The Art of Rapid Visualization

WHA’s Rendering Studio offers its clients an array of rendering options, such as traditional watercolor painting, pencil sketches, and digital modeling. Another service the Studio provides is Rapid Visualization, which helps clients see how a project will look using quick cost effective conceptual design sketches rather than more expensive methods of illustration. Besides the cost savings, Rapid Visualization can jumpstart a project by giving it a clear thematic direction used to communicate a developer’s or architect’s vision to others involved with the project. Another approach is to convene the various disciplines together for a design charrette where designers interact with the rapid vis artist to develop concept sketches. Again, the goal is to give a project a clear direction quickly.

I’m often asked how the process works from start to finish. With that said, I’ll walk you through the various stages of the rapid visualization process. Let’s start…… 

Using a black Prismacolor pencil, I start the process by getting my initial ideas down on paper through a series of small thumbnail sketches to establish the horizon line, vanishing points, view angle, and composition, until I arrive at one that I’m satisfied with. Then I begin to focus on the design and architectural theme. As a side note, I’ve found that restricting the size of the thumbnail allows me to work quicker and not get bogged down with minute details that would otherwise stifle my creativity. See figure 1.

The next step in the process is to further define the architectural design and develop a value study by applying shade and shadows. At this point I also begin to flesh out the composition by placing entourage elements, such as cars, people, and landscaping.

Once I’m comfortable with the overall look of my second thumbnail, I move on to the final sketch where I add further character to the drawing. Note, that I usually enlarge the image at this point so that I can add detail. This step is important because I like using a blunt tipped pencil that tends to not lend itself to detailed work at small scales.