Dearborn Street Mansion, Chicago, Illinois

This is a watercolor architectural illustration of a renovation project on N. Dearborn Street in Chicago. It was commissioned early in the 1980s as Randal was starting his freelance illustration career. A real estate developer was rehabbing this mansion into a commercial office space and needed a way to communicate what the final product would look like, in order to attract a first tenant.

Randal visited the construction site, took reference photos, and went over the architectural blueprints with the developer. An initial “pencil” layout was completed and approved by the customer. The linework was then inked in by hand using Rapidograph pens and sepia ink on Strathmore watercolor board. Then the final watercolor washes were added.