BIRKEY.COM

Concept Skyscraper Tower

rbirkey — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 21:05:13 +0000

Concept Skyscraper Tower by Randal Birkey

This skyscraper design study was done with ink line on rough cotton paper then colorized with color pencils.

Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University Magazine Illustrations

rbirkey — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 15:21:51 +0000

I just completed an illustration project for the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. They publish a quarterly magazine for alumni and interested subscribers featuring various activities, events and accomplishments of the school and its alumni.

The Fall 2011 issue features 5 alumni who are involved in what the article calls “impact investing.” That cover story and article titled “Investing in Solutions” highlights how these featured alumni are tackling some of the world’s biggest problems – and satisfying the bottom line at the same time.

Kellog Magazine Cover Illustration

Kellogg Magazine Cover Illustration

Feature Article on Equilibrium Capital Group

Opportunities in Green Real Estate

Feature Article on Affordable Housing

Opportunities to Preserve Affordable Rental Housing

Global Impact Investing Network

Transforming the way we think about solutions to problems.

Microfinance and Microlending to Poor African Farmers

Opportunities to microfinance poor farmers

Establishing Metrics for Effective Impact

Opportunities for establishing metrics for more effective solutions

Kick Cheese – a Limerick

rbirkey — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 15:01:48 +0000

There once was a boy who ate cheese,
He believed it would protect him from bees,
Then one day he got stung
In the middle of the tongue,
And punted that cheese in the breeze.

– Marshall Birkey

Cushing Academy Admissions Viewbook Wins Award

rbirkey — Sat, 25 Dec 2010 18:18:10 +0000

Randal Birkey recently recieved news from design firm Corey McPherson Nash, that the “Cushing Academy Admissions Viewbook” has been selected by the CASE District I as an award winner in the 2011 District I Communication Awards. Visit www.casei.org/commawardswinners11.html to see the complete list of this year’s winners as selected by the CASE District I Communication Awards Committee.

Here is the Cushing Academy Aerial Perspective Campus Map spread illustration that Randal Birkey did for the award-winning Cushing Academy viewbook.

Cushing Academy Aerial Perspective Campus Map - Color

Chicago River – North Branch

rbirkey — Sat, 09 Oct 2010 20:03:11 +0000

Randal did this pen and ink line illustration of the North Branch of the Chicago River for a project funded by the Open Lands nature conservancy project. The illustration was used in a report designed to highlight how the Chicago River could be developed and turned into an amenity for Chicago, rather than the eyesore that it was back the 1980′s. In this illustration, a walkway bridge was highlighted. The City of Chicago has implemented many of the recommendations and ideas put forth in the Open Lands report.

This illustration and a number of others in this series were commissioned by and in collaboration with Jonathan Boyer, a Chicago area architect.

Pen and Ink Line Art

rbirkey — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 13:06:33 +0000

Over the years, Randal Birkey has created hundreds of line art drawings in pen and ink style using actual pen and ink in the early days, then graduating to digital pen and ink using software such as Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and Corel (Fractal) Painter. These are just some of the many line illustrations done over his illustration career.

Commercial Jet Airliner	Camera
Business Woman	Concert Tickets
Dice	Grocery Shopping Cart
Sunglasses	Travel Luggage

Cushing Academy Campus Aerial Perspective Map

rbirkey — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 20:56:52 +0000

Cushing Academy is a private coeducational secondary school founded in 1865, and located in Ashburnham, MA. They have partnered with a design firm called Corey, McPherson, Nash to redesign their viewbook. Through a web based search, CMN contacted Randal Birkey Illustration and contracted for a new Campus Map to be produced both for the school viewbook and their website.

Randal worked from maps, photos and other references provided by CMN and Cushing Academy. The first stage in the illustration process was to produce a line art “pencil” of the aerial perspective view that best displayed the campus. This line art was done in sepia tones using Corel Painter at a size of 6450 x 3750 pixels.

Cushing Campus Aerial Perspective Campus Map - Pencil

Once this “pencil” was reviewed and approved by the design firm and the client, Randal then added digital watercolor to a layer below the line art using Corel Painter. The final file was converted to Adobe Photoshop and delivered as a layered Photoshop file with line art on one layer, and color washes and texture on the background layer.

Cushing Academy Aerial Perspective Campus Map - Color

In this stylized version, the forested areas around the school campus were left white or blank in order to allow the buildings, streets and other fields to have visual prominence. The design firm will add all the labels and key to the site during the print production process.

Godiva Chocolate Easter Gift Basket

rbirkey — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 21:21:38 +0000

Through his New York artist rep, Randal was commissioned to illustrate this Godiva Chocolate Easter gift basket for use in a newspaper ad, by a New York City ad agency. The illustration was done by hand using a Rapid-o-graph ink pen on illustration board in a “stipple” style, which reproduces very well in newsprint.

Godiva Chocolate Easter Gift Basket

Buick Cutaway

rbirkey — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 21:13:02 +0000

Buick Cutaway Line Illustration

Randal created this line illustration of the side view of a Buick to illustrate an computer controlled automotive fuel system. The work was commissioned by a Chicago area ad agency in the 1980′s.

CSO’s Symphony Center

rbirkey — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 20:52:43 +0000

The home of the world renowned Chicago Symphony Orchestra is called Orchestra Hall, located on Michigan Avenue in Chicago. Randal Birkey was commissioned to produce a series of architectural illustrations of the Orchestra Hall renovation project called “Symphony Center,” a new combined complex housing the auditorium, practice rooms, backstage production and staging areas, and the headquarter offices for the CSO organization.

These illustrations were commissioned for use in a high-end printed piece that went to CSO fund-raising tool. Randal worked from the architectural blueprints, in a Mac-based drawing and painting program called Fractal Painter. A Wacom tablet was required for the kind of control needed for the digital “brushes.”

Chicago Symphony Orchestra Hall Lobby

Chicago Symphony Orchestra Hall Rotunda Cutaway

Chicago Symphony Orchestra Hall - Concert Hall Interior