Featured Blog Posts (14)

One of the most valuable things about the 7 day workshop is learning that Mike Lin was not a graphic prodigy from the get-go, but worked hard through practice, practice, practice, and learning from other masters.  That is what gives him his unique ability to understand where we are coming from and demystify how to get us where we want to go - and it's also what gives some of us hope!  He makes the journey from painful incompetence to at least being "the best in our family" one of the most fun… Continue

 

This month's blog entry highlights the design process for a outdoor courtyard programming exercise for a large Southern California Office Campus. With only a week to create concepts and no digital files (CAD bases) to use, I had to use beautifully hand-drawn as-built drawings for my base drawing. The materials and programs used for this process were ink pens, color pencils, perspective charts, and Adobe Photoshop and InDesign.…

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The Peninsula Point Concept project is a site design exercise for Hornblower Niagara Cruises who will be the operator of Maid of the Mist Cruises at Niagara Falls for the next 15-20 years. The client wanted some ideas about re-purposing the unused "peninsula" to have outdoor programs and activities in order to provide year-round amenities for visitors and nearby residents.…

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This blog highlights the design drawing process for a mixed-use residential project here in Northern California. I am constantly exploring the fine line between hand and digital tools in my project work, especially on projects where deadlines are short and expectations of graphic style (in this case, for a presentation to City Council) are constantly moving... even…

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I've been receiving a number of questions on how to change Google Earth views into evening views, especially when the site is in another location and you cannot be there to take an evening shot! This blog highlights converting a daytime photo into an evening setting in order to convey specialized lighting for streetscapes and entries. I've consolidated and…

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An architecture class that I taught this fall just finished their final project which focused on sketching, modeling in Sketch Up, Photoshop, and InDesign. This process is an exact mapping of how I and many design professionals utilize sketching, drawing, physical and digital modeling in our design efforts. The project highlighted here is a compact little coffee…

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A number of BeLoose members have requested a blog about the process of digital illustrative plan renderings. I have been doing these kinds of renderings over the last couple of years and although I prefer the hand drawn approach to illustrative plan drawing, the digital process can also be a powerful design method based on understanding of color, line weights, drawing depth,…

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Do you know when we stare at a color (Blue for example), we actually saw the opposite color of the color wheel (Orange), these blue and orange colors are known as complementary colors in the color theory (see below left for a test). 

Therefore two colors (Blue-Orange, Red-Green, and Yellow-Purple) complement each other and create…

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In this post I’d like to share the steps and methods for the illustrations I do.  My hope is that you might learn something new, see something that might help in your work, or share something that can help me.  One of the greatest things about this profession is that you never stop learning and this is a great forum for everyone to share their ideas and learn from each other to help us all become better at what we do.  So here goes.

 

All of the color illustration work I do is…

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This blog highlights using Revit Architecture and hand drawing as a hybrid approach to create quick concept drawings. I am finding this process more and more efficient in utilizing both digital and hand techniques as I work through various kinds of projects…

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Recently, I have been doing more and more drawing hybrid overlays that began as views from Revit Model and Sketch-Up Model views. This process has been an effective and efficient way to test out ideas quickly and then using Photoshop to add quick color and entourage to generate convincing spaces for design team collaboration and interim presentations for the…

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Here I was in San Francisco taking 9 days off from work to take a 7 day graphics class that may not particularly increase my bottom line; ah what was I thinking?  The first morning I found out that I was just exactly where I needed to be as Mike began his opening remarks. He spoke that  we are to be proud of all that our past has brought to us and that with a few  tricks and even better attitude people will "want to join us and touch us", metaphorically,  because our confidence will…

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Before we get into the steps to make this image, it is important to talk about major decisions (in general) that assisted the outcome. This image was generated as a conceptual background for the AIAS Pan-American games pavilion. The project was in Toronto, and the dynamic skyline of this city combined with the waterfront site location provided a strong focal point for the graphic.…

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