I’m looking at the few options I have, and Blender is one of the first among them. I would virtually like to know what are the ways to make money using Blender.
Like I said, I seem to be rather skilled with Blender and its features… meaning that one thing I could perhaps help with is offering support or maybe doing unusual modelling / animation techniques. Note however that I’m not familiar with python and don’t do any scripting. In regard to content creation, I have done animation and am familiar with posing, and also seem to be good at making realistic materials in Cycles based on procedural textures… however I’m not yet good at creating models and textures from scratch unless it’s something simple.
The minimal sum I must gather on a monthly basis to afford just paying the bills and buying food is 200$. Does anyone know of anything that might work out for me please?
1.I think you should try selling your models, materials- you said you are quite good at procedural , in the cgcookiemarket. There are a lot of people who want materials especially procedural.
You can work as a product visualization maker at an office, maybe online, at Romania or outside.
Make tutorials and sell some once you get popular.
The lengthy process- find job in a high budget short film.
If that was not of any help, then there’s an article at blendeguru.com about 5 ways to make money with blender.
Best of luck man. All my best wishes are with you. I don’t understand why nobody replied to help you out.
-Sayan.
Thank you for the help! #1 sounds most useful… actually I just remembered that there is a Blender market, and certainly I shall register there and try publicizing anything good I happen to make. #2 sounds good too, but I don’t understand exactly what it’s about. #3 sounds unlikely but possible… I posted a few Blender tutorials long ago and they weren’t of any interest. #4 also seems unlikely but something I could do eventually. I’ll also keep #5 in mind and perhaps check it out.
Well I tried cgcookiemarkets, and it was pretty weird: I submitted a full application as requested. In only a few minutes however, I received a reply saying that it was declined, but without any clear reason. It also contained links which are broken due to SSL errors on the website. I’m thinking either it’s a site error, either the website is more of a home for known people in the community and not for everyone to use… although that should have been made more clear from the start I believe. Are there perhaps other Blender markets, or only that one?
I signed up with the market few days back. But never tried the vendor form since I haven’t sold anything till now. BTW there are some reasons in the site documentation about declination of vendors.
About other markets: Turbosquid but it’s not only for blender.
The site documentation doesn’t work. Unlike the rest of the website, it gives a SSL error which is forced in such a way that you can’t get around it (no certificate exception). You can try it here: http://support.cgcookiemarkets.com
In any case, I don’t understand why they would randomly decline a new application, unless the site is intended only for “VIP’s” in the Blender community like I said. Until they fix the above link, perhaps someone here who used the market before could attempt to clarify me. For now, my first impression of the website is pretty bad, and I’m actually wondering if to some extent it might be a scam.
I will take a look at Turbosquid too, thank you. If it lets me post blend files, it’s okay if it’s not Blender only.
I think it’s not a spam anyway! People are making profit with it. Must be there were some problem. I think you should PM a vendor there about it - Experience.
For turbosquid, I guess blend files are not allowed but you can sell your models in other formats.
I might make a separate thread for questions on cgcookiemarket, or contact its support (that worked on Blendswap).
As for Turbosquid, that might be a problem since I also planned on posting Blender specific stuff, like material node setups or procedural textures. Means I can only use it to sell models and textures instead, which of course I can export to the desired formats if they will ever be the case for me.
Blend files are accepted on Turbosquid! Blender users aren’t a huge slice of the pie, but if you add some more formats (.obj, .fbx) you’re going to sell your best models!
My biggest advice to you is to branch out a bit. Stick your fingers in a few pies, and not just the tiny Blender pie that everyone is fighting over. Not only will that mean more channels of income, but a greater reputation - getting your name out there and showing potential employers/customers that you do good work is the best thing you can do.
If possible, try get a junior position at a studio, or even an internship. You may think your work is brilliant and such a position is an insult to your skill, but get over yourself, your ego is irrelevant. The money might be crap for a few months, but after a while you’ll have made some connections and found a better job.
Also, the CG Cookie Market is most definitely not a scam, and it’s not only open to "VIP"s. Anyone who makes a product to sell that is high enough quality can sell it there. I trust that they review each vendor application with care and declined you for a good reason, but I’m surprised that they did not tell you this reason. They’re very friendly folk, so just ask and I’m sure they’ll explain it to you.
Just remember that the CGC Market is not suitable as your sole source of income. Even if you have one of the most popular products, it’s not enough. But luckily, there is no exclusivity agreement, meaning you can sell the same thing through other channels (e.g. Turbosquid).
That is good to know, thanks! For Blender specific stuff (like material setups), I will of course post only the blend file. But if I make any actual models, I shall include them in all relevant formats.
I’m not really looking to get hired at a real life studio, just for something I can do online. If I must get into this, I deal with panic attacks when I’m around people for longer than I should be, as well as heavy loss of focus which makes it difficult to complete most tasks… if this is of relevance and explains one of the reasons why doing something online in a field where I have some knowledge is the only thing I’m currently interested in.
In regard to programs other than Blender, I don’t use other 3D editors. Especially because I use Linux and no longer continue to be a Windows user, whereas I can never really get into commercial software in general. Blender is however amazing and does everything I could ever want from a 3D editor, despite the downside that you can’t as easily get into the markets of other software based entirely on it.
I am looking into other sources of money as well. One being Patreon where I seek donations for animations I create with Blender. Currently however none worked out, but I’m hoping I’ll get there eventually.
Knowing various 3d softwares is not a sin, infact it’s good for your skills to develop manifold. CGC is cool but I think you must try Turbosquid if your models are quite awesome.
