Go Brewers Go - Ryan Braun Illustration

Hi All,

Hope you're all having a good week.  As a native of the state of Wisconsin and a sports fan, I've got to say, it's been a lot of fun lately.  The Packers and UW are having great football seasons, UW and Marquette University basketball teams are consistent winners, and now the Milwaukee Brewers are in the playoffs for the first time in a long time.

I don't define myself by sports, but I've always enjoyed playing a variety of sports and watching my teams.  As an artist one of the subjects I enjoy working on are sports figures.  I was inspired to work on a fun illustration of my favorite Brewer, Ryan Braun.  This guy is the complete baseball player, reminiscent of guys like Paul Molitar and Robin Yount.  Anyhow, enough about me, here's the finished piece.

Braun - finished piece is high resolution, approximately 10" x 8"

Here's the technique I've developed that I like to use for some of my sports pictures (and it can be used for other art work as well).  It's easy and fun, but can be a little time consuming sometimes.  I start out with a pencil rendering of the subject.  Of course I work off of photo reference and use a variety of hard to soft pencils.

Initial pencil sketch after being scanned.

 
After scanning in to my iMac, I start working on the image; sharpening the images and the details.  I also try to bring out stronger values throughout - darker darks, crisp highlights and good contrast.  I normally use Adobe Photoshop and a Wacom tablet with a pen stylus.  I work it with greyscale values and also use varying opacity settings on the brush.

Pencil rendering after working lights and darks and
sharpening details.

Above is a little more fleshed out version of the pencil sketch.  You'll see I've added much more detail in the features throughout.  The darks are much more solid and even the lettering in the helmet logos and jerseys are tighter.  Sometimes I think I want to be a little too tight, but hey - that's how I roll.

In progress, after working in layers of color and texture.

Finally I start layering in various shades of blue.  I use a variety of blue hues.  I use a number of layers and differing levels of opacity on those layers.  It gives a nice layered and textured look.  I also use various brush shapes to really punch up the texture as well.  Finally, I add the name, rasterize the text and work the color on it.  Finishing touches also include a nice border to hold it all together.

The final piece.....Go Brewers!!

There you have it.  One of my favorite ball players, who is tearing up the playoffs.  Go Brewers!!  I hope you're enjoying your lives and your artwork wherever you are.  If you're not an artist, I hope you enjoy the blog and the artwork too.
Have a great week everyone.

Aloha,

Tom

Life So Magical

Hi Everybody,

I'm back!  So last week, I'm looking around on Facebook one afternoon and another student at my school posts that she needs a designer to help right away.  So I sent her a message and told her I could help and here's my nice little surprise job.

An electronic version of the original color ad to be
printed in a four color glossy magazine.
Size 4 x 5 inches.

Jenny, the proprietor of Life So Magical, needed a high resolution layout for a 4 color glossy magazine ad.  Unfortunately the only artwork she has is a website that has some low resolution imagery.  And - the deadline (we thought at the time) was 6 pm that evening.  So we got to work.  I pulled her imagery off her site and started working it into a new, high resolution background.

I started by bringing the person, landscape, and cloud image into Photoshop.  I removed the background and manually did some "cleaning up," with the brush tool to sharpen the silhouetted image.  I also worked on blending the clouds a little and did a little airbrush in them as well.

I then started recreating the background with the lens flare, the title and subtitle.  By the time I had this done, Jenny sent the copy to me and I started playing with sizes, colors, space, etc.  I brought a nice photo of her in from her Facebook page and dropped it into a soft pink box with her contact info.  After going back and forth a few times (via email), with ideas and text changes, we had the finished ad.  Then we found out we had until the following evening to have it in to the publisher.  Oh well, it all worked out.

Email Banner for LifeSoMagical to use in business emails.

We discussed a working on a couple more pieces afterwards as well.  From the original material, I put an email banner together.  She'll be able to have it highlighting her emails.  I also put a 2 sided business card together for her.

2 Sided business card design.

Of course I saved a low resolution version in RGB for her to post on various internet sites or on her own site.  And the printer received high resolution CMYK artwork to print in the magazine.  I sent it to them in a Press Quality PDF which is an excellent format for most printers to work with.

Have a great week everyone.  Smile.

Aloha,

Tom

George Harrison Sketch

Hi All,

Well - it's been a while since I've updated the blog.  I've been pretty busy with school, but I also need to continue producing artwork...that's one of the things I do.  As a matter of fact I stumbled into a design project today - for a friend on Facebook.  That was a nice surprise.

So I saw this great old photo of George Harrison.  I've always loved the Beatles including George, the quiet one.  So I sat down with a selection of pencils and sketch book and thought I'd have a little fun.

The sketch after being photographed and
touched up in Photoshop.

Being relatively happy with it, I thought I'd post the sketch, but after downloading my terrible attempt at photographing the sketch I figured I'd clean it up in Photoshop a little.  So I added a little color around the edges and did a little dodge and burn to work on the tonal values.

Here's the scanned in touched up version
(first version).

Well, I couldn't really stop there.  So I started working a little darker color in around the edges with the airbrush tool.  I had to work on a couple touch ups and finish with a little bit of a sepia tone over all to give it a little bit of an "arty" touch.  Arty being a technical term - ha, ha.

Here's the sketch photo - took the photo of it taped
to my studio door with natural light.
(don't hire me to take photos)

I didn't spend a lot of time on it, but it was fun, and I probably spent more time on it than I planned, but thats just kind of the way I am.  Enjoy All and have a great week...I'll keep blogging (hopefully a little more regularly).

Aloha,

Tom

Fun With Anatomy

Hi All,

OK - I know what some of you are thinking - that's probably not what I had in mind when I titled this post, "Fun With Anatomy."  What I did mean is this.  Recently I've been playing around with colored pencils and anatomy pictures - having some fun with Anatomy.  Why?

I started taking classes at Southwest Institute of Healing Arts (SWIHA), about 6 weeks ago.  I'm working on an holistic health degree and one of my first classes is Anatomy.  Anatomy consists of learning about the inside of the body; bones, muscles, nerves, tendons, and all that other stuff too.

The text book and teacher both recommend coloring some of the anatomy pictures.  It's a technique to help learn.  Anatomy can be a little bit of a dry subject; learning and memorizing latin and greek names for all of the hundreds of body parts can get a little overwhelming.  So looking at the subject matter in a completely different way, can really help get the info into the brain.

Coloring the pictures in the workbook and handouts has been fun and helps break up some of the monotony of memorizing all of this stuff.  Of course, me being an artist, I started having some fun; mixing up colors and shading - maybe getting a little carried away.

I used to work with colored pencil a lot and like to work with medium to soft colored pencils best.  I've got a variety, but my favorite are Prismacolor.  They make a great colored pencil.  They blend well, have good coverage, and are easy to work with.

So far I'm doing well in my classes.  I don't know if it has anything to do with coloring anatomy pictures, but I'm having a good time with it.

As I'm working toward my degree, I'll still be working on artwork and design projects.  I'll still be working on the blog as well, and hope you enjoy it.

Have a great week everyone and remember, whatever you're doing, try to have some fun with it.  Find your purpose in life and incorporate that into your daily life; your work, relationships, etc.  Even when studying Anatomy, you can still have fun with it.

Aloha,

Tom

Going Away Artwork

Hi All,

I hope you're all doing well.  I'd like to feature "going away art" today.  Here's what that is.  If you're part of an organization that may have members moving on every now and then, you may consider developing some type of art to reproduce as a unique going away gift.  It can be a nice memento that you can personalize easily as an added touch.

As a career Air Force member, I've done my share of moving around.  Over the years I've collected a number of plaques and photos and things from various places, given to me as going away gifts.  As an artist, I thought - "why not come up with something unique, reproducible, and maybe something that we could easily personalize or use as a fundraiser.  So I started developing pen and ink artwork that could be reproduced, given as gifts, and easily framed.

Prime BEEF - 11" x 14"
Pen and ink on bristol board.

The picture above was done for the 11th Civil Engineer Squadron (CE), in Washington, DC (where I was First Sergeant for a few years).  Their deployed mission is called "Prime BEEF" and is represented by a bull - so that was a major theme in the piece.  I also included a local flavor from DC and the CE corps badge (lower left corner).  I wanted to make it a fun memento that I could easily print up at Kinkos or a local print shop in a nice quality paper.  I left a "hole" in the middle to write a personalized message for the recipient.

55th OSS - 18" x 24"
Pen and Ink on Illustration Board

I developed a larger montage illustration for the 55th Operations Support Squadron in Nebraska.  They hired me to develop this as a piece they could reproduce and use as a long term fundraiser.  The piece represents the local area as well as scenes from around the base.   I did the same thing for the hospital at Offutt AFB as well.  They went over well...the hospital Commander even proudly gave one to the base Commander when he departed for another assignment.

Over the years I've done a few others as well at various places.  They're fun and can even make a few bucks for you or your charitable organization.  I'm sure this type of thing could be developed for various corporate offices, schools, charitable organizations...anywhere people come and go occasionally.

Take care all and have a great week........

Peace,

Tom

A couple from the Archives

Hi All,

This week I pulled a couple out of the Kbrink archives.  I've got My Eye close up and the Brain painting.  These are some very old pieces, but I still like them.  There was a time where I was stationed at a couple of Air Force hospitals and worked as a medical illustrator.  During that time period, I did a lot of traditional technique paintings/illustrations.  These are a couple examples of that.

The Brian - 18" x 24"
Airbrush, colored pencil and pen and ink
on Crescent cold press board

The brain, was used as a wall hanging in the Neurology Clinic at Carswell, AFB.  The technitian or doc could use it as a reference to explain a diagnosis or how the brian functions, to their patients.  I did this mostly with airbrush and transparent colors.  I also used some colored pencil and pen and ink.  I had a lot  of fun working one this illustration.

My Eye - 18" x 24"
Colored Pencil and Pen and Ink
(I added the beige around the eye recently in Photoshop)

The Eye was just a training piece and something to hang on the wall, when I first got to Carswell AFB.  My former supervisor Joe Brickham took a close-up photo of my eye, gave me a Polaroid copy of it - and I used it as the reference for the art.  This one I drafted on white paper with pen and ink and colored pencil.  Because Joe used a special macro technique on the photo, he really got a lot of color variation and detail, which I tried to portray in the artwork with the colored pencil.

Both of these pieces were documented on 35mm color slide film and recently scanned with a flatbed scanner that has the capability.  Unfortunately due to time gone by and less than archival conditions, the slides have lost a bit of the original luster that the illustrations once had.  It's still fun to break out some of the old work occasionally.

Everyone, enjoy your week...make it a good one.

Aloha,

Tom

Young Love Caricature

Hi Everyone,

Today I'd like to feature a caricature illustration that I recently completed.  My client was a young woman who wanted to surprise her boyfriend with a fun piece of artwork; a caricature that reflect the fun they have together and the appreciation they have for each other.

The ideas...sometimes I go with elements reflecting who and what the person is about - interests, career, and surroundings.  This time, I thought it appropriate to just focus on this couple and put them in familiar and fun surroundings.

The client and boyfriend live in New Mexico, so I thought it would be fun to put them in a natural setting that has a feel for the area and also put them on a horse, appealing to their fun/laid back sensibilities.  They both love New Mexico and though city dwellers, they appreciate getting out of town and into nature.

Technique: I start with a pencil sketch, working on getting a likeness and developing composition.  After scanning the sketch I start working on the details in Photoshop.  I work in several layers - one for the cliffs, one for the trees, one for the fence, one for the main characters.  I have a Wacom drawing tablet that allows me to draw and paint with a pen like tool with a variety of brushes, opacities, and of course the rest of the Photoshop tools.

When I get the image almost finished, I add a few more layers; putting in a nice beveled border created with various shades of blue, varying opacities and brush shapes.  Pulling the symbol from the New Mexico state flag; I drop those into the corners.

After going over it again and adding some finishing touches, I flatten the image and save a copy, convert it to CMYK, take it down to Kinkos and have it printed on a tabloid size glossy heavy weight paper and send it out to the client.  And there you have it.

Have a great week everyone....

Aloha,

Tom