Michael Spencer
Landscape Architect

This drawing of Copper Cove makes good use of shadows and transparencies introduced in PowerCADD 7.

As to technique, I paid very little attention to color selection as I was in a hell of a hurry;
normally, I'll use the excellent tool color.app to make more intelligent choices! 

Transparency is a big part of communicating this design to the client,
particularly the 'Grassy Sitting Area' north of the pool;
this is a grass area with coconut trees providing shade.
Transparency sure shows this design idea.

I tend to use gradients sparingly. In this case the gradient technique
powerfully illustrates the horseshoe and shuffleboard courts.

Here gradients are used in a very subtle way on the shuffle board courts.

Shadows, of course, are essential. I used the 'eyeball' method here, preferring to use
shadows more as a tool to feature key design elements than to use shadows accurately.
The Shadow Needle Tool [in the ShadowTools palette of WildTools] is a huge help, since it works even if shadows are off,
which is the way I normally draw as the shadows take too much processor power on my dual 1.8G PowerMac.

I rarely use hatches, with the exception of indicating special paving, and in this instance is is just plain invaluable. 

Deck colors are also chosen to illustrate the concepts and would not be so dark, down here in south Florida.