Heard Farms Renderings
The Heard Farms series of architectural renderings have a story, like them all. However, I learned a couple of new things from these. Well, I guess I didn't learn; I was reminded of a couple of things.
The fine folks of the Heard Farm team were a pleasure to work with. They reached out to me with a few dozen views, but they peered down to these 15 interior and exterior renderings after considering their budget. The designer did his renderings that he did in another software but he wasn't satisfied. They were not bad, and after looking at them, I saw mainly a lack of suitable composition. They provided me their Revit models, which I had to model over to get what I needed. Initially, I used their camera to get past the initial stages (broad brush). I intended to dive deep into the composition (more delicate brush), to correct what I initially saw as the image's weakness.
This is lesson one. I should have shown my version first; this way they wouldn't have compared them with what they already thought they liked. I mean, they wouldn't pick out camera views that they thought would fail, now would they? When I set up my cameras, I always try to have a solid focal point. I use light and shadow to direct the viewer to that focal point. Subtle depth of field, leading lines, and framing are tools I use to accomplish a strong composition.
Lesson two was, I am a comercial illustrastor. I like to think of myself as an artist. I have drawn my whole life, since a child, and I love art. Every architectural rendering I do, I try to create art (creative skill and imagination). Sometimes I forget that I am hired to create renderings, and the renderings are not mine. I can suggest things, but untimely, I am engaged in doing a job.
These architectural renderings turned out good, and my client was pleased, which is my ultimate goal. I need to remember that my client's happiness is the priority and if they are happy, so I am.
I have decided to create my own art again to please my own soul. I think it'll be houses, but in pencil and maybe some urban sketching.
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1448 House Rendering
Stock houses have been a steady source of work for me over the past six months. I have had a couple of years of house plan creators reaching out to me, which tends to be initiated by someone reaching out to them from China. I rarely heard back from them, so I can only assume that they took the less expensive route, which is going to China. Over the past six months, that trend seems to have shifted. What I hear is, "I went to China, but the work wasn't good, and the communication was awful." I am sure there are plenty of good architectural illustrators in China, but this is what I have been hearing.
About a decade ago, I saw a trend of pretty OK renderings coming from people, so I knew pretty OK wasn't going to be good enough. Pretty OK was what I was producing in the early '90s, so I studied really hard about art and color theory, photography, and composition. I knew I needed to up my game; because pretty OK would become a cheap commodity.
It is good to see these house plan creators value what a professional illustrator can bring to the table, which can only improve their sales, so it is an investment well spent.
The 1448 House is a floor plan that the creator designed, and he reached out to me to illustrate it for him, so he can show it on their website. The request was a day shot and a twilight shot. A twilight shot is typically 30% more in cost than daylight shot and is well worth it for most.
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McMurry Residence
Yet another homeowner being given hand drawings but couldn’t visualize her dream house. Drawing from hand drawings takes so much longer, more than twice as long. However, I sincerely love helping these homeowners. I can imagine sleep is lost not being sure if you’ll love your house, a venture that most people save their lives for.
Kudos to the architect on this one!
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Homeowner Rendering
We all have a reason for doing what we do for a living. For me, the homeowner epitomizes why I do what I do, which is obviously to create photorealistic architectural renderings.
A few weeks ago the homeowner reached out to me from my website, explaining that they are getting ready to build their dream home on their family property. They have plans drawn by hand, but they can’t envision it, and they are afraid to pick colors and materials that they won’t be happy with.
Generally, I don’t take projects without CAD drawings because there are often too many errors in hand drawings, and I have to figure things out when building the 3D model. It is value-added to my client since it is far cheaper to figure things out on the computer than in the field, but sometimes they don’t understand that.
Since this was a homeowner with a problem to solve, and this is why I do what I do, I gladly took the project. What a beautiful house, and Nikki and her husband can now sleep in peace and dream about the day they can move into their new home.
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Mixed Use Building Rendering
When you are trying to sell your architectural design to the city council, you need an extraordinary architectural rendering!
This project had some pretty complicated materials to pull off, but I think it works well with the help of the manufacturer's websites.
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Better Luminosity for your Architectural Renderings
Architectural renderings are both a science and an art. The building of the 3D model is pretty straightforward and nonsubjective and is the science. Adding texture and materials, the same, for the most part, is a science. Composition, which includes light, shadow, and camera location, plays a significant role in fundamental art theories. Post-production is art at its best, and it is where most fall short.
Some might think post-production is just a place to fix mistakes in the rendering. Most might brighten or darken their image or apply a warming filter and call it a day. If you are like me, you try to be a master of your craft; you always learn ways to improve that craft. If you hire a professional illustrator, they'll probably have some research and development budget, which I do, and that money is allocated for learning new things. There are other types, too.
The person who hasn't changed the way that they work for decades, and you can tell.
There is also the person sent to an annual seminar, which is usually a vendor's event, and it is agreed to so they can get out of the office for a day.
People like me, learn daily and only keep things that work and make our craft better. One thing I have used over the years is a Photoshop plugin called Lumist 2. This plugin uses science to apply art. it'll look at your image, classify the image into ten luminosity levels, and it'll allow you to apply artistic effects based on that science.
Live Tone Map: The Total Map changed the way we edited images and gave us deeper insight into our light. With the new, faster Live Tone, the Total Map updates in real time as you work. It works exactly like it sounds. Lightened your image? darkened it down? Live Tone shows your changing tones so you can decide how to use them.
Perfect Select: With these tools, you can choose any part of the light and apply it instantly to any layer, group or intelligent effect. Select Zones, skin tones or colors and apply effects and layers fast with the beautifully designed non-destructive vertical editing system developed to give you better results.
Effects, One Clicks and Silver: The next generation of Lumist’s Color Luma. Detailed color control for specific areas of your image. Live Tone showing that one spot that is just a bit off? Luma Painters can fix that, no problem. Need actions for Silver? Or maybe a quick, powerful one click? All here, and you are gonna love’em.
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Medline Supplier Renderings
Create an experience that feels like home.
Today’s residents want a safe, happy and healthy environment—a place where they can comfortably age in place.
Quality healthcare products. We’re here to help make a difference for your residents. And your bottom line.
Medline reached out to me again to create some more interior renderings showcasing their products. They wanted rooms that would be in medical facilities to feel warm and look homey. All the furniture and soft goods are from their catalog, even the shampoo bottles in the bathrooms.
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Hampstead Mews Apartment Rendering
My images get shared often, and they wind up across the globe. I have an equal amount of foreign clients as I do domestic ones. I usually get kudos for my renderings; however, our American architecture gets ripped apart from my over-the-pond friends. When working on this project, I thought about a project I did for an England client a few years ago. The Hampstead Mews Apartment Rendering has that European flavor and low-and-behold; Hampstead is an area in north London, England… kudos to the architect because they nailed it!
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Bayview II House Rendering
Here is a little project that I just sent off. It is actually a variation of another house I posted a few weeks ago. This one has a crawl space.
I received a Revit model, which I cleaned up and modeled over. Sometimes it is easier to start modeling over, but in other cases, like this one, I used some of the models and modeled problem geometry over.
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Bruce Southwest House Rendering
I am always excited when I am asked to work on a piece that’ll be published. The Bruce Southwest House Rendering will be posted in next month’s Dwell Magazine. I’ll be sure to update the link when the project goes live.
“Bravo! These are great!!”
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