Jim Leggitt / Drawing Shortcuts

Combining Drawing, SketchUp and Photography

This quick visualization project was a favor for an existing studioINSITE client who wanted simply to understand what a sidewalk in front of his development might look like if it had landscape planters integrated into the streetscape. 

The client emailed me a digital photograph of the scene and I created an “overlay and trace” colored sketch in a little more than three hours - one hour to build the SketchUp model, one hour to illustrate the new scene and one hour to color and scan the final sketch. In order to create an accurate representation with street activity, I built a SketchUp stage set model and populated it with 3d people. My process is shown below:

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Base Digital Photograph

Base Photograph. The client emailed me a photograph of the existing sidewalk. Fortunately, it was a good quality eye-level perspective view with an easily identifiable vanishing point (scoring pattern in the sidewalk).

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SketchUp Model Entourage - 1 hour

SketchUp Entourage Model. I delineated the sidewalk paving pattern in a simple SketchUp “stage set model. I added a wall plane on the edge to help me replicate the basic perspective. I then populated the model with 3D people, adjusting their placement in order to fit into scene. 

Perspective Match. I matched the SketchUp perspective with the digital photograph and then exported a jpeg from the 3D model. Notice that I turned of the shadows and eliminated the sidewalk and wall from the exported graphic. This made it very easy to select the people in Photoshop and isolate them from the gray background.

Composite Base Image. I combined the view of the SketchUp people and the base photograph using Photoshop. I then traced over a print to create the final colored sketch.

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Overlay and Trace Drawing - 2 Hours

Trace Over a Print. I first lightened the image in Photoshop (to make it easier for tracing) and printed it on 11”x17” paper. The actual image size was 8”x11”. I taped a sheet of tracing paper over the print and illustrated the scene with a water based ink pen. Note: if you have difficulty seeing the detail beneath the tracing paper, work on top of a light table or even tape everything against a bright window.

Quick Marker Color. After completing the line drawing, I then added color to the original artwork with Chartpak AD markers.

Final Sketch. I scanned the final artwork at 300dpi and emailed a jpeg to my client. As you can see, the basic street scene is unchanged from the original photograph. I basically introduced the landscape planter, additional trees and populated the scene with more than ten people to give the illustration scale and an active character. 

Look for other interesting articles on my blog, visit my website www.drawingshortcuts.com and read my new book Drawing Shortcuts Second Edition. Also check out my 2010 Blog Collection , a 116-page catalog of my best blog posts from 2010, available on Blurb! 

 

 

SketchUp Modeling for Aerial Perspectives

There are many different visualization options when creating aerial perspectives for large planning projects. I’ve found that whatever method you use depends on answering three questions: 1)how much time do I have?, 2)how much fee is there for my effort?, and 3)what kind of visual solution does my client expect? 

With this studioINSITE project, my answers were “I have just a week to create the aerial perspective, with a couple of scheduled client reviews, a moderate fee to cover 40 hours of my time, and a level of drawing detail to give a general impression of the planning concept without ”locking in” the architectural design or the overall master plan. Once those parameters were established, I got to work!  Here is my step-by-step process:

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Hand Drawn Master Plan

Step One: Hand Drawn Master Plan. There was no time nor fee for a computer generated plan. I sketched several variations, discussed them with my client and drew this site plan on tracing paper with a water based ink pen, colored with Chartpak AD markers. To speed up the process, I took a photograph of the plan with my iPhone, lightened the jpeg in Photoshop and imported directly into a SketchUp model as a model base image.

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SketchUp Massing Model

Step Two: SketchUp “Massing Model”. I had previously constructed a SketchUp massing model of the nearby vicinity (“original SketchUp model” portion of the above image) and used it as a base model in which I inserted the new site model (the portion inside the red frame). I positioned the entire model over an aerial view exported from Google Earth.

Step Three: View Selection. Before I committed to adding more architectural detail to the SketchUp model, I selected about three-to five aerial views (SketchUp scenes) that I saved and sent to my client for review. As you can see from the view above, all of the buildings in the model have no window detail or 3D articulation. Aways develop planning models with minimal SketchUp massing to avoid wasting time modeling detail that may never be seen in the final aerial perspective.

Step Four: Added SketchUp Model Detail. Once a preferred aerial view was selected by my client, I focused on developing additional detail to certain foreground buildings in the model. The left image above shows the original massing model for a cluster of residential buildings. The right image above shows the updated model with all of the buildings developed with simple window patterns and facade articulation. Many of the buildings were identical so I was able to create a single component and replicate it many times throughout the model.

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Hybrid Aerial Perspective

Step Five: Enlarged Print of Aerial View. This final hand drawing/coloring step required printing the preferred aerial view on coated bond paper then drawing directly onto the print with an ink pen and coloring with Chartpak AD markers. I exported a high resolution jpeg from the SketchUp model at 5000 pixels wide, then slightly lightened the image in Photoshop. Note: I always lighten images with the goal to “take away” some of the color in order to “add back” color with markers and colored pencils. I plotted to image 16”x31” on coated bond plot paper with an HP5000 color plotter.

 Step Six: Hand Drawing and Coloring. This step is always my favorite part of the visualization process - hand illustration and color! I traced over many of the edges in the SketchUp model with a fine point water based roller ball pen. I drew over the trees, buildings and cars from the SketchUp model and added more illustrative detail to roofs and landscaping that was not originally modeled. I then completely colored the illustration with Chartpak AD markers and even added some finer detail to the building facades with Prismacolor markers.

Final 13"x31" Hybrid Aerial Perspective

Detail

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Hybrid Ground Level Perspective

Ground Level SketchUp View. Using the same SketchUp model, I selected a lower level view of the proposed development and generated another hybrid drawing using the identical step-by-step process that I used to create the aerial perspective. Unlike the larger print size of the aerial perspective, I needed only to print this view 9”x16”, making it much quicker to illustrate and color.

Note that this is not an eye level perspective. I raised the view angle as if I were looking from the second or third floor of a building. By raising the view angle, I could see more of the parking lot and ground plane beyond the entrance signage.

Drawing Detail

Final 9"x16" Hybrid Drawing

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 available on Blurb! 

Hybrid Hand Drawing From SketchUp and Photography

I’ve been working on several streetscape improvement projects in Glenwood Springs, Colorado and have needed to “step up” my design concept visuals due to a very engaged City Council, local businesses and other stakeholders. When I’m working with existing street conditions, I always try to integrate site photographs with my presentation graphics. This eye level view in front of a popular coffee house was a perfect opportunity to create a hybrid drawing that blended together a photograph, a 3D SketchUp model, hand illustration and coloring with markers. Here is my step-by-step process:

Step One: Base Digital Photograph. The two digital photographs above were taken in front of the coffee shop. I selected the lower image for several reasons - I stood in the street looking back at the storefront to create a better composition, the view had no foreground “clutter”, and it emphasized more of the coffee shop entrance and its beautiful curved glass window.

Step Two: SketchUp “Stage Set” Model. Our design team developed a new sidewalk configuration that included an outdoor dining space against the existing buildings, new brick pavers, a raised planter and street trees. I call this a “stage set” SketchUp model as it is constructed specifically to represent the new sidewalk elements and nothing more. Once I built the base model and populated it with 3-dimensional people components, I carefully matched the eye level SketchUp model view with the perspective in the photograph. I then exported a 5000 pixel wide high resolution jpeg from the SketchUp model.

Step Three: Photoshop Composite View. I combined the SketchUp view with the sidewalk photograph using Adobe Photoshop. All image resolutions were at 300dpi.  I first deleted the background from the SketchUp scene (upper image) and then carefully sized it to fit into the street scene of the digital photograph. This took a bit of time to match the Photoshop layers but the composite image was very convincing. Notice the man sitting with his bicycle from the original photograph and how well he integrated into the new composite scene!

Step Four: Hand Drawing on a Print. This last step, my favorite phase in the visualization process, involved printing the composite image and then going over it with hand drawn linework and colored markers. I first lightened the image before printing it. This was an important step to reduce some of the color intensity in order to build it back with the colored markers. I printed the 9”x13” image on 11”x17” matte finish coated bond paper using an ink jet color printer. Using a fine point water-based roller ball ink pen, I traced over many of the edges of the SketchUp model and added more casual linework to the people in the foreground. I added some colored markers to “soften” the image and make it less photographic or computer dominant in appearance. 

Completed Hybrid Drawing. Notice how the perspective is a blend of the photographic detail (reflections in the window). and the rich character of the hand drawn linework and marker coloring. 

Enlarged Detail

I created several other hybrid drawings for this streetscape project - each successfully combining digital photographs of existing conditions, matching a new SketchUp model to the perspective and adding hand drawn linework and colored markers to give it more character and authenticity. I love experimenting with new hybrid visualization methods and if you have a design project where this composite process would be beneficial, give it a try! 

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 available on Blurb!