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Gordon
McAlpin
527 5th Ave. SE • Minneapolis, MN 55414
phone 773-710-6632 • e-mail me
<at> gordonmcalpin <dot> com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/gmcalpin
Work Experience
Digital Artist
Chase Sequence Co. (self-employed) • January, 2003 – present
• Freelance design, print production, retouching, and illustration for a variety of clients and publications. Clients include Upshot, ReviverSoft, Commonground Marketing, Wondermark Enterprises, WorldTravel Meetings & Incentives, the Chicago Catalog Group (now Haggin Marketing), Golin-Harris, and Edelman.
• Experienced with POP displays, OOH, direct mail, packaging, brochures, posters, logo design
and more.
Production Artist (full-time freelance)
National Geographic School Publishing • October, 2007 – February, 2010
• Print production and illustration work for a range of packaging, textbooks, and supplemental materials.
• Cover and packaging concept work and development for NGSP's award-winning National Geographic Science grade 4–5 program.
Digital Artist (October, 2006 – September, 2007)
Graphic Artist (August, 2005 – October, 2006)
Upshot • August, 2005 – September, 2007
• Digital production/pre-press work on in-store signage, posters, out-of-home, and a wide variety of print products, for Miller Brewing Company, Disney Vacation Club, Procter & Gamble, Finish Line, and other accounts.
• Create illustrations and retouch, color correct and/or composite photographs to art director
and client instructions.
• Prepare file mechanicals for release to print vendors using Adobe Illustrator.
Graphic Designer
CFM Direct, Inc. • March, 2005 – August, 2005
• General production work using QuarkXPress and Illustrator on direct mail projects for a variety of finance clients.
• Completely rebuilt templates for Metris direct mail letters, resulting in faster turn-around times and lower error rates campaign-wide.
Designer, Production Artist, Illustrator, and Technical Editor (full-time freelance)
Chicago Catalog Group (now Haggin Marketing) • November, 2003 – August, 2004
• Page layout and general production work for catalogs, instruction sheets, packaging and other projects.
• Created technical illustrations and presentation graphics for a variety of projects.
• Edited technical information for a 3,000+ page aviation parts catalog.
Associate Art Director (March, 2002 – Jan. 2003)
Production Art Director (July, 2001 – March, 2002)
Publications International, Ltd., Lincolnwood,
Illinois • July, 2001 – January, 2003
• Designed, prepared, and preflighted mechanicals for a variety of projects including children’s books, activity books, educational tile sets and related packaging and marketing materials.
• Directed freelance illustrators with written instructions and detailed thumbnail drawings.
• Retouched artwork in Photoshop to meet licensors’ requirements as necessary.
Production Artist
Key Industries, Inc., East Peoria, Illinois • January, 1998 – April, 2001
• Produced mechanicals for screen and offset printing of a wide range of promotional products (including pens, 3M notepads, and magnets).
• Scanned and vectored customer artwork, set type, and layed out artwork/design elements.
Art Proofreader
Key Industries, Inc., East Peoria, Illinois • March, 1997 – December, 1997
• Checked production artwork for
typographical and artistic errors (such as trap) and corrected them as necessary.
• Promoted to California Line Team Leader after three months, where I established procedures for future California Line proofreaders.
Education
Bachelor of Science in Studio
Art (Graphic Design)
Bradley University, Peoria, Illinois • August,
2000 – May, 2001
Bachelor of Science in Studio Art (Drawing)
Bachelor of Arts in English (Writing)
Bradley University, Peoria,
Illinois • June,
1992 – December, 1996
Creative Writing minor
Skills
• Expert-level skills in Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe InDesign,
and Adobe Acrobat Pro (through CS5/5.5) on the Mac platform.
• Strong knowledge of QuarkXPress and Microsoft Office.
• Strong knowledge of printing methods, dielines & templates, typographic conventions and color management.