SKILLS:

Graphics: Graphic Designer; Graphic Artist; Pre-Press Specialist; Pre-Press Manager; Desktop Publisher; applications: Adobe: Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, Acrobat, and Dreamweaver; Freehand and PageMaker; Quark Xpress; Microsoft: Word, PowerPoint, Publisher, Works. Also FTP, audio and video editing, various related applications, plugins, extensions, etc.

Computers: Macintosh; IBM Compatible/Windows PC’s; related maintenance, repair, enhancement, upgrade, installation, and networking. equipment: high quality ink and laser proof printers; image setters for film production to printing plate and direct-to-plate systems, primarily Creo – Scitex; negative stripping for metal plates, ultraviolet plate burner devices, RIP stations for proofing, plate making, and film.

Other Skills: Computer Maintenance and Repair for Mac and PC with hardware installation; hardware replacement; OS installation, upgrade, and repair; software installation, upgrade and repair; use of utilities for operating systems, virus and malware detection and protection; interacting with clients and walk-in customers on a professional level with consultation on technical issues and economy of product and services.

Sign Making: Vinyl sign production including image design with operation of the plotter; screen printing for signs; precision hand painting for signs; panel engraving; various carpentry type work related to sign construction; installation of signs.

Metal Fabrication: Operated the CNC Press Brake with 60, 135, 235, 350 ton machines; can read and understand technical drawings to meet specifications; production of parts consistently to within one-degree and 30,000th of an inch accuracy; set-up for the press brake; large and small rollers; operated punch presses, drill presses, large shear, used calipers, protractors, scales, and mark-up for bend strategy on the press brake.

Working with Wood: Some basic carpentry; construction of prefabricated doors and staircases; assembly of roof trusses; use of skill saw, table saw, miter saw, and related basic tools.

Other: Dye house and quality control in a knit cloth factory; basic construction labor; some house painting; landscape and yard maintenance; commercial plant nursery; fiberglass mold technician for construction of plugs and molds, and mold repair for tub & shower and boats; municipal water, parks, and sign departments in the field.

Printers and Clients for Graphics work:
Williams & Simpson Publishing in Greenville, NC including the Vacationer magazine, the Beaufort County magazine, the North Carolina World Trade Association magazine, and Renter’s Helper magazines for three areas in North Carolina; The Daily Breeze newspaper which inluded the Islander newspaper -for Sannibel Island- and the Pine Island Eagle -for Pine Island- in Cape Coral, FL; Textile Marketing Services in Greenville, SC which included clients such as RJ Reynolds and Lockheed Aircraft; Hill Printing in Raleigh, NC; Long Printing in Raleigh, NC; “BtB” Business to Business Marketing Communications in Raleigh, NC; “BCT” Business Cards Tomorrow in Raleigh, NC; Sir Speedy Printing in Raleigh, NC; Accusign Incorporated in Raleigh, NC.

A day as Pre-Press Manager in a commercial printing company: On the phone with a client who does not know how to do the graphics their self, but thinks they do, there's film going to the image setter from the RIP station, files coming from clients in email and proofs going out the same way... as well as out of the proof printer. I’m handing film off to my staff while the sales guy is trying to show me some next-to-impossible graphics that he needs recreated from a film negative… for free. The manager comes in with new work someone dropped off and changes priorities while wanting to know what's going on so I go into a lot of technical jargon and he just walks off in the middle of it as the phone rings again. My assistant is as stubborn as a mule and refuses to be taught anything, but for some reason, they want to keep him around… so there is even more work for me. There are three Macs and One PC in front of me and I've got something going on each one and maybe several things on any one of them. I send more film, fix a mess in a client file, send more proofs, start working on the graphic for the sales guy, get rid of the manager again, check the plates my guys made… ahead of the press operator who just found one wrong punctuation in a job he started printing that was signed off on by the client, and my assistant is shooting his print out on the PMT camera because he does not know how to use the image setter and it’s fuzzy so I’ll be doing that later then my wife calls..... I'm eating stress for lunch while keeping this juggling act off the floor and by the end of the day, the press operator can't keep up with all the work I sent his way and I loved every minute of it.