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Bobby Parker 1/30/19 Bobby Parker 1/30/19

Brazilian House Rendering

Across the globe to Brazil! Here is a great looking house that I was commissioned to illustrate, by the architect, for the owner.

One part of the job I love is working on architecture from across the globe and let me tell you, architecture differs significantly from region to region.

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Bobby Parker 1/19/19 Bobby Parker 1/19/19

The Village at Central Park Apartments Renderings

Bricks, I love bricks. I am not sure if it is because I am from Chicago and everything build in Chicago, other than steel high-rises, are made of good old Chicago brick. This, the Village at Central Park Apartment renderings have three different brick, each in two different patterns. The trick to these architectural renderings with large areas of bricks is avoiding tiling, which is when you see repeating patterns in the brick. I accomplish this by making custom bricks, from high-resolution photos, and randomly placing them across the building face. Look close, no repeating pattern!

“It has been a pleasure working with Whitebirch on renderings of 2 different apartment developments. Bobby’s attention to detail is exceptional. He is able to bring construction drawings to life with an artist’s touch. We have received the highest compliments on Bobby’s rendering work and we look forward to working with him again in the near future.”

— Nathan Garrett

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Bobby Parker 1/19/19 Bobby Parker 1/19/19

Steven Madden House Design Rendering

A trend is showing with home designers. The software, hardware, and experience needed to create a stunning architectural rendering are high, so most don’t have the time, money, are a passion to master this skill. Over the last year, I have had many of these home designers reach out to me to create a stunning architectural rendering of their house plans for their website so they can show nicer renderings than their competition.

Quick story, When I was in high school my parents hired an architect to design them a house. After a few iterations, my parents approved the design, based on the architectural blueprints and the construction began. Once done, standing back, there were several things we just didn’t like. It cost a lot of money to change some things and some things they had to live with for a decade, prior to selling their house. Now, had they had a good architectural rendering prior to construction, all these expenses would have been avoided.

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Bobby Parker 1/11/19 Bobby Parker 1/11/19

Post-Production Rendering

When I first went digital I was very impressed with several digital artists. After inquiring, one reason their work was better was their understanding of light, shadow, and composition. However, the biggest difference was their post-production skills. The reason for this is, it is their eye that makes their work special. There isn’t a single workflow check list to go down, so it isn’t something you can just share; each project is very different.

Look, step back, squint your eyes, and flipping your image are all tricks of the trade. Add color, remove color, play with increasing or decreasing brightness are key.

The first thing I am usually asked is what render engine do I use? They ask because they think it matters, it doesn’t. Yes, some are faster and they might have different features, but none can take the place of the artist eye.

Below you’ll see the RAW render (straight out of the render engine) and then the final color-graded post-production image below. The first one is what you’ll usually get from your typical rendering service, If they are good with light, shadow, and composition it might be okay. The second one is why you hire someone who is an artist.

When I first started applying post-production techniques to my architectural renderings, it wasn’t my favorite part of my workflow. Actually, I didn’t enjoy it at all. No matter how hard I worked, my images never looked as good as the people I inspired to be as good as. Today, it is probably my favorite part of my workflow. Hopefully I can inspire others to go that extra mile to learn what makes an image good art and not just technically okay.

Bobby Parker 1/11/19 Bobby Parker 1/11/19

Maris Peak House Rendering

The Maris Peak house renderings is one of my resent favorites. I do enjoy doing these rustic home over the modern ones and I think it might show a little.

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Bobby Parker 1/8/19 Bobby Parker 1/8/19

Montrose Villas Duplex Renderings

I welcome 2019 with my first delivered set of architectural renderings.

The Montrose Villa Duplex Renderings started mid-last year and although I do create a schedule, I try to remain flexible for my clients. This project in particular, the client wasn’t in the greatest of hurry, so it took awhile to get some information and feedback.

This is the first overcast after the rain renderings I did for this client, and he liked the look. With this client I do sets, which consists of a perspective and elevation of each house and then an overall streetscape.

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Bobby Parker 1/1/19 Bobby Parker 1/1/19

Shannon Homes Design Rendering

Happy New Year! This is my first post of 2019 and my last project of 2018.

I have seen a trend of home designer and builders wanting to up their game with their house plans. No longer can a low-budget architectural rendering cut it in today’s market. Buyers are smart and if you cut corners with marketing they wonder were you are cutting corners other places.

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Bobby Parker 12/17/18 Bobby Parker 12/17/18

Custom Kitchen Renderings

Over the past year I have done a dozen or so Custom Kitchen Renderings. If a projects budget is tight, usually, other than an exterior rendering, my clients chose to do just one interior rendering, which is usually a kitchen. Custom Kitchen Renderings are time consuming, since they are usually very custom. From cabinet styles, to hardware, to plumbing fixtures and lighting fixtures, everything is hand picked and they need to be custom modeled.

This Custom Kitchen Rendering started like most, from a set of 2-D CAD plans and CAD elevations. The colors and materials were chosen by the interior designer, along with all the furniture. I built the furniture and fixtures from the manufacturers specification sheets.

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Bobby Parker 12/15/18 Bobby Parker 12/15/18

Sunset Modern House Rendering

Modern house renderings, once rare, have now become pretty common in my portfolio. This rendering, the Sunset House Rendering, has some bold color an material choices that personally, I really like.

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Bobby Parker 11/29/18 Bobby Parker 11/29/18

Common Wealth Apartment Rendering

Here are some renderings of the Common Wealth Apartments that I was asked to illustrate by the projects architect.

Kudos to my render engine, which is V-Ray NEXT. V-Ray NEXT handled the interior rendering and exterior rendering like a champ and in lighting speed. For the exterior rendering I had some subtle depth of field, motion blur, and all at 5K. The interior rendering was a 4K render and also had some subtle depth of field.

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Bobby Parker 10/29/18 Bobby Parker 10/29/18

College Bar Rendering

Each project has its own life. This one started as a rush, however, all the information came to me really slow. If I remember correctly, I didn’t get needed details for a few weeks. Colors and materials took equally as long. Once I did get the information I needed, I was knee deep in other projects, so the college bar rendering had to be rescheduled.

Anyway, I enjoyed it. All the furniture was custom modeled and I do like how it turned out.

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Bobby Parker 10/18/18 Bobby Parker 10/18/18

The Barr House Rendering

The objective was, natural materials in a woodsy environment. The Barr residence rendering is for a local architect, who has a client who couldn’t visualize the selected colors and materials for their dream house. I feel their fear and this is exactly why I got into the business of architectural renderings.

Thanks to the following sites, I was able to obtain high-resolution texture that I color matched in Photoshop.

Both sites have free accounts, however, I am a monthly subscriber to both, which gets me higher resolution textures.

Earlier in my career I spent a lot of time perusing the internet for free textures and 3D models. Not until I starting work professionally and my workload was heavy did I realize that my time is of value and better spent other places, so I started purchasing the best money can buy and I subscribed to the best site available. This, is one of the steps I take to make my work better than most; high quality assets.

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Bobby Parker 10/16/18 Bobby Parker 10/16/18

Snow Scene Rendering

I have done 100’s of Summer renderings, a few Fall Renderings, but this my first Winter renderings. I have always wanted to do a winter rendering, however, I have never had a client request one, until now. The majority of the Winter scenes you see out there are personal projects and like Cobblers kids have the worst shoes, I don’t have time for personal projects, so my Winter scene need had to wait until it was a commissioned project.

I hope you like it and if you have any comments, please comment below.

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Bobby Parker 10/13/18 Bobby Parker 10/13/18

Fairmount House Rendering

The Fairmount house rendering was a fun project. I like the design, so it was a pleasure to work on. Often, I am asked to illustrate a structure that I am just not into, so it helps when I can get excited about the project and I look forward to the outcome, just as much as the owner.

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Bobby Parker 10/3/18 Bobby Parker 10/3/18

Sky Ranch Renderings

I shared the Sky Ranch architectural renderings awhile back, however, they have went through some changes. The project had a slow start and bounced around people awhile. Originally the developer hired a marketing person, who left mid-way through the project, so I started working with someone internally. After a few revisions the project was handed over to another marketing company, so things changed again. Anyway, here are the finals. I do love the architecture of these.

Do you have a favorite? Please, comment below.

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Bobby Parker 9/26/18 Bobby Parker 9/26/18

Upstate New York Mansion Rendering

This is, I believe, the 5th house I illustrated for this upstate New York developer. I have a few evening shots to do, which will happen after these are approved. I’ll post those when I am done, so please bookmark me so you can check back next week.

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Bobby Parker 9/12/18 Bobby Parker 9/12/18

Millennium Center Rendering

Often I am asked to build existing buildings that surround a proposed structure. However, this is the first project that is an existing building. Unfortunately, I didn’t have drawing files, or anything other site photos and Google Maps, for that matter.

This architectural rendering started like most, which is modeling the mass and sending for client comments. My client and I worked back and forth until the building looked correct. Once I got the gray-scale mass model approved then came adding color, materials, and the environment.

From no construction drawings, or any drawings of any kind, to these images in several weeks was weeks of long days, and nights, but it got done on time and for budget; everyone was pleased!

Millenium centre exterior- d6 (resized).jpg

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Bobby Parker 8/29/18 Bobby Parker 8/29/18

Latham House Rendering

Often, I get emails, calls, or web chats about my pricing. The question usually looks like this, "what do you charge for an exterior rendering?" or "what do you charge for a kitchen rendering?" My reply is always the same, which is, "Each project is unique and I quote based on the size and complexity of your project, so I do not give generic pricing". A lot of the time I don't get a reply and sometimes people get a little hostile. Since the internet makes the world small, I believe many of these inquiries are from people wanting to break into the industry and they want to know what I charge. If you see the standard pricing menu I would stop and think, will I get what I pay for and the answer will be, yes!

The Latham House rendering is a manufactured home with less than a 1000 sq floor plan. The house sits between a garage and a shed. I am sharing this because, there is no average project. From 1000 SF houses to 40,0000 SF houses, I do them all. Also, some of my smaller houses have more detail than some of my larger houses, so size isn't necessarily an indicator of cost.

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Bobby Parker 8/20/18 Bobby Parker 8/20/18

63 Ponds Architectural Renderings

Here is a beautiful home in upper state New York. It is always a pleasure to work with this client, although sometime interesting. I usually get a vague text, the architect steps in and out of the process, and the owner usually calls in a panic, needing something within an hour when I haven't heard from him in weeks. Hey, it keeps me on my toes.

Follow Up:

No joke, this project has been closed for about a month, archived and off my desk. I sent the client a link to the deliverable and left the files in the cloud until yesterday. After I wrote the original post, which was yesterday, I got a panic email from my client saying that he needs the images, he is in a meeting, and the link I sent doesn't work (he never accessed his files a month ago when I sent the link).