Overview

Hi! My name is 'Harry Helps' and in this class, I’ll walk you through the simple and beginner friendly process of creating a Vaporwave style animation in Blender. Vaporwave is both a musical and a visual genre of artwork. The visual aesthetic is defined as “incorporating early Internet imagery, late 1990s web design, glitch art, and cyberpunk tropes, as well as anime, Greco-Roman statues, and 3D-rendered objects”. In this class we’ll be focusing on the visual aesthetics of Vaporwave to create our animation. I specialize in clear, easy to follow beginner’s classes. We’ll go through each process, step-by-step, to prevent as much confusion as possible. We’re using Blender for this tutorial, which is an amazing and totally free 3d software. The only barrier to entry is having a computer to run the software on. Creating a heavily stylized animation loop is a really desirable skill to have as a 3d artist, however it doesn’t need to be difficult. We’ll go through the entire process of creating this animation from a beginner’s perspective to avoid as much confusion as possible. In this class you can expect to learn: - Blender Interface and Tools: We’ll learn about many basic tools and interface elements within Blender while building and animating our statue. - Modeling: To achieve our Vaporwave aesthetic, we’ll be altering a 3d scanned Greco-Roman statue. - Lighting: We’ll set up a stylized lighting scheme including volumetric lighting. - Shading: Which can give objects the appearance of glowing neon lights, or golden metal. - Animating: We’ll create a subtle looping animation featuring our Vaporwave statue. - Rendering: Lastly, we’ll render our final animation in Blender so you can share it with your friends and family on social media. When we’re done you’ll have all the skills you need to create a Vaporwave animation loop of your very own! Instructor bio: 'Harry Helps' is a 3D artist and educator with over a decade of professional experience in modeling, texturing, animation, and post-production. Throughout his career, he has worked across diverse industries—from MMORPG game studios and video production companies to award-winning architectural visualization firms—holding roles such as Studio Director, Lead 3D Artist, and Greenscreen Editor. His work has been featured in 3D Artist magazine, where he also contributed tutorial content. With extensive expertise in Blender, 3ds Max, V-Ray, and Photoshop, Harry is passionate about sharing his knowledge and inspiring the next generation of 3D creators.

Syllabus

Getting Started with the Scene

Kick off your Blender journey by setting up the foundation of your Vaporwave animation. In this module, you’ll get oriented with the course structure and project goals, then dive into Blender to organize your workspace and import the Greco-Roman statue model that will be the centerpiece of your design. By the end of this module, you’ll be ready to begin creating in an organized and purposeful project environment.

Building the Scene

Start shaping your creative vision by constructing the core elements of your 3D Vaporwave world. You’ll use basic modeling tools to slice and stylize the statue, then build up your composition with signature aesthetic touches like glowing rings, retro grids, and stylized eyes. This module is all about assembling the building blocks that will define your scene’s look and feel.

Animation & Effects

Bring your static design to life with dynamic movement and atmospheric effects. In this module, you’ll animate the statue using keyframes, craft a moody environment with lighting and volumetric fog, and apply shaders for glowing neon and metallic finishes. These techniques will help you transform a static scene into an engaging, looping animation rich in Vaporwave aesthetics.

Finishing Touches & Final Output

Polish your work and prepare your animation for presentation. This final module walks you through compositing techniques to enhance visual impact, rendering settings to ensure high-quality output, and a final review to wrap up your class project. By the end, you’ll have a completed Vaporwave animation ready for your portfolio or social media showcase.