FOCUS DEMONSTRATION

When you paint or draw an object, you can direct the viewer’s eye to whatever part of the object you want. The building owner may have asked you to highlight one aspect of the project, or the building may have several owners/investors with different goals.

Focus may not matter much when the object is compact, like a face or a small house, but it becomes important when illustrating a sprawling object, such as a long, low building or a tall, thin building. The following illustration of a glass and steel skyscraper is a good example of the problems and opportunities of focus. 

Throughout the process, focus was considered. 

The building was to be located in downtown Tampa, so most of its sides would be closely blocked by other, existing buildings. 

I tried several sketches, including the two above. The aerial view seemed to lose the new building in the crowd of existing buildings. The second view offered a wider range of ways to handle light without obscuring the building entirely. 

So I tried a couple of extra sketches, first a dark building on light background, and second a light building on dark background. Neither sketch was meant to suggest a final solution.

Next I built a computer model, including surrounding buildings and cars. On a print of the view, I added trees and people, and scanned the result.

Just to check my earlier sketches, I repeated my dark-on-light sketch, then added a study that placed a middle-value building between dark foreground buildings and grey background buildings. These are all rather pedestrian; in fact, at this point I was disappointed with the possibilities.

However, the visual properties of glass and steel provide opportunities to play with light and atmosphere and, of course, focus.

The four pastel sketches above try out lighting schemes that shift the focus on the building. At the top is a fairly standard approach emphasizing the building’s vertical unity, while the other three sketches focus on the top, the bottom, and both top and bottom. Any one of these sketches might lead to an interesting rendering, but in the end I just had to develop the last one. The ethereal idea of emphasizing the top and bottom of the building, while “losing” the middle of the shaft, has always fascinated me.

Here is the pastel color study developing that idea. I decided on a scenario after sundown, with artificial lighting providing most of the effect. Therefore you can see a muted reflection of the evening sky in the reflective glass of the top half of the building, and a warm glow of the street lighting at the base. Meanwhile, the steel mullions and interior walls and ceiling reflect the building’s floodlighting at the top and bottom, and interior lighting scatters a counterpoint up the entire shaft.

I felt confident enough in that sketch to go straight to final art. I figured I could do it best in Photoshop, since it has many layers and masks and is adjustable in a range of ways.

I took the final line drawing, which would provide plenty of detail, and began rendering each obvious area on a separate layer. 

First, the building’s vision and spandrel panels (both reflective).

Add the vertical stainless-steel ribs.

And finally, the building’s interior lighting at various floor levels.

Next, the basic blocks of the distant surrounding buildings are colored in various cool shades.

And the overcast sky.

The foreground context buildings take shape.

Finish covering the board with the streets, sidewalks and nearby park.

Bring the surrounding buildings up to reality with interior lighting and lighted signage.

At this point I had a passable rendering: realistic, accurate and dramatic. But hey, this was for my own enjoyment, and I had unlimited time. So I printed out that last image and started working it over in pastel. I changed the sky so the top of the building was obscured by the low clouds. I pushed all the far buildings into a uniform middle value. And I added to and loosened up the street-level light.

I thought the pastel was an improvement in overall impact and abstract composition. The focus was also stronger, although there was now a secondary focus of the light blue sky near the horizon.

So, finally, I pushed into the final in Photoshop. The result was more crisp and less strident but did have a stronger contrast at top and bottom, compared to the pastel. The center of the rendering became more homogeneous, with less contrast between the existing buildings and the sky. Squinting, I see a warm slash at the bottom of the image and a cool cloud at the top. At first glance you might not be sure what you are looking at, but on closer inspection the building comes clear.

...and there is plenty of interesting detail to draw you even closer.

I have addressed focus in a number of blog posts, but I’m going to round up a batch of examples soon.