Trying a New Technique

(click on image to view larger)

This is my first attempt at combining Corel PainterX with illustrating in Photoshop.  Painter is the best program for simulating natural brush/pen strokes of traditional media (oil, watercolor, gouache, charcoal, etc.).  The three images at the bottom were reference photos used for the final illustration.  

About 2/3 was created within Photoshop and the remaining 1/3 of the process in Painter.

The above image is an application picture as part of the 5-part Bible lesson series, "Meet the Author".  The printed ring-bound flashcard will be 24 x 34cm.

Church meetings in USA

We look forward to visiting with many of you during our time in the States. Some have asked about when & where we would be sharing our ministry in churches. I've included a website link for the church when available so you can get directions and times. If you have additional questions, please drop us an email. I will try to keep the list up-to-date as more meetings are being scheduled. 

[updated: November 15]

Church meetings:

• July 27 – Mount Wolf Community Church – Mt. Wolf, PA – website
• Aug. 4-16 – CEF Inc. – Warrenton, MO – website
• End of August – South Carolina
• Sept. 14 – David's Community Bible Church – Millersburg, PA – website
• Sept. 20, 21 – West Rockport Baptist Church – West Rockport, ME – website
• Sept 27-Oct. 5 – Calvary Bible Church (missions conference)– Hanover, PA – website
• Oct. 12 – St. Paul's Wolf's ECC – York, PA – website
• Oct. 12 – Calvary Bible Church (evening service) – Hanover, PA– website
• Oct. 19 – St. Bartholomew – Hanover, PA
• Oct. 25-29 – Calvary Bible Church (missions conference) – Wrightsville, PA – website
• Nov. 2 – York Bible Church (evening service) – York, PA – website
• Nov. 23 – New Hope Community Church – Seven Valleys, PA
• Nov. 16 – West Grove Pres. Church (AM service) – West Grove, PA – website
  

Staff Farewell

On May 15, the Kilchzimmer workers gathered together for a meal and say farewell to several staff members leaving Kilchzimmer.

[From Right to Left]
For 14 years, Suzanne Jones was secretary to Roy Harrison, the European Regional Director. She will be returning to N. Ireland.

Paul & Audrey Reid have been with CEF for 43 years and in recent years were serving in Kilchzimmer as head of the European Education Dept.. They will be returning to Spain where they served as missionaries.

The Mayhew family will move to France where Philippe will be the National Director of CEF France. Philippe worked at Kilchzimmer in the Education Dept..

Lizanne Dumigan was head of the Multi-Media Dept. and worked as Administrative assistant to the European Director. She arrived in Kilchimmer during the mid-80s, shortly before we did and worked closely with Sue & I all these years in the Literature production ministry. She was a great asset to the department and will be missed. Lizanne returned to N. Ireland and plans to marry in August.

"Illustrative look" to photos in Photoshop

I've been working (experimenting) on using a series of Photoshop blending, editing, dodge/burn, painting on masks and other layer manipulation methods to make a photo appear more like an illustration. I will refine the process more. This is just an initial "test" I did using a photo of Rebecca taken last week on a hike near our home. I added a slight Sepia tint to this photo "illustration".
I created a custom Photoshop "action" to help speed up the process for other photos. This opens up more ideas and options for creating visuals besides the more "traditional" tools I've been using.

UPDATED 5/23: Here's two more examples with some refinements to the process. photo 1, photo 2

Preschool IOT Course

The Preschool Instructor of Teachers (IOT) pilot course is being held this week. These key veteran CEF workers will return to their regions and conduct the course in how to reach and teach preschoolers. Future IOT courses for preschoolers will be planned. Tim taught two classes on working with puppets.

Multimedia Summit '08

(photo 1) Tim teaching seminar on Photoshop, Digital Imaging, and Illustration guidelines.
(photo 2) Group photo.

We had an encouraging week of meetings with valuable discussions/teaching continuing outside of class from morning until bed-time! You would have several workers sharing challenges they faced with literature in their country, then someone else would share their solution to the problem, so the week was not just for workers to learn but to also share their experiences with others.
We finished the week tired ... but it was a good tired!

Multimedia Summit '08

Materials: a chair, a disposable white plastic table cloth, and common household/utility lights (or use sunlight!).
Result: A macro photo studio at no cost, that stores flat and goes anywhere!

This is just one example of what I will be sharing in the Digital Imaging/Photoshop seminar. There will be around 45 key CEF literature workers coming to Kilchzimmer from all over Europe and as far away as Central Asia for training in the production of literature and coordinating the literature ministry in their countries. The Multimedia Summit will be held the last week of February.

"Parables" lesson – adding colour

Sometimes I'm asked to add colour to existing B/W line artwork as will be the case with this lesson on the Parables. This artwork was drawn by a woman in Italy and made available to CEF. I scanned in the line drawings, separated the black lines from the white background and used Adobe Photoshop to add colour, surface texture, etc.. Depending on the complexity of the image and other requests that come past my desk, I can complete 1 to 4 pictures per day.

Note: previously completed Bible illustrations.

"Meet the Author" – flashcard series

This page explains how we have a body and can only be one place at one time. The person of the Holy Spirit was sent to be present all over the world at the same time....
[24x34cm]

"Meet the Author" – flashcard series

The Bible, God's Word, tells us that there is only one true and living God. (Is.44:6b). He is the One who made the Universe. He made the millions of worlds that look like tiny lights up in the night sky ....
[24x34cm]