Paul Lombard

I've moved

2011-06-16T15:48:00.000+02:00

Thanks for coming.
I've moved over to wordpress so will no longer blog here.
GoTo my new site to find out what new things I've posted.

Creative Tanks

2011-06-07T21:54:00.000+02:00

A picture of the main character from the 3D short story I'm doing this year, I'm not sure why he's in a zombie pose...

Gantt Chart for 3d Short

2011-06-05T23:04:00.001+02:00

I've made a Gantt Chart, as a suggestion from a friend of mine for my 3rd year project.
I can see myself making Gantt Charts for all my activities, it's quite awesome seeing how this can be utilized in a production environment. Teams can easily track productivity and if they on schedule and quickly see the overall progress of the project, and what needs to be done to get it done on time.

Dragon Sculpt 2

2011-05-30T21:54:00.003+02:00

More Dragons! I need to learn on how to comp images together properly in photoshop from Zbrush.

My workflow is as follows:
I start with low poly mesh made in Maya, Import it into Zbrush and sculpt then make smaller low poly meshes for the details for things like eyes and claws, then add those as subtools.
I should also accredit this design to Niko Marlet who designed characters for How to Train your Dragon and KungFu Panda, seriously inspirational design.

My next attempts will be a pure Zbrush creation, starting with ZSpheres.

Dragon Sculpt

2011-05-29T13:31:00.002+02:00

A two and a half hour dragon sculpt in Zbrush. Got inspired by How to Train Your Dragon, and decided I needed a 3d dragon so here's the WIP, still to add claws, eyes WINGS! horns and all other funny things to make him complete, this is also serving as the learning process of how to make normal maps / displacement maps and all that other good jazz that allows you to have low poly models with high detail without the performance hit, or I guess I could upgrade my compy.

3D Short Schedule

2011-05-27T22:51:00.001+02:00

Heres the Schedule that I've put together for the 3d short I'm busy working on in my final year at the Animation School. I'm finding it quite a useful tool to have the pie graphs in there as a motivation through the rougher times of the whole process, watching the red disappear on those graphs makes me quite happy. Go Creative Tanks! It's a working title, however we all growing attached to the name, but until it changes we need more pie charts!

nCloth Pipes

2011-05-19T00:12:00.002+02:00

Creative Tanks Project - nCloth Sim Tests
I'm busy Investigating ways of doing pipes for the chair for the project i'm working on in 3rd year. Had trouble controlling the spline IK Hair curve method. But that seems to be a much much quicker way to evaluate the pipes, and will probably try figure it out in the coming days. In the meantime I've done tests with ncloth, I've not had much experience with nCloth at all so I'm quite happy that I got any result at all.

Alchemy Head

2011-05-08T13:51:00.001+02:00

Got hold of Alchemy, the free vector program and it's amazing. It's really creative. Just spent a few hours looking at shapes form things. I can definitely see this program being a useful tool in getting good silhouettes for the character design process. Overall this program is just down right fun to play with and allows you to feel totally creative.
Here's one of the heads I saved while watching the shapes form.
Took it into photoshop and did color overlay to get the colors.

Rigging Exercise

2011-05-06T11:38:00.003+02:00

Fast rig / animation exercise
I felt like making a four legged run, so inspired by South African Studio, Luma, and the bun&bunee design. I made and animated this cute little robot.
The Idea was to see how fast I could create and animate something. In hindsight I should have noted the hours.

Completed in 1 Day.
All the rig has is:
Stretchy ik limbs with SDK foot rolls and banks and a Fk Head.

Side note: I have no clue why it's funny looking in the beginning, the original mp4 I have is fine. My assumption is that something happened when I uploaded it to YouTube. If you know the reason why this happens feel free to let me know.

CT Character Rigging 02

2011-05-05T19:35:00.002+02:00

Mostly completed the body rig.
Still need to paint weights for the "render res" model. Next is to start on a blendshape driven face rig.
Hoping the maya expressions wont slow it down too much during the animation phase later.

If you looking at this picture and saying: "Cool! but why is he cut everywhere?"

Then to you I say: "My recent browsing of the forums have enlightened me that
if you parent geometry straight to the bones it speeds the rig up quite considerably."

Fast rig = Happy time for all.

CT Character Rigging 01

2011-05-02T20:54:00.002+02:00

Finishing up the Character Rig for the project I'm working on in my 3rd year. This is the base Model/Rig that we'll be using and then using facial blends and different texture maps to make different characters,
I've got the low poly model that's been cut up and parented to the bones for max speed (apparently this is a very fast way of doing things) and I've got the normal body that I'm going to skin and smooth for higher res versions. Thinking about making the Collar and Tie nCloth, or maybe the collar with jiggle.. Will be testing out those options soon.

Mank

2011-04-29T23:39:00.000+02:00

Inspired by Street Fighter, and Jouste's Style. This is what came out.

Haduken

2011-04-29T14:09:00.001+02:00

Been playing some pocket fighter online. Flash style. Wish there was more, more specifically I wish you could play as Dan! He's awesome. Solidifies the desire to purchase a Xbox when i'm able. + Street Fighter!
Wanting to draw someone doing a Haduken, this is my attempt at a character, stole some colors from Dan.
Name - Unknown

Monster sculpt

2011-02-27T09:50:00.003+02:00

What started out as fat head doodle sculpt turned into a full body. Having fun with it, after watching some hard surface videos of Vitaly Bulgarov on youtube It's made me want to attempt some hard surface modeling which I'm going to attempt to do for the armor for this sculpt.

I made low res topology for the head and then the torso and imported them into Zbrush and had fun.

Doodled in less than 12 hours

Horsey Horsey update 2

2010-11-04T21:53:00.000+02:00

Rigged, textured and modeled characters and environments. Next phase is to do my animation blocking. According to the animatic. Which can be seen here:

I've had a lot of fun creating the rigs and there's been some real personal achievements that have come from the experience so far in the project and I can't wait to start animating!

Here is a render of what I got so far:

Horsey Horsey update

2010-10-27T02:38:00.001+02:00

Here's a render of my main actor giving the thumbs up giving the motivational "point" saying (in his mind) "you can do it!" Feel like I'm behind, even though I'm on schedule. I've got this as my desktop to motivate me for the production pipeline of my Nursery Short: Horsey Horsey. I've completed the rigs for my characters and now will start with modeling my environment, hopefully if all goes according to plan I will start animating at the beginning of November!

Notes: Subsurface scattering is going far to crazy on the front hand...

note to self remember to edit the SSS maps for epidermal, subdermal and depth weight.

Demo Reel 2010

2010-10-03T19:43:00.000+02:00

Here's my Demo Reel for 2010.

Run Cycle

2010-09-10T15:37:00.002+02:00

My run cycle for the Eli Character. Glad I got time to redo, from what I did the first time around. First time I had an Ik Spine and found it limiting and made it much harder to control the rig. I created some FK controls for the lower back Lumbar area, and a chest control which made animating the twist a lot more controllable. FK love it :)

Walk cycle

2010-09-02T17:08:00.001+02:00

Eli experiences walking for the first time. Found some limitations with the setup, but that's great news, as now I know what to do for the next rig I make.

Animation Exercise

2010-08-27T16:17:00.001+02:00

Animation Short Short, learning how to shift weight. My learnings + some nCloth learnings :)

Enjoy my video on demonstrating the artful tack on how to deal with the female mind.

Lighting Exercise

2010-08-24T22:14:00.000+02:00

After viewing some inspiring lighting tutorials, I decided to go ahead and do an exercise to see what I could do with my new knowledge, I love the ambient occlusion hack I've learnt, It's great.
Render took 40sec's, with a decent computer it would come way down. Pretty happy with the quality for a 40 second render. Having problems with the shadow casting...

Main Character Model.01

2010-08-19T18:39:00.000+02:00

Almost complete model for my nursery rhyme. Need to add some things like buttons, hair maybe some pockets and a tie? hehe. Really enjoyed making him so far, total of 2 days, estimated 16 hours actual time.
Very pleased with it so far. Only the head got Zbrushed, thinking at the end I might do minor adjustments to the body for more interesting proportions, we'll see how it goes.

Face modeling/topology 2

2010-08-15T13:03:00.000+02:00

Here he is again with eye sockets and cleaned up cheek lines.

Face modeling/topology

2010-08-14T21:54:00.000+02:00

Here's my face model for my new character on the nursery rhyme short.
Mostly modeled in Maya and a few overall large changes in Zbrush. Thinking of making a high poly version in zbrush and normal mapping detail on.

Environment 1.c

2010-08-09T00:32:00.002+02:00

Here's the renders I'm handing in. Slight post work, but overall satisfaction with what came out. After this I've come to the conclusion that I'm in need of learning how to render efficiently, also need to learn how to render in layers and passes. Skills to learn for another day, for now: Topology issues to get maximum use out of the deformations.

Environment 1.b

2010-08-05T01:00:00.000+02:00

Some new additions, having trouble with the texturing of the actual cliff face, but anyway here's another picture of the environment in it's mutating phase, hopefully at the end I have something really cool to show for it!

Environment 1.a

2010-08-02T11:29:00.003+02:00

An environment for the Eli Project, Not my favorite time, still a work in progress. During these past 2 years, I can say with confidence that my passion lies in Characters. Character animation, design and modeling.

Spiderman and Wolverine

2010-07-28T14:31:00.003+02:00

I'm a comic fan, and I drew this a while back in 2008. After looking through some archives I came across this one and thought it was cool enough to post online. (It's a gif just wait a sec for the load, it's only 232kb, but seems to take a while to register)

Storyboard

2010-06-14T23:18:00.006+02:00

My end year school project, phase 1 - Storyboarding of the nursery rhyme: Horsey Horsey

I'm looking forward to making this project and putting 110% into it. I can see myself spending a lot of time animating a quadruped, however I think the process will be exciting, contain copious learning curves and be extremely rewarding in the end!

Horsey Horsey

Don't you stop

Let your feet go

Clippetty clop

Your tail goes swish

and the wheels go round

Giddy up now!

We're homeward bound.

So here's the first storyboard I've made for the short. If I stare long and hard enough maybe I'll see some other kind of interesting angles I could play with, or effects I could put in. All the while being conscious not to go too crazy because I'll be wanting to pay more attention to the character animation than anything else. Already I'm thinking I want to have more movement with the driver. We'll see what happens.

Project Eli concept designs

2010-05-20T10:23:00.006+02:00

I have only now realized that I had not posted a concept of How Eli evolved from scribble to what he is now. I really enjoyed the process of creating this character, the hardest being the first initial design, after you get that down it seems as if the concept brews nicely in your unconscious mind allowing the process to unfold naturally and easily. I had Initially created 40 character sketches of which I chose one to refine, It then became a choice of 3 and Eli was picked.

So here's the concept:

Rigging

2010-04-29T23:18:00.004+02:00

Rigging seems to be so much more fun than I expected! Completed my first rig today. Will probably redo it, just because I can... Practice mostly. The deformations are good for the most part, but I know that once I've done the skinning it's going to look at whole lot better!

Eli Character modeling/texturing

2010-03-10T16:28:00.005+02:00

Here's the next progress picture from the Eli Project.
Texturing is not my favorite.

Captain America Sculpt ZBrush pt2

2010-03-04T00:15:00.004+02:00

Update 2 of my Captain America Sculpting progress. Need to refine more, soon will be going into the millions of pollys.

Captain America Sculpt ZBrush pt1

2010-02-28T13:33:00.007+02:00

I'm absolutely falling in love with Zbrush and the functionality it has. The ability to throw the technical stuff out the window and open doors to creative dimensions where creativity roams free, this is what this program actually does. I love it. My second humanoid figure and pretty excited to get into the details!

Project Eli

2010-02-11T00:43:00.006+02:00

This is my first 3D character model done in Maya. Real Fun and time consuming, the way I like it!
Poly count of 6014 so far.
Here are some pictures of Eli.

Teeth tongue and the lips.

The face of a messenger.

Name: Eli Jones
Occupation: Mail boy and runner for Herbicor Inc.
Temperament: Clumsy/Adventurist

Self portrait painting

2009-11-01T16:04:00.003+02:00

An attempt at a self portrait, after browsing some CA.org forums I was inspired by someone who was doing some cool things in terms of self portraits, and since ref is easily obtainable, why not?
It's looking cold, and depressing to me... much like the feelings I have at the moment brought on by the dreaded FLU.

Animation Title

2009-10-15T21:51:00.001+02:00

It takes a while to do, but man I love this stuff!
A title project for school, holding thumbs for some good marks!

Face drawing

2009-10-04T12:45:00.002+02:00

Finally I drew something! the first time in a while now... wow. Again a face I'm thinking some anatomy studies need to be done in order for me to get some body drawings in!

Jeep animation

2009-10-02T19:50:00.000+02:00

Practice for school, quick jeep animation.

JeepAni01 from Pmlomb on Vimeo.

3D text in Maya

2009-09-09T18:05:00.002+02:00

Learning more about 3d. Just a simple text import.

3D room Maya Software render

2009-09-07T15:08:00.005+02:00

My 3D room project for school. Maya software rendering utilizing 3 point lighting techniques.
Quite happy with the results for a first attempt at lighting and rendering a scene.

Color express

2009-08-19T23:43:00.002+02:00

More is more when it comes to colors!
Random scribbles for the day.

Scrat Study

2009-08-16T15:52:00.003+02:00

Small distraction time during hard texture work... not my favorite...
So a 15 min scrat study to just break from the texture madness.

Starry-eyed

2009-08-14T22:34:00.004+02:00

Small update.

More Colour art

2009-07-04T18:57:00.000+02:00

I go into a zone creating things with colour... a much deeper zone than when I'm drawing anything else. Here's another colour picture:

Colors!

2009-07-02T19:56:00.001+02:00

Since I've found this style of art, I've been having so much fun.
It's amazing how colors start to effect you when you looking at them, even for just a second but even more so when you spend close on an hour and a half on doodling around and experimenting with the amazing things that colors are!

Funky Designs Web2.0 style

2009-07-02T14:58:00.003+02:00

Who knew designing would be so much fun?

Web2.0 Icon designs

2009-07-02T01:49:00.003+02:00

Here some web2.0 icons:

Easy Motivation

2009-06-28T12:07:00.001+02:00

I've been Lucky enough the past few days, to stumble upon really great free content. Which has lead to me becoming extremely motivated... and easily.

Here's my breakdown of how to get Motivated into 3 easy steps!

1) Think of the activity you really enjoy.
2) Intensify the actual feeling i get when I think of the things i really like doing. I notice where the feeling is. (I imagine my feeling inside as a kind of energy ball haha) If that sounds funny, it's okay, funny normally leads to smiles which actually can make you very happy for no reason.
3) Take control of the ball - When something spins really fast it has more energy - and spin the feeling really fast so that the spinning causes more intense feelings of laughter, desire! with this feeling going you think of the activity you want to be motivated to do.

This works for things you don't really want to do too! eg.
Doing the dishes - not really fun hey?
1) Think of doing the dishes - take the feeling and make it small
2) Get a great feeling like above and add in accomplishment. And necessity! like hygiene.
3) Think of doing the dishes.

The other thing that works great for me, is when I do the dishes I just do it unconsciously whilst I think of cool things to animate or draw even revise my learnings from school! All whilst doing the dishes! I'm sure my wife one day will be happy with a clean kitchen :D

I think it's important for all human beings to take control of their neurology to better their lives.

Making more art!

2009-06-28T11:40:00.004+02:00

Q: How many good feelings do you think you have?

Keep on being awesome! Here some more pictures

Bliss continued

2009-06-27T18:00:00.006+02:00

Busy with a really cool animation, it's really hard to concentrate when you so excited! haha I actually have to calm myself down and say wait a minute now! it's not going to animate by itself... then as soon as I've done a little bit it starts all over again. It's really amazing how captivating it is to see your creations move. I can't even begin to imagine how Shawn Kelly feels when he watches transformers! OMW!
More pictures: Ed & Steve = Animated Short/series possibilities.

Totally blissticated

2009-06-27T17:33:00.004+02:00

I am currently totally booming with passion, excitement, and tenacious desire to be awesome all the time. Learning is coming fast and hard it's unbelievable how much I've learned over the past few months! Here's more pictures!

Finally an Update

2009-06-05T18:49:00.003+02:00

Wow, I should dedicate more time to doing my short, between learning 3d Modeling in Maya, drinking coffee or wait for it... Green Mint TEA! and eating toast seems the days are going faster and faster! But even though there's all this learning going on here's a small update.
An animation about nothing. Gambit runs in throws some cards. Mainly to do some FX animation.
And the run cycle I was talking about a while ago:

Hope to be finished with the short next weekend. My 3d project is due on the 12th of June, this coming friday. After which I'll be dedicating more time to the project.

As always - smile, be awesome and stay tuned.

Project Gambit 01

2009-05-13T09:33:00.003+02:00

Hey hey hey! Here's an update on the project.
So far I've rewritten the script and created, rigged, pegged the Gambit character, not only this but also the best run cycle I've ever made! I like it a lot. Will be fun to tweak and see different results at the end. Here's a screenie:

Edit in Gambit & Pomb

2009-05-12T08:58:00.002+02:00

Hello my fellow humans! Due to the length of the project the script has been rewritten and now will only contain Gambit... and no Pomb..... :( the after inspection Pomb had 0% appeal and was just not funny enough to make the effort worth it. So the short will be solely on Gambit and his miss firing cards.
Scrip writing, is an art form I wish I had an inkling of an idea how to do. Without a scrip you got nothing. Stay tuned for updates... coming soon!

Gambit Character

2009-05-10T14:59:00.002+02:00

Okay! And we off!
So far I've got a script and a fully rigged Gambit Character.
GoGoGo!
Here's what the final Gambit looks like, and how he'll be appearing in the toon:

New Cartoon: Gambit & Pomb

2009-05-10T11:07:00.004+02:00

Hey! Yip I'm thinking of making a new cartoon. I say "thinking" because I "think" of new cartoons all the time, and most well so far all of the time they don't get past the think stage, so whether this materializes and becomes one - a finished cartoon - is another story.

Coming soon! (hopefully xD)

Story: Paul Lombard a comic enthusiast wanders across his hero Gambit. Mixed up in the emotions of awesomeness awe and panic he hangs on to his hero pleading to become his apprentice... Watch this space for the nonsensical, comic tales of Gambit & Pomb!

Doofus Short

2009-05-08T00:01:00.006+02:00

My First Animated Short for School.
Done in ToonBoom Studio 4.5. I absolutely love this programe and what it can do! Can't wait to make some more animations in it. I'm not as happy as I should be with this one because I started fading nearing the end of the project and so my polishing skills have still not been tested 100%! Nonetheless I loved every second of every day I worked on this short!
I apologize for the bad quality of the video, as soon as I figure out how to better my export settings I will repost it.
So without any further delay here's my first animated short entitled: Doofus

And here is some of the Production artwork:

Coming Soon!

2009-05-07T22:30:00.003+02:00

Hi There!

Thanks for coming to check me out!

I'll be posting up work as soon as I've compressed my work to an "Internet friendly" size.
Be sure to check back soon for updates!