April2013 by Digital Painting Magazine

DIGITAL ART JUNE 2013

CREATION

WHAT’S INSIDE: DAN BURKHOLDER STUDENT PROJECTS THIJME TERMAAT

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the publisherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s corner My heart is lifted as I hear the robins, blue birds, and a few warblers sing and watch a ruby crested sparrow building its nest. Summer is now is almost finished and we have only a month of potential hot weather left. All of that signifies change and many of you know I LOVE change. Not only has the season changed while closing the door on some opportunity and opening others, but our website has changed. If you take a peek at the site you will see that it should be much easier to access content. Norvin and I have been working on it for the last month or so. We began the day the last webinar was put to rest for the 2013 Digital Art Summit and we are putting the last pieces in place. Hopefully it will be a site that is easier to navigate to the over 500 posts that we have. While there are many other changes we could talk about including the fact that I am done with school (YAY!) I want to get down to talking about this monthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s magazine. There are some really fun things inside. First my friend and incredibly gifted teacher, mentor, photographer, inventor and all around super star Dan Burkholder gives us some awesome tutorials and tips from his book iPhone Artistry. I have talked about Dan before; he is the person who figured out how to make digital negatives for contact printing handmade prints like Gum Bichromate, Platinum etc. You will love some of the things we cover in this exclusive webinar. KathyAnne brings some more unique perspective and instruction for printing on various metals, Victor blesses us with another great cartoon and I have a fun interview with an artist named Thijme Termaat. Thijme is a traditional media artist but used digital media to gain some exposure with an incredibly creative video. Finally one of the most fun projects I have done will be represented in the pages of Digital Art Creation this month. Many of you know I have been finishing my internship for an Education Degree. That internship was at my local high school. One of the graphic design classes created a biography, biography page and cover for the magazine. It was a couple of fun assignments for them and we have published all of the pages that returned permission slips from their parents in this monthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s magazine. As always we appreciate your feedback. Let us know how we are doing, social media is important so like us, tweet us, pin us and give us a g+1. Live, love and laugh. This magazine link is free to distribute. You may however not edit any part of this PDF, copy the content, or split the pages. This PDF must remain whole at all times, the content of which belongs to Digital Art Creation. All art and trademarks contained herein are the property of their respective owners..

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In This Issue 5 Dan Burkholder by Tim O’Neill

Jenny Keck

Hello my name is Jenny, I live in Nebraska and I am a 16 year old sophomore in school. In my spare time I like to hangout with friends, there isn’t a lot of stuff to do in Nebraska so we mainly just sit around or drive around town. I don’t usually have a lot of spare time because I am very focused in school and in softball. I have been playing softball since I was a little girl, I love it. I play for a traveling softball team, the positions I play are, pitcher and third base. I also play for my high school softball team. My goals in life include, making it somewhere. I want to make something of myself and make a positive impact on others. I want to help people out and make their life better. I want to be successful but I don’t want to be all serious all the time, I would love to travel the world and experience all new things. I have three older brothers and I am the only girl, I am also the youngest, its bitter-sweet. Having three older brothers made me stronger and to not be so girly and stand up for myself. I think that’s important to be able to stand up for yourself in life and to not be a push over.

14 Student Projects 27 Thijme Termaat by Tim O’Neill

36 Making Photography Pay

with an Inkjet Profit Center

42 Cartoon

By Victor Lunn-Rockliffe

43 Digital Printing Alternative

Surfaces: Metals Cover

Dan Burkholder “Bridge and Canal at Sunrise, Venice”

51 Art Marketing Buzz

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By Tim o’Neill

Dan Burkholder Dan explores new techniques, vintage processes, high tech and low tech cameras. Dan is the author of two instructional books includng How to make Digital Negatives for contact printing and his newest book Iphone Artistyry. Dan teaches classes and workshops around he world including The art institue of Chicago, ICP in New York City, University of Texas in San Antonio, Musuem of Photographic Arts in San Diego, Sante Fe Photographic Workshops, Photographers Formulary and many other venues. Dan is Brooks Institute graduate with a BA and MS degreee in photography. Dan lives and works in Palenville, NY with his wife Jill. Tim: Thanks Dan for being with us. I appreciate your time and we’re gonna go ahead and jump in the questions we have here. So first if you could tell our audience here a little bit about your childhood. Kind of where you grew up? And the little bit about that time frame and what was going on in your life during years you know, your childhood D I G I TA L A R T C R E AT I O N

years. Maybe middle school, high school that kind of thing. DAN: Well, having grown up in Western Maryland, out in Hagerstown where interstate 81 and 70 intersect. It’s in one of the Appalachian Valleys between 2 bridge the Appalachian. Great place to grow up, not a terrifically challenging place. So I saved up my money, I was working as an import auto mechanic back in Hagerstown. And went out to Brooks Institute, in fact there was a little camera

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club s in my home town that was so enthusiastic within a year’s time 6 different members went to Brooks to to pursue their photographic education. So it really speaks to the kind of turbo charge a camera club can give to people. They can reinforce their sense of aesthetics and their photographic goals. Now, decades later it turns out I’m the only one of those 6 that’s still involved in photography. And that probably speaks better about them, they probably all had higher incomes and

I chose that track was I thought you got the most information, it was a little bit of everything. So yes indeed I took Portrait classes, I took Illustration classes which we’re gonna include everything from product shots to fashions, etcetera.

know when I went, one are not as plain I. So the rest is sort of ancient history. of my goal is to be a fine black and white printer. Tim: So how about after I really wanted to learn Brooks. I saw Brooks at black and white printing. I that time as the premiere was little bit frustrated in photography school. my first year except for the If you’re gonna be a very first class which was photographer this is where a Design Class when you you go. Brooks had a variety could shoot 35 millimeter. of tracks on could take. After that you had to get You could be a portrait a 4 by 5 and pretty much photographer, or one could then for like the next year be a commercial or fashion and a half that’s all we photographer on and did is worked with 4 by 5. on. And they also had a That was a great education technical dark room kinda and took great discipline, it side of things which way wasn’t what I was there for did you go when you we’re but I appreciate it now. But there? to answer your question… DAN: Well yeah and back my major actually ended then there was not a Fine up being commercial and Art track whatsoever. You what that meant the reason

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And then with a heavy emphasis on their Industrial Department because that took that most knowledge. I thought the Industrial Department was just dynamite. One class we studied the spectrum from infrared, to ultraviolet. Another class we studied motion and we did those kind of cliché things. Things that I would never do again in my career like stopping bullets in mid air that kind of stuff. It really provided a background and a base level of knowledge which had served me well, hardly a week passes that I’m not thankful for that Brooks education. Tim: And then did you do your Masters from Brooks directly after or did you go out into the field and to workplace and come back later? DAN: I graduated in 1980 and they did not have a Masters program then. They apparently had one years before but it stopped for one reason or another. I paid my own bills and worked my way through. So I took some time to get

back on my feet financially and then started a Masters program during that time like around 1981 or 82. I thought this is timely, I’m still here in Santa Barbara, why don’t I go ahead and get my Masters. So I did. I finished that up and while working on the masters I started printing for a former Time Life photographer Horris Bristle who lived close to Santa Barbara down on Ohio. Horris has since passed, he was a great photographer he had something like 13 Life Magazine covers during his career. But he was getting up in his years and had certain health issues and could not stand working in the dark any longer. So a gallery owner put us together and I was his printer for a while and it was a great experience. It was so retro, if I had to think back I remember printing on like Ilford or Seagull paper. I’d get paid like 40 bucks for the Sepia tone print. And Horris would sign it and get like $4,000 for it and that was perfectly fine and right because the value was in the image and in his Signature not in the monkey who did the sepia in the dark room. But it was a great experience. I then moved down to Texas to be closer to family. Tim: Okay and so after your Masters then you we’re no longer in the automotive D I G I TA L A R T C R E AT I O N

side of things you went directly after Masters into pursuit of life as a fine artist? DAN: Well yeah. An educator, an author and everything else. So yeah the last time I made a dollar working on cars was in like 1988 or 1989. So it goes back a while. It’s been scrapping together an income from alot of different places. And for instance this year it’s been skewed half way towards teaching because I just couldn’t say no this year. In fact I leave on this Sunday to teach up in Maine for a week and that’s gonna be a great experience. It’s actually an iPhone class

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that I’m teaching up there and we’re gonna have a blast. And just got back last week from teaching. I was up in Michigan teaching up at Interlocken and it’s amazing art center. So I’ve been jumping all around. This is the summer season, that’s kind of when you collect your nuts. So you know I’m teaching wide right now and that’s when the income comes in. But Jill and I, my wife, had lots of conversations. We’re gonna try to swing this see saw back a little bit more towards fine art printing. I haven’t been able to get as many prints out this year as I would like. And the

platinum over gold is where my heart is right now. I love going back in to the wet dark room whether it’s from images made with the bigger cameras or made with the iPhone and printing this as platinum print on a very thin 100% cotton vellum and then put in 24 karat gold leaf on the back of those. And it gives a look unlike anything we can get in the from an inkjet printer. There’s a reason for this. I always told printers you know we’re not after complexity for complexities sake. There’s no virtue for difficulty in and of and itself. But there are difficult processes, those we do when we can only get a certain look a certain way, then there is a reason for a difficult process.

than we do with selection around chemicals and props in the dark room. But they don’t make it the same thing. With the gold leaf you can’t get that look any other way, at least until we have metallic inks in our printers.

definitely have interest in that as well.

DAN: Great. You know one of the courses of our meeting with photography is that it is so democratic. And people will look at But you know people ask, the photograph, you’ve can’t you make an inkjet heard this, you hear it in print that looks like a under current shows people platinum print? Well indeed Tim: You came up with the saying, “I can do that”. You processes as far as I know. you can, in fact I think you know, well the real point is I really need to come out can probably make an it’s not that they couldn’t inkjet print that looks better for one of the workshops do that. It’s that they didn’t because it’s one of those than most platinum prints things that will help us to be do that. They could have behind glass. That doesn’t held apart from everybody been brain surgeons also make that inkjet print a else. It will help find a place but they didn’t take that handmade object but in course on life. They chose for the work that we do. I terms of just look and feel, a different path, probably definitely have interest in yeah that inkjet print can be more gorgeous, we have that and I think the reader’s easier more in line with their lazy life style or of this magazine will a lot more control digitally

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doesn’t seem to care about quality. They don’t seem to care, you know there’s a $50 wedding photographer or portrait photographer compared to the $5,000 one. And in their view there’s not enough difference and in Tim: Well, that’s an fact unless you put those interesting observation. But prints together, the final many times in the portrait product together most group you hear those clients may not be able to comments all the time. realize the difference. It’s In fact the market place a heart breaking thing to has been kind of I guess see on one end, the other for lack of a better word, side of the coin is that dumbed down. There’s such there is this whole group of an influx of new aspiring inspired individuals. A large photographers the prices mass of inspired individuals have dropped accordingly. that are coming to the What happens is that the table bringing new ideas, market place in general new techniques; they’re whatever. But yes it’s not a question of could you do that but did you do that. And that’s what separates the creative person. You know as you’ve certainly experienced dealings from non-creative people before.

not “chained to tradition.” And so they don’t care, they’re just out there. They wanna create something and there’s something to be said for that. It is almost horrifying though if you go to a Professional Photographers Associations and meeting and then you ask how many people have ever actually been in a traditional wet dark room; and out of 200 people there may be a dozen. It’s frightening in one sense. DAN: The changing thing, I was just gonna say that it’s the changing phase of photography that you see. Once in a while a student will ask in Photoshop, why are the lighten and darken controls called burn and dodge. That’s a fair question because for most people entering photography now, photography’s nothing about the strange machine on a column that would shoot a color light down under a piece of paper and an easel and then you throw back into this trays of smelly liquid. That’s just not photography anymore and that’s valid. Tim: What do you think… I’m interested to get your take on this. Do you think that de-values our art and craft in any way. I mean is there substance in to keeping the history… not just a live verbally or through a book but by

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working means is there validity in keeping that alive? DAN: Well the answer is that it depends. Back about, oh gosh probably 7, 8 years ago I was asked to write an article for Ilford Instructor news letter on teaching photography. And I broke it down to 3 categories, I said if you we’re teaching commercial photography shut down your wet dark rooms as soon as possible. No person from a community college is gonna walk into a lab, hand them a 4 by 5 color negative and say there’s a dark room you got 15 minutes to make a color accurate print. More likely they are gonna be given a thumb drive or time maybe a CD and say there’s a Mac and a printer, you’ve got 5 minutes to make a color accurate print.

important for people to understand the legacy that is part of our medium. You were working with true light sensative materials beyond the light sensitive sensor which is pretty much all we got right now.

And if you we’re teaching fine arts photography the wet dark room is still a vibrant part of process as ever but you’re gonna So yeah, if you are teaching be time sharing. More and commercial, shut down the more artists are gonna be working both digitally wet dark room. If you we’re and with what we’ll call teaching photography as the classic materials; the an elective then I think it’s D I G I TA L A R T C R E AT I O N

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light sense of materials, whether it be like I do platinum or VanDyke, silver gelatin, or whatever. So it depends. I mean I certainly think there’s a certain magic in seeing an image coming up in a tray. The young students will help keep some of this legacy processes alive and vibrant if only because it is not mainstream. Tim: Dan good point. Who are some of your favorite artists that you draw inspiration from?

DAN: Well you know some of the classic people, but this is a hard question to me. But classic people like John Sexton who not only is one of the best photographers, the nicest people but one of the greatest educators in photography. He creates silver prints that you could just fall in to, they’re just so lovely and the sense of design and the natural environment is just so wonderful. And then when you get into a different kind of area with composites, I mean Jerry Uelsmann, he’s been an inspiration. I’ve gone in and out of compositing phases. I’m not doing composites right now but there’s no one that does it better than Jerry. One of the things about photography is we sometimes under value

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some of that incredible work because any 14 year old with Photoshop or whatever software comes on their computer may be able to put the dogs head on their mother or fathers body. Then that’s kind of a cliché thing we do now. But you look at Jerry’s images and not only is there a wonderful message and playfulness but the quality of those prints is second to none, they are just stunning. You feel the silver and there again if you look at those prints tears almost come to your eyes. Now then, you look at the lady to whom Jerry Uelsmann married, Maggie Taylor and she has just completely different work. She works in a composite vain but beautiful color palette, very fast full. She’s got several books of work out, it will be maggietaylor.

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com for anyone who wants to check out her work. But just stunningly wonderful work, a whole new direction for photography. So we have all these things that I’m inspired by. You know I think when you see a good photography show you feel all those things about admiration, excitement for the medium and even some envy sometimes that you didn’t have that the eyes and the vision or the technical know how to do that kind of thing. And I think those are all good and they’re all challenging. Tim: How about mentors, who are some of the early mentors in your life and then who are some current mentors? DAN: If you go back early mentors of course when I really started getting into photography Denzel Adams

was sort of one, he was at the peak of his career. So there again when I went to Brooks, he was sort of my quasi inspirations. Mentors beyond that, I don’t have a lot. I’m a little hesitant sometimes to seek out too many people for the field that I might start to emulate them a little too strongly. You gotta be careful, you can always become photographic like the borgs on Star Trek. Where you start to absorb in other borgs and would absorb other cultures and things. You wanna be careful or you’ll be a photographic borg. You know you’re picking some forms of this great artists and that’s okay as a learning step to emulate other people. But you gotta be careful that you’re not copying other people. In lectures I show images, crayon pieces from when I was in the first grade. I juxtaposed these crayon pieces that we found in my mother’s papers when she passed years ago. With my modern images I go back and forth from 1956 to the current century kind of thing. The message is that the scense of design that I’m making in images today is the same as when I was doing crayon assignments in the first grade. There’s strong evidence that aesthetic is programmed very early on. Maybe by the wall paper

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around our cribs or the text in the pattern that might be in our favorite blanky or something like that. But it’s okay if you find yourself drawn to those things, compositions or same textural components, the same lighting patterns. So I think that’s our challenge, not to try to emulate too many other people. Yeah have your heroes but don’t copy them.

when the App Store finally came out? So one thing led to another and I just started having a wonderful time doing what I describe as an App dance where we move from app to app, discovering which apps are good for contrast control, which apps are good for color tweaking, which apps are better for compositing, and kind of working on that app dance.

Tim: Great. Let’s segue in to the iPhone information. Tell me first just a little bit about your new book iPhone Artistry. How did that come about?

So after a while, it was about 2 years ago, I thought son of a gun I need a book on this because this is important. If I have a reputation for anything I guess it’s kinda looking DAN: The incubus for my over the photographic personal iPhone adventures horizon and seeing the next was up at Maine. I think it important things coming was 3 years ago, almost along and trying to invent exactly 3 years ago. I did it. So I pitched a publisher not jump in with the original on the iPhone Artistry idea iPhone, the one that we and they went forward. In affectionally refer to us fact there we’re 2 different the silver back because it publishers that wanted it had a little silver metal on and I went with the basic the back on it. But with the press and they were great second version it seemed people to work with. like it was time to jump in there. I was at a dinner and Back in March of 2012 it finally hit the stands thought, hey I can take a and I think it’s selling picture of this incredible well. It’s got nice work great big platter of all the flow recommendations seafood with the lobster lying there dead and red. I in it. Of course it’s got put it up on Facebook and examples of work and it will help people on their then I started getting likes. way. And something else I thought I can even get Tim that we’re seeing right more playful with this. So there were the apps starting now. The iPad, we can’t over look the iPad as an to appear of course and I just started doing a thing. I important imaging tool guess it was 2009 was it not of course. Because we’re

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though. Back then, you know back in the 80s and 90s and the early 2000’s when you walked out of your office or house, you specifically took a camera. Well that took a special separate act to pick up a camera because the camera was just a camera then. Now with the iPhone our camera is also a web Tim: What impact do device, our calendar, our you think the iPhone will flight update thing, it’s continue to have and tells us the weather, stock maybe has had on visual price the list goes on and literacy for people? on. So I think a little of DAN: Well, referencing Jerry, what Jerry outlines has when he was teaching been diminished a little graduate students he bit because having the insisted that they always iPhone is having a camera have a camera on their with you but it didn’t take person. He explained it that separate act. Does so well, when you have that make sense? So I think a camera with you you’re yes you’re gonna have an more visually aware. iPhone or an Android or You’re looking for things something with a camera to photograph. But I think but that’s not gonna something has changed automatically make you seeing software presence from Adobe, Photoshop Touch from Adobe. It’s an incredible program, it doesn’t yet support full resolution from our camera but you know it’s going in that direction. But we’re talking about a program cost a few dollars that lets us work with layers.

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more visually aware like in the old days when you had a camera hanging around your neck as a medallion reminder that you were going to be more aware looking for photographs. So the ball’s back in our court even though we have this great image capture device in our pocket, we still have to be looking for those images. That’s gonna still take a certain amount of determination and discipline. Does that make sense? Tim: Yes absolutely. Thankyou Dan for taking time to speak with us. To watch the complete video of Dan’s iPhone workflow you can go to http://DanBurkholderVideo

student projects Hey everyone!

begin your work from there.

Center

I had the opportunity to work with a High school computer design class while I was student teaching. Mr. Peterson was the primary teacher and I was really a helper only in this class. The students spent time in Photoshop and various other software programs. The assignment consisted of two parts. Following are the parameters I gave the students.

Choose from any of the photographs that we have placed on Mr. Peterson’s site for the background of your cover. You can see past covers at http:// www.DigitalPaintMagazine. com/blog. Another way to generate creative ideas is to search for magazine covers in Google.

When you are finished with the cover design you will save it in your folder as a jpg file and name it as follows:

DAC Mag layout April 2013 Create a magazine cover; the size is 8.5x11 in a portrait format. We need 1/4 inch space for bleed so the working area of your design is 8.25x10.75. This assignment will represent a comprehensive collection of the things you have learned past few weeks. Your cover will be published with your biography in the April edition of Digital Art Creation magazine provided we have the signed permission slip from your parents. Start by opening a new canvas in Photoshop that is 8.5x11, then drag working blue lines in at 8.25x10.75,

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I also have provided the Logo and the text font for the words. The font is Avant Garde Gothic Standard Extra Light for the title, Digital Art Creation. The font is Avant Garde Gothic Standard Bold for, “What’s Inside”. Digital Art Creation, the logo and “What’s Inside” all must be used on your cover design. The remaining text and the layout of elements are up to you. Following is a list of a few of the articles inside the magazine.

Yourname_DACcover.jpg After you have saved the cover as a jpg then copy the image and move it to the template in your biography page. Finally, save your biography page as a word doc and a pdf file. The deadline is Friday, April 19. This is a hard deadline and your cover will not be published if it is not approved and saved by the end of the period on Friday. The pages below showcase the work of the students from this high school class. Student work was left intact as presented for grading, no errors or emissions were corrected.

Thijme Termaat-Interview and video KathyAnne- Printing metal foils; brass, copper& aluminum Dan Burkholder - iPhonography Lexjet-Making Photography Pay with an Inkjet Profit

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Benjamin John Gosnell I am Ben Gosnell. I am a freshman at the North Platte High school. My favorite class is math and I am really good at it. I love to play basketball I played on my freshman High school team and am trying out for an all-star team. My other favorite pastimes are video games and using the computer. My parentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s names are John and Wendy. I have two brothers and their names are Jacob and Thomas. Jacob is in sixth grade and Thomas is in fourth grade. My favorite subject in school is math. I took Geometry this year after passing an algebra class in eighth grade. I love math because I am good at it. Ever since I was in about third or fourth grade my father taught me advanced math concepts for my age. My favorite sport is basketball. My height has really helped me with succeeding in basketball. Again, my father introduced me to basketball when I was young. My free-throw percentage this season was the best on my team. I play the post or the number five position. I also like to play the Xbox 360 and games on the computer. My favorite games on the Xbox are Call of Duty and Forza Motorsport. I am pretty good at Call of Duty I have prestiged multiple times. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m not very good at Forza Motorsport I just find it fun to play. In the future I plan to go to college and become a doctor or a physical therapist.

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Jenny Keck Hello my name is Jenny, I live in Nebraska and I am a 16 year old sophomore in school. In my spare time I like to hangout with friends, there isn’t a lot of stuff to do in Nebraska so we mainly just sit around or drive around town. I don’t usually have a lot of spare time because I am very focused in school and in softball. I have been playing softball since I was a little girl, I love it. I play for a traveling softball team, the positions I play are, pitcher and third base. I also play for my high school softball team. My goals in life include, making it somewhere. I want to make something of myself and make a positive impact on others. I want to help people out and make their life better. I want to be successful but I don’t want to be all serious all the time, I would love to travel the world and experience all new things. I have three older brothers and I am the only girl, I am also the youngest, its bitter-sweet. Having three older brothers made me stronger and to not be so girly and stand up for myself. I think that’s important to be able to stand up for yourself in life and to not be a push over.

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Logan Ogg My name is Logan Ogg. My birthday is on April 22, 1998 or on the holiday of the famous planet called Earth. My favorite music artists are 50 Cent and Eminem even though my favorite song is “Act A Fool” by Ludacris. My favorite football teams are the Michigan Wolverines and the New Orleans Saints. My favorite video game is Grand Theft Auto. The thing I do most in my spare time is skateboard. I just chill and listen to music a lot. My favorite movie is Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. My favorite number is eight because Eminem starred in the movie, 8 Mile and I play eight ball pool a lot. My favorite deodorant is Axe Apollo. My favorite teacher is Mr. Drake from North Platte High school and Mr. Peterson is a close second. My favorite class in school is Graphic Design. When I grow up I want to open a bar and be the owner. Also when I grow up I want to drive a Mitsubishi Lancer. I will have my license by the end of this glorious year. I am a hardcore playstation fan. If I had to choose one person that I had to be stuck in the desert with I would choose Shawn Lee Rosenberg. When I have something or anything to say I am sure that everyone hears my opinion. When I get angry you don’t know I am coming but you sure know where I have been. If you make me mad you better be running for the hills. I am one of the best fighters you have ever seen in your whole life. If you fight me I will make the eyes on your driver's license bulge out of your head.

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Paxton Smith

Hello I am Paxton and I am a freshman at North Platte High School. I am roughly 6’3 and I am pretty tall for my age. One of my interests and hobbies is I like to run, fish, play basketball and mess around on the computer to list a few. I participate in track and field and next year I hope to be in cross country and basketball. One of my hobbies is to fish. I love going fishing and nature and all of that. My favorite spot to fish is by the canal in Hershey. We have caught quite a few big Wall-eyes there and we hope to get a lot more. I am taking graphic design because I have always been fascinated with computers. It’s really amazing the capacity a computer can hold and the graphic designs are endless! Last year when we were signing up for classes I noticed graphic design. At the time I didn’t really know what graphic design was but now the world has literally taken a new meaning. When we started this class I was really excited. Then I realized graphic design has a lot more to it then paint bucket and text, it is a form of art.

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Robert Lawrence My name is Robert Lawrence I am a freshmen. I live in North Platte, Ne. I have no siblings. I have been involved in band for four years. I play the alto saxophone. I enjoy skating and listening to music in my spare time. In 8th grade I completed hunter safety. I enjoy hunting with my family. Sometimes my uncle takes me to the gun club to shoot skeet. I also enjoy fishing and other outdoor events. My favorite sport is baseball. I played baseball for three years until I broke my wrist. I still enjoy playing baseball with some friends. I broke my wrist when I was 11years old. I landed wrong when I was skating and I broke my wrist. I was in a cast for over half of the summer. Although I broke my wrist I still skate and have fun when I skate. I prefer to skate around the town rather than at a skate park.

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Some other things about me are that I have two dogs. I have a black lab named Buddy and a white lab named Shadow. I have lived in North Platte for all of my life. Over all my life is kind of boring.

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Ronan Hokanson My name is Ronan and I’m nearing the end of my freshmen year at North Platte High School. Some of the activities I enjoy are Fly Fishing, in the summer my brother and our friends like to go fishing as well. I also like going camping with my scout troop. We go camping all year round and have all sorts of fun like playing with fire! My favorite area’s to fish are near western Wyoming near where I was born. I also like fishing in eastern Idaho and Grand Teton National Park. I have been fishing near these areas because this is by where I was born in Star Valley, Wyoming. Even though I like fly fishing a lot, I also enjoy fishing here in Nebraska. I transferred into this graphic design class where so far I am enjoying all the projects. I enjoy things on the computer and learning new things with technology, so it has been really fun so far. I also enjoy hanging out with friends during the summer. I also like going to my Youth Group and Boy Scouts on Wednesday nights. Later in life I plan on going to college, my thoughts so far on something to study in is Neurology. A college I’m thinking about going to is the University of Wyoming. This is only going to be a few years from now so I’m getting ready for it.

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Taylor M. Pantenburgâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Biography Hello my name is Taylor and I am 15, some of my hobbies are playing soccer, gaming, and riding dirt bikes. I have been interested in gaming since the first day my dad brought home a PS2 that he got from one of his co-workers. I have been playing soccer since the age six. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been riding dirt bikes for about the same time. Most of my current passions started when I was younger. My family shares a lot of the same interests, my brother and sister both play soccer and we all ride dirt bikes. Today I like to do all of the same things as when I was younger. I have gotten into gaming much more as my age increased and I want to find out as much as I can about how they are made. I just recently got a new dirt bike and I have been addicted to riding since I have gotten it. I am going to try to get my learners permit as some as I can. Although soon of my other hobbies have been growing soccer, is slowly fading away from my interests. In the future I hope to be able to continue my hobby of riding dirt bikes. I hope to go into a career of having something to do with gaming, or something that has to do with being around electronics all of the time. That has been most of my life not including the family trips that I have gone on.

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Dev Suthar I am a 15 year old sophomore at North Platte High School and I live in North Platte, Nebraska. I have lived here for 3 years (2011-2013). I was born on July 24th in Brooklyn, New York. I currently work at my family’s business which is the Comfort Inn. I started when I moved to North Platte. My family is known to travel around a lot. We have lived in five other states before Nebraska. Georgia was my most favorite because most of my family lives around there and there’s a lot to do down there. We lived in New York and New Jersey for most of the time of when I was younger. I still remember walking across the street with my older brother, Raj, to get “New York Style” slices of pizza. Our neighbors would always come with us to play on top of the roof where we could see the Brooklyn Bridge from our view. I love to do things with computers and electronics. Whenever I’m at the hotel and one of the guest have a problem on the computer, they come find me. I also love house music. Swedish House Mafia is one of my favorite. Usually I’m on the computer to find new music because I can’t live without it.

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Amanda Bluhm I have lived in many states; Nebraska is my tenth state I have lived in. I think Florida is the best one I lived in. I love the water it has always been my stress reliever. So when I moved to Nebraska I had to start dealing with stress and I took a bunch of computer classes and found that it takes my stress away just like water. I have many goals, I want to go to Florida state university and study the mind. I also really love science and want to try to solve our cancer issues. Another goal is to make a web-site to help prevent bullying. Only because I have had a lot of friends that were bullied and there was no resources help us. My interests are frogs and science. I love frogs I have collected them since grade school. I always think they are super lucky. With science I am very interested in the mind and brain. I also am a wedding dress fanatic I love Say Yes To the Dress. I guess that all started when I helped my sister find her wedding dress.

A little more about me I am 18 and have one sister. My parents have their ups and downs but have learned to say they love each other. For pets I have three cats and two dogs. I found that I love animals. Things I do for fun is read and write music or write poems. I love to write. I have at least 20 journals. I also love music. Like I said I write it but I also listen to it. All types of music even a little rap. Sometimes I even play the X box for fun. If you ask me why I love graphic design I would say â&#x20AC;Ś I love it because it gives you a fun time to explore your mind and talent and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a great challenge in life. Plus you can never get bored.

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Caitlyn Whitmore My name is Caitlyn Whitmore and I’m attending North Platte High School, I’m a sophomore this year. Before I came over to the High school I took a lot of graphic design classes in middle school. Taking the classes lead me to take the graphic design class here in High school. After taking the class I’ve learned a lot of new things about graphic design that I didn’t know in middle school. This new knowledge is really helpful since a t-shirt designing company wants me to start working with them. This is a great job to start out with if you like doing art and being creative. So far, it’s taught me that you can’t always do the first thing that pops up in your head, it takes many sketches before you can even start on the final project. Even though I love to do things with art and I get offers from art colleges, it’s not what I want to do for a career, I actually want to be a marine biologist. As a marine biologist I could work with sharks and other marine life. That would be my dream job overall, I mean who wouldn’t want to swim and study sharks? Even though there is a great risk in my career choice my mom supports me on whatever I decide I want to do. I may have offers for art colleges but the great thing about my mom is that she doesn’t push me towards being an artist. To be truthful even if I was an artist I wouldn’t know what road to go down. There are a lot of choices for an art career such as graphic design, photography, painting, drawing, etc. the list goes on and on. I just want to thank my family for always being by my side for all of my life choices. Overall my name is Caitlyn Whitmore and I love to do things that interest me. Even though Sharks and digital design are very different they are both very interesting to me in many ways. Some of the things that interest me are sharks can’t stop swimming or they’ll drown and graphic design allows you to do things that you might not be able to do such as standing on the moon.

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Karli Flanders I am Karli Flanders. I attend North Platte High School as a sophomore. My parents are Kim and Brian. I also have two sisters, one whom is my twin. My twin’s name is Jaeli and my little sister who’s nine is named Emma. I love spending time with my family the most. My family always supports me in whatever I do. I turned 16 on January 22nd. Being able to drive is so nice. I don’t have a job because of the sports I play and my schoolwork, but I babysit very frequently for many different families. For being a teenager, I really do enjoy school. In school, my favorite class is math. I like this class most because I like to be given a challenge. Another class I really enjoy is my graphic design class. It gives me a chance to use my creativity that I’m not able to use in my other classes. I’m involved in an organization known as Family, Careers, and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA). In FCCLA, I participate in giving speeches and presentations, and I recently got Silver medal at state. I also play softball and do track in high school. Between the two, softball is my favorite. I even spend my summers playing on a traveling softball team. In my free time I enjoy hanging out with my friends and playing a game or two on Xbox. I spend a lot of time checking up on social media sites on my phone. You could say I’m obsessed with Twitter. In the future I hope to graduate and get into a great college or university. If the opportunity arises, I’ll play softball in college. After I get my basics, I want to go to a Pharmaceutical college to get my Pharmacy degree. After college I want to live in a big city where I can pursue my career and raise a family of my own.

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Thijme Termaat Thijme Termaat

the word due to a short video he made that went (pronounced ‘tie-muh’ ‘tirinstantly viral on the net. In maat’), was born on 19-01the movie, the young man 1987 in Ursem, a small town visualizes his experience in the north of Holland. After of the creative process. high school he went to the It’s a roller-coaster ride Design Academy Eindhoven that appears to have hoping to express his no boundaries between creativity there. Half a year what is real and what is later he knew: He wanted imagined. His video gave to become a painter. So him a boost of motivation He quit his education and to continue and confirmed started to paint... that his work has a positive Now, six years later, his effect on people. artwork is seen all over Tell where you grew up and a bit about your childhood I grew up just outside a small village in northern Holland in a big dutch farmhouse. Together with two other families we (still) share the property like a community, although the house is just split in three making it a kind of three-under one roof house. Because the other families got children at the same time I spent my early childhood playing outside with my older brother, younger sister and the kids from the neighbors. From an early age I was drawing a lot, mostly birds and later I started making portraits. It was only six years ago that I first picked up a brush and fell in love with painting. At 19, I was accepted at the Design Academy Eindhoven but after half a year later, when I made my first painting, the decision to quit school, move back to my elderly

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home and start of as an autonomous artist was quickly made. Tell us a bit of your working history and jobs leading up to where you are today From my eleventh up to my nineteenth I worked at a tulip grower.I also had a paper route for some years and I filled shelves at the local grocery store for some time. The first three months after I moved back home and started to paint, I worked one day a week in the tulips for a little bit of income, besides the income that came from the first portrait commissions which were dripping in. In those first three months I painted a lot of landscapes depicting the surrounding area. Those were exhibited at a festival that was organized in honor of the polder where I live in. All sixteen of them were sold within two days and I received some landscape commissions. This also gave me some media attention and a small buffer which allowed me to quit working in the tulips and paint full time. From that point onwards, I sold my works at local exhibitions and accepted a commission from time to time. Things went well and after two years I was able to rent a studio a couple of miles away providing D I G I TA L A R T C R E AT I O N

more space and allowing me to start working on the I Paint movie short. In between shooting the film I worked out some commissions and later on a dear friend of mine offered me his support in order to finish the movie and hopefully move things to a higher level. When the movie was released It went immediately viral and the world sort of opened up to me. I had made a name for myself locally already but the level of attention that was generated by the movie was just immense. Direction of growth and goals where is the business going Plans for the future? Paint, and paint more! The video was quite an intense process, and now I just want to enjoy the situation and pick the fruits of my labour. Also Inspirationâ&#x20AC;Ś Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m inspired by the mystery

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of my psyche, and the way thoughts blur with the 5 sensical reality making the experience of live so mysterious. A question I always ask successful business owners is if they went through and put together a business plan including a marketing plan. If so what is the importance of that to your business. Is it a working plan? Does it morph as the dynamics of business changes or was it just for start-up and

currently sits on the shelf? The only plan I have made so far was to the plan to make the I Paint video. Afterwards I was quite exhausted and it made me decide no to engage in large projects until the situation is stabile again. Also, the painting-process is very unpredictable so it is hard to make any plans for. But for now I’m just getting used to this new situation. No rush, nothing big, just paint. Because after all, that is what I do. Who were some early mentors in your life? Current mentors? I have had no mentors. I’m completely self-taught. What are some of the biggest changes in the last few years specific to marketing? Well when the movie went viral, it was posted at hundreds of websites around the world, featured on the homepage of MSN.com and Huffington Post for example. It was broadcast on Dutch, Japanese and French national television. I was asked to host several items within art programs on Dutch television. It was just plain crazy. I also received lots of invitations to exhibit at art fairs overseas but due to the lack of available original works I wasn’t able to exhibit. almost all my work was sold within a day or three after the launch. What medium do you work in mostly? What about digital programs? I work predominantly with acrylics on wooden panel. I’ve experimented with oils too but Acrylics just fit me better because it dries so very quickly. This enables me to easily change compositions or correct mistakes in no time. I’m familiar with Photoshop but use it almost exclusively to generate the PNG images for my website.

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I don’t use any other programs actually... Tell me about your movie short on your website. What programs, how did you shoot it. It took me roughly three years to complete “I Paint.” If you look closely you can see my hair growing about six inches before I put it in a knot in the middle of

end of the film, frame-bythe film. I made it entirely alone, without any help and frame. Some frames took me whole days to create. To without a script. describe what the process It is a combination of timea little, I wrote on my lapse and stop motion, website: Busy with the IPaint just still pictures with no project. Endless amounts of digital effects. In fact, one pictures. Being clumsy. Paint could have made such a little on panel one, a bit a movie a hundred years on panel two, set camera, ago. It’s shot with a Canon stand in exactly the right 400D and edited in IMovie position, push the button, (version 9.0). I just started quickly put the remote in working slowly towards the my pocket, hold steadily, watch the result, failed, ...again. The end of the day, 10 usable photo’s, one and a half second of film further. Are there other software or plugin applications that you use? nope What does your workflow look like? Is it always the same or does it differ according to the image? I’m a night hawk. Winter days I usually wake up around 9 am and take my time to have breakfast and waken up. After breakfast I get to work. I might be working straight through till far after midnight or just for a couple of hours, it all depends on the project I’m working on on that particular moment and wether the sun is shining or not. Tell us about the message in your art. What would you like to express through your creations?

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What are your most immediate projects? At the moment Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m kind of molding this new situation to a handleable and smooth-working system that I can operate by myself. Where does your inspiration come from? Although you will find very realistic images of people and nature in my work, my inspiration comes from within. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m deeply interested in my own psyche and the way imagination attributes to the experience of life. Imagination can effortlessly change ordinary experience into an extraordinary one. I find that very inspiring. What was your inspiration to become an artist

As a visual artistI try to make visual that everything is an illusion and life but a dream.

I decided to become a painter because I simply fell in love with paints. It was

Do you listen to music when you are painting? If so who. Yes, when I paint I listen mostly to minimal piano music and movie soundtracks. To name a few; Hans Zimmer, Simeon Ten Holt, Philip Glass...

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almost a logical decision because I sure wasn’t going to spend the next four academy-years anxiously waiting for short moments where I could paint within a busy schedule . I wanted to do nothing else but paint, and so I decided to do just that. Hobbies, what do you do in down time I love to make timelapse clips, play piano, photography, gardening, enjoy the sun and wonder about the world while staring out the window. What advice do you have for new artist that want to begin exploring art and the cretive process? If the core motivation to create is anything other than doing it for yourself; Leave it. If you are truly creating from inside, nobody can stop you and there is nothing I could say

that would be of any help. Do you have any tutorials you can share with our readers? The clips on my Youtubechannel are tutorials in a way. If you watch them frame by frame you can see exactly how I paint. But I have never made a real tutorial. Perhaps I will once... Or did you mean like fourstep book-tutorials? In that case I have plenty! let me know!

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Just a side note on how I found Thijme. The marketing power of video is well known. As I was doing some research I happened upon his video “I paint”. I loved his work as well as the video and tracked him down. You tube is the second or third largest search engine (I am not sure whether Amazon has passed them yet) make sure you get some marketing vids out there. Here is the link to watch his vid.

Behind the canvas, empty panel,

Adding more and more detail, continually switching color tones,

Contrast layer,

I keep on going, until Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve found a nice balance in contrast and detail,

More contrast and first green hues,

Adding a subject and finish details.

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First layer, rough sketch,

Background elements and details,

Working out the background before detailing the girl,

Searching for balance in composition, Finished details shown on page 15.

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Making Photography Pay with an Inkjet Profit Center Whether you print your own work or send it out to a lab, there’s an almost infinite variety of applications for your photography, from wall murals and banners to stunning fabric tapestries. Inkjet printing allows you to build a new profit center and create unique applications. Below are three recent examples of this concept in action from Sacred Earth Gallery, AW Artworks and John Seibel Photography… Custom Décor and the Nature of Wall Murals Edward C. Robison, owner of Sacred Earth Gallery in Eureka Springs, Ark., captures stunning landscape and nature

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vistas that caught the eyes of Bass Pro Shops a few years ago.

Stylus Pro 11880 wide format inkjet printer. The mural was printed in 60” x 16 1/2’ panels, to which Since that time, Robison has Robison applied a matte been providing his unique varnish for extra protection. images to Bass Pro Shops for various environments, as “The image I shot for the wall mural was with a well as printing some of it Widelux camera, which is for the outdoor retailer. basically a double-wide Most recently, Robison 35 mm frame, and they created a wall mural and really loved that image,” canvas prints for the says Robison. “In Photoshop women’s exercise area at there’s an oil painting filter Bass Pro Shops’ corporate they’ve added to the newer headquarters in Springfield, version and I applied that, Mo. The idea was to bring along with another filter, the great outdoors indoors which got rid of the grain. and create a relaxing and Up close it really looks inspiring environment. abstract, but when you Robison printed the wall get back five or ten feet it mural on Photo Tex PSA comes into sharp focus.” Fabric – Aqueous Printers Robison says this was the from LexJet on his Epson

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first wall mural he had installed and considered hiring someone to do it. However, given that Photo Tex is repositionable and relatively easy to work with, even on larger applications, Robison decided to give it a try. Besides, Robison says he’s a do-it-yourselfer and welcomed the opportunity to learn something new. The installation went smoothly, with the help of a friend and a lift to reach the top of the mural and ensure it lined up properly. The most difficult part of the application was cutting around the various obstacles – windows, doorways, outlets, exit sign, etc. – but with great care Robison was able to create seamless transitions. Robison has been creating nature and fine art images for the past 16

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years, and selling his art at Sacred Earth Gallery for the past ten. He uses a variety of inkjet media for his creations, including LexJet Water-Resistant Satin Cloth for the hanging tapestries of his work that feature custom “poles” from which the tapestries hang. For more about Robison’s work, go to www. edwardcrobisoniii.com, and be sure to check out his GigaPan image of Inspiration Point White River

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Sunset at gigapan.com/ gigapans/101232 Inkjet Printed Wall Mural + Social Media = Immediate Sales Samples sell. It’s that simple. Illustrate what you can do in your studio, lobby or showroom and the application sells itself. At least that’s what Andy Wredberg, owner of AW Artworks in Sun Prairie, Wis., has found by decorating his studio with various inkjet

media applications from photo paper to LexJet. Wredberg posted the project canvas. on Facebook and almost immediately received four inquiries. Two of those have Wredberg’s most recent studio sample already led to sales and Wredberg is was a large 80” x 72” wall mural, meeting with the other two next week. pictured here, that he applied using Photo Tex Repositionable Fabric from “What I posted on my Facebook page is that this type of wall mural is perfect for doing something as permanent or temporary as you want for a home or business. If you live in a rental, for instance, and you want to do something that you can easily take down, this is an excellent way to do it instead of using wallpaper,” explains Wredberg. “The walls in my shop are heavily textured, yet I was able to apply it, and it looks great. I used the 42inch wide version and overlapped it by two inches to fill up one wall and show people who walk in that it will go over just about any wall surface.” D I G I TA L A R T C R E AT I O N

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Afghanistan Comes to Life with Inkjet Printed Fabric Lisa Schnellinger is a globetrotting journalist and photographer whose engagement in Afghanistan goes far beyond the scope of her work. Schnellinger has become involved in the rebuilding of Afghanistan, founding the Pajhwok Afghan News agency and raising funds to build a girls’ school. Schnellinger wanted to tell the story of Afghanistan through photography using an interactive art exhibition as the means to do so. Having seen other exhibitions printed on a silk material, Schnellinger turned to fellow Georgia photographer John

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Seibel, owner of John Seibel Photography in Dawsonville, Ga. “I did some regular prints for her prior to this project. I was fascinated with her new project. Lisa told me that for the past ten years she’s had a vision of a

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show telling the story of the people of Afghanistan from a non-political point of view. She knew I had an Epson 7900 printer and wanted to know if I could print it on silk,” explains Seibel. “I did a lot of research, including at LexJet, and they suggested

LexJet Water-Resistant Satin Cloth. One of the nice things about LexJet is that they guarantee satisfaction: if it doesn’t work for your purposes and you send it back within 30 days it’s no harm, no foul. I had never printed on a fabric before, so that was good to know.” Once the primary print material for the show was chosen, Schnellinger and Seibel worked together to narrow the images down from 100-150 to the 20 or so that would be printed for the exhibition, called Beyond the Mountains: The Interior Life of Afghanistan.

through they felt like they were interacting with the people she photographed in Afghanistan,” says Seibel. “We did some test prints on regular luster paper and then strips on the WaterResistant Satin Cloth. Once we felt like we had the profile and adjustments right, we began printing. LexJet does a great job of producing profiles for their materials, and the profile for the Water-Resistant Satin Cloth was right on the money for my Epson 7900.”

Schellinger designed the layout for the exhibition, which included an audio tour. Attendees could grab an mp3 player with an “The goal was to have them audio track Schellinger produced near life-size narrated that provided and floating in the room so background and stories that when people walked

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about the images featured at the exhibition. The combination of hanging fabric tapestries and the audio tour created a dynamic, flowing, interactive and threedimensional experience. “The color resolution on the fabric prints came out very nice. You could lay it on the table and it looked good, but it didn’t blow you away until you hung it up in the room and then had the light interacting with the prints,” says Seibel. “I’ve done other prints with Water-Resistant Satin Cloth, including an early morning marina scene. I have it lit from behind and all the light areas in the print just glow. It’s a fantastic medium to print this type of

project on. That’s one thing that LexJet does for us; they give us great advice on what products to use for what type project. I’d also like to try LEDs behind it to create the glow artificially.” Schnellinger added pole pockets to the top and bottom of each fabric print to give some weight to it and two eyelets to the top pocket from which to hang it. They ended up printing and hanging 14 of the images on Water-Resistant

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Satin Cloth, the largest at 24” x 44”. Additional images were printed on LexJet Sunset Photo eSatin Paper and mounted to 1/8” Sintra. Two banners, printed on LexJet TOUGHcoat Thrifty Banner, were hung across the room, framing the exhibit.

speaks well for the material as well as how coherent the people at LexJet were in giving us the support we needed to put this together,” says Seibel.

The photos shown here are from the first exhibit at the Sharptop Arts Association’s gallery in Jasper, Ga., at which “It received great reviews Schnellinger gave four artist from everyone who’s seen it. talks. Schnellinger then took Hanging these fabric prints the show on the road to and having them float other galleries in Georgia. around in the middle of the room was nearly magical. It

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victor Lunn-Rockliffe

Trouvez L’Objet here There is a backstory in this one which will probably need explaining ; its a commentary on 40K years of human art. The first object to find is a 40000 year old ice age carving the oldest known work of art attributable to a human. The urinal built into the structure in the foreground is Marcel Duchamp’s iconic found object which kicked off the idea of conceptual art which sadly has ended up in a bit of a dead end, in my view. Everything in between you have to imagine - and all this set in my local overground commuter train station!

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Digital Printing Alternative Surfaces: Metals —36 Gauge Metals are one of those alternative surfaces that fascinate me. They are extremely wonderful for digital printing, although there are some drawbacks. This surface is rigid and you definitely don’t want metals to tangle with your print head. Papers, fabrics and those types of surfaces are more forgiving in the “could hurt your printer” category. For this reason it’s a good idea to start small and figure out what you are doing. My recent foray with metals has drawn me to working with foils. Not the aluminum foil type you find in your kitchen, but thicker metal that has some oomph to it. There are several thicknesses of metals that are appropriate for metals. For the purpose of this article we will experiment with 36 gauge brass, aluminum and copper. (image 1) We’ll work in smaller pieces to allow me to show you more variations in prints between the various metals. The size printed is

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approximately 6 x 6 inch (15.240 x 15.240 cm) pieces of the various metals. Added to that there’s a really nice piece of finely woven brass mesh to mix in with the other metal. Fine woven mesh is soft and easy to print.

(30.480 cm). Copper is available in at least 24 inch (60.960 cm) widths and in various thicknesses, but aluminum, and brass seem to be mostly in 12 inch (30.480 cm) widths. At the end of the article there is contact information for the few companies I purchase metals from.

Once I was interested in playing with a few flexible What you will need: metals the search was on for availability. It seems to • 36 gauge metal be more difficult to find pieces wider than 12 inches • Electric or hand sander

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• Medium weight sand paper • Polypropylene sheet or plastic used under your surface while precoating. • Spray bottle with mixture of water and vinegar. Approximately 1/3 vinegar to 2/3 water. Have to admit that my measurement is kind of -throw it together. (This will be used to clean the polypropylene sheet when you change precoats).

• Paper towels or regular towels • Plastic to dry your metals. • Foam or bristle brushes3 or 4 inch (7.62 x 10.16 cm). My choice of brushes changes with each surface and you will find what works best for you. • Lint brush—I know it’s metal, but there is nothing worse then printing an image and finding fuzz or some odd item on the top or your print. • Precoat of your choice. I will use mostly inkAID Clear Matte and Semi Gloss Type ll on metal. • Carrier sheet---I use Epson’s Ultra Premium Presentation Matte for these metals. • Temporary spray adhesive.

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• Masking tape • Scissors or other cutting tools. I find a scissors is better on most metal since many wire or metal cutters really mess up the sides of the metal and is overkill for most printable metals. First we’ll cut the metal into pieces. As an example I will use my brass. It is 12 inches (30.480 cm) wide, so I just need a few cuts to give me some pieces to work with. Using the grid on my table

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plus a metal ruler I crease it before cutting. (image 2) From there the metal is creased again to create a 6 inch (15.240 cm) square. (image 3) Cutting all the pieces first—like a little assembly line works for me. When working with metals I usually rough up the surface with sand paper. You can do this with either a hand sander or electric sander. The thinner the metal — the more care you need using an electric

indentations that can be pounded smooth for the metal to still fit through the printer. (image 5) Use a brayer or hammer to get the metal back in line for printing. (image 6) Then it’s sanding before cleaning and precoating. (image 7)

sander. Powerful sanders can dent the paper and crush it up easily. This doesn’t happen on the thicker metals as much. Start lightly and see where it takes you. (Hand Sanderimage 4) Sanding the surface makes it less slick and gives the precoat a rougher surface to adhere to. In any alternative surface that is super smooth such as plastics or metals— even with a precoat that contains an adhesive— it just may not be enough. You may have trouble with the print adhering to the surface. In lieu of that I suggest you sand your metal to rough it up. My process includes sanding and then washing the surface with vinegar and water. You could also use cleansers to clean the surface. There are a few tools I may use to make indentations in the metal before adding the precoat. My Dap and Die set will put round D I G I TA L A R T C R E AT I O N

Also since this is foil you can crumble some ridges into the metal. If the metal starts to fold over and makes folded creases or darts it may end up too thick to print. My solution is to crumble it in a bit. (image 8) Then straighten it and sand. (image 9) This way it will keep funky

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creases and still print well. After you rough up and texture your metal you are ready to precoat. Using a piece of rigid polypropylene as a base to cover your table—apply your precoat to the metal being sure there are no missed spots. This can be tricky for metal so take the time to look closely to see that the entire surface is covered. Here’s a look at my setup for precoating metals which includes a polypropylene sheet, bottle of water and vinegar to clean the polypropylene, (when I change to a different precoat) a towel, some inkAID precoats and metal.(image 10)

Move the pieces of precoated metal to regular plastic sheets to dry. When the metals are dry it is time to attach them to a carrier sheet. I always let my precoats dry overnight before attaching them to a carrier sheet to print. All metals do not require a carrier sheet, but this metal is pliable and I feel more secure with tape securing the edges during the print process. These will be printed on my Epson Stylus Pro 7890 so they will print easily if set up right. This first carrier sheet has 4 pieces of brass mesh attached. There are different precoats used. The precoat names are on the top of each piece. In the image you can see that the Translucent Gloss and White Matte look like they lightened up the brass. The Clear Matte and Semi Gloss Type ll both go on clear. (image 11) Once printed White Matte and Translucent have created images more vivid then the ones from Type ll and Clear Matte. That is the nature of how those precoats behave. When you print mesh the surface isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t dense or solid. There is a really good

chance the print will be light and not vivid. A clear type precoat shows the color and grain of the mesh through the image. (image 12) The next example is aluminum and copper. You can see the prints below their unprinted surface. Both metals were scratched up with the side of a scissors. I rubbed a little of the Translucent Gloss into the indentations created. When the 13

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Translucent dried a precoat of Type ll was applied to the entire surface. The picture of the prints shows how the copper takes over the colors of the print. (image 13) The next carrier sheet again has four surfaces attached---each marked with their precoat. (image 14)

When the abstract image is printed each square has a different look than the others. Even the slight difference between the Type ll and Clear Matte is noticeable. Those 2 precoats look almost the same, but on non porous surfaces the Clear Matte gives a satin look while Type ll has a glossy effect. (image 15) Next we can look at the effect of brass metal against brass metal mesh. Notice on the carrier sheet the top left mesh is Gold Iridescent. You can see the difference in the precoats on the mesh since the Clear Gloss Type ll shows the weave of the mesh, but the Gold fills it in a bit. (image 16)

In the printed image you can still see the grain in the top left of the print. The differences on the bottom squares are not as visible in the picture as they are in person. There is a definite contrast between then two bottom squares. (image 17) 15

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For this last set of small prints the top 2 squares are both aluminum and the bottom copper. Same abstract print on

printer I used--- my Epson Stylus Photo R3000 scraped the first part of the print on it’s way through the print path. It is possible that the metal was bent up a little and this caused the scraping. Regardless there was damage and I wanted to get a good print, so I reprinted the image.

the top as on the bottom. Notice the red of the copper has changed the color completely. It is important to pick your images accordingly. (image 18)

Starting with the image file. (image 19) The image is surrounded by empty canvas (canvas size) as opposed to the actual size of the image (image size). My carrier sheet is 19 inches (48.260 cm) wide so the canvas size has to be the same or the printer will not line up the image correctly.

This last section will be about the print process. I am using an image that was damage the first time I printed it. The

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Printing the image on the 36 gauge copper—the surface was roughed up by hand sanding, cleaned and then precoated with inkAID’s Clear Matte. When the image has to print in a certain area of the surface, my habit is to run a test print on paper to see exactly where my image will start to print when it’s ready. This means the first thing I do is set up the image with the correct canvas size, prepare all the print boxes and then print. Once I know where to place the image on the paper I attach the copper to the carrier sheet in the correct place.

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Here is what the series of print boxes look like from Photoshop CS6 on my Mac OS. When I open the main print box you can

see the paper size is incorrect, so I will make the changes I need. Everything else in that first box is fine so I go up to Print Settings at the top and select that. (image 20)

In this box I change my paper size to 19 x 20. I have tons of custom sizes and it doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t matter how long I make the sheet just how wide. In this case I picked a paper size already in the choices. Then my print profile is Doubleweight Matte Paper. That profile works well with both Clear Matte and Type ll Precoats. Actually I usually use the with most of the inkAID precoats. Also Archival Matte and Enhanced Matte would work. (image 21)

From there I go back to the pulldown under Printer Settings and choose Advanced Media Control. That is where the Platen Gap setting is and I want it set to Wider. There is also a setting on my printer control panel to change the Platen Gap. That is done as well. (image 22) After saving my selections it brings me back to the main Print Setting box where I started and I can see the image is ready to print. (image 23)

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At this point I either use the actual carrier sheet with nothing on it or another piece of paperâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;hit print and see where this is actually going to start printing the image.

About an inch of the print is printed, printing is canceled. Now I can line up my surface and attach it to the carrier sheet for printing (image 24) and print. (image 25) Metal Resources for 36 gauge metal: • Nimrod Hall Copper Foil Company — www.nimrodhall.com • Brass and Copper—quickshipmetals.com • Aluminum Whimsie Studio www.whimsie.com

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ART MARKETING BUZZ by Tim O’Neill I belonged to an incredible mastermind group years ago during my most informative and growth years as a marketer. My parents were always relating stories of how you become who you hang with and the importance of choosing positive role models and associates, the whole guilty by association gig. I firmly believe that is true and runs on both sides of the talisman. What I mean is that positive influences and people “above your

grade” can inspire you to higher accomplishment, likewise those that are less ambitious or negative can drag you down. The mastermind group allowed me to participate because I was always positive, passionate about what I was doing and because I think differently. I was the only person in the group who was not making a seven digit annual income. One of the things that I particularly liked about this small group was our brainstorming sessions,

perhaps more aptly labeled as dream sessions. In those sessions there were no boundaries. One particular group member was an absolute expert at verbally painting the dream and in private sessions with him he always told me to focus on the “why” not the “what”, not just in my marketing but for planning my personal goals and life of work. Huh? What he meant was to focus on why you were doing something instead of focusing on what you were doing. For example relating this to our current business the “what” may be creating a set of instructional DVD’s or creating a painting, the “why” which is much more

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important is not what you might think. Most people would think the why is to create income or make sells but in reality that is still part of what. The why is much deeper and much more emotive. Why includes passion and purpose, a statement of believe. I liken it to the age old marketing and sales rule of features and benefits. Engineers and analytical folks like the features and are very few in number. Most people are sold by the benefits or the why. Simon Sinek in his book â&#x20AC;&#x153;Start With Whyâ&#x20AC;? talks about the why. His book is a synopsis of the theory he has begun using to teach others how to become effective leaders and inspire change. I really like his book and was fired up when I found a TED talk by Simon during a recent 2 a.m. research binge. Here is the video from TED. http://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action.html

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