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

Artists - Promote your work with a Slideshow

Hi All - It's been a busy week and I've been a slacker getting the Tom Kbrink Illustration Blog updated.   But what can you do...busy is a good thing.

Something that came up recently for me is putting together presentations or slideshows.  I never dreamed I'd be getting back into the presentation business, but I'll take it.  So here's how it happened.  I'm a member of the Artists Marketing Resources (AMR) group on Linked In, where we decided to put a slideshow together to promote group member artwork.  Being one of the group managers and having plenty of experience, I volunteered to help.  So I dusted off the old presentation skills, fired up Power Point and rolled up my sleeves.  As a result, we (the AMR group managers), put together a slideshow presentation featuring the work of our group members.  We soon found the show went over very well.  They even let an old illustrator like me in the show (most of the work was Fine Art).

Slide from the AMR slideshow featuring my personal logo artwork and info about the piece

So, you may ask...why put together a slideshow?  What do I do with it?  For artists its a great way to display your work(illustration portfolio or fine art collections), and share it.  A well done slideshow can be portable enough for email, and can also be shared on social media sites (I was told recently there's 54 major sites - and it's growing).

The great thing about social media is there are so many ways of getting the work out there; here are a few examples of what we did.  First, I posted the show on the Slideshare website and linked it to my Linked In profile (so people visiting my profile can view it). Check it out:  http://slidesha.re/hNfGTq   In that location, I can share the link/URL with anyone I wish or post it on other social media venues.  I can email the URL to prospective clients also and give them easy access to my work.  One of the great advantages is that I can put together a taste of my work or highlight a certain collection in a slideshow and share it with the world, without having to set up an entire web site.

Screen snapshot of our slideshow in the Slideshare program.

A friend and colleague of mine Marie Kazalia is an artist, who also represents artists and helps them market their work.  We worked together on the AMR artist slideshow.  Seeing the potential in this media, she and I recently started offering professional slide presentations to artists thru her web site:  http://transmediartistmarketing.org/wordpress/artist-cddvd-services/     This service is an inexpensive and can be an easy way for an artist to share their work, without a lot of expense.  Ultimately it offers a lot of flexibility in marketing their own work as well.

So dust off that copy of Power Point, or hire someone like Marie or me and get your work out there - there's 50 million people out there waiting to see your stuff!!
Until next time...have a great one,
Tom