180 Rule
When animating characters interacting with one another, it's crucial to keep a well-defined visual relationship between the characters on screen. The cameras should remain on one side of the axis of action in order to preserve the scene's spatial continuity and screen direction.
Sometimes breaking the 180 rule can result in a better visual impact and can also enable you to get a great reaction shot that you couldn’t get otherwise.”
Zoom Way Out
If you open your rendering, in your image editor, and reduce it to thumbnail size and it still holds together compositionally, you've got a good piece on your hands.
If your rendering has the ability to catch your eye when it is that small it either has a strong underlying perspective grounding the composition or interesting shapes that lead you through the work.
Learn the Core Fundamentals Concepts
Learn the core fundamental concepts so you can quickly adopt to new ideas, and changes.
Neuroplasticity refers to the physical changes that take place in your brain as you experience and adapt to the world around you.
Walk away!
Looking at your render too long without a break is one of the biggest pitfalls that hinder even the best artist. Sometimes the best solution is to simply walk away from your computer for a few minutes, or just step back from your screen a few feet.
There is probably no better tool to routine out bad renders than looking at your render in reverse. Reversing your render allows you to see your rendering in its proportions with a fresh eye. You can mirror you rendering in Photoshop, or simply print it out and look at it from the back side, through a bright light.
use value - not color or detail - as the framework for your composition
Look for an opportunity to create a white path into the composition and link the whites into a single shape. If you allow the whites to separate each one could fight against the viewer's attention, and the composition could lack unity. I am not necessarily talking about the color white. I am talking about lightning the values you use, to create a viewer's path, to bring the eye to your focal point.
Once you have your white and mid tone paths, you can complete the composition framework by adding darks. The darks do not need to create a single path. The reason is that the eye seems to connect darks even if they are not literally connected.
Do I Slash My Prices?
One must always look critically at the market and be willing to be flexible, especially in light of difficult economic circumstances. As your reputation grows, so will your prices. Price-cutting could prove detrimental to existing relationships with clients who have paid certain amounts in the past.
It Cost How Much?
Part of our job, as architectural illustrators, is to sell our work. A lot of illustrators charge an hourly fee, but to me, that doesn't make much sense. You'll find with that logic the more experience you have, the faster you can create your art, and then the less money you'll make. So, how do we charge for our service? If you are like me, and purchase high-end software with anual subscriptions, it is expensive to operate. Not only do we purchase software, we have to have reliable hardware to meet tight dealines.
Yesterday I was talking to a construction manager, we'll call him Bob, about costs for interior and exterior illustrations. The construction manager was preparing for a meeting with his potential client. The project was a design-bid-build, with design going to three local contractors for bid.
After talking with the architect, I found out that the homeowner is particularly concerned about the building process. The architect is passing his design along to the builder. The architect said, "The homeowner needs a builder that can take their hand through the process". Their life savings are being invested in their dream home based on a series of 2-D drawings. This doesn't make sense to the homeowner, and they are terribly concerned, that they were not able to make intelligent decisions.
Bob inquired about prices for illustrations, which might help him get the job. These would be illustrations the architect didn't provide. I studied the drawings, briefly while he was standing with me, and I gave him an approximate price. The room got quiet… I asked Bob how much it would cost to re-paint an average size room, or move a window a couple inches?
Let's say the homeowner opted not to invest in some superb illustrations and the first afternoon, in their new home, they can't watch TV in their new living room because the sunset is glaring on their screen. Easy fix: they go to the home improvement store and buy some terribly expensive window blinds to cover up the glare, and the beautiful view.
Several years ago I was part of the design process for a church built. I positioned the building on the site with a large cross shaped window, behind the pulpit, facing Southwest. My intents were as the congregation looks at the pastor, with the soft, diffused light from the cross behind him, that image would be captured in their mind-eye when they close their eyes in prayer. The point I was after was no different from looking at a lightbulb, closing your eyes, and still seeing the light of lightbulb. Once the design was done I was removed from the process, and the drawings went to the builder. At some point, the builder decided to mirror the building on the site, save some money, and guess what happened on that first Sunday morning service? The 10 AM sunrise blinded the congregation! Easy fix: get some darned dark tint, put on the glass, and problem solved.
These quick fixes are called value engineering. To fix something in the field, as it's being built, is frightfully expensive. Homeowners see their dream home for the first time as it's being built. Any changes to the design will be exceedingly costly, which could have been avoided, with some strong initial illustrations.
Every design warrants an illustration, in my opnion. If you want a happy client, make sure there isn't value engineering, which is very expensive. We have to sell our work based on its quality, and its value to the project.
Get The Light Right
A major consideration is the light source. The old rule of thumb used in architectural perspectivist is that the light source should come from over the left shoulder. This configuration puts one face of the building in bright light and the other in shadow, which makes it easier for the viewer to understand the structure.
My Personal 2012 To-Do List
Consider the doctor, plumber, architect, lawyer, or building inspector ... These are all professionals just like us, the architectural illustrator. They have been educated in their craft. They have spent years working in the field, and in some cases, earning their degrees, but credentialing is a valuable and recognized part of our career.
Below is my list, of desktop publishing applications, that I would like to get certified in, during the year 2012. I spent over 20 years mastering many applications, so I thought it was time to get certified in some of them.
- Adobe Certified Expert (ACE)
- Adobe Photoshop®
- Adobe AfterEffects®
- Adobe InDesign®
- Adobe Premiere®
- 3ds Max Design 2011 Certified Professional
- Revit Architecture 2012 Certified Professional
- CompTIA Healthcare
- Building Information Modeling (BIM) Certificate
I'll post update, and my certificate credentials, as I work through my lists.