Tim Oakley
About: Principal owner and creative director of Oakley Design Studios, graduate of NYU, and former illustrator for many of the New York advertising agencies and design firms.
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July
Born and raised in Hawaii, Tim Oakley, or ‘Oakley’ as he’s called in the industry, is principal owner and creative director of Oakley Design Studios (www.oakleydesign.com). A graduate of NYU, Tim began his career as a solo illustrator for many of the New York advertising agencies and design firms.
In the early 80’s, Oakley moved to Northern California to work for leading design firm, Offenbacher, Incorporated, where he designed award-winning collateral, logos, packaging and wine labels. His entrepreneurial spirit soon led him to open a one-man design shop in San Francisco. When the 1989 San Francisco earthquake hit, Oakley decided to move himself back to safer grounds - Hawaii, where he rekindled his passion for painting. Most noted are his paintings of the flower, The Bird of Paradise.
"There are nine variations of this painting; five are hanging in major hotels around the world, while the rest are in personal galleries."
Most recently, Oakley’s The Tiki Pop Illustrated Prints have been purchased by Fortune 500 companies and Hollywood celebrities (including three Oscar winners), as well as numerous well-known musicians.
In 1992, Oakley headed back to the mainland and chose Oregon for its beauty and cool weather. Oakley Design Studios was created. Oakley’s design skills have earned him world honors from local, regional, and international clients. Oakley Design Studios clients vary, since Oakley prefers not to pigeonhole his design style with any one type of client. He finds that the more avant-garde the client, the more likely they are to take chances.
Oakley has won numerous awards around the globe. His work has also been showcased in such magazines as - Print, Graphis, Creativity, ShotGun, Illustrator Inc, Pinstripe, and many other "best of books." When not designing something, Oakley speaks at typography and design seminars for corporations & colleges, and has taught design to high School and college students.
This project will be his first opportunity to use not only the airbrush gun, but also the grip pen and other items, making it something that he really looks look forward to.
"I come into this project with no knowledge of Wacom. However, I plan on finishing the project as a believer in digital airbrushing. I have many close friends that use Wacom. Many times, they have said, "Try a Wacom. This will change you. Tonight I will learn. Even an old pro like myself, when given the right tools, can become cool once again."
This guy makes the rest of us look lazy. As far as we’re concerned, he’s been cool all along. One sure thing is that his design for the Power of the Pens is going to blow us away, just like everything else he does.
After a few attempts, it became natural to work the airbrush. The airbrush is a medium that I have worked with since the age of 10. The roller was the toughest to control since most airbrushes are dual action from a single throttle. Once I felt confident enough to work with the airbrush, the first item I tackled was the sky & clouds. I figured, "if I can’t tackle this, I’m screwed".
On the clouds swirls, I made a single mask in illustrator, and used it for both the inner and outer cloud ghosting. I made three passes of white (at 50%, 30% & 10%) changing the brush width with each outer pass. Then I made a single pass of white (at 20%) for the inner swirls.
I also used this technique for the volcano fumes, ‘cept I only did two passes of white (at 50% & 30%).
For the foreground bushes & palms, I used both the airbrush for all base color areas, and fine-tuned the leaves with the grip pen tool (detail work).
For the ocean, I made two mask (again in illustrator). Using one for the background base coat, which I also added two gradient colors for depth. Then a second mask was used for the water waves, which I used only the airbrush tool. Using the airbrush, a burst of white was sprayed for the wave tips. This technique was similar to an actual airbrush and gave me control over the amount of white being added. If I didn’t like the look, I’d delete and start over. If this was an actual painting, and I didn’t like the white, I’d have to use a bleaching agent (with a face mask) remove the white until it was completely wiped away. A time wasted procedure.
For the The Tiki itself, twelve separate masks were made in illustrator, each one for a different section of the The Tiki. Starting with the basic color, I did a single fill (at 40%), then used the airbrush to bring out the depth & detail. Each section was done in same manner, ‘cept I’d rotate the art at various angles (just like turning a master art board), to help out in the depth and style of gradients. The mouth was the simplest. A basic black background, with the addition of gray for side depth. The teeth were done using 4 masks. Two for the face of the teeth, and two for the sides. Each masks using two values of gray.
Once the entire art was done, I used the grip pen for minor detail primping & cleaning.
Other than quick edits, and changes, I realized that I no longer have to mix paint, use bleach, rub off pencil lines, and remove frisket film or residue. This alone saved me roughly 1-2 hours of work. Hours that I could use to tighten the concept if needed.
Since my latest art has this similar theme - give or take the style - it was just natural to do painting. However, this is the first to include the volcano and swirly clouds. Something new, and one of a kind for this project.
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- Intuos3 Special Edition
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- Grip + Airbrush Pens
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- Intuos3 SE
- Airbrush Pen
- Grip Pen
- Micro Tek Scanner
- Photoshop CS2
- Illustrator CS2
Tell us what you think. The artist, their work. We want your input.
Oakley, I dig all your work. Have you thought about ever teaching your craft? Awesome poster art too.
aloha, Bax
This stuff is created with a Wacom! The second half of the article describes the process in detail.
Great stuff Oakley!
I agree with you. As one of the designers for this project, I wanted to explain more of the process involved, however, due to time, I just didn’t think it worthy. I am sorry for this mistake.
As far as trade secrets, I’ll be the first to to tell you anything I know. If you would like, contact me directly and I’ll explain to you, or anyone else for that matter, what I did, and an actual secret of using two(2) pens at once. It’s weird, I know, but i found a way.
Thanks again,
Oakley
I guess I’m asking if the finished art is in Illustrator or Photoshop? Lots of work either way, I can tell…
Thanks so much for your response. I have the Intuos 3 tablet and I’m thinking of getting the airbrush pen but I’ve never done any airbrushing before. Are there general tutorials online about usage that might help me decide if the airbrush tool is for me? Thanks again for your generous offer.
You’re correct. All the mask were created in Illustrator, then brought over in to Photoshop. By having the masks made in a vector program, made for cleaner and crisper masks.
Since a typical airbrush is like an over-blown true life Photoshop program, it made sense to create everything after that in a raster program.
Feel free to ask any other questions.
thanks again for the comments.
Oakley
I, like you, have pondered over books all of my childhood years. However, the best tutorials I found were the “trial & error” methods. Believe me when I say, that seeing an artist like Charles White, a Roger Dean, or even an old-schooler like Big Daddy Roth make what appeared to be easy looking art, only to find out by trial & error that it really wasn’t, made me a better artist. I’ve lost count on how many times I’d find an artist phone number, call them up, and pick their brains on technique. Because of this bravery, I’ve become close and dear friends with many of the artist I grew up admiring.
I’m a believer of all artist should share some of their ideas, as once they are gone, so is the technique (unless passed on).
Good luck.
Oakley
I wound up buying the airbrush pen tool but it didn’t come with any software and it seems to behave just any other Wacom pen. What is the secret to getting it operating like an airbrush? I put in an email to Wacom for more information but since you were so helpful I thought I’d also ask you for advice. Thanks in advance for pointing me toward the light.
David Stafford
As soon as I have more time to talk to you, I’ll do so. Right now I have a deadline to uphold, and tight for time.
Later this week work for you??
Oakley
Sorry I haven’t been back to check on this site. Didn’t see your message…I did find out from another source how to make it work however. Thanks so much for your generosity.
David