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And now for something completely different!

Today I want to talk about architectural rendering a little bit. I have a new commission to do a rendering of a restaurant in Chicago, so thought I'd start a work in progress series of posts about it, and also yak about rendering buildings in general some.

This is the photo I will be turning into a nice illustration:



Its Table fifty-two, and is the creation of Chef Art Smith, who just happens to be Oprah's personal chef.

Rendering buildings is a highly specialized field of art. The range of styles, techniques and applications for illustrating architecture is much too much to try to write about in a blog! What I'll do is show you a little of what I do, take you through the process of rendering this piece, then give you some links to places where you can see other illustrators' work. This will take a few posts, at least, I figure!

First up are a few samples of other buildings I've done. I vary my style quite a bit, as you can see.

Ink and watercolor

Colored pencil
Ink and watercolor

Watercolor

Colored pencil and Photoshop

Sometimes the client will ask for something specific. If not, I let the building "tell me" what style and technique to use.

For Table 52, I'm thinking I might use a combination of watercolor and pencil. Its a very elegant space, and a tighter, neater style would work best to bring out the character of the building.

I start with a series of photos my art director sends me. He goes out to the location and takes pictures of the sight. I ask him to take shots of the building from different angles, some close up details, the more the better. The main photo I'll be working from is the correct angle, but I can't see the detail in the windows very well because of the tree, I can't see what's in the planter box in front, etc. etc.


So in addition to this photo I have about a half dozen others that show a lot more information.

We talked about the pictures and discussed what was important to show, and what could be removed, and in general how to make it a good illustration.

Here is my first take on the things that need to be removed from the picture:

The parking sign out front HAS to go! I always take out signs like that. Ugly!
Also, the power lines on the left, the crane on the right, and of course the truck and some of the meters and whatnot attached to the side of the building.

We talked about the green canopy tent structure in front. That's a temporary structure put up to shelter people who are waiting to get in, from the weather, which is very civilized (the structure, not the weather). It comes down once the weather warms up. But as much as I'd like to remove it, I don't know what the window and door look like underneath, and don't want to just invent something, or "fake it". Looking at the interior shot of the place on the website tells me some of what the window does, but not the door. And since I'm not there to go look in person, and my art director isn't able to go back and take more pictures, we'll have to just settle with what we have to work with. I will include the "warming hut" in the illustration and make it look as nice as possible (luckily its very tastefully done so it won't be hard!)


Now let me go work on this, and I'll post the next steps as soon as I have something to show!

All images and content herein are © Paula Pertile and may not be used or reproduced without permission.

WOW! Women On Writing (US) invite entries for their Winter 2008 Flash Fiction Contest. Open prompt; open to any style and genre. Submissions: 250-500 words. Prizes: $200, $150, and more. Winners will be published in free downloadable e-book. Entry fee: US$5. Deadline: February 29, 2008. More details...

A note before I get into this weeks topic:
THE PAWS AND CLAWS GALA WEBSITE is up!
Scroll down to see the developing piece I'm working on.

Making "the list"...

A very important part of being an illustrator that can actually survive off of the jobs they obtain requires marketing. While I did do a limited amount of marketing last year, I've taken it upon myself to up my antics this year. As I hope to be a full time freelancing illustrator again by summer (for those of you who don't know, my husband went back to school for 3D animation and modelling last fall and with the pressure of supporting us both on one income I took up a part time job and leapt into as many local craft markets as I could to sell my work face-to-face) I'll need to be exposing myself to the biggest audience I can.

Here's a list of things I'd like to accomplish marketing-wise in 2008:

1) Update website by taking dreamweaver/flash classes
2) Get my portfolio on children's illustrators.com
3) Do another postcard run
4) Enter contests (commarts,applied arts, ACE awards)
5) Become involved in charity auctions with my art (down for 3 this year already)
6) Reasearch other ways to reach clients in children's illustraton market (European emphasis while dollar is strong)
7) Update portfolio for my agent, Maggie on a monthly basis (min)
8) Do group art show for fine art exposure
9) Sign up for more arts/craft markets

Ascent Aspirations (BC) invites titillating poetry and flash fiction submissions for their Erotica contest. Winners and selected entrants will be published in a perfect-bound anthology in Fall 2008. First prize for poetry and flash fiction: $100 and one copy of anthology. Seeks soft and sensual submissions, full of longing and desire. Poem length: 60 lines max. Flash fiction length: 800 words max. Deadline: July 31, 2008. Entry fee: $5 per poem or 3 poems for $10; $10 per piece of flash fiction. More details...

With all my big talk of "I want to learn Flash," maybe its a good idea to get the software first...Hehe. Ok, so I did have Flash on my old computer (the version when it was still from Macromedia), but its time for a sweet upgrade for me with CS 3 (working in CS right now.)

After browsing at a few books, I ended up with Sams Teach Yourself Adobe Flash CS3 Professional in 24 Hours. So far so good, I finished "Hour 1." I'm not a complete newbie in Flash (maybe an advanced newbie) but everything sure looks intimidating when I haven't touched it in years.

Hopefully I can start posting some things here as I am learning. Thank goodness for this blog to keep me accountable. Maybe I'll get somewhere by the end of this year.

Ascent Aspirations (BC) seeks titillating poetry and flash fiction for the Fall print issue contest. First prize in each category: $100. Anthology published in Fall 2008. Theme: Erotica -- ardent, amorous, soft and sensual, full of longing and desire. Not interested in boring, mundane, graphic pornography -- only the "tastefully libidinous" that goes beyond the traditional poetry and story of sensual, sexual love. Entry fee: $5 for one poem or 3 poems for $10; $10 for each piece of flash fiction. Deadline: July 31, 2008. More details...

Here are a couple wallpapers I recently did which fit the Superhero theme. Inspired by some Flash based Christmas gifts I wanted to do something with his symbol. I liked how the Flash turned out so I continued with Batman. Done in Photoshop (of course), but I limited the filters and really attempted to figure the lighting stuff for myself. Anyway Happy New Year!

WOW! Women On Writing invite entries for their Winter 2008 Flash Fiction Contest. Open prompt; open to any style and genre. Submissions: 250-500 words. Prizes: $200, $150, and more. Winners will be published on WOW!, free downloadable e-book. Entry fee: US$5. Deadline: February 29, 2008. More details...

A few months ago, I took the plunge and attended a two-day Basic Flash workshop.
Before this year, the last time I used Flash was back in ye olde dark ages of version 4. Me and Flash had had a dysfunctional relationship for awhile, and it finally came to blows (I remember it well - - it was during a Filene's "Glam Jam" ad campaign). Well, we had a bitter break up and, for the next four years, I didn't use Flash at all. This year, I had to jump back in the Flash pool. It was mportant on so many levels, and truly it was just as important for me to do it for personal reasons as it was for professional reasons. So I took a two-day workshop to get up to speed on the basics. The workshop was GREAT, and I learned (and re-learned) a ton. And the most lasting and fabulous thing is that Flash is now a totally different beast than it was back then. In fact, it really isn't very beastly at all now. It's actually tame and pretty friendly. Which is good, because I have to use it every day. Although I havent gotten many opportunities at day job to push the Flash illustration/animation hybrid, I really would like to do more of it so I have to find the time to. Here is one small (very very small, not impressive at all, totally quick and dirty) animation with a little artwork I made with Flash. I was just fooling around. (warning: it's totally basic. really.) It's just cute, I think, and I hope you like it too.