This is a commission I did a little while back for a local construction company. The image was to feature as the ‘artist’s impression’ on signage around a new-build property while construction took place.

I began by taking an angled projection from the architect’s drawings and digitally traced the outline of the house using Illustrator (A). I then dropped in some test colours, just to check I hadn’t missed any key elements (B). This scared the builder, as he thought it was the final piece when I emailed it to him, though he was polite enough not to mention it until afterwards.

I then printed the line drawing onto watercolour paper, added the foliage and detail with pen and ink, then shaded the drawing using a black watercolour pencil and a wet brush (C). It was then scanned back into the computer and the colour added in Photoshop (D), using a photograph of a similar property for reference.

Personally, I like the sky best. Dropping in a gradient from dark to light blue and reversing the black clouds to make them white was a happy accident during this process and one I intend to take full advantage of in the future. The sky’s the limit…

Click on the image to see a larger version of the final piece.