by Alex Hogrefe | Apr 21, 2018 | Break Down, Portfolio Vol. 5, Styles / Effects |
I decided to go abstract with this latest post. With this set of illustrations, I have been studying the interior spaces of the Desert House. I tend to prefer interiors with minimal color and material, so I generated these studies as a way to force me out of that way...
by Alex Hogrefe | Mar 25, 2018 | Break Down, Over Time, Portfolio Vol. 5 |
Part 2 of this tutorial will break down the Photoshop side of this illustration. In terms of Photoshop complexity, this image is relatively simple and minimal in layers. However, I think it is a good example of how a compelling image can be generated with just a few...
by Alex Hogrefe | Mar 4, 2018 | Fundamentals, Portfolio Vol. 5 |
I have had a ton of people asking me to create a more thorough breakdown of one of my images and it seems the desert house dusk shot would be a good candidate. I like this image because not a ton of Photoshop is needed for the illustration, but the little Photoshop...
by Alex Hogrefe | Feb 11, 2018 | Break Down, Portfolio Vol. 5, Styles / Effects |
This week, I got back into the Trench House project by generating some exterior vignettes. I wanted to use these images to emphasize the vastness of the context and also to explore some color combinations. Since this project sits in the middle of a desert in Nevada,...
by Alex Hogrefe | Jan 9, 2018 | Break Down, Portfolio Vol. 5 |
After a few more weeks of studying, iterating, and modeling, the design of the desert house has been more or less finalized. I have now begun thinking about the visuals and how I want to present this project. This has been difficult at times because the form can...
by Alex Hogrefe | Dec 19, 2017 | Portfolio Vol. 5, Styles / Effects, Uncategorized |
Even though I have started the new desert house project, I jumped back to the Philly Bridge project to generate this year’s winter special. This was a view that I had planned on illustrating months ago but ran out of time. Luckily, it works perfectly for...
by Alex Hogrefe | Dec 3, 2017 | Fundamentals, Portfolio Vol. 5, Uncategorized |
I have been testing out a ton of different ideas for how to articulate the glass facade for the Desert Trench House project. From those studies, I developed a spread that shows some of the iterations that were generated. As I was putting this illustration together, I...
by Alex Hogrefe | Nov 20, 2017 | Portfolio Vol. 5, Uncategorized |
I have started a new project that I am calling the Desert Trench House. I have yet to illustrate a project on this website that is located in an arid environment and am excited to get going on this. The structure sits mostly recessed underground with large shade...
by Alex Hogrefe | Oct 29, 2017 | Uncategorized |
I have been traveling quite a bit lately which means it has been a while since my last post. I figured I would ease back into this with some mapping studies that I have been experimenting with. I have always liked the idea of locating a project at the beginning of the...
by Alex Hogrefe | Sep 24, 2017 | Break Down, Portfolio Vol. 5 |
Aerial architectural renderings in a city environment are some of the toughest images to create. For one, you are dealing with a ton of texture, geometry, and complexity when it comes to the context. The ideal way to manage this is to hire a photographer to take...
by Alex Hogrefe | Aug 27, 2017 | Break Down, Portfolio Vol. 5 |
This will be the third image that I have posted on this site that goes from a daytime base rendering to a full on night rendering using only Photoshop. The first ever No Render Night Tutorial I created came at the very beginning of this website a long time ago. Since...
by Alex Hogrefe | Aug 6, 2017 | Break Down, Portfolio Vol. 5 |
The next two illustrations that I have generated for the Philly Bridge explore the procession across the bridge. The design incorporates different types of program and landscape depending on the path you choose and the activities users plan to partake in. Therefore, I...
by Alex Hogrefe | Jul 17, 2017 | Portfolio Vol. 5, Uncategorized |
Below are some eye level perspectives that I created to get a sense of the pedestrian bridge design from the west side of the site. I had made some substantial changes to the form and wanted to study what the experience was like as you approach it both as a pedestrian...
by Alex Hogrefe | Jun 25, 2017 | Break Down, Portfolio Vol. 5 |
I first generated a black and white study like this for my wharf design back in 2014. I liked how this approach breaks down the complexity of site design into simple elements and creating a space for me to quickly “sketch” out and iterate ideas. For this...
by Alex Hogrefe | Jun 1, 2017 | Break Down, Styles / Effects, Uncategorized |
I always look to diagrams to help tease out ideas or to clarify my thoughts as early on in the design process as possible. The diagram being broken down below is working off of a simple model with almost no detail or structural articulation making it easier to update...
by Alex Hogrefe | May 4, 2017 | Portfolio Vol. 5, Uncategorized |
A few weeks back, I was lucky enough to give a lecture and some workshops at Philadelphia University School of Architecture. During my tour of the city, I was blown away by the amount of development and new architecture going on. One proposal that I found especially...
by Alex Hogrefe | Apr 17, 2017 | Fundamentals, Uncategorized |
Whether it is because time is limited or cutout libraries are too small, it often seems like adding entourage into an illustration is treated as an afterthought at the end of most workflows. When it is finally time to insert people, a large portion of time goes to...
by Alex Hogrefe | Mar 31, 2017 | Uncategorized |
The last time that I posted this film on this blog was back in 2013 and I have been long overdue to post it again. The short film by Alex Roman has had a big influence on my work since the very beginning and is still something I try to revisit at least once a year. He...
by Alex Hogrefe | Mar 6, 2017 | Over Time, Portfolio Vol. 5, Uncategorized |
As old school as they are, GIFs can still be a low tech, highly shareable solution to communicate an architectural idea. In this case, I was having trouble deciding how to illustrate the operable shade system of my research lab design. Enter the GIF. The obvious...
by Alex Hogrefe | Feb 5, 2017 | Fundamentals, Portfolio Vol. 5 |
Continuing work on my research lab design, I wanted to generate floor plans that were a little more informational than the standard line drawings. Therefore, I turned the floor plans into oblique projection drawings using my Sketchup model and a technique described...
