These games are beautiful to look at. There are other games that are wonderfully designed and rendered, and maybe we’ll look at those in a future post. The games identified here, however, are played in a recognizable, beautiful environment that would be a whole lot of fun to explore.

Portal 2 by Valve. Xbox, PS3

Modern Structuralism. With some Deconstructionism thrown in. It’s all about the expression of the structure. The Centre Pompidou by Renzo Piano is perhaps the most famous work of this movement. Although, it would not be surprising if the Nakagin Capsule Tower in Japan (pictured below) also influenced the game designers.

One great thing about this game as you battle through the levels, is that the player’s wits are often more valuable than firepower. And it is an extremely intricate and detailed game to navigate.

Forza Motorsport 4 by Microsoft. Xbox

Start your engines, indeed. This game covers it all. International, Classic, Modern, Post-Modern, and all incredibly rendered. Not to mention the cars. The cars are gorgeous. Ferrari, Bugatti, Bentley, and a few surprises. All the famous racetracks are here, as well as Gran Prix courses. This is the one time it’s ok to look at the scenery while driving. At 200mph.

Star Wars the Force by LucasArts. Xbox, Playstation, Wii

Wow. Everytime I watch a Star Wars movie, I end up looking at the buildings and structures just as much as the characters. And, this game is no different. Fully immersed in the Star Wars universe, the play occurs in cloud-cities, urban landscapes, ancient temples, and desert outposts. Completely original, but the designers were clearly influenced by everything from ancient to post-modern architecture.

Prince of Persia Forgotten Sands by Ubisoft. Xbox, Playstation, Wii

Persia. Oblviously Islamic architecture will be on display. And, truly it is. Like the Shah Mosque in Iran. But, also Moorish Architecture of Spain, Morocco, and Portugal. The Al madinah Azahara in Spain (pictured below) could easily be a backdrop for this game.

Hardly any detail of the architecture is left out of this game. Intricate tile work, ornate detailing, and structural enginuity. It’s all here.

What’s your favorite video game environment?

This is my latest rendering for SDG Architects in Redwood City. It is a new residence on an estate property in Woodside, California. The rendering is watercolor and the linework is pen.

Certainly a great design is the first for an eye-catching rendering, but there are a couple of tricks that can make it jump off the sheet. Below are 3 things to remember.

It’s all about the Subject, not the Painting

This is possibly the hardest thing to remember. Everything has to make the architecture stand out. Landscaping is merely to give the structure some context. The eye should go directly to the building, not the trees. Everything else is secondary.

Use Color to Guide the Eye

Identify what is the most important feature and direct the eye there. Typically, in residential architecture, the eye should go to the Entry. Use the complimentary colors to get the eye to that location. In the rendering below, the meadow in the foreground is predominately green, but there is a touch of Burnt Sienna below the Entry that directs the eye.

Make it look Welcoming

Especially for residential architecture. For property owners, city agencies, and developers, the rendering should make the viewer want to be there. It’s difficult to get excited about something that is cold, or abstract. So, a light in the window, benches and landscaping are a renderer’s best friend. But, remember the first two tips… it all goes back to the architecture.

A quality rendering, and quality architecture go hand-in-hand. There can’t be one without the other.

After the Storm

 It’s the morning after a storm.  It’s still.  Quiet.  Serene.  There’s solitude.  There are treasures to discover “After the Storm”.

Some close friends of ours have a very cool collection of fishing floats.   It’s easy to imagine these floats being used for years in a far away fishing village, then breaking away from their nets and drifting on the open ocean until they make their way to shore. 

I love the beach.  Any weekend that isn’t packed with kid’s sports, which is rare, we’re at the beach.  It’s a bit suprising that this is the first time I’ve painted the beach or ocean.

This watercolor is 9″x10″ and is available  as prints, greeting cards, or original at www.miketinsley.com

What’s your most memorable find on a beach?

Hawaii.  Words can’t describe it.

This sketch is from our recent vacation to Kauai.  We spent a morning at Hideaways Beach snorkeling, digging in the sand, hanging out under this tree.

Kauai, especially Hanalei, is one of my favorite places.  What’s yours?

The passing of another season. I love images like this. Is this barn still in use? Is it abandoned? Whatever it is, it’s easy to imagine a little working farm. Now the vines are taking over and the paint is peeling, but it is still a great little barn.

This watercolor is about 10″x14″ on 300# cold press paper.

One common element in my paintings is layers. Layers in the composition and layers of paint. In rendering the vines I used liquid friskit to mask the uninterrupted, most forward vines. There are surprisingly few of them. With the friskit still applied, paint in the next layers of vines, then the next, and so on. The hard part is stopping. Creating these details is addicting, so be careful.

Now the fun begins. Push the colors and shadows a couple notches beyond where you think they should be. Push the colors until they have a weight and presence.

Oh, and texture. Dry brush watercolor creates some killer textures. Using an old, haggard, beat up brush with dry brush technique is just awesome. So, use as little water as possible.

4th of July.  Big Sur.  Camping.  Love it.

Our campsite was right on the Big Sur River.  In fact, when we called to reserve the site several months ago, it was underwater.

This was our view out of our tent…  What were you up to over the long weekend?

The goats were definitely clueless, silly, and completely absorbed in getting more of what they wanted: food.  The llama(actually I think it was something other than a llama, but close enough) seemed very innocent and gentle.  The bunnies… the bunnies creeped me out.

I guess there’s a reason young goats are called “kids.”  Have you ever seen a kid, a real kid, do something goofy?  This goat-kid had an itch on his forehead he was trying to scratch…  The turtle was really cool.  It seemed hopeful, persistent, and consistent.

Mother Hens.  Totally.  These two were insepereable and looked like they were gossiping at the lack of parenting received by the goats…  And the bunny… the bunnies had their eyes on everybody, and seemed a little sinister.  Like they were thinking, “If only I were a jackelope with horns.”

What character do you think these critters would be?

“Bambi” is one of my favorite Disney movies.  It is a revolutionary film in terms of animation.  Everything from the technology used, and invented, to the way the characters were developed and animated, was cutting edge.  The sheer artistry of this film is astounding.

The vision Walt Disney had for this movie had never been accomplished before.  He was pioneering into new territory, and the animators, although eager to follow, had never created a film like this.  One challenge was to animate the animals as a character and still maintain their animal qualities, they way they move, respond, and behave.

So the solution was to bring wildlife into the sudio for the animators to sketch, observe and study.

This past Saturday morning, to commemorate “Bambi”, the Walt Disney Family Museum brought in animals and allowed the public to come and sketch.  It was awesome.

Above are some of my sketches from the morning… more will follow in future posts.

 What do you remember from “Bambi”?

Whatever it is, it’s cool. Here’s a step by step of “The Orchid.”

Step 1:

Sketchbook Pro uses layers. Think of transparent sheets of paper. I painted the background on one layer, then started the painting on a new layer. That way I can make any adjustments or revisions to the background without affecting the subject. That’s cool.

Step 2:

With the buds complete I moved on to the the background flowers first. Using the transparency settings and brushes available, Sketchbook Pro makes it really easy to get soft edges. I guess because I’m a watercolor artist first, I really like using transparent colors and building up the values.

Step 3:

Now for the star of the show. Orchids are cool. Their exotic, graceful, colorful, just cool. Again, using very transparent colors, I build up the value. This also let’s me keep the shading soft where it needs to be. I also started blocking in the supporting flower. This is where layers comes in handy. I can erase and redraw without touching the background.

Finished:

After it’s complete I use a pencil-brush set at about 50% transparency to put the highlights on the flower.

Check it out at www.miketinsley.com What do you think?

Chrome.  It can communicate strength, speed, luxury, and power.  Chrome has depth.  It’s not just reflective, but it has substance.  A chrome bumper looks like it’s about 3 feet thick.  Chrome is just cool.

Here are a few photos I took while painting “58 Caddy”.  This is a 10×14 watercolor painting on Arches 300 lb. coldpress paper.  Some people prefer hotpress paper for detail, but I really like how the paint reacts to the texture of coldpress. 

Chrome is like a mirror.  So the first challenge with this piece was editing out the reflections, while keeping the reflective quality.  I took the reference photo at a car show in Monterey, CA.  So, in the reflections, there were lots of people, other cars, and even me kneeling down to take the picture could all be seen in the reflections.  Take a look…

First thing I did, after penciling in the shapes, was to paint the body.  This is: cad yellow light, raw sienna, naples yellow and neutral tint.  While washes of the body were drying, I started on the bumper.  The pink you see is liquid friskit.

Layers of paint.  Lots of layers.  Did I mention layers?  I lose track of how many layers of paint I put on a painting, but it’s at least 20.  Anyway, layers.  It’s the only way I know of to get the painting to look “thick”.  The pink in the headlight is friskit.  The left headlight is almost done.  Don’t forget layers.

Notice the chrome trim around the headlight.  One key to chrome is contrast.  It’s almost like painting water.  There are colors below the surface, with high contrast and sharp edges on top.

This was a challenging stage.  The grill is a flat metal.  Not reflective, with light bouncing all over the place and moving from shadow to light.  The grill was painted using just one color.

Finished piece.  This is one of my favorites.  What do you think?