TomK self portrait 2019

Hi All,

Well - I've become a very very inconsistent blogger.  I've got several pieces of artwork in the pipeline and in process, so I'll be back a little sooner next time.  Things are heating up here in Phoenix...in the 100s every day now.  I've got plenty on the plate; work, artwork, projects around the house and more.  Whew...busy life but excited about some of the things coming on the horizon.

One of the mediums of artwork I've always enjoyed is cartooning.  Over the years I've done several cartoon portraits....and self portraits.  Recently my older son Dave gave me this great hand made sketch book.  One day about a week ago I did some sketching and one that I did was a cartoon self portrait.  (I have another fun one coming from that day that I need to finish, but it's coming). Then today, I thought I'd take it to the computer and do a little color and finishing.

I complete the project using Photoshop and a Wacom tablet on my old Mac desktop.  It's fun working on little pieces like this once in a while.  Here's the finished product....

It's me.  I just sit with a pencil and paper and sketch it out.  Not very detailed, but fun.  I'm going to put up a couple other goofy ones that I've done over the years.  However - above is the 2019 version.  When I'll do the next one?  Who knows.

Above is one from 2011.  This was produced with pen and ink. I was a little younger and definitely entrenched in Arizona culture....tshirt, shorts and sandals.  And, I'm pretty much the same today, just older.

Here's a fun one from the early 1990s.  It's a pen and ink illustration. I was the medical illustrator at an Air Force teaching hospital, while on active duty.  I'd use this in some of the material I'd put out regarding the service I'd provide.  I'd produce little informational brochures to provide info to my customers and potential customers.  It was fun. 

So have some fun yourself, this summer.  Enjoy every day.  Be good to others, but also be good to yourself.    Have a great summer and more blog posts and artwork to come....now I'm going swimming.

Peace,

Tom

Tom Kreienbrink
tom.kbrink@gmail.com
www.behance.net/tk-art

Seasons Greeting - Christmas Card

Hi All,

Yes...I'm back.  I've been wrapped up in a very intense semester of school - and, I'm finished.  Things are going pretty well here in Phoenix.  It's winter - and really nice.  Very nice to have cooled off a little after a long hot summer.  So I'm grateful for that and so many things as we approach this holiday season and the beginning of another calendar year.

One thing I'm grateful for is the opportunity to pick up a pen and paper and do a little drawing this evening.  I started with a quick pencil sketch and then picked up a ball point pen and inked the Santa picture - (I had a supervisor that used to do some portraits with ball point pen for fun...and they turned out really good).  However - tonight, speed and a little quality were the objective, because I'm running out of time before Christmas.

So I put together a quick little pic of Santa.  It certainly could have been better, but it turned out the way I wanted it to.  Then I took a picture of it with my phone and opened it up in Photoshop on my Mac, so I could do a little painting and layout a card.

Here's the Photoshop painted product.  I accented a few things and added a little bit of a muted overlaid color.  I wanted it to have a loose and sketchy feel, but of course, be recognizable as Santa.  It still helps to have the Wacom tablet with the stylus to do the drawing and painting on computer.

After reformatting into a wider format that could accommodate the text, I added some quick hand drawn lettering and a loose hand-script font typed message at the bottom.  Then added some finishing touches and the card was complete.  It's not the Mona Lisa, but it's done in about 2-3 hours and on-line.  More than that, it's fun to get pencil/pen and paper in hand again and have a little fun.

Hopefully I'll be doing more artwork in the future as well as holistic therapy, massage, and an EMT job of some sort (in process of getting certified).

I hope wherever you are this Christmas, that you have a wonderful blessed Holiday.  I celebrate Christmas - whatever holidays you celebrate, I hope you have a nice break and an amazing time.  It's a great time to come together with family and friends and neighbors.  Enjoy them and spread a little love and kindness to everyone you meet...we're all God's kids.  And...have some fun too.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year,

Tom Kreienbrink

TK Chronicles - part one

Hello World,

How's your week going?  I'm having fun.  I'm staying busy and challenged at work and enjoying myself as well.  One of the fun things about this blog is that it not only reaches my fellow countrymen and women here in the USA, but I can see that people around the planet read it as well.  I think that's awesome...hello people of Earth.  (Ha!  I crack myself up.)

A little over four years ago, my wife Sue and I moved all the way across the country from Washington DC, to Phoenix Arizona.  As Sue and I were starting to plan the move, my sons (already in Arizona), were planning to start a comic book company with me.  The model for it was great - start the comics on-line.  Put the comics on-line for free, build a following, and later start offering collectors editions and products for sale.  It would be a process, but would really be a viable idea.  It works well for many on-line companies.

Having been in the industry, I could do the web page and a lot of that kind of work.  The other thing was, while my two sons would do their comic, I would also have a comic...just to have more than one on the page.  They had talked about doing a comic for years.  Dave is the writer and story teller and Andy is the artist.  The name of our company; Brain Capital Comics.

Well - we talked about it and planned for it, but once me moved to AZ (the boys were already here when Sue and I moved here), it never happened.  The guys had a lot going on and it just never happened.

I on the other hand had started working on my (lame), comic while still living in DC.  I called it the TK Chronicles.

First 4 pics are from episode one of the TK Chronicals.

OK - I thought the idea was a little lame.  I'm not a great fictional story teller so I "borrowed" the idea of Harvey Pekar and his comic, "American Splendor."

American Splendor is based on the everyday life of the common man, Harvey.  He would write stories in comic form, of his exploits at his job as file clerk, at the Cleveland VA hospital.  He'd also write about his life - thoughts, ideas, and just every day experiences.  It's actually really enjoyed "Slendor," it's definitely different.  So that's what I did in "TK Chron."

So I ended up with a comic of my own - while the boys ended up never getting their story going.  Oh well - everything works out the way it's supposed to, right?  I never did anything with it until now, so I figured I'd post a few episodes in the blog.

I hope you enjoy them.  It's not the most riveting stuff, but it was fun putting this together.

Working and living in the nations capitol, you'd see some interesting things.
The comic is all true....perhaps this one is more dramatic in the comic
than the day it happened - but that's what I saw.

That's it for now.  Have a great week.  Remember - embrace the diversity of life - everyone has a story.  It's ok if everyone is not just like us in every way.  Enjoy.

Peace,

Tom

Wash Your Hands

Hi All,

Well, it's coming to the close of the week....for most people.  Mine's just getting going this week because I'm starting a class tonight that'll last thru Monday night.  Reiki I and II class; and if there's enough students I'll be assisting.  Otherwise, I'll be auditing the class, which will be good as well.

So today I've been working on some design work for a couple projects.  After a while, I took a break and started searching thru some old artwork and found a little pen and ink that I did several years ago.

Pen and Ink Illustration using Kooh-i-Noor technical pens

This was a fun little pic I did while I was a Medical Illustrator years ago.  As we all know, in clinical environments, hand washing is mandatory and important to keep from spreading bacteria and germs around.  So this is an illustration I drew for fliers/mini posters to remind personnel to wash regularly.

I really enjoyed pen and ink as a medium and the various techniques that can be used.  I've got some line work, bold areas, and stipple in the illustration.  It was a fun pic.  I always enjoyed experimenting and continually trying to do new illustrations for projects, rather than buying clip art and using some stock work.  Good times.

Check out the water technique...that's a really subpar water stream coming down from the faucet.  Ha ha ha.  In those days I wasn't always faithful in using good reference material, but I had fun and always tried hard...and made sure the customer was happy with the work.

Have a great day everyone.  Enjoy the weekend.

Be good to each other out there.

Peace,

Tom

Tom Kreienbrink
Illustrator, Artist, Holistic Therapist, and Human on Earth

On Facebook (art page and holistic biz page)

www.facebook.com/HolisticTherapySolutions

www.facebook.com/pages/Tom-Kreienbrink-Art-and-Design

On web (holistic biz site and web portfolio web site)

http://holistictherapysolutions.weebly.com/

http://www.behance.net/tk-art

Pen and Ink Illustration

Hi All,

Sorry - I've been away from the blog for a couple of weeks.  I went on a little road trip to visit family and friends and have just been busy catching up since I returned.

Today I want to get back to basics and discuss one of my favorite techniques; Pen and Ink.  I just love it; from drawing freeform cartoons to pen portraits and caricatures, to cross hatch shading and  stippling....it's one of the first techniques I practiced and one I still enjoy today.

Pens - OK, I admit it, I'm a pen whore.  I love pens and buy them all the time; different shapes and sizes - whatever I find.  Mostly I'm looking for a great pen to draw with.  More and more, there are good pens coming right off the shelf available at most supermarkets or variety stores.  There's great disposable art pens specially made for drawing, too.  Sharpie is always coming out with new styles and ultra fine tips, as well as others like Pentel.  My all time favorite pens are the Koh-i-noor Rapidiograph pens.  Preferring no. 0 - 4 as my favorites.  And, if you take care of them they'll last forever.   Parts are interchangeable and you can use whatever kind of ink you like (my preference is a waterproof india ink).

Sensei DeValentino - pen and ink - later added color via airbrush and presented to
my instructor.  Also scanned into computer as black and white artwork,
used for promotional materials.

For illustration work, I use any and all pen and ink techniques.  I used to do quite a bit of stipple technique - it consists of defining your image and shading it, using dots.  It can be very time consuming.  Thick and thin line variation can spice up a standard line drawing.  Shading with lines or cross hatch is a good technique, but if it's too sloppy can look bad.  High contrast with solid black and white areas can provide a dramatic look.

Pen and Ink illustration - part of a tendon graft
medical teaching brochure

Leaf with raindrop - for a womens health
handout/brochure

Since the most inexpensive form of reproduction is black and white, or a single color reproduction, I've used pen and ink drawings over the years for these kind of products.  Sometimes on an instructional handout for teaching (like the tendon transplant sheet, above), or nice image (like the leaf with rain drop, above), can add a sensitive touch to a flier that demands a softer approach.

Clinton-Obama - pen and ink with computer paint

Timberlake - pen and ink with computer paint

Now, with computers being such a big part of our work and lives, that adds another medium to combine with this old standby technique.  One of my favorite ways of producing artwork is to start with a pen and ink drawing, scan it into the computer, and finish it with full color or spot colors.  It's a fun technique and can add good impact to an illustration.  The two examples above show this application.

That's all for now, I've got to get going.  That's my quick take on the old tried and true, pen and ink technique.  Give it a try again - it's a lot of fun.

Have a great week and see you soon......

Aloha,

Tom