contact@paul-robbins.com

Bio

I was born in Arkansas (see Miss Arkansas shirt in image to the left) and got my B.F.A. in Digital Art/Design from Henderson State University.  It was a fine arts program with a good mix of traditional and digital art instruction.  There I learned the principles of design i.e. composition, balance, symmetry, contrast, visual weight etc. and how to draw.  I also picked up specific skills like figure drawing from life, painting in acrylic and oils, and pen and ink.  I learned pen and ink from Gary Simmons, one of the greatest fine artists I know.  On the digital side of the spectrum I used Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, InDesign, Quark, and Lightwave 3D to complete numerous projects.  Many examples of these can be seen in the gallery section of this site.

I got a minor in Computer Science at Henderson and have since incorporated my coding abilities into ActionScript for Flash and MEL for Maya.  Something I enjoy most about what I do is combining my artistic sense with technical knowledge to produce something greater than I could if I only had one.

After seeing just the tip of the iceberg at Henderson I knew I wanted to go into the 3D industry.  Having learned the basics of Lightwave I set out in search of a school that could take me deeper.  I found the Full Sail web site while looking for internships at some of the companies I wanted to work for.  Digital Domains’ site had a list of schools that they recommended going to in order to get into the industry.  Full Sail stood out to me because it taught you every step of the pipeline.  Concept Art, Modeling, Shading and Lighting, Rigging, Animation, Compositing, Visual Effects were all covered.  That’s exactly what I was after.  I wanted to learn every discipline and then decide what gave my boat the most buoyancy.  I was also attracted to Full Sail because of its accelerated course structure.  I didn’t want to go to school for another 4 years after just getting my Bachelors.

I married me a lovely wife and moved to the sunshine state.  Actually, she deserves more mention than that.  My wife is a supportive, loving woman and I’m thankful she is with me on this journey.  She’s made me a lot of lunches to take to school and for that and many other reasons I appreciate her. 

Now that I’ve been at Full Sail for over a year I have decided my focus will be on Animation.  I love animation.  I’ve been blessed to have attended SIGGRAPH for the last 3 years and it was always the pieces in the Computer Animation Festival with the best animation that left the most emotional impact on me.  From here on out I plan on adding a lot more animation to the gallery so keep a look out and enjoy the site.