nca

I was thinking all white/monotone. I had a very fine styrofoam in mind that doesn’t disintegrate easily. I haven’t started yet, so suggestions are still certainly welcomed.

I’ve heard varied opinions on the subject of continuing on with a masters in architecture from Landscape. Most have suggested it would not be worthwhile for various reasons. It’s difficult to make a good judgement when the people you ask have the most inflated egos on the planet. I just think I’d like to have a broader range to work within rather…[Read more]

Eric/Schmid-

What you both offered is precisely what I was looking for, very helpful. Thank you.

-n

Thanks Lisa..

I’ll try to crop a blow up thumb in a bit..I just do a little pshop paint over imagery and show my guides. Nothing too out of the ordinary I dont think. Its really just a matter of getting the “light” right. I designed the garden structures last semester and modeled them for another project. I needed something like that in this…[Read more]

Thanks Jon. I did use a tablet in photoshop.

Stuart, I share similar feelings with you regarding process, though I tend to do a little more along the lines of what Lisa Town suggested earlier in moving (sometimes erratically) between cad, hand, model, etc. I am trying to make my digital renderings look less “generic” for several reasons. I think on larger scale public projects where emotions…[Read more]

This is a collage of ideas that vaguely resemble a painting of an urban plaza, or you could just call it a perspective. My goal is to try and work iteratively in digital media. I still love to draw, but I choose to illustrate, typically, digitally.

Still, I think digital media can often lack the “jazz” factor, where it doesn’t look…[Read more]

All pretty sad considering the fact that I was making anywhere from $65-125/hour+ four years ago with my home-based business. Would I still be happy and feel fulfilled as I do today or will in the not -so-distant future? Probably not.

I toyed again with freelance landscape design last fall and got work at a rate of $25/hour. I think right around…[Read more]

This makes me wonder what a person with an LA degree could get as far as rate doing illustration and graphics on contract. I want to say my billing rate at my current part time student position is in the range of $65-75/hr. Schmid- what rate did you start out at if you dont mind sharing (or a clue perhaps) and how did you determine the rate?

Brittany,

I can’t agree with you on LEED. For one, from what I’ve seen and heard, if you don’t use it, you lose it. Secondly, LEED isn’t necessarily a marketable skill like something as tangible as drawing or even, say model-building. At least not for an individual in my opinion. For firms, LEED is precisely a marketing element.

As was brought…[Read more]

Who is responsible for drawing up the contract and terms? What, if any, kind of liability would you be expected to carry? Can you work on multiple contracts at the same time or is there typically a clause relegating you to working for only one firm at a time?

Maybe these are stupid questions..

Anyone?

I disagree that LEED is a “tool.” Many professors and professionals, both accredited and non-accredited alike generally agree, as do I, that LEED is much more of a marketing tool than a skill or tool to be utilized on any given project. The other argument I’ve heard to this is that if you don’t practice on LEED projects, it is easy to forget. LEED…[Read more]

^^^ Agreed 99%..

I had very minimal exposure to photoshop and the Adobe suite before entering the program and feel it gave me a huge advantage. Just knowing how to open the programs and make a new layer will give you a 5% advantage 😉 Autocad is good to familiarize yourself with as well, but I think you’ll get all that for the most part in the…[Read more]

Mike Lins courses leave something to be desired from what I’ve heard and seen 😉
The graphics in those workshops are kind of outdated and the rendering style isn’t being used so much anymore, though I’m sure alot of folks have created some derivative style of their own from his. Learn how to draw in scaled perspective without straight edge or…[Read more]

A common myth in our studio is that people steal things…they don’t, your pens and markers just tend to “wander” in the heat of design 😉 I’ve never heard of anyone actually getting anything of any real value stolen from our studio, just fyi, though people do lock things, I never have. I’ve also used my mayline about three times about four years…[Read more]

Funny, in four years in the studio I’ve regressed from a beautiful drafting desk and chair I purchased, to a large, but very beat up flat desk with drawers, to light tables and studio community tables, to this year working mostly on a big flat particle board/laminate table like those you find in cafeterias of public elementary schools. I hardly…[Read more]

You lost me at “deep topic..”

Shouldn’t you be doing autocad right about now? 😉

Wow, thanks Damian. Your response was especially packed with useful information. I still have a semester or so to go, but I do suppose it’s getting about that time to start a serious search. I wonder if there are any opportunities for Americans in Europe now as well?

Thanks everyone!

Maggie-

I’m sorry to hear about your situation, like so many other recent grads from CSU and elsewhere. I think your attitude about the situation can work to your advantage. Being optimistic and open to new methods, I think, will help pen you up to a broader range of opportunities. Also, think about all the tangible skills you learned at…[Read more]