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
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
Cesario Builders - Windemere Home Illustration
Cesario Builders, a custom home builder located in Warrenville, Illinois, required a line illustration of their new Windemere model home for sales and marketing brochures and newspaper advertising.
To complete this project, Randal Birkey first created a 3D wireframe model of the home, based upon the builder’s blueprint drawings. Once the wireframe viewpoint was approved, the linework was placed in a typical residential lot setting using lansdscaping and construction material information as supplied by the builder. The final art was developed as a digital illustration in Adobe Photoshop and delivered via email to the client.
This is another example of a 3D perspective wireframe done by Randal for fellow architectural perspectivist, Rael Slutsky. It is a view of a commercial office skyscraper design by architect Helmut Jahn. Randal and Rael collaborated and served together as members in an organization called the American Society of Architectural Perspectivists (ASAP) in the 1980′s.
Fountain Square Skyscraper - Helmut Jahn architect
The wireframe was printed and transferred to drawing paper, then used as the foundation for a finished architectural illustration.
Randal purchased his first Macintosh computer in 1996 after seeing a simple 3D wireframe software running on one at a trade show. He realized how much time could be saved by building his 3D perspectives on a computer, rather than by the painstaking and time-consuming hand method.
In subsequent years, he developed a expert skill in using this software and often did 3D perspective wireframe diagrams like this one for his fellow architectural perspectivist, Rael Slutsky.
1520 N. Lake Shore Drive - 3D perspective wireframe
Randal would work from scale architectural plans and input the dimensions of the proposed building or space. Often, the building would be shown in context to other nearby buildings, which would also be built using scale drawings, maps and photos.
This final 3D perspective wireframe would be printed and then used as the foundation for a hand drawn and painted custom piece of art, usually provided to the architect, builder or developer client.