Randal did this watercolor illustration of a treehouse to fit a layout designed by an educational textbook publisher.

Randal Birkey put together this self-promotional ad for the 1997 Black Book.

It features:

• Pharmaceutical Product Logo
• Globe – Product Illustration
• Retouched and digitally altered 5 dollar bill with 2 Abe Lincoln’s
• Close-up diagram of a chain product used in a road grader
• Watercolor boot
• Watercolor tractor
• Nascar line drawing sketch
• How to measure for a swimsuit diagram
• 3D clock tower projecting from a 2D blueprint
• 2 whimsical vector art graphs

1997 Black Book Ad

Randal Birkey put together this self-promotional ad for the 1998 Black Book.

It features:

• A series of vector line art icons
• A Nuclear Fission Reactor Core Vessel
• An Atomic Level Fission Nuclear Reaction Diagram
• A Medical Doctor Digital Vector Illustration
• Youth Science Fair Project
• Automotive Engine Turbocharger See-Through Cutaway
• A Harris Branch Bank Architectural Line Illustration

1998 Black Book Ad

Randal did this vector digital illustration in Adobe Illustrator for Ameritech’s “Signals” magazine in the 1980′s. It demonstrates how their wireless technology can penetrate walls and windows in buildings giving customers better cell signal reception.

Ameritech Signals Magazine - Diagram

This is one of the earliest line illustrations Randal did after starting his freelance career in 1980. A client needed a simple line diagram of a manufacturing process to use in a printed company communication brochure. Randal worked from photo references to create this line art illustration. He worked with Rapidograph ink pens on smooth 20 x 30 illustration board. These were the same tools that he learned to use working as a engineering and architectural draftsman beginning in 1970 as a high school student.

The final line art was photo stat copied down to reproduction size and positioned on the designer art boards for final photo transfer to film and then a printing plate.

Manufacturing Process - Conveyor System Diagram

Computer Network Diagram

The Houston Area Library Association required a simple visual diagram to communicate how their library system would be upgraded an connected via emerging Internet based technologies. This diagram was developed by Randal Birkey in 1998 and created using Adobe Illustrator software on an Apple Macintosh computer using a Wacom tablet. This vector art style was delivered as a digital illustration file to the customer via email.

Computer Network Diagram

Exploded View Diagram of an Engine Head

Exploded View Diagram of Automotive Engine Head

Exploded view diagrams are very useful for communicating technical information is an easy to understand manner. They show various parts and pieces of a manufactured item or product in a “pulled apart” manner, with lines and visual aids to help the viewer understand where each part fits, and sometimes even in what order. In this case, an engine head is shown with the gasket, and various pins, washers, springs, seals and plugs extended away and in line with where they fit.

This particular technical exploded view diagram is done in a “pen and ink” style, and can easily be replicated in a vector-based software program like Adobe Illustrator.

3D Whimsical Graph

Ketchum Advertising
Chicago, Illinois

Randal Birkey proposed this whimsical 3D style of bar graph to a Chicago ad agency as part of a range of stylistic approaches to making charts and graphs more visually inetresting and appealing.

This work was done in Adobe Illustrator.

Brinson Partners Financial Graph

Brinson Partners, Inc.
Chicago, Illinois

OBJECTIVE

The ad agency for Brinson Partners required a new approach to viewing typically boring financial graphs for an annual report.

SOLUTION

Randal Birkey created 3D versions of the graphs to increase visual interest to the layout and design of the report. The files were created and delivered in Adobe Illustrator format.

Seems like I am always making these little sketches to show people I am talking with, some of the ideas and concepts behind the type of websites we build at BIRKEY.COM. I made this sketch recently when explaining the difference between a typical classic Microsoft .ASP/SQL Server website architecture, and one that incorporates the newer Microsoft ASP.NET technology.

• The box labeled “Front” at the top of the diagram represents a public website. Could be any size, large or small.
• The “can” at the bottom represents a SQL Server database that is behind the scenes. The website user really doesn’t know or care that it is there, holding all the data for the website.
• The middle area represents what can be done with ASP.NET technology. The boxes represent little “engines” of code that do specific things. One might process a credit card. One might add an item to a shopping cart. Another might list items on a page with a thumbnail image next to them. The list is endless.

The point here is that with ASP.NET, all these “engines” can be ready at anytime for use by themselves, or in combination with other “engines” to perform website tasks, and features. This lessens the amount of special code that needs to be placed inside the actual web pages represented by the top box. It is a far more efficient, and much faster technology, especially the more complex and complicated a website may be.

Just thought you might like to know that.