Watercolour renders

[Dan edney]

Hi, 

I’m a mosaicist and from time to time I’m given architectural plans especially when I’ve been commissioned for, say, a marble floor. 

Im getting on a bit and would am thinking about less physical things I can do with my time. Im very skilled at digital watercolour too. My question is - is it feasible to begin a side hustle as a water colourist for architect plans? 

And would it be a case where the plans would be sent to be just to colour or would I be expected to draw the plans and colour? Is there even a market for this or is it rather niche? 

I’ve spent a lot of time looking at such drawings and I’m very drawn to them and would love to spend sometime practising. Last question - does one have to be a an actual architect to do this type of work? 

Many thanks 

Daniel 

[Alan Ambrose]

Wow, I like the idea of that a lot. For good quality planning applications and for developer’s marketing materials. The easiest way would be to take an architect’s existing cad and ‘trace’ it creating a watercolour overlay - that way the dimensions would be correct. Either the plan and elevations drawings, or perhaps 3d perspective drawings instead of photo-montage. A few contacts with architect’s or architectural technicians might bring in all the work you want. You might like to fish around on your local LPA’s planning site to get the lie of the land. There must already be somebody offering services like that as you often see watercolour-like drawings for £million projects.

 

 

[Dan edney]

Thanks for your very optimistic response Alan, it is appreciated. 

 

Forgive my ignorance but what does LPA stand for - Is it Local Planning Authority  

 

I have zero experience in this field so I've been by my laptop all day researching. It seems to me that yes several companies are offering this service alongside other architectural planning bits and bobs like 3d renderings, plans etc 

 

Still, I think after a few months of getting my head around it all I could do a good job. As you say, if I were to 'trace' the existing cad I can't really go wrong.

 

Feel free to point me in any direction that you may think would help :)

 

Kindest Regards

Daniel

[Alan Ambrose]

Yes, Local Planning Authority.

 

I see, for instance,

 

https://www.davidcosby.co.uk/watercolour-planning-drawings/

 

Of course, that means there is a market which is helpful. It could be that Mr Cosby might chat to you and give you some advice - maybe, maybe not, but worth a try.

 

I would have liked to have used a service like that. I have some photo-montage renderings for my designs - they show the combination of the CAD building in its background photo setting - but the images are not that pretty or engaging and they don't look 'high-end'. I've also seen freehand pen-and-ink drawings as the only images submitted for a planning application. Unusual but it seemed to work.

 

[Dan edney]

I don't think I've felt excitement like this for a while! 

 

Thank you for the link, I will send over an email to Mr Crosby for sure. 

 

I agree with the sentiment proposed in the article that traditional mediums such as watercolours can portray the mood and character more than an accurate 3D model. 

 

Thanks for all your input Alan, One can always rely on the kindness of strangers