Can architects and designers *really* design in Procreate, or is it just a glorified digital sketchbook? In today's tutorial for architects, designers and students, I demonstrate the "super powers" of Procreate that make it the ideal choice to imagine your design, develop it in scale, then hand it off for further development in Rhino or Sketchup. What makes Procreate such a powerful design tool is that it combines the best of both worlds…
Good things really do happen when you expect them the least.
For years I’ve been on the lookout for good ways to explain the advantages of designing and rendering by hand with Procreate, versus traditional designing and rendering by hand with pencil on paper. I haven't found the exact right words yet, but I keep looking.
Then this morning I woke up and saw on Twitter that the cartoonist Gary Larson was starting to cartoon again. He retired from drawing "The Dark Side" about 10 years ago, but according to this announcement he was starting to draw again-- for fun. Not the deadline-based, cartooning with which he entertained the world for 15 years, but drawing for his own amusement. Naturally my interest was peeked! But then it got better.
In today's masterclass, I show you how quick gestures with Procreate brushes can be all you need to create compelling concept design renderings full of life and energy
In today's masterclass, I show you how designing with sketches can give your ideas the time and attention they need to grow, bringing your client into the creative process, as opposed to shutting them out with the false promise of half-baked photorealistic concept designs.
In this video, architect and illustrator James Akers demonstrates how to add hand-drawn life and energy to basic Rhino and Sketchup views, then creates 9 different "events" within the rendering to feature the flexibility and fun of the proposed courtyard design. Thanks for watching and please subscribe for more like this.
Ever-shrinking architects’ fees combined with developer’s expectations of Hollywood-quality digital renderings have brought us full circle: hand rendering is being rediscovered as the most cost effective and artistically direct way to do concept design in the digital age, with the added benefit of helping to art-direct third party digital rendering consultants.
COLOR THEORY
Color is simply…well…actually there have been a ton of thicker books written about color. For our purposes, color is what you are trying to copy from life onto an empty, terrifying little piece of expensive paper, with no guarantee that you’ll ever show the result to anyone, using only some "color juice" in a tube, a little brush and some water.
ONE WORD...COLOR WHEEL
Click to enlarge
OK, that's two words, but if I had used one word it would be this...
INTRODUCTION
1-This is the shortest, easiest to read, best book ever written on watercolor. The idea is to get you over the hump and painting within minutes. Why? Because you are a procrastinator and you know it (or you wouldn’t have bought this book…or let your friend give it to you) So start reading and I want to see that paint fly. Ready, go.
WHY SHOULD I WATERCOLOR?
Because it’s a really cool thing to do, and its fun, and you’ll feel really good about yourself. Plus it helps you...
Here is a little book I made for my kids that explains the basics of making your first watercolor, from what stuff you'll need to use, to what a "triad" is, to how to mix colors and build up transparent layers and make your first watercolor. It's a work in progress and very basic, but hope you enjoy and please let me know your comments.
Attend our free Procreate Weekend Workshop to see all the ways digital drawing can make you a better designer, and help you rediscover the benefits of drawing by hand in the Digital Age.
