Landscape Rendering

Brendan Harmon

Techniques

  • Drawing & painting
  • Photomontage
  • 3D modeling & rendering

Drawing

Drawing Media

Sarah Simblet, New Sylva

  • Hand-drawn in the field
  • Meticulous rendering of light and texture
  • Sense of dynamism in stillness
  • Conveys the complexity of nature
  • Atmospheric

img+, Rail Corridor, Singapore

  • Digital illustration
  • Abstract, yet highly legible
  • Painterly texture
  • Evocative atmosphere
  • Vegetation as patterning

Miralles Tagliabue EMBT, Unazuki Meditation Pavilion

  • Concept sketch
  • …to built work

Photomontage

Photomontage Software

Agence Ter, Hereweg Wood Park

  • Poor technique
  • Looks collaged, while aiming for photorealism
  • Distorted scale & perspective
  • Inconsistent transparency
  • Solid and ghostly people
  • Clear and blurry plants
  • Half transparent trees

img+, Barking Riverside, London

  • Good technique
  • Skillful blending of plants into cohesive scene
  • Convincing sense of depth
  • Some transparent plants blending into the path
  • Some spots of inconsistent blurriness

LOLA, Vision Inner City Groningen

  • Photorealism vs. illustrated, collaged style
  • Photomontaged realism vs. flat bright colors
  • Desaturated and oversaturated
  • Evokes eclecticism, fun and vibrancy

LOLA, Metropolitan Forest Madrid

  • Atmospheric perspective with halftone overlay
  • Halftone shifts color palette, establishes patterning, & blends montaged elements
  • Halftone suggests a special quality of light
  • Conveys a unique sense of place

LOLA, Stadhuispromenade Almere

  • Rendering of design concept

3D Modeling

3D Modeling Software

3D Rendering

3D Rendering Software

3D Plant Libraries

The Uncanny Valley

Ishiguro Lab, Geminoid HI-5

Ishiguro Lab, Erica

img+, Felix Meritis, Amsterdam

  • 3D modeled and rendered scene
  • Post-processing to populate and furnish scene
  • Mix of 3D assets and photomontage
  • Stylist variations

img+, A11 Highway, Belgium

  • Renderings at a range of scales
  • Seamless blend of 3D rendering and photomontage

Snøhetta, 550 Madison Garden, NYC

  • Hyperrealistic rendering
  • 3D modeled and rendered scene with 3D plants
  • Photomontaged people that feel flat compared to the scene
  • Some of the people are missing their shadows…
  • Snowfall for atmosphere, but the pavement appears dry
  • Perspectives & section-perspectives

LOLA, Gasklockan, Stockholm

  • 3D modeled and rendered scene
  • Illustrated style for photomontaged people
  • Rich, textured planting palette by Piet Oudolf

Foster + Partners, Le Dôme Winery

  • Section-elevation
  • Cut through 3D model
  • Illustrated style using photomontage, textures, and filters

B+B, The Connected Core: The Hague

  • Before and after
  • Rendering style evokes the historic painting
  • Desaturated
  • Painterly sky
  • Inconsistency of photomontaged people

B+B, Locke Eefde

  • Illustrated style using 3D model, photomontage, & textures
  • Composition mixing 2D and 3D elements
  • Visual blend of depth and flatness
  • Evokes calmness, function, and history