Football Illustrations - a sampling

 Hi All,

Hope things are going well where you are.  Doing a little promotional work on the business today and thought I'd share one of my passions with you....sports.  I'm originally from the Milwaukee, WI area and it really is a great sports area.  One think I've enjoyed is creating artwork that is sports oriented.

DeVondre Campbell - pencil and digital media

Above is a more recent piece featuring DeVondre Campbell of the Packers.  They picked him up to try to beef up their linebacker corps and he delivered an All Pro season.  An amazing player.  Like a lot of my work, it starts with a pencil and paper.  This one I decided to get a really tight rendering and then go in with Procreate on iPad (using the Apple Pencil).  I finished it off with a little work in Photoshop.

Barry Sanders - pencil and Photoshop

The Barry Sanders pic is another one similar to the Campbell art.  Using a solid pencil rendering as a start, then I went into Photoshop and added color, dark darks and highlights, as well as the border.  I've always admired Barry's play and so, I created this piece.

Vince - Pen and Ink

Vince Lombardi pen and ink.  I have done a lot of work over the years with technical pens; heck, pens of all kinds.  This particular illustration was created using technical pens.  I started with a fairly tight pencil rendering and then went in with the Rapidiograph pens and put in the detail and shading.  It's an oldie, but a favorite of mine.

Donald Driver - pen and ink with Photoshop

Ok...I did this one when I was still a medical illustrator for the US Air Force many years ago.  This guy was an all time great guy and a very talented and clutch player.  I loved watching him play football. On this piece, I was trying to get a certain effect of pen/cartoon/gradient color flashes.  I was happy with the finished product.  The one thing that's a little frustrating with computer illustration is consistancy of color.  Different devices interpret colors differently.  Things have gotten a little better over the years, but it's still frustrating once in a while.

Favre - pen and ink with digital color

I'll finish up today with "that Brett Faaaverray Guy." (trying to quote Ben Stiller from There's Something About Mary).  Brett Favre...same generation and technique as the Driver pic.  Another fun one like Driver.  Both of the players were so fun to watch and passionate about the game.  They both gave me years of enjoyment as a Packers fan.

Well...this is a sampling of some of the football illustrations I've created over the years.  I hope you like them. I'll share more another time.  

Whatever you do to live, drive and survive...keep it up and be safe out there.  Also - we are living in interesting times - there's a lot of people hurting out there -- crazy weather, politics, illness, homelessness, and a lot of folks just stressed out by the day to day rat race.  Spread a little love and kindness around.  Keep an eye out for your neighbors.  Be patient with folks who are slow in the store or may not be driving in traffic the way you'd like them to.  Also - take care of yourself too....and...have a great day.

Peace,

Tom

Tom Kreienbrink

Freelance Illustrator and Designer

Portfolio - www.behance.net/tk-art

email: tom.kbrink@gmail.com

  

Alan Ginsberg Illustration

 Hi All,

Hi everyone.  How are you doing?  Here in Phoenix things are going well.  It's summer, we did a little traveling, chilling at home, and enjoying our kids, granddaughter and pets.  I've been working hard to balance taking care of work/freelancing and at home stuff too.  I'm making fajitas for dinner tonight. 

So today I finished a piece of artwork; An illustration of Alan Ginsberg. It's a combination piece started in pencil and finished with Procreate on my iPad.

Ginsberg - pencil and digital media by Tom Kreienbrink

Recently, my wife, (Sue) and I spent a week in San Francisco.  She was there for work, so I had the week to kind of, immerse myself in some of the culture, the city and some of the historical neighborhoods.  One of the places I visited was the North Beach neighborhood.  This neighborhood was famous for the being the center of the Beat movement, back in the 50s and early 60s.  This movement included poets, writers, artists and also great jazz clubs and some of the greatest jazz musicians of the past.  I visited the Beat museum, the famous City Lights Book store and walked the neighborhood.  Somewhere in this visit I was inspired to do an illustration of one of the main characters from this movement and neighborhood; the poet Alan Ginsberg.

The illustration is a realistic, editorial style piece of artwork.  I'm continuing to update my portfolio and my main style that I'm working in right now is a pencil illustration style that I produce with pencil and paper, and am finishing with the Procreate app on my iPad.

I start out defining the image - getting the image on paper, filling in details, and shading the different areas of this picture.  Of course, during this process I'm tightening up the details; trying to get a nice tight illustration.  I work with harder and then softer pencils to get the varied tonal values as well.

When I get to a certain point where I feel like going to the iPad, I snap a picture with the iPad and open it in the Procreate application.  I have the Apple Pencil that I work with.  It really gives the feel and control that I need to work on this platform - like working with a real pencil.  

I have a lot of tools in Procreate that give me the flexibility and control to get the effects I'm trying to get.  I use a lot of the pencil and pen tools to keep a consistent look and feel.  With the app I can get those black areas really dark.  I can also use pencil tools to get light to dark shading and still keep the pencil technique going on on this piece.  As the artwork is primarily monochromatic, I wanted to use a little hint of color on the hat and his scarf.  It felt like the right accent.

Finally, when I was happy with the image - the loose pencil work in the jacket, and tighter technique in the face, black hair and beard, etc...then I did a little background to finish it off.  I think it would stand alone without the background, but I feel good about it as is.

As I'm working to build up my portfolio and freelance illustration business, I'll be blogging more.  

I hope you all have a great rest of your summer and remember - there's a lot of folks out there that are hurting right now.  People are stressed for a variety of reasons....try to have some compassion and spread some kindness everywhere you go.  It may be at work, your neighborhood, or the grocery store...anywhere.   You can make a huge difference with just a smile or a kind word in these trying times...

Peace and Love,

Tom

Tom Kreienbrink

Freelance Illustrator and Graphic Designer

Portfolio: www.behance.net/tk-art

email: tom.kbrink@gmail.com

     

Reboot of the Blog and Freelance Career - New Artwork

Hi All, 

 I hope you're doing well. I've been busy for a while outside of design and illustration and haven't posted to the blog in a while. My blog post focus today is on the rebooting of my illustration and design career and a couple of new pieces I've recently added to the portfolio.  

In the past several years I've been working in the holistic healthcare and emergency healthcare fields and I enjoyed it. I feel like I needed to take the opportunities to train and work in these fields. However, recently I've decided to committ myself and my energies back into full-time freelance illustration and design work. This work is my first love, it's what I've done for 30+ years and I'm really excited to be back.

President Zelenskyy of Ukraine - pencil and digital media
Illustration by Tom Kreienbrink

So I started brushing up on freelancing and the first think I needed was to update the portfolio.  While recovering from my recent surgery, I started creating some new artwork and getting back into the swing of regular drawing and creating.  Above is the first new piece; President Zelenskyy of Ukraine.  I'm trying to keep my focus limited in scope and with a certain consistency of style.  This would be an editorial style piece.  Perhaps a piece that might be appropriate in Rolling Stone or a magazine like that.

The Zelenskyy piece starts with pencil on paper.  The pencil is still a valuable tool.  My aim was to produce a bold piece, and yet it's a caricature with a dark cartoon flavor.  However - anyone familiar with the situation in Ukraine will recognize immediately what's going on here.

After I completed a pencil piece that I was pleased with, I took it into my iPad.  I like a program called ProCreate and I have the Apple Pencil that I use to work on that platform as well.  This phase gives me the opportunity to really get some contrast in the piece.  I also can rework some of the details and further define areas that need it.  Finally I take it to the computer and put the finishing touches, formatting, etc.; using Photoshop.  By this time the piece is probably 95% complete.

Taylor Hawkins - pencil and digital media
Illustration by Tom Kreienbrink

The other image I'll share today is an illustration of Taylor Hawkins.  As many of you know he was the drummer in the band, Foo Fighters.  He passed away recently and unexpectedly.  Here again a very similar technique as the first one.  It's not a straight portrait, but more of a sad grieving caricature, where there is a candle of love and remembrance burning for him.

I wanted it to have the monochromatic effect that the other did, but I inserted a little color - the flame and some of the golden light from that flame.  He was an amazing drummer and a very beloved person in the music industry.  He will be missed.

That's all I'll share for now.  It's heating up here in Phoenix.  Looking like it'll be a great summer.  Wherever you're at, have an excellent Spring and Summer...enjoy each day.

I'm open for business - more to come.  

Peace,

Tom

Tom Kreienbrink

Illustrator and Graphic Designer

tom.kbrink@gmail.com

www.behance.net/tk-art  -- on-line portfolio.