illustration

Underwriter Laboratories and the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition

Chicago Fire Illustration for UL

The world renowned Underwriter Laboratories (UL) of product safety testing and standards fame, contracted Randal Birkey to create an illustration out of an old historical print depicting a scene from the Chicago Fire. It was to be reproduced in a company publication having to do with fire safety. In this unusual project, Randal Birkey was [...]

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Deep Tunnel Project Entrance Rendering

Deep Tunnel Entrance Rendering

Randal Birkey was contracted by an architect to prepare a rendering of a proposed entrance structure design near a Chicago “Deep Tunnel Project” location. Randal went on site and took reference photos. He then inserted the architect’s entrance design–based upon scale design drawings–into the scene and rendered it in a line and watercolor style.

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Nuclear Reactor Cutaway Illustration

Nuclear Reactor Core

Randal Birkey was contracted by Boston Edison, a Massachusetts utility company, to complete a series of technical illustrations for a public relations brochure. This image is a nuclear reactor core, with the sides shown cutaway to reveal the rods inside. The illustration was done using Fractal Painter software on a Macintosh computer, and a Wacom [...]

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Da Vinci's "Vitruvian Man" Adapted Illustration

“Vitruvian man, a figure study by Leonardo da Vinci (c. 1509) illustrating the proportional canon laid down by the Classical Roman architect Vitruvius; in the Academy of Fine Arts, Venice.” — Encyclopaedia Britannica This is Randal Birkey’s simplified and adapted illustrated version of Leonardo Da Vinci’s “Vitruvian Man” for use on a potential logo design [...]

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Mita Copier Technical Product Illustration

Mita Copier Product Illustration

Chicago is a very commercial, product-driven town when it comes to advertising and design work. Randal did this product illustration in Adobe Illustrator for an ad featuring a Mita copier. This technical line art style lends itself well to newspaper and magazine advertising reproduction, popular in the 1980′s.

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John Franke House Illustration – Ft. Wayne, Indiana

Franke House - Ft. Wayne Indiana

Francis Barry Byrne designed this home in the Prairie School style of architectural design for John B. Franke of Ft. Wayne, Indiana. Randal did this line illustration of the home based upon a visit to the site in the early 1980′s.

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Aerial Perspective of a Milltown

An educational textbook publisher contracted Randal for an aerial perspective map of a typical mill town for use in a textbook. Randal made up the view based upon elements required by the publisher in order to visually illustrate the textbook lesson. Randal used Fractal Painter software on a Macintosh computer using a Wacom tablet to [...]

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Conceptual Globe Line Illustration Series

A business parable was written by a client of Randal Birkey’s in the 1980′s. Randal sketched a series of globes in various circumstances to visually illustrate the story. The story and illustrations were used in a brochure promoting the client’s design firm and their capabilities in helping their customers with change.

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Corinthian Column Diagram

Corinthian Column Dimensions

Randal Birkey created this line drawing of a Corinthian style Greek column, as a diagram for a book on architecture.The original was done by hand with Rapidograph ink pens on drafting mylar film using architectural drafting techniques.

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Citibank Center Bank Entrance

Citibank Center Entrance Illustration

Randal Birkey was commissioned to render an updated design for the Citibank branch location in Oakbrook, Illinois. The perspective view below was developed from architectural blueprints using 3D modeling software on an Apple Macintosh computer. The perspective view was converted to 2D and transferred to watercolor illustration board. The final art was hand inked using [...]

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