G. Ryan Smith

oh i see how you are. you “put in effort.”

ah ha. thanks for the tips. i wasn’t planning on doing any kind of construction specs until i get insured, just some visualization graphics/concepts and a planting plan or two to keep me in the ballgame…

ahhh, thanks rob

ha! where have you been all my life?

yeah. when you get down to it, it has fewer features than illustrator does. but i enjoy using the tools a lot and for me it has some efficiency factors as an all-in-one (CAD utility, rendering tool, desktop publishing software b/c you can make multi-page documents).
 
also, as far as wordperfect goes… i’m a part time journalist and writer, and…[Read more]

i hear you melanie. i ended up getting a second degree in studio drawing while i was getting my bachelor’s in landscape architecture… in part b/c professors put a lot of pressure on us to provide graphics but not much time was given in class to instruction. i had a lot more freedom in my drawing classes, and i have friends in the illustration…[Read more]

yep, thanks. i took a 1-day course with mike lin years ago, helped me out quite a bit, btw.
also… architectural drawing and rendering is sort of an idiom much like 2d drafting is an idiom. it has its own conventions and symbols that are easily understood by both professionals and clients. it’s a commonly understood language if you will. 
i’m…[Read more]

alright, one more comment. what others have said about landscape architects not being illustrators is absolutely correct. if you’re a full-time illustrator, you have a lot more time to practice, and refine your style. most landscape architects, if they work with graphics and illustrations at all, only do it part time, so in practical terms they…[Read more]

i’ve probably already said too much but i’ll add another two cents in after reading some of the other responses.
 
i would concur that, as far as coming up with new styles – if you come up with something that sells to clients that’s all the justification you need, really. i think in academia professors might be a tad too conservative, with the…[Read more]

that brings up an interesting point. it may be true that LA’s in general are not the best artists (otherwise they would be artists)… but as a group do we suppress or malign those individuals that might do better in that arena, or suppress possible innovation?

go boilers.
 
that is an excellent question, and i’m afraid my response may be a bit chicken-or-egg-ish. when i received my bachelor’s degree, i felt (correctly or incorrectly) that i was always being steered away from incorporating more science-based and analytical elements into my work. it may have been that the faculty just wasn’t familiar…[Read more]

yes. 
 
i’m suggesting that for some tasks it might save time to just generate the drawing in DRAW, since it has the capability for scaled drawing.

let me add one thing – the professional timidity in relation to graphics i think also extends towards the more technical elements of the profession as well. whether it’s GIS, sustainable technologies, environmental science, or just a general embracing of research within academia (to my knowledge Cornell is the only program that is doing any solid…[Read more]

I basically got the ‘unprofessional’ tag b/c i experimented with other styles of graphics while an undergrad. i get that there’s sort of a standard convention and most employers have the expectation that your graphics will conform to those. however, i think our profession, more than others, discourages innovation in general and prefers to play it…[Read more]

Illustrator is a fine program, no doubt – I was using that before I had even heard of DRAW. I have not been able to coax the polished effects out of DRAW that I have out of Illustrator. What frustrates me about Illustrator is that (to my knowledge) it does not have the capacity for scaled drawings – which imho Adobe should really be taken to task…[Read more]

elements is bare bones. use it for basic organizing and editing (cropping, etc), it has a few additional features like some filters, but if you are using it for anything more sophisticated… forget about it.

no, no, no. put your best foot forward. you can arrange your portfolio by types of projects or types of images, but always put your best pieces first in each section. there’s really not any need to put dates in them either.

yep, i’m familiar with all of that.
 
painter is awesome. i still like wordperfect but their office suite has nothing to compare with outlook and access.
for the record, i’m not suggesting that draw is a replacement for illustrator. i think it’s interesting to use in that it has the capability for scaled drawings, and i’ve found that i can…[Read more]

is there an archive recording of this webinar available?

i’m actually working on an article on gis in education for landscape architecture magazine right now. ASLA just sent out an educational survey, and i’m starting my interviews this week. right now i can’t say when it will be published, but i will definitely post an announcement when i do know.