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Bobby Parker 4/7/21 Bobby Parker 4/7/21

4 Ellen's Way House Renderings

I do love helping investors market their properties. When they are not built yet, or like 4 Ellen’s Way house renderings, they are remodeling and not ready yet. When Spring hits, you need to get these on the market, or you can miss out on a sale.

The site is tight, so I couldn’t stand back much, but I think these views tell the story well.

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Bobby Parker 4/2/21 Bobby Parker 4/2/21

Sullivan Residence Renderings

I have told the story before, but I am old enough to repeat the same story repeatedly.

A while ago, I received a call from a Canadian design firm. He saw my work online, loved it, and wanted to find out my story. After a few conversations, the cost came up, and we agreed on numbers. Now, if someone from Canadian hires me, they pay a premium because of the money conversion. I really felt appreciated when I was hired knowing this, and it has been a long relationship that has worked well for both sides.

The Sullivan Residence Renderings are our most recent project, which will be one of many this year. I do a few dozen homes for this builder a year.

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Bobby Parker 3/31/21 Bobby Parker 3/31/21

Aerion Park Airport Renderings

I am often pigeon-held into house renderings. I have been doing house renderings since the late ’80s, so it is smack-dab in the middle of my wheelhouse. However, I do many other things, from product renderings to high-rises, hotels, mixed units, apartments, and even airports, like these Aerion Park renderings.

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Bobby Parker 3/27/21 Bobby Parker 3/27/21

Nantucket Classic Cottage Renderings

There will be a series of these cottages, but to tell you the truth, I went rogue on this one. I'll have to do another version for my client, which will be a lot less involved. The brief didn't have a site or landscape plan and basically, I was told to put the cottage on a flat area with some bushes behind it. I started off in that direction, but I wasn't wowed, so I strayed from the brief a little.

I also played with color grading, pretty heavy, which I don't usually do on client work. I'll share these with my client, but I'll include something closer to what he requested. The goal was to not take away from the architecture.

Below is the client version. I think it still might be too much garden, but as I said, there was no landscape or site plan. The brief was, “don’t do anything that takes away from the architecture”. However, as you see, there isn’t much architecture as it is.

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Bobby Parker 3/23/21 Bobby Parker 3/23/21

Mansion Renderings

A while ago, I was approached by a developer from up-state New York to do some architectural renderings. I remember that our first phone conversation ended in a stalemate. He wanted too little, and I wanted too much (so he thought), so we hung up the phone, and we went our separate way.

The developer was gauging my fee on his budget, which is pretty standard for people to think makes sense (it doesn't). He was sending his work to China, paying pennies on the dollar, and getting low-quality renderings. Having said that, I really liked this home and the other ones he did, so I spend the evening praying, called him the next day, and we settled on a fee that worked for both of us. I ended up doing a dozen or so houses of this size and complexity with him; the house's crisis hit, and I haven't heard from him since.

I learned from this project that I can be flexible on my fee if I really want to do the project. Still to this day, I get compliments on these projects, and I also use them as an example that all projects are unique. I often get people wanting an average price on a single-family house. I tell them that I can't give arbitrary numbers; this 40 thousand square foot house is a single-family house, so what does a single-family mean to them?

If you have any questions, feel free to ask. If you want to see more of these mansions, you can see them on my website.

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Bobby Parker 3/18/21 Bobby Parker 3/18/21

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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Bobby Parker 3/17/21 Bobby Parker 3/17/21

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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Bobby Parker 3/12/21 Bobby Parker 3/12/21

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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Bobby Parker 3/11/21 Bobby Parker 3/11/21

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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Bobby Parker 2/24/21 Bobby Parker 2/24/21

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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Bobby Parker 2/24/21 Bobby Parker 2/24/21

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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Bobby Parker 2/22/21 Bobby Parker 2/22/21

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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Bobby Parker 2/18/21 Bobby Parker 2/18/21

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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Bobby Parker 2/18/21 Bobby Parker 2/18/21

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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Bobby Parker 2/4/21 Bobby Parker 2/4/21

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!!”

— Architect

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Bobby Parker 1/22/21 Bobby Parker 1/22/21

Ferguson House Rendering

Introducing the Fargus House Rendering!

Here is how I started my architectural illustration journey. My parents hired an architect to design their house, and they loved the 2d elevations they were being sent; however, some things after being built, not so much. During and after high school, I worked construction, and I started sketching people's houses, showing them to the homeowners as we built, and they inevitably made changes along the way because of the sketches I was providing. It became a passion, and I started to understand that people were spending their life's savings, going into things blindly without 3d drawings.

The architect for the Ferguson House sends the owners to me to show them how their house will look, which is why I do what I do.

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Bobby Parker 1/19/21 Bobby Parker 1/19/21

Main Street Phase II

Often, people approach me for commercial renderings, saddened that it looks like I don't do commercial stuff. Oh, but I do, and I do just as many commercial renderings as residential renderings. Most of my commercial renderings are under NDS's, so I can't share. I need more on my portfolio page, but there usually isn't any confusion once I explain.

An NDA is a contract through which the parties agree not to disclose information covered by the agreement. I am always entertained by how close some people hold their design to their chest and others don't. I often get the architect refusing to give the developer, my client, pdfs to even provide a quote. If you were to look at my hard drive, I have 1000's drawings, and I have never entertained the thought of sharing anything with anyone, and believe me, people have asked. I get emails from people seeing a rendering on my website and reach out to me asking for the drawings… really?

The Main Street Phase II renderings aren't under any kind of NDA, so I can share. Actually, my contract says that I can share my work freely, so I am not sure how it works with an NDA.

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Bobby Parker 1/16/21 Bobby Parker 1/16/21

301 Border Street Renderings

Welcome to the 301 Border Street Renderings. Since these were quite the process and spanned over several months, I thought I would Google 301 Border Street to see if they are marketing it yet. I found a project, but it wasn’t this one, and the architectural renderings were, can I say, not good. I am sure nobody thinks they are good, but I am sure whoever was in charge thought they were fast and cheap.

I am not sure what happened, but there was a time where quality was king. Every project has a budget, and sometimes that funding isn’t a lot; however, you should compromise and do less quantity and more quality. If you can only afford one awesome image, run with it. A bad rendering can only hurt you and won’t help.

Having said that, I think these turned out great, and I am sure it’ll help the developer sell his units in record time. His money was well spent. If you skimp on marketing, where else do you skimp? People are smart and will figure that out.

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Bobby Parker 1/13/21 Bobby Parker 1/13/21

SiNi Software - Layer by Material

SiNi Software is a developer of 3D plugins that minimize your time doing the tedious and boring stuff allowing you to focus on the creative work you enjoy.

Here I show you how I clean up a Revit file in 3DS MAX by using their layer my material script. I have used their Forensic for a while, and it has been indispensable. I saw that they had a trial for their suite of plugins, so I went for it, testing it out, and fell in love. Almost all their scripts can be replaced with free ones that you can find around the web. However, these are all in one excellent package. No more searching down updates, finding scripts that are no longer being supported, or not getting any support for bugs. MAX has also become a bugger when it comes to stability. I find myself resetting it monthly, which means I lose all my customization; I was spending the better part of a day rebuilding my customization every time I had to reset MAX.

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Bobby Parker 1/12/21 Bobby Parker 1/12/21

Composition Tips

What makes an excellent architectural rendering? Well, what makes a good anything? In art, it is about composition. We look at a picture, piece of art, or rendering, and either we like it or don’t. Most people don’t know why something is pleasing to look at, but yours can be if you follow some composition theories.

A couple of tools I use are PhiMatrix Golden Ratio Design and Epic Pen.

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