I am a freelance production artist and graphic designer, specializing in print and packaging work.
In many years of freelancing in San Francisco, South City, the East Bay, Marin, and now Sonoma County, I’ve worked on hundreds of print and packaging projects for food and nutrition, toys and games, and music industry clients. I am familiar with online, offset, and web printers’ requirements, having worked for printers as well as designers, agencies, manufacturers, and pre-press.
I have extensive experience with food packaging, and in updating existing packages with new graphic styles, dielines, copy and photos. I work on all sorts of collateral from business cards to logos to menus to backstage passes. I can make web assets to your specifications.
I’m interested in remote production and design work in print and packaging. My rate is $50 an hour, and references are available. Please write to me - let’s talk about your project, timeline, and budget.
Specialties: Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, print production, packaging, CD/DVD artwork, complex packaging dielines, nutrition fact protocols, including multilingual US, Canadian, UK. I love designing with type.
Native English speaker, educated when spelling and grammar were still important. General proofreading skills. Strong, clean design aesthetic. I want to convert your ideas into artwork the printer will understand.
Other interests
Cooking, baking, and not following recipes slavishly; gardening, cacti and succulents; point-and-shoot photography in funny places; SF Giants and their minor league affiliates; Canadian hockey on the radio; road trips; old signs; pirate radio and DJ Junglebook; pie. I collect old cookbooks, especially mid-20th century, and juvenile fiction, especially series books, from mid-19th to mid-20th century.
​
OK, OK. I learned PPT.
November 2015
Free month at Lynda.com from LinkedIn, so I took the powerpoint course and got the certificate. This should be interesting. But I'm reminded again how much fun it is to learn something new, especially something having to do with computer skills.
CBrownSF colorful pictures in MTV's
The Real World house
September 2013
Finally I can tell you that nine of my pictures were chosen by the AD of The Real World season 29 to hang in the RW house, below - which was quite a decor to be chosen to decorate! They are done shooting now, and the pictures are home again. The Real World season 29 is over now. Thanks, Craigslist!
​Experience
Freelance Designer and Production Artist - remote and onsite
1980 - Present
For various clients in the music, cosmetic, supplements, food, exercise, and banking industries, at newspapers and periodicals, working for designers, typesetters, printers and agencies, I performed design, production and coordination for packaging, page layout and type speccing for collateral of all kinds, catalogs, direct mail, logos, packaging, financial reports and print ads.... analog and digital.
Freelance Graphic Design & Production / Production Artist,
Bridges Design Group, LA - remote
2006 - Present
​
A genuine Craigslist Creative Gigs success story. Ongoing longterm remote freelance production for food packaging printer files preparation, as well as collateral such as brochures, business cards, sales sheets, and trade-show booth graphics, using Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. Design assistance as required, creating alternate versions. Lots of 3D packaging images made in AI and PS from AI mechanicals. A range of other PS work: color correction, background removal, compositing, mocking up new flavor combinations.
Graphic Design and Production
Nature’s Express - remote
2010 - 2013
Freelance remote design and production work under the Chief Customer Officer, including menus, product labels, direct mail, collateral, signage. LOTS of fun. Another Craigslist Creative Gigs success story.
Graphic Artist
Blue Bear School of Music, San Francisco - remote
1984 - 2013
Design and production of quarterly catalogs/mailers, ads, signage, direct mail, programs, posters, other collateral. All production of materials for annual benefit show.
Production Artist
ONE Color Communications, Oakland CA
1995 - 2000
In-House Longterm Freelancer. Design and production work on hundreds of Safeway products including Tetrapak, spiral can, wraparound-art tissue boxes and other exacting dies. Boxes, cans, labels, overwrap, bags.
Production manager, production artist
Galoob Toys, South San Francisco
1990 - 1995
Longterm freelance and production mgr in-house, doing mechanicals for toy and game packaging printed in Asia, and packaging comps for TV, photography and trade shows. Round up and organize a fleet of production freelancers. Last job with analog layout.
Personal Projects
Pro bono menu redesign
January 2017
We love Keith's BBQ (and his breakfasts, and his steaks... ) and want to keep them smokin'! I redesigned and reorganized their extensive menu to make it readable for customers, cheaper to print, and to relieve the waitstaff of endless repetitive explanations. Really fun project, great food, decisive clients!
Enabling senior tablet users with their own User Group
February 2014 - present
I am co-leader of the Cloverdale Tablet User Group, which was formed to help seniors get their tablet computers out of the drawer, past the fear, and onto having fun. Our success is beautiful to see!
Book covers
2015 - present
I've been using my odder photos to make book covers for sale on a website that caters to self-publishing authors, both print and e-books. I started doing it because I had some time on my hands, but I've gotten further into it lately, trying out lots of new ideas where they can't hurt anyone. book covers! even more fun than CD covers. and so far, I have SOLD four! it was really a thrill each time. it's funny how the right setting gives an image the feel of meaningfulness, if that's a word. very little $, but SO much fun. and I'm learning a LOT of new PS things.
RAKE’S FOLLY now on iTunes!
early 2015
My friend Rob's three-chapter story RAKE'S FOLLY, illustrated with my urban-texture photos, is now an iBook up at the iTunes store! We're pretty pleased with ourselves - especially me; my first iBooksAuthor project. Check it out!
https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/rakes-folly/id1032840964?mt=11