How to Add a Texture in Blender

A texture is an image wrapped onto your model to give it real surface detail: wood grain, brick, fabric or a hand-painted design. In Blender you add textures through the shader system. It looks technical at first, but the core is just connecting an image to your material.

Step 1: Give the object a material

A texture needs a material to live in. If your object has none, select it, open Material Properties, and click New. See how to add a material if you need the basics first.

Step 2: Open the Shading workspace

At the top of Blender, click the Shading tab. This opens the node editor at the bottom, where you will see your material’s Principled BSDF node.

Step 3: Add an Image Texture node

In the node editor, press Shift + A to add a node.
Choose Texture > Image Texture.
On the new node, click Open and select your image file.

Step 4: Connect it

Drag from the Color output of the Image Texture node to the Base Color input of the Principled BSDF. Switch the viewport to Material Preview (top-right sphere icons) and your texture appears on the object.

Step 5: Fix stretching with UVs

If the texture looks stretched or smeared, the object’s UV map needs work. UVs tell Blender how the flat image wraps onto the 3D surface:

Enter Edit Mode and select all faces (A).
Press U and choose Smart UV Project for a quick automatic unwrap, or Unwrap for more control.

Your texture should now sit cleanly on the surface.

Keep going

Texturing is a core 3D skill, and clean UVs are the foundation. Our Blender Texturing and Animation course covers UV mapping and texturing properly, and you can try the free Blender lessons first.

Frequently asked questions

How do I put an image texture on an object in Blender?

Give the object a material, open the Shading workspace, add an Image Texture node, open your image, and connect its Color output to the Base Color of the Principled BSDF. Switch the viewport to Material Preview to see it.

Why does my texture look stretched or wrong?

The texture follows the object's UV map. If the UVs are messy, the image stretches. Unwrap the object (Edit Mode, press U, choose Smart UV Project or Unwrap) so the texture sits correctly on the surface.

What is the difference between a material and a texture?

A material defines how a surface responds to light (color, roughness, metal). A texture is an image plugged into the material to add detail, like wood grain or brick, instead of a single flat color.