Break Out the Airbrush, Baby!

Hi All,

I just came across a picture of Jimi Hendrix that I airbrushed on a black t-shirt years ago.  It brought back a lot of memories.  Back in a "previous lifetime" when I was a medical illustrator at the regional hospital at Carswell AFB, Texas, I had a textile airbrushing biz.  I would airbrush tees, jackets, and other stuff at home in my studio during the week, and set up and paint tees on-site at the Cattle Barn Flea Market every other weekend.  The flea marked managers where great...they'd keep a spot for me by the front doors.  It was a lot of fun...Good times.

Tee shirt artwork....Jimi Hendrix portrait on a black tee shirt - with airbrush acrylic paints

I really had fun with this shirt (photo above).  Because it's on a black tee, it's painted with just hi-lights and purple haze in the background.  A fun technique and a little more challenging than the standard paint on white tee.

I started out learning the Airbrush from Michael Casey at a DGEF workshop in Peoria, IL.  Not long after I started experimenting with textile airbrushing.  For me, I wear tee shirts quite a bit, I appreciated the art form, and it just seemed like a natural medium for me to pursue.

I still have an arsenal of guns (airbrushes) for different uses.  For t-shirts I always loved the Paasche VL.  It's a bottom feed brush that allows you to keep several colors in bottles ready so can just pop em on and off for easy color change.  Thru reading Airbrush Action magazine - I learned a couple tricks to modify the guns; customizing them for textile painting.  My paint of choice for textiles are Createx acryic colors.  The pioneers of tee shirt airbrushing would talk about the different silk screen inks, paints, and other mediums they'd use, but by the time I came along Createx already had a great line of products made for airbrushing textiles.  The great thing about Createx is that they're non-toxic paints made for airbrushing.  However, you still need good ventilation and I had a mask that I'd wear to help keep paint out of my lungs.

Of course, as the years have gone by the popularity of airbrushing has declined and I don't use the airbrushes nearly as much as I used to.  However, I still use airbrush for fine art and occasional illustration projects.  I use it mostly as a supplemental tool to add smooth tones.  Most of the time now I use the airbrush tool in Photoshop more than any manual brush (most commercial work I do is illustrated on computer now).

 The Batgirl picture(on the right) is a mixed media project that I used the airbrush to enhance.  I did it for fun and practice many years ago, but it's a great example of using the airbrush on a fine art/illustration piece.  It's a great tool to add tonal values, especially in the folds of fabrics.

Have a great week all.....get out those air brushes once in a while and have some fun with them...they get lonely on the shelf.

Papp Media Logo

Hi All,

This past fall I attended PocCamp AZ - a weekend long seminar on using social media, creating it, etc - to help your creative business.  While there I met Becky Papp (professional name B.K. Papp), a local freelance writer.  Recently, she contacted me to do a couple logos for her business.  She'd been finding success as a freelance writer, but has been dabbling with podcast interviewing and has found she has a real talent for it.  So we set out to work on some branding imagery to help promote her growing media business.

First - the usual steps, I did some research - check her web site, see what she does, get some info from her about what she does, what she's about, etc.  Then I sat down with pencil and paper - did some pencil sketches for both logos (writing and podcast sides of the house).

When I thought I had some good ideas, we met to talk them over.  She took the comps and mulled them over.  When we spoke again about the logos, she'd decided on going with one logo and had some ideas to combine major elements of one of the writing logos with elements of the broadcast side.  We worked out the kinks and pressed forward with a B.K. Papp Media logo.

B & W version of the BK Papp Media logo

The logo's base image is a stylized fountain pen nib, with a custom scrolled "P" engraved on it.  The lines coming out from the central image are sound waves.  The sound waves represent the sound that fills the air waves from BK Papp's podcast interviews.  Thus - the major elements of Papp Media were being developed into a logo.  I completed the finished artwork by rendering it in Adobe Illustrator.  First, I created the black and white version, suitable for electronic media and print media alike.  Then I created the color version - perfect for use on-line and in color promotional print materials.

Color Version of BK Papp logo

The logo is up on the web already at www.pappmedia.com.  I'd encourage you to check her site. Becky is a terrific writer who really has a knack for interviewing (really does a great job on the podcasts).  

So, if you're looking to update an old logo or looking for some fresh re-branding - give me a call.....I'd love to help.

Until next time....have a great one.    

PDF - How much do you know about them?

Greetings,

Recently I was thinking about using the PDF as a blog topic.  It's probably about the most common or universal file format and even to a lot of creative professionals and most lay people, it's really not widely understood.  So what does P.D.F. mean - Portable Document Format (very sexy name, huh?).  The PDF was developed by Adobe and is supported by it's free software; Adobe Reader.  Adobe Reader is probably the most common of them, (now on most computers), and Adobe Acrobat, is a powerful program that allows you to do numerous functions with PDFs.

At the most basic level, how do you create a PDF without any special software?  The most common way is called Print to File.   With your document open go to the File menu and select Print.  Under the Printer selection menu, select Adobe PDF instead of sending it to your actual printer, and then Save.  Instead of printing, your file will be saved as a PDF.  For most of us, this gives us the convenience of a file format that's universal and probably compressed for easy emailing or posting to the web.  However, there are many other uses for the PDF and several types.

What are some types of PDFs and what are they used for?  PDFs can be saved for posting on the web, for sending thru email, but also to send out for professional commercial printing.  A few of the different presets for saving PDFs are Press Quality, High Quality Print, and Smallest Size.  Press Quality is the highest quality PDF preset.  It's a file that you can send to commercial printers for print production, the fonts are embedded and all other critical components as well.  When I worked in the publications section at FEMA, I would save books and other products for printing as Press Quality PDFs and include it with the source files for the printer to use for print production.  High Quality Print is a file that will print well on printers like your desktop printer, a laser printer, and even larger production laser printers.  The file prints well and doesn't compress the file all that much, but is considerably smaller than Press Quality and easier for most people to handle.  The "Smallest Size" file preset is a file that is great for emailing, posting to the web, or viewing on a computer.

Adobe Acrobat Professional is the program by Adobe, that is used to edit, save, combine, export, and many more things with PDFs.  As a media specialist, I use Acrobat regularly to do minor text edits, insert, export, and delete pages, re-arrange pages, create PDFs from multiple documents, crop pages, and more.  I can use Acrobat to create forms with fillable fields and export PDF pages as JPG, TIFF, or other formats.  This program is a staple for me and I can always use it to send a file - and I know the other person will be able to read it.

There are also work flow and commenting uses that Acrobat can be used for, so documents can be sent around and commented on, without changing the actual original document.

Well - that's all for now on PDFs.  Have a great day Everyone.

 

Special Edition

Hi All,

It is with a heavy heart that I write my blog today.  This last Sunday my sister-in-law, Megan passed away. It was a shock to all, and heart breaking to family and friends.

I've known my wife's younger sister for close to 26 years now.  She was about 16 years old when I met my wife Sue.  She was always pretty and very outgoing.  If the room was loud, one voice rose above, Meg's.  She was gregarious, funny, silly, and loved to have a good time - she was the life of the party.  She was also a warm and loving person who was fiercely loyal.  She loved her two sons, who are now grown and she also leaves behind her husband Rory and his grown children (whom she also considered her kids even though she did not give birth to them).

Life is not always easy for people, and harder for some than others.  It was not an easy thing for Meg.  But non the less, she always kept on trying.  I write this blog as family and friends are now on their way to Phoenix to gather together and remember one of our own.   We'll laugh and cry and remember the good times, and mourn the loss of one taken from us way too young.

Megan Reuter Willis

1968 - 2011

Megan with her father Bob Reuter
both gone too soon.

Child with Cat Picture

Hi All,
One of the types of artwork I've done over the years are portraits.  In the age of computers that we live, I still enjoy working with the traditional materials.  An instructor I had, once said he preferred traditional art materials; that he wanted to be able to smell the paint and lick the canvas.  Although it wasn't a literal reference he was making, I understand the sentiment.  Over the recent holiday season, I got the opportunity to do a nice portrait on board for a client.

Recently I was commissioned to produce a portrait of a child with the family's pet cat (who were laying together).  The original photograph was adorable, but the requester wanted an image that didn't have the arm (holding the cat in place), and also an original artwork keepsake she could cherish forever.  Given the flexibility to create as I saw fit, I decided to do a mixed media piece (a combination of pencil, airbrush, colored pencil).

I started with a piece of hot press illustration board (with enough tooth to take the pencil), working the image with a combination of hard to soft pencils.  Mostly 2H, H, 2B, and 4B (harder leads are lighter, softer leads are darker).  The original photograph was a nice photo, so I could use it as a sole reference, and the cloth made for an interesting back drop with a lot of folds and wrinkles with good shadows.

Working the piece with hard to soft pencils first - getting a nice base for the final artwork.

After finishing with the pencils.  Nice contrast in the cloth folds.

The next step is to work in the airbrush.  I have an Iwata Custom Micron-B that I like for this kind of work.  It allows me to get in close with a fine line or further away for wider areas of painting.  I used Golden and Comart transparent airbrush paints.  First - I use a transparent shading grey, and go over the folds and dark areas of the subjects and the cloth.  I also wanted to give it almost a sepia tone effect, using yellow, brown and orange - over the lighter areas.

Using the Airbrush to add color to the image...giving it a warm antique feeling.

When applying the final touches, I use some soft colored pencils to add a hint of color in the child and cat (and the cat's elf hat).  Then finally I go back in and apply more black to add darker shadows around the outside border and in some of the folds.  

Finally - here's the final picture....Child with Cat.  Mixed Media; 18" x 24"

Contact me if you'd like to commission a picture for your own home collection.  Have a great day. 

Final Artwork - next goal - become a better photographer.

G is for Greatness

Hello everyone,

It's Super Bowl week here in the good ol USA.  It's the biggest football game there is and my favorite team is playing in the game this year: The Green Bay Packers.  One subject I've drawn and painted over the years are football players - mostly Green Bay Packers.

As a kid growing up in Wisconsin, the Packers were the local favorites, and the people of the state love their team.  After I moved away, I still follow them.  They're a great franchise, and hey - I'm a fan...bottom line.  One thing I found out this week....the G logo does not stand for Green Bay.  The G stands for Greatness (I think it came out in 62 and I'll bet Vince Lombardi had something to do with it).

So - in honor of Super Bowl week and the Green Bay Packers - here are some of my favorite Packers pieces of artwork for your enjoyment.  Hope you all enjoy the game Sunday.  Go Packers!!!

Donald Driver - current Receiver for the Pack.  He's the old man of the team - he's been a Packer for 12 seasons, but he's still good.  Drawn in a cartoon style with Pen and Ink, scanned and colored in Photoshop.

Ryan Grant - The star Running Back who was injured early in the season this year.  It's a pencil drawing, scanned in, drawing then painted grey scale with Photoshop and color background added.

Ray Nitschke - One of the All time greats!  An intense player  - vicious on the field, a gentle giant off.  He was a stand-out in the Lombardi era of the 1960s.  This is a painted photo.  I painted it using digital tools in the computer with Painter software and Digitizing tablet.

Reggie White - The Minister of Defense.  In Super Bowl XXXI he took over the fourth quarter of the game where he sacked the opposing quarterback on two consecutive plays.  One of the most beloved players in Packers history.  You're missed - RIP big guy.

Aaron Rodgers - The Heir to the Throne.  The current quarterback on the Packers.  He had an absolutely phenomenal year.  He's amazingly talented.  He's also erased any controversy of him taking over for that other player (whom will remain unnamed).  The pic is a pencil drawing scanned into computer, and enhanced with Photoshop.