Another illustration done for the “Friends of the Chicago River” project. Randal illustrated what could be done at the southern end of Rush Street in Chicago, where it dead ends into the Chicago River. This view showed an outdoor eating area, a dancing area on a barge, plantings, walkways and other amenities to make creative use of this under-utilized property.

Rush Street at the Chicago River

Randal was commissioned by CNA Insurance company to illustrate this “main street” USA street-scape scene for a company publication. The work was done using a Mac and Wacom tablet with “Painter” software.

"Main Street" Streetscape Scene for CNA Insurance

Randal Birkey created this urban skyscraper tower design as a personal architectural design and illustration exercise. This version of his design was rendered in watercolor on D’Arches watercolor board.

Randal Birkey's Tower Design

A graphic designer from the Marietta, South Carolina area contacted Randal in 2003 through this portfolio website and inquired about developing a streetscape illustration to be used in promoting a residential housing development. Randal worked with the designer and the photo resources provided by the developers and architects to create this illustration intended to communicate a lifestyle to prospective home buyers.

Redfearn Lifestyle Streetscape

It is now 2010 and the development was built, and here is a photo along one of the streets.

Redfearn Development - South Carolina

Randal was commissioned by a real estate development firm to develop this architectural rendering of a residential design being offered in a development in Chicago’s near South Loop area. This was to be new construction offered in the Prairie School style, popularized by Frank Lloyd Wright. Randal first worked from architectural drawings to develop a 3D perspective wireframe. Once a view was established and approved by the client, Randal transferred the line work to watercolor illustration board, then rendered the house in watercolor and ink line work. The original was done on D’Arches 22 x 32 watercolor illustration board.

Prairie Style House

Randal did a series of ancient structure illustration for a textbook publisher in the 1980’s. The series included this wax pencil on croquil board line art illustration of the Great Pyramids in Giza, Egypt.

Great Pyramids, Giza, Egypt

Back in the 1980’s a Chicago developer bought the old ice cold storage building at 345 North Canal Street on the Chicago River. The building was converted to condominiums based upon a plan and design by Chicago architect Harry Weese. Randal did this line and color pencil rendering of the building just after it was completed. The original size is 20 x 30 inches on Crescent cold press illustration board.

Fulton House on the Chicago River

View Larger Map

Randal was commissioned to produce this 3D wireframe illustration for a fellow architectural perspectivist in the 1980’s. The view is of the interior rotunda lobby of First Bank Place in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The address of the completed building is 201 6th Street South, Minneapolis, MN, and it was designed by the world famous architect, I.M. Pei (The Grand Pyramid, The Louvre, Paris).

First Bank Place Interior Lobby Wireframe

View Larger Map

Randal was commissioned by Rich Nickel Design to create an aerial perspective cutaway illustration of a client printing facility. The client was Quantum Graphics, located in suburban Chicago, Illinois.  Randal first worked from architectural blueprint drawings to construct a 3D perspective wireframe of the building and the interior components that were to be revealed in the cutaway. Here is the final 3D wireframe aerial perspective model.

Quantum Graphics 3D Wireframe

Once this view was approved by Quantum and Rich Nickel Design, Randal converted the 3D model to 2D line art and began rendering it using a combination of Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop software tools.

Quantum Graphics - Aerial Perspective Cutaway

The final digital file was supplied to the designer, and used as a 4-color fold out spread in a Quantum Graphics company capabilities brochure. The designer also created a translucent overlay that contained leader lines and captions describing the different areas of this printing plant facility.

Randal was commission by a real estate development company in Chicago called Loft, to illustrate the lobby of an industrial building being converted to residential “loft” condos in the 1980’s. There was no way to take reference photos of the site, so Randal worked from architectural blueprints to construct a 3D wireframe model of the interior space. The 3D model can then be rotated and manipulated in 3 dimensions until a final view was determined. Here is the final approved viewpoint the final illustration was based upon.

Loft Lobby 3D Wireframe

Once the viewpoint is established, Randal transfers the line work to a 2D rendering software such as Painter or Photoshop, and completes the illustration as a flat 2D digital file. Any style of art is possible, this one being a combination of watercolor, line and pencil techniques.

Loft Lobby Interior