Today I am featuring some of the many renderings I have done in recent years for VTBS Architects located in San Jose, California….Most of these architectural projects are in and around the San Francisco Bay Area, with the occasional Sacramento project location….
Working in the techniques of watercolor or color pencil alternatively, these illustrations usually show large residential structures designed by VTBS staff….I always work with Jim Yee, an architect who has many years of expertise in the design field….I first met Jim over 30 years ago in the San Jose area, and we have been working together on a freelance basis ever since that time….He has an appreciation for the effectiveness of hand-drawn illustrations when presenting architecture….Jim has a way of allowing his consultants the freedom of autonomy, but offers input at the right time and in the right way, which benefits the process and enhances the rendering’s effectiveness ultimately….You have to be able to “do your own thing” as a freelance artist, but you also need reviews and approvals during the process at various stages by the architect….That way, the architect gets what they need as a presentation tool, and the artist is pretty much free to express the qualities of sunlight, liveliness, color, texture and materials that make a successful rendering….Shadow lines, dark recessed areas, lighter sunlit faces, canopies and awnings, base materials, glass reflective qualities, and even details like score lines and joint lines are all important to include in an illustration….These are the elements and considerations that an architect spends a lot of time and effort to include….and they need to be conveyed effectively in the rendering to truly communicate all the work that the architect has done….I’ve learned the importance of these graphic communications over the years of creating architectural illustrations–actually I began learning their importance at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo when I was receiving my degree in Architecture many years ago….I feel like we speak the same language–architects and illustrators–we just do different things during the course of our work day to day….
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