3D Art/Illustration Workshop, Blender & Grease Pencil

Deep Paint Club - 6 Week live workshop

Join our live online group workshop to create 3D stylized illustrations using Blender and Grease Pencil, with the Deep Paint Addon. Let's have some fun together learning and creating in a collaborative environment!
Sold Out! - Waiting List Form

Student Work

Goal

  • Become a Blender 3D artist capable of bringing artistic visions to life comfortably in the 3D world with style.

    About
  • This is a live online workshop focused on creating 3D stylized illustrations using Blender and Grease Pencil, with the Deep Paint Addon (which will be provided for the class). While prior 3D experience is ideal, beginners are very welcome—I'll cover the basics before the course begins to help everyone get up to speed.

  • This is a group session with around 20 students or more. Spaces are limited and tend to sell out quickly, so if you're interested, be sure to enroll soon!

  • It is live but if you cannot attend the class on time, it is fine as recorded video will be shared after. 

  • We'll be using Zoom and Discord to stay very closely connected to help, actively talk and answer the questions, where I’ll share all the techniques I use to create my works.

    I will have 50 USD cash back if you have purchased DP addon or other tutorial videos before, please DM me [email protected]
  • This is an intensive 6-week course, held every US Sunday from 16:00 PM PT (Pacific Time) for approximately 3–4 hours on the following dates: Oct 12, 19, 26, and Nov 2, 9 and 16. For participants in New Zealand, classes take place on Monday morning 11AM. It is OK not to attend on live (not ideal but) if you have plan prior or time zone issue as there's recorded video will be shared.
    Although the live time is not ideal, for People from Europe are very welcome to join as I am planning to have review Q&A live session in CET zone every week.(not sure what time yet)
    Each weekly assignment may take approximately 5–10 hours to complete btw.
    Please carefully check the time if it matches to your time zone by calendar with here

Requirement
Blender 4.5
https://www.blender.org/download/requirements/
Pen tablet (simple one is fine like wacom intos)
microphone
2nd monitor

Content
Week00
 LOW POLY SKILLS
Create simple low-poly and grease pencil works as a warm-up before class
Week01
 GREASE PENCIL & DEEP PAINT INTRO
Create a garden and treehouse while learning basics of Grease Pencil, GP to Mesh modeling,  Vertex Painting with Deep Paint addon
Week02
 Asset Concept Work
Learn Modeling with GP and Texture Paint to create concept art assets
Week03
 3D STILL LIFE ART / ILLUSTRATION
A deeper dive into materials, modeling and texture studies while creating a beautiful stil life.
Week04
 3D ENVIRONMENTAL ART / ILLUSTRATION

Create a forest environment and practice materials, lighting and advanced techniques in stylized look.
Week05
 CHARACTER CREATION
Character creation, rigging & posing, with sculpting, Deep Paint mix
Week06
 CLASS REVIEW & ADVANCED MATERIALS
Instructor: GAKU

 Visual Artist, Illustrator, Software Engineer.
Started my career as VFX artist at Digital Domain, then Weta Digital and ILM. Now I am an Artist to create stylized 3D illustrations, animation. I am also university professor and run online class as well.

Reviews

  • Learning 3D software has always been a challenge for me, with modeling never feeling as enjoyable as drawing. However, studying under Gaku Tada and utilizing his specially designed plugin has truly transformed my experience. Gaku’s teaching methods and approach have made using Blender software both enjoyable and efficient. I found his guidance to be thoughtful and well-organized, providing a seamless transition into the world of modeling. Gaku’s passion and patience as a teacher were evident, as he was always willing to help students with any difficulties they encountered. I highly recommend his class, as the skills I acquired have had a significant positive impact on my career. -- Concept Artist - Maryam Sefati

  • I really enjoyed seeing Gaku's workflow and practicing the demos. I feel more freedom to create artwork in Blender and to approach with more hand-drawn process. I was always very impressed with the artworks Gaku created, and the student work each week was very nice. The Deep Paint tool is very impressive! -- Concept Artist - Micah Sibert

  • The best part of this workshop was how it made learning feel light and joyful. Gaku’s teaching style was kind, thoughtful, and inspiring, he made complex tools feel fun and approachable. His feedback was always helpful, encouraging, and delivered with such care. I really appreciated how quickly and clearly he responded to students’ questions, it made us feel supported every step of the way. I also loved the assignments! They were playful, creative, and helped me grow step by step. -- Painter - Lody

  • I loved every part, literally. I liked being able to see the assignment reviews and there were interesting questions and problem solving, involving grease pencil into creating models which gave a more painterly artistic vibe, and the addon made the workflow very smooth in comparison on to usual usage of default menus. I also it is cool, I don't have to to understand the whole nodes inside the DPM material to teak it, use it effectively. Adding textures, transparency etc. to it was easy. I also appreciate I could see how you create these beautiful scenes and how you use addon. custom pie menus also made the workflow easier so I think I will use on daily basis. -- Illustrator - Kamila Stankiewicz

  • The watercolor style is what attracted me to sign up for Gaku's workshop. Adding to that, the transition from paper to 3D using DeepPaint workflow gave me the confidence to create whatever I envision. It's very intuitive and easily grasped as an artist! The add-on is a fantastic tool, providing shortcuts and features that inspired me through the weekly assignments. Gaku is generous not only in teaching his style but also in sharing Blender techniques he uses in his own craft. I highly recommend signing up, no matter where you are in your 3D journey! - Concept Artist Timothy Santos

  • The Deep Paint Workshop was a wonderful experience. Gaku's workflows allowed me to quickly model environments, scenes, and even characters. We learned how to add materials, textures, cameras, and renders so by the end of each week, I was able to share homework projects that I never imagined I would be able to share. I learned so much, from the live zoom meetings, from working so hard on the homework, from Gaku's quick and thorough answers to my questions during the week, and from the feedback during class when we shared our projects. I truly moved from a beginner blender user to something much more. -- 2D Artist Gail Gong

other voices

The workshop was beautifully crafted clear, inspiring, and well-paced. Everything flowed so naturally and felt complete.  

Starting from the basics, and having the assignments use what was applied in each session. I think for me, as a beginner, this was by far the best way to break down Blender as well as the Deep Paint add on being implemented into a proper workflow.

The Deep Paint addon was absolutely amazing and incredibly helpful it made working in Blender feel smoother and genuinely fun. It brought a whole new level of joy and freedom to painting, especially for someone who used to struggle with the default tools.

Really loved learning how to use Deep Paint, I really like how it simplifies the workflow and also how a lot of it involves drawing/painting. I also liked the pacing of the workshop, I feel like I feel a lot more comfortable using Deep Paint now compared to week 1

i just loved learning how i could paint in blender! it was alot of knowledge to soak in, but very fun at the same time.

The student work was amazing! Everyone's take on the week's assignment was so creative.