Jim Leggitt / Drawing Shortcuts

SketchUp Digital Watercolor "Step-by-Step"

I’m continuously experimenting with new ways to combine hand drawing with digital visualization tools. This hybrid process called “Digital Watercolor” combines the best of traditional drawing with cutting edge 3D modeling with Google SketchUp. 

This quick-turnaround project by my Denver planning and landscape architecture firm studioINSITE revealed the simple process of modeling the project space in SketchUp, rendering the view with Shaderlight, illustrating the printed view with markers and pencils and finally applying a watercolor filter to the image using Adobe Photoshop. My steps are as follows;

Step 1. SketchUp model. A designer in my office constructed the model of this multi-family outdoor amenity and gave me the model to create a digital watercolor for use in a promotion.

Step 2. Model View. I selected a wide-angle 35mm focal length and a view slightly above eye level in order to see more of the ground plane. I added photographic components of people to add human activity to the space.

Step 3. Shaderlight Rendering. Using the plugin for SketchUp called Shaderlight, I rendered the scene to show water reflections and lighting character. Unfortunately my 2D people did not render and the foreground grasses vanished. Without any time to turn back and re-adjust my Shaderlight settings, I elected to splice in the people from another scene.

 

Step 4. Spliced People. I imported the basic SketchUp view and cut away the background using Photoshop. I then overlaid the remaining images of the people onto the original Shaderlight view.

Step 5. Final Composite View. This “full strength” view of the pool area was too intense in order to continue on with my digital watercolor process. I needed to reduce the color and contrast in order to later add back with colored markers and pencils.

Step 6. Reduce Color and Contrast. I created a background copy of the image in Photoshop and then gave it a 70% transparency. Notice how much of the image color and contrast has been greatly reduced! I then printed the image 11”x17” on matte finish paper using my Epson Workforce 1100 ink jet printer.

Step 7. Hand Coloring. I added Chartpak AD markers to the people, surfaces, landscaping and furniture. Water reflections were created with a white Prismacolor pencil. I outlined many of the elements in the view with a very hard graphite pencil (Papermate Sharpwriter), keeping the linework very loose and light. The combination of markers and loose pencil lines reinforces the “hand drawn” character and hides the computer model and photographic content.

Step 8. Scan the Colored Print. I completed the hand coloring step and then scanned the image as a 300dpi TIFF. Notice how the scanned version is still quite muted in color and with low contrast. That will be corrected in the final filtering step with Photoshop.

Step 9. Photoshop Watercolor Filter. I applied a basic watercolor filter to the image using Adobe Photoshop and finally adjusted the image contrast, deepening the blacks and increasing the color brightness. This final step of transforming the image into a digital watercolor took no more than ten minutes to scan and filter. What an incredible transformation!

Look for other interesting articles on my blog, visit my website www.drawingshortcuts.com and read my new book Drawing Shortcuts Second Edition. 

 

 

 

The 2010 Blog Collection , a 116-page catalog of my best blog posts from 2010 is now available on Blurb!  http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/1963744

 

Digital Watercolor Effect with Google SketchUp

I love exploring new methods for visualizing conceptual design that combine traditional hand drawing with 2D/3D digital tools such as Google SketchUp, Shaderlight and Adobe Photoshop. This specific technique is called a “digital watercolor” as it comes close to what a traditional watercolor painting looks like but is achieved with colored markers and Photoshop filters.

This project was for the promotion of a new museum classroom in a fundraising campaign. I began with the building’s Google SketchUp model built by the museum architect, populated the space with entourage and then transformed the SketchUp view into the final digital watercolor. My two step process - 1) project modeling and 2) project rendering is explained below.

Step 1 - Project Modeling

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Research Images. The museum established a “prairie” theme for the classroom and supplied some photographs of a mounted antelope and other background visuals for the scene. I photographed the actual tree that was visible from within the classroom. All images were incorporated into the SketchUp model.

First Generation SketchUp Model. I quickly generated the initial SketchUp model and populated it with lots of children and adults. The scene was reviewed by the museum educational staff and I was advised to remove all of the adult figures except three teachers and triple the number of children in the scene.

Second Generation SketchUp Model. Compare this model with the previous version and notice the refinements in the model. I carefully placed children in the foreground and background, added the tree photograph in the windows, and added more tabletop projects requested by the teachers. Most of the SketchUp children were from components offered by Entourage Arts. I send this updated scene to my client for approval to continue with the final rendering step.

Step 2 - Project Rendering 

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Exported SketchUp Edges. This next process involved rendering the model with the SketchUp plugin called Shaderlight. This photorealistic rendering program established the indoor lighting characteristics in the scene along with the direct sunlight casting shadows  across the rear wall. Because the rendering software eliminates all SketchUp edges, I exported the linework from my SketchUp model and combined them with the Shaderlight view.

Printed Composite Model View. After combining the Shaderlight rendered scene with the linework, I adjusted the contrast of the image in Photoshop. This “lightening” of the image was necessary in order to add back color and shadows with colored markers and pencils. The ideal effect is to give the image layer a 75% transparency and the linework a 50% transparency in Photoshop. I printed the view onto 13”x19” matte finish Epson Presentation paper using an inkjet printer.

Hand Coloring with Markers and Pencils. This was my favorite step in the rendering process as I was able to add character and informality to the scene using a combination of Chartpak AD markers and Prismacolor pencils. The hand coloring process reduces the computer model dominance and transforms the image into one that appears hand drawn! I added marker shadows throughout and highlighted many of the edges with a white colored pencil.

Final Hand Rendered Scene. Notice how this view has an overall lack of contrast. This was deliberate as I would eventually increase the contrast in Photoshop with the final watercolor filtering step. Hand drawing on the SketchUp model scene created a hybrid visualization that was part 3D digital model and part hand drawing.

Final Digital Watercolor. I scanned the print as a TIFF image at 300dpi and brought it into Adobe Photoshop. Using the watercolor filter, I transformed the image to give it the appearance of a painting. Notice how the marker lines have a darker edge to them - similar to how paint dries on watercolor paper. My final step was to adjust the image contrast and increase the light and dark tones in the image. An enlargement of the final digital watercolor is shown below.

Look for other interesting articles on my blog, visit my website www.drawingshortcuts.com and read my new book Drawing Shortcuts Second Edition. 

 

 

 

The 2010 Blog Collection , a 116-page catalog of my best blog posts from 2010 is now available on Blurb!  http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/1963744

 

Developing Visual Themes with Drawings

If you had the challenge of developing concept designs for a restaurant that had a Moroccan theme, how would you begin? This was my task and it did not take long before I was deep into researching traditional North African patterns, colors and objects. Options for finding visual materials when doing research are books on the subject, internet searches and actual site visits. Imagine a “fact finding” trip to Morocco! 

My client was interested in developing an interior design for a themed restaurant and I found it very useful to gather numerous photographs to develop a “kit-of-parts” of specific details that add up to an overall architectural story. This series of square, tightly cropped sketches were traced over photographs with a felt tipped pen and pencil.

Research Photographs. When developing a design concept for a themed space, you can find images in books or from numerous searches on the internet. This screen capture was taken from a search for a Moroccan Souk. Enlarge selected images, print them and trace selected portions of the photograph that represents a specific visual idea.

Patterns of Marrakech. The old fortified Moroccan city of Marrakech has one of the largest traditional souks in Northern Africa. I sketched details of the architectural roof forms, wind screens, tile designs, painted walls and merchandise. The idea was to develop an interior design for the restaurant that was filled with the visually rich (and somewhat cluttered) patterns of this regional style of design.

Blend of People and Pattern. The Moroccan theme needed to carry beyond the interior architecture into the clothing of the servers, planters, accessories, lighting and furniture. These sketches were not intended to represent an actual interior design, but to gather visual ideas that supported the themed concept. 

Sketch Details. All of the sketches were drawn with a 3 inch square format and grouped onto pages. This sketch series primarily focused on windows, ceilings and wall details.

Organized and Random Pattern. The beauty of Moroccan design is with the simple repeated patterns and ornamentation of the traditional buildings, contrasted against the chaotic placement of objects onto the architecture. These sketches show images of merchandise hanging in a Souk (marketplace) and the parapet design on a building. Square and arched openings for doors and windows are a reoccurring design pattern of this region.

 

 Look for other interesting articles on my blog, visit my website www.drawingshortcuts.com and read my new book Drawing Shortcuts Second Edition. 

 

 

 

NEW! - The 2010 Blog Collection , a 116-page catalog of my best blog posts from 2010 is now available on Blurb!  http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/1963744

Quick Concept Sketches for a Child Care Center

There are many projects in which you may need to convey the character and emotion of a space at the earliest phase of the process: conceptual design. This beginning point of the design process is very fluid when many different options are explored and ideas presented to the client. I am always pushing designers to make every effort to avoid jumping too quickly into computer modeling as I believe the computer often prevents the “free-exploration” of design by formalizing space and massing too early. 

This series of drawings was from a conceptual design charrette for a day care center. Each sketch attempted to convey an idea for the classroom space and furniture. The sketching technique I used was pen and ink (Staedtler Lumocolor pen on tracing paper) and with an extremely loose illustrative style - relying on basic shapes, minimal detail and diagonal hatching to add tone and texture.

Art Room Cubbies. This sketch was generated to give the client an idea about how free-standing cubbies could sub-divide a room and provide spaces for art project bins. Notice how the minimal detail still captured the room layout with art easels, group tables and storage units. Some children were sitting on the floor focused on an activity, while others were in the background painting or working at the round tables.

Plant Pedestals. I wanted to illustrate a grid of exterior windows and how natural light could benefit plant growing experiments and group projects. Low pedestals in the foreground displayed bean growing pots, western cowboy boots and geological rock specimens. I added some scribbles at the windows to imply distant views.

Interior Room Views. Notice how most of the interior sketches of the various rooms were drawn with the same horizontal composition and from the eye level perspective of an adult. Imagine how the drawings might have looked if I had lowered the perspective to the height of a child! Both of these sketches were filled with adults, children, furniture, ceiling decorations, plants, artwork and toys. The detail was extremely vague with a very loose hatching pattern.

Interior Storefronts. One of the design concepts was to construct a "neighborhood wall" of storefronts scaled down to kid proportions. This view showed a parent checking in his child while a teacher on the far right worked with a group of pre-schoolers. Cut out clouds were suspended from the ceiling.

Detailed illustration from a Photograph. Unlike the other sketches that were all generated from imagination (not traced from any 3D model or photograph), this line drawing was simply traced from a photograph that I had found in a book. Although it was loosely drawn, it had more detail in the faces, chairs and clothing.

Outdoor Classroom. The seating steps carved out of the hillside beneath shade trees would have made for a boring drawing without people to give the scene scale, humanity and activity. I drew 14 children in the classroom setting along with the teacher reading a book. 

 

Look for other interesting articles on my blog, visit my website www.drawingshortcuts.com and read my new book Drawing Shortcuts Second Edition. 

 

 

 

The 2010 Blog Collection , a 116-page catalog of my best blog posts from 2010 is now available on Blurb!  http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/1963744