Headstand Media

I created this site plan of what eventually became the Allstate Insurance office campus way back in the 1980’s. The developer was Homart, and the project called Riverwoods. The original art was done with pen and ink line work, and color pencil and watercolor washes on illustration board. I can’t remember how I got the job, but it was used in a printed piece promoting the development project, and seeking to attract a major tenant. It was one of the first color site plans I did as I started my freelance illustration career in 1981. I’ve always liked how it turned out.

This site plan map was done for a major Chicago design firm (I think it was Lipman-Hearne) that was designing print materials for a residential development for Pacific-Sakata, back in the 1980’s. The development was ironically called Falling Water… the name of a famous Frank Lloyd Wright house in Pennsylvania. “Ironic” because I live in Oak Park where Wright started his career, and I have been a fan of his designs for many years.The design firm entered the piece in a design contest and won some kind of award. It is a very nice map illustration. I am pretty sure I did it with pen and ink line art on illustration board, and then shaded it with color pencil.

I’ve done so many map illustrations in my career, I’ve lost count. Many of them are of the Chicago area. The one on the left I did in 1995 of the Chicago area, featuring all the main Interstate highways, Lake Michigan, the outline of Chicago and border counties. It was done in color pencil, probably on 100% rag drawing vellum. I just found it looking through archives on my hard drive.

The other one is an aerial map done in the same color pencil style. I did it for myself initially, then Rand McNally found it on my BIRKEY.COM portfolio website, and used it on the cover of their Chicago Streetfinder Map edition. The University of Chicago also found it on my portfolio site and used it for an event poster.

Chicago Area Map	Chicago Aerial Map