Hey Reader,

Zach here,

With a handful of news and inspirations from the 3D world.

Today, I’ll start with this week’s biggest Blender news: A feature film made entirely in Blender has won an Oscar for Best Animated Feature! I also have a Grease Pencil tutorial, a stunning battle scene animation, and an impressive sci-fi shot.

Let's dive in.

​"Flow" team wins an Oscar and thanks Blender​

"Flow" - a beautiful animation movie made in Blender (and rendered in EEVEE) has just won an Oscar for Best Animated Feature. 👏

This is a great achievement for the director Gints Zabalodis and his team, but it is also a big day for Blender and its community. Gints gave thanks to Blender in his speech when he received the award, which brings our favorite 3D software into the spotlight of the whole movie industry.

If you ever doubt that Blender is capable of professional results you need no better proof.

In a press conference after the ceremony, the first question was exactly about Blender and its impact on the industry. I think Gint’s answer was true and very inspiring.

​Animated Grease Pencil Explosions (with Martin Klekner)​

Yes, this is no mistake. Martin Klekner made a Grease Pencil tutorial! 🤯

For the recent stylized cinematic scene he presented on our YT channel, Martin prepared cool explosion animations in Grease Pencil. In this tutorial, he explains his workflow in detail.

If you’ve never used Grease Pencil, this might be a fun way to add it to your animation toolkit.

Martin is also preparing to launch his Master Cinematic Storytelling in Blender course very soon. If you want to expand your cinematic skills, make sure to join the waiting list so you don’t miss the release.

​"Vorzeichen" - Pike and Shot Cinematic Battle​

​This fully CGI Cinematic Battle was made by a team of artists led by Kevin Gao. The amount of detail, dynamic animations, and camera work is stunning. Blender is mentioned in the credits along with other CG tools like Houdini, Maya, and Substance Painter.

The video has surprisingly low views on YouTube, but I’m pretty sure this will soon change as all the works from Kevin look great, I’m looking forward to seeing more of his creations.

​"Fallen Ship" - Sci-fi Mars Environment in Blender​

​This sci-fi scene made in Blender looks like it was taken straight out of Riddley Scott’s "The Martian" (the movie that inspired Jeff, its creator).

It has amazing attention to detail, good composition, and lighting, and a sense of large scale. I only wish this shot lasted longer, so I can enjoy it some more. 😁

That’s all from me today, have a great weekend and till next time.

~Zach