FEMA Publications Catalog - Design

Hi All,

After I retired from the Air Force, I was hired on at the Federal Emergency Management Agency(FEMA), as a designer in the Publications Section.  Over the next three years I worked with FEMA print publications, prepared books for printing, archived files, assisted contractors designing for FEMA.  I also designed books, leaflets, products for print and web, and whatever other projects they had for me.  It was a great job.  It was always fun and challenging -- and like any job, occasionally a little frustrating.

Today I'm going to highlight the FEMA Publications Catalog.  A little background - when I was hired, the Pubs section was in the midst of change and my boss Ken dedicated me to work with the FEMA publications and to develop and "run" some new processes (as well as work on graphic design).  FEMA has numerous publications and most are designed by contractors.  So one of the first things I developed was a QC, cataloging and master file archiving system, and then I'd annually put out a FEMA Publications Catalog.

Cover - FEMA Publications Catalog. Note - the
design is set up in accordance with DHS
House Styleguide - not necessarily the way most
would set it up.

As new products came in, I would make sure it was set up in accordance with Dept of Homeland Security House Style Guidelines, assign publication and catalog number (don't ask why two numbers -- long story), and "brand" it on the back cover.  I'd make changes/fixes as necessary, preflight the files and ensure they were ready for commercial printing.  Then I'd pass the files on to the printing specialist and work with them (if necessary), thru the printing process.

Intro page in the catalog -- some info about the
catalog and FEMA resouces on-line

The Publications Catalog that hadn't been done in quite a while when I arrived, so I started from scratch.  As new products and reprints came in, they were put into the catalog.  When ready, we'd print a small run and post on the web.  I left FEMA almost a year ago, to move out west, but the catalog is  probably still on the FEMA website.  The catalog didn't have all the publications, as I've described, but it included the most current materials.

One of the internal pages.  The books are listed
by category.  These are "Flood" books

I know FEMA has taken a beating in the media at times, but I really enjoyed working there.  I can't say enough about the people at FEMA.  They are dedicated, and some of the best!
Thanks FEMA -- I'll always treasure my time working with you.

A page of Disaster Recovery Center signs.
They're signs for the centers out in the field,
where people get disaster assistance.

Have a great week everyone....Tom

Barry Sanders - Yes Another Football Pic

An old friend of mine, Greg, has been after me for years -- "Tom, do a picture of Barry Sanders.  He was the greatest running back of all time" -- and so on, and on.  Well, Greg's been a Detroit Lions fan forever, and God knows, they don't usually have a lot to cheer about, so finally I got around to working on it.

All joking aside, I've been wanting to work on this one for a while.  I figured I'd do a combination technique using a pencil illustration and Photoshop to finish it out.  After a little searching around, I found some reference material and decided on the layout.  Next - I got out a big handful of pencils, a pad of bristol board, and got to work.  I like working out a nice pencil rendering using a variety of pencils from the hard 4H pencil all the way to the very soft 4B (and all the others in between).

Pencil Portrait of Barry Sanders - base illustration

I scanned the portrait in to my iMac and worked on adding a little more detail in and darkening some of the tonal values.  I did this in Photoshop using a Wacom tablet.  Using the brush tool in photoshop and the pen stylus and digitizing tablet - it has a similar feel to painting or airbrushing (and it's much more forgiving if you make a mistake).

A great feature in Photoshop is the ability to work on various layers.  It's just like it sounds - like transparent overlays that stack up from bottom to top.  So as I go, I create layers and worked in some color on the uniform and his face.  I keep it kind of soft, allowing the pencil to show thru.  Then I added some additional texture and color on a couple of layers using the powder blue color and some really large irregularly shaped brushes.  Afterward I adjusted the layer opacity, giving it just the right amount of color and texture.  For me, there's quite a bit of adding and subtracting in these processes too - it's a process.

Finishing touches were applied with a nice border; a rugged almost rock like texture which is opposite of the soft translucent colors over the image.  I selected the border area and painted in some light and dark colors.  Next, I started experimenting with various filter effects until I was pleased with the colors and textures.  I finished it with a Layer Style, using the Bevel and Emboss effect.  I selected the Inner Bevel style and Chisel Soft technique, and adjusted the depth, size, and softness until I was happy with it.

Barry Sanders portrait...finished artwork

Finishing touch...a nice white stroke around the image and my signature.  And there you have Barry Sanders - who, in the opinion of my buddy Greg - "is the best running back  in football history."  Glad you aprove Greg.

Have a great week everyone.

White House Upgrades If......

Hi Everyone,

Yes, it's true, I was inspired last week by Donald Trump.  Ha - anyone that knows me personally would laugh at that, because I'm not really a fan of his TV shows or his politics.  But, he's been in the news a lot, talking about running for the Presidency (or maybe just trying to get attention to boost his show's ratings).

So I started thinking about what if he were elected President.  He's so extravagant and over the top about everything in his life - what would he do if he were President of the United States?  And then it occurred to me; I think he'd probably take down that ratty old White House and replace it with a grand, amazing and ultra modern Trump Presidential Tower.

So, like many of the works I do now, I start with a pencil sketch.  Sometimes I ink it, like a comic as I've done here.  Then I scan the piece, bring it into Photoshop, make the necessary adjustments to the file (brightness, contrast, canvas size, resolution, etc...), and finally I start working in the color.  I work in layers, so I can work front to back - or vice versa.

Mr. Trump - thanks for the inspiration.

"Man, this old place needs some serious upgrades"

Hope you enjoy your week everyone.  See you next time.

Tom

Caricatures - Commercial Illustration and Fun Gift

Hi All,

I recently dug out my caricature book to show a prospective client, some samples.  It brought back a lot of good memories.  One of my favorite types of artwork to create has always been the caricature.  During my 22 year career in the Air Force, I'd done probably 200-300 caricatures.  It's a fun medium to work with and because AF people are continually moving around you always are saying "so long" to someone; and a caricature makes a great "going away" gift.  It's a unique gift, with a fun and goofy likeness of the person....they're always a hit for the recipient and everyone else as well.

There's also a commercial illustration application to this as well.  Magazines and other publications feature various styles of caricatures regularly to accompany stories in their publications.

I'm going to keep the text to a minimum this week and include several of the old school caricatures from the past, and a few updated commercial style ones as well.

Remember, if I can assist with any of your artwork needs, commercial or personal - let me know, I'd love to hear from you and I'd love to help.  (my contact info is in my blogs profile).  Have a great week and enjoy the artwork.

Gift for a colleague - Pen and Ink on Bristol Board

Gift for a colleague - Mixed Media (colored pencil, ink and
airbrush acrylic)

60 Yr Old Man - I was commissioned to produce this for a client
to give as a gag birthday gift.  Mostly colored pencil
with a little dry and air brush.

Gift for a colleague - Pen and Ink on Bristol

Michelle - Portfolio piece - ink drawing, scanned and
painted digitally

Arpiao - Portfolio - Local Sheriff, digital illustration

Timberlake - Portfolio - Pen and ink, scanned and
painted digitally

Pen and Ink - gift from my class to my First Sergeant
Academy Instructor

Gift for my old buddy - Mike - or as most of us
call him "Z"

Liz Taylor - A True Hollywood Legend

Hi All,

I got to thinking about the passing of Elizabeth Taylor recently, and thought I'd do a blog post as a tribute to her.  I'm a little young to have followed her movie career in her prime, but she was always making news, for one thing or another, as I was growing up.

I remember when I was a kid, she was always bigger than life, and of course she was always in the tabloids and entertainment news, even though she wasn't making movies anymore.

Liz - Photoshop and Wacom Tablet
by Tom Kreienbrink; 2011

Later on she became an activist.  She was one of the first (if not "the first"), to really take a public and vocal stand for AIDS research.  She spoke out and she also showed a lot of love and compassion for the people who were contracting and dying from the disease.  Many of her close friends died of AIDS.  For the rest of her life she was very much involved in AIDS related causes, and other causes as well.

Of course, there's her famous White Diamonds perfume commercials and many marriages (we don't need to go into that).  Thru the years she'd struggled with substance abuse and various ailments as well...which sometimes go hand in hand.

I've done a couple pictures of her over the years.  Mainly because she was beautiful and I wanted to paint her.  Pretty simple, eh?  Yeah - maybe there was more to it - but I don't want to psychoanalyze my work or myself here.

So a couple months ago I watched the movie Butterfield 8, which she won an Oscar for.  I'd never seen it before and thought I'd give it a try.  I have to say, it was a good movie and I enjoyed it.  A couple years ago my wife (Sue) and I watched Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf.  That movie was really something.  In it she plays a very bad drunk (as does her movie husband Richard Burton).  It was a very powerful and gritty performance.

Elizabeth Taylor - by Tom Kreienbrink
Acrylic on cold press illustration board - circa 1996

 One of these days I'll have to take a look at a few more of her movies.  I always wanted to see Giant, with her and James Dean.  I might watch Cleopatra or some others as well.

I'm including a couple pictures of Liz that I did.  The top one I just did this morning and the bottom one I painted about 15 years ago.  I remember painting it - I did it mostly with airbrush and acrylic airbrush colors.  Of course I used frisket, for masking and some dry brush as well.

The top illustration that I just completed was rendered in photoshop with a Wacom tablet.  I scanned in a sketch and created layers for the different elements.  

Whether we remember her as a beautiful symbol of Hollywood decadence, as an activist for change and good causes, or as actress in some of the classic movies of a generation gone by; Elizabeth Taylor, we will remember you.

Have a great week everyone.

March Madness - Everywhere!!

Hi Folks,

It's March Madness everywhere....Of course the college hoops championships are going on, but also Spring is here and it's warming up.  People are getting out, getting their yards ready for summer, hiking, biking, and all around feeling good about the Winter being behind us.

I'm excited about Spring as well and March Madness, too.  I'm one of the guys that enjoy the NCAA Basketball Championships.  So, while watching the games the other day I did some sketching and drew up a couple cartoons (I drew them with pen and colored them in Photoshop).

So let's talk a little college hoops.  My three teams are still in the hunt for a title; Wisconsin, Marquette, and Arizona - I'm probably the only person on the planet with those loyalties.

Being from Wisconsin originally, I'm a Wisconsin Badgers and Marquette Golden Eagles fan...and with the tournament field whittled down to 16 teams - both of my favorites are still in it.

I moved to Arizona with my family as a kid (in 8th grade), and so I pull for U of A and ASU too.  And, I'm excited to see the University of Arizona Wildcats still in the tourney as well.  They've had good teams for many years, but I think they're a surprise in the tournament this year.

Being back in Arizona, we had a pretty warm Winter and our spring focus is a little different.  I'm getting the plants and yard squared away, but preparing for the long hot Summer.  Making sure the pool's ready and working on a couple of outdoor projects.  Friday, I'll be going for a ride with friends around southern Arizona.  Should be a lot of fun.

Whatever your March Madness consists of - enjoy the change of seasons.  It won't be long before the dog days of Summer are here and things will change again.

Back to the tournament -- how will my teams do?  I don't know.  They're all long shots to finish as champions.  But, I'm proud of them all.  They've all gone much further than anyone would have predicted.  However - they're all three still alive and anything can happen....March Madness - Gotta Luv It!!  Enjoy Everyone!

Most Recent Project - PubCom Illustration

Hi Everyone,

It's been a busy few weeks.  I've been working on several projects, as well as taking care of personal and business administratia (aaarrrgggg), but things have to get done.

After touching base with an old friend and colleague  in Washington DC, she asked me to help out with some re-branding for her business.  Every so often she re-brands, redesigns the web sites and promotional material - keeping things fresh, and she had some ideas that included the black and white technique that I've used in some of my previous work.

What she was looking for is an illustration to depict what the business does - in simplest terms.  Her business is PubCom and they design and consult (graphic design), also - they're a training company for design softwares, 508 accessibility, PDFs and Acrobat, designing for new technology like E-pads and smart phones.  OK - so that covers a lot of ground - where to begin.

As usual, I started out with some thumbnails - going in the directions of design symbolism and also tools of the trade and end products.  After some back and forth - we came up with the right design.  Combo-end products the company designs and trains people to design for, was the winner.  I tightened up the sketch, scanned it and placed it into an Adobe Illustrator file - 11" x 8.5," and went to work.

PubCom Illustration - Saved as an Illustrator and vector EPS.
(A jpeg used here in the Blog)

The illustration (above) depicts training platforms and devices that PubCom training supports (print, computer and web, pad and smart phone products).  It also depicts what PubCom design and consulting can assist with (websites, 508 accessibility, products for print and handheld devices, and more).

When illustrating, I used Adobe Illustrator, so the final product would be a vector illustration, retaining it's shape and integrity whether it's printed large or small.  I worked in layers from back to front.  So the smart phone is the top layer, next the pad, computer, books, and then the background.  The sketch was on the bottom and deleted when the illustration was finished.

A note about PubCom.  You can check them out at www.pubcom.com.  Bevi, runs a great outfit and provides training in-house and to groups, on site.  I've taken several of her courses and always recommend PubCom for any design specialty software training.

Have a great weekend all.  Also - I just started a Facebook page highlighting my art and design work - check it out: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Tom-Kreienbrink-Illustration-and-Design/170670816317477