How do you render the landscapes? This is one question that is asked of me often. The answer is, simply, a mixture of techniques. I use 3ds Max or Lightwave to render buildings and main features, but all of the plant material and hardscape are created in Adobe Photoshop or Corel Painter.

For the most part, plants and landscape features are painted by hand. Sometimes I will paint them in place, and other times I will paint them in a separate file for use in the final painting. As long as the landscape “pieces” are created on their own layer, they can be manipulated and used in many different ways.

Here are a few hand painted bushes that were painted as individual graphics for use in landscaping. As you can see they are somewhat impressionistic, and you might think this will detract from the realism. The key is to blend them together wisely in the final painting. When shadows and highlights are applied properly, the final effect can be quite realistic.