Neil Blevins
@artofsoulburn.bsky.social
Art Director & Senior Concept Designer in Film, Games, Books, Tech. Builds Scifi Worlds. Professional Work: Pixar Alum (16 Yrs), Blur, WarnerMedia, ++
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Neil Blevins
@artofsoulburn.bsky.social
· Oct 18
Looks like we have another influx of people coming to bluesky, so a quick intro post, my name is Neil Blevins, I'm an Art Director and Senior Concept artist for films, games and books. Worked at Pixar for 16 years, +Blur, WarnerMedia, etc. & I post lots of personal artwork, hope you follow along!
Here we go! After 2 years of doodling, my second sketchbook will be released in a little less than 2 weeks. 64 pages, softcover, sold worldwide through amazon, 123 Robot heads in traditional pen and ink. #robot #bot #mech #mecha #droid #doodle #illustration #sketch #scifi
November 13, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Here's a double shot of written lessons, the first is using everyday objects to design robots www.neilblevins.com/art_lessons/... the second goes over a ton of camera related terms like aperture, ISO, shutter speed, etc and how they relate to each other www.neilblevins.com/art_lessons/... #arttip
November 10, 2025 at 3:19 PM
Here's a double shot of written lessons, the first is using everyday objects to design robots www.neilblevins.com/art_lessons/... the second goes over a ton of camera related terms like aperture, ISO, shutter speed, etc and how they relate to each other www.neilblevins.com/art_lessons/... #arttip
A little painting demo I did for my students in Procreate. Visit here to see the timelapse of the painting: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wmy7... #procreate #painting #illustration #arteducation #landscape
November 5, 2025 at 3:42 PM
A little painting demo I did for my students in Procreate. Visit here to see the timelapse of the painting: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wmy7... #procreate #painting #illustration #arteducation #landscape
2 new written tutorials uploaded. I promise new videos in the new year once I finish teaching, but until then, hope you find these interesting. The difference between additive and subtractive color www.neilblevins.com/art_lessons/... and painting metal materials www.neilblevins.com/art_lessons/...
October 30, 2025 at 2:45 PM
2 new written tutorials uploaded. I promise new videos in the new year once I finish teaching, but until then, hope you find these interesting. The difference between additive and subtractive color www.neilblevins.com/art_lessons/... and painting metal materials www.neilblevins.com/art_lessons/...
While at #lightboxexpo2025 picked up 2 books, the pen and ink sketches of Longque Chen, and Eddie Smith's (Halo OG) first sketchbook. Awesome stuff, if you see Longque at another con, pick up his book, or you can get Eddie's here: www.edsmith-visualatrium.com
October 29, 2025 at 2:49 PM
While at #lightboxexpo2025 picked up 2 books, the pen and ink sketches of Longque Chen, and Eddie Smith's (Halo OG) first sketchbook. Awesome stuff, if you see Longque at another con, pick up his book, or you can get Eddie's here: www.edsmith-visualatrium.com
Just got back from #LightboxExpo2025 and I noticed my hotel had some wallpaper that looked suspiciously like one of my megastructure paintings (or is it the other way around?) :D Hexagons are fun!
October 28, 2025 at 3:32 PM
Just got back from #LightboxExpo2025 and I noticed my hotel had some wallpaper that looked suspiciously like one of my megastructure paintings (or is it the other way around?) :D Hexagons are fun!
Finally arrived at Lightbox expo after 2 cancelled flights and an aborted landing at Burbank. The talk on making art books went well, second photo is the talk, got lots of positive feedback and good questions. Rest of the show will be checking out art and other panels #lightbox2025 #LBX2025
October 26, 2025 at 1:06 AM
Finally arrived at Lightbox expo after 2 cancelled flights and an aborted landing at Burbank. The talk on making art books went well, second photo is the talk, got lots of positive feedback and good questions. Rest of the show will be checking out art and other panels #lightbox2025 #LBX2025
Got a chance to do some still life painting last week. No worry about commercial viability or the impending AI doom, just us pushing digital paint around in Procreate trying to match the lighting on a bust. Not a perfect replica, but feel I captured the vibe. So refreshing. #painting #illustration
October 20, 2025 at 2:34 PM
Got a chance to do some still life painting last week. No worry about commercial viability or the impending AI doom, just us pushing digital paint around in Procreate trying to match the lighting on a bust. Not a perfect replica, but feel I captured the vibe. So refreshing. #painting #illustration
I grabbed a copy, so should you :)
The KickStarter is live!
www.kickstarter.com/projects/190...
Our big fat beautiful book, Designing Imaginative Environments is a deep dive into the world of
environment design for storytelling.
www.kickstarter.com/projects/190...
Our big fat beautiful book, Designing Imaginative Environments is a deep dive into the world of
environment design for storytelling.
October 14, 2025 at 2:57 PM
I grabbed a copy, so should you :)
Looks like another #PortfolioDay Showing off some personal favorites and maybe a couple of portfolio pieces that are a bit more obscure
October 14, 2025 at 2:56 PM
Looks like another #PortfolioDay Showing off some personal favorites and maybe a couple of portfolio pieces that are a bit more obscure
Come see me at #LightBoxExpo for my talk on how to Create, Finance and Publish your own Artbook. If this has always been your dream but you don't know where to start, this talk will go through all the self publishing steps in detail! lightboxexpo.com/schedule/lis... #lightbox #lightbox2025 #LBX2025
October 6, 2025 at 2:02 PM
Come see me at #LightBoxExpo for my talk on how to Create, Finance and Publish your own Artbook. If this has always been your dream but you don't know where to start, this talk will go through all the self publishing steps in detail! lightboxexpo.com/schedule/lis... #lightbox #lightbox2025 #LBX2025
Today for #ThrowbackThursday we're doing #PurpleArt Considering my love of the color purple, I'm surprised I don't have a ton of purple artwork. Something to fix in the future #scifi #art #painting
October 2, 2025 at 2:41 PM
Today for #ThrowbackThursday we're doing #PurpleArt Considering my love of the color purple, I'm surprised I don't have a ton of purple artwork. Something to fix in the future #scifi #art #painting
Even in a world with a billion youtube videos, I still get many questions on what books do I recommend for learning how to make art. So here's a list of some of my favs and why you should consider getting them: www.neilblevins.com/art_lessons/... #arttip #artressources #artlessons #arteducation
September 25, 2025 at 2:46 PM
Even in a world with a billion youtube videos, I still get many questions on what books do I recommend for learning how to make art. So here's a list of some of my favs and why you should consider getting them: www.neilblevins.com/art_lessons/... #arttip #artressources #artlessons #arteducation
By killing off Optimus Prime, he was responsible for teaching me how a cartoon could stir real emotions in people, it wasn't just pure kids entertainment. He will be missed.
RIP screenwriter Ron Friedman.
“Hasbro didn’t recognize that Optimus Prime was the heartbeat of the Autobots. You cannot pass that over and have any hope of duplicating the success you had. Once you establish an icon, you’re a fool if you don’t try to preserve it.”
He was 93.
“Hasbro didn’t recognize that Optimus Prime was the heartbeat of the Autobots. You cannot pass that over and have any hope of duplicating the success you had. Once you establish an icon, you’re a fool if you don’t try to preserve it.”
He was 93.
Ron Friedman, Screenwriter Who Killed Off Optimus Prime, Dies at 93
A former architect who got a career boost from Danny Kaye, he wrote for comedies, dramas and animation, where he created a backstory for G.J. Joe.
www.hollywoodreporter.com
September 23, 2025 at 3:54 PM
By killing off Optimus Prime, he was responsible for teaching me how a cartoon could stir real emotions in people, it wasn't just pure kids entertainment. He will be missed.
This #ThrowbackThursday are my starship hull tests, fun little abstract paintings showing the hull plating of giant alien motherships. Collected them all into a pdf book available here: artofsoulburn.gumroad.com/l/ndqhx For those who love the #greeble !
September 18, 2025 at 2:45 PM
This #ThrowbackThursday are my starship hull tests, fun little abstract paintings showing the hull plating of giant alien motherships. Collected them all into a pdf book available here: artofsoulburn.gumroad.com/l/ndqhx For those who love the #greeble !
A new written tutorial that discusses shadows, combining century old traditional 2d practices with a few thoughts on how this applies to modern digital 3d. Will be using this for my upcoming classes. www.neilblevins.com/art_lessons/... #arttip #lighting #shadows
September 17, 2025 at 2:48 PM
A new written tutorial that discusses shadows, combining century old traditional 2d practices with a few thoughts on how this applies to modern digital 3d. Will be using this for my upcoming classes. www.neilblevins.com/art_lessons/... #arttip #lighting #shadows
This #ThrowbackThursday is #faceyourart also known as #facetheartist where I show off some of the faces I've made over the years. Of course mine are mostly #robots and #aliens :)
September 11, 2025 at 2:31 PM
This #ThrowbackThursday is #faceyourart also known as #facetheartist where I show off some of the faces I've made over the years. Of course mine are mostly #robots and #aliens :)
The past several months I've been helping out on a short film as animation production designer. The film is a prequel to "The Vale", an upcoming book by New York Times Best Selling Author Abigail Hing Wen. Come to the LA Comic-Con, Sept 28 to see me take part in a panel on the project
September 8, 2025 at 3:20 PM
The past several months I've been helping out on a short film as animation production designer. The film is a prequel to "The Vale", an upcoming book by New York Times Best Selling Author Abigail Hing Wen. Come to the LA Comic-Con, Sept 28 to see me take part in a panel on the project
Reposted by Neil Blevins
Wow!
So while I still wish this case would’ve gone to trial, and believe the amount given per work should have been EVEN higher, $1.5 billion in settlement AND the destruction of infringing datasets is still a fantastic start! Congratulations to all those involved as these things are not easy!
So while I still wish this case would’ve gone to trial, and believe the amount given per work should have been EVEN higher, $1.5 billion in settlement AND the destruction of infringing datasets is still a fantastic start! Congratulations to all those involved as these things are not easy!
BREAKING: Anthropic has agreed to pay at least $1.5 billion to authors in class action lawsuit for pirating their works www.wired.com/story/anthro...
Anthropic Agrees to Pay Authors at Least $1.5 Billion in AI Copyright Settlement
Anthropic will pay at least $3,000 for each copyrighted work that it pirated. The company downloaded unauthorized copies of books in early efforts to gather training data for its AI tools.
www.wired.com
September 5, 2025 at 9:00 PM
Wow!
So while I still wish this case would’ve gone to trial, and believe the amount given per work should have been EVEN higher, $1.5 billion in settlement AND the destruction of infringing datasets is still a fantastic start! Congratulations to all those involved as these things are not easy!
So while I still wish this case would’ve gone to trial, and believe the amount given per work should have been EVEN higher, $1.5 billion in settlement AND the destruction of infringing datasets is still a fantastic start! Congratulations to all those involved as these things are not easy!
Reposted by Neil Blevins
It sucks that it wasn't more but $1.5bn is a lot considering that's basically all the revenue they made this year so far, revenue that cost them billions to make. This is meaningful
For anyone who thinks that is a lot of money consider that their last round of funding was for 13B, and that normally big copyright infringement costs like 150k per, not the 3k per they are gonna pay. A fine is a price. For 1/10th of their funding they will keep and use this data. Fuckers.
Anthropic tells US judge it will pay $1.5 billion to settle author class action
Anthropic told a San Francisco federal judge on Friday that it has agreed to pay $1.5 billion to settle a class-action lawsuit from a group of authors who accused the artificial intelligence company of using their books to train its AI chatbot Claude without permission.
www.reuters.com
September 5, 2025 at 7:56 PM
It sucks that it wasn't more but $1.5bn is a lot considering that's basically all the revenue they made this year so far, revenue that cost them billions to make. This is meaningful
This #ThrowbackThursday is the "Spiky Alien Landscape". Cliche yes, but a ton of fun to paint and a good way to explore compositional ideas. #scifi #art #painting
September 4, 2025 at 3:22 PM
This #ThrowbackThursday is the "Spiky Alien Landscape". Cliche yes, but a ton of fun to paint and a good way to explore compositional ideas. #scifi #art #painting