Why cityscapes are easier than they look
A city view can feel overwhelming because of all the windows, signs and cars. The trick is to ignore most of them. A good cityscape is built from a few big shapes, a clear light and dark pattern and a sense of depth. Details are suggestions, not records.
Materials
- Cold-press watercolor paper (a heavier weight stays flatter)
- A pencil and eraser
- A medium to large round or flat brush, and a small round brush for details
- A limited palette: for example a blue, a warm and cool red or orange, a yellow and a dark neutral such as a mixed gray
- Water, a rag and a mixing palette
- Optional: a waterproof pen for line work (see the best pens for ink drawing)
Step 1: Choose and simplify the scene
Pick a reference with a clear focal point, such as a street receding into the distance or a skyline against the sky. Squint at it. The shapes that stay visible are the ones to paint. Decide where the lightest and darkest areas are, and leave small objects out. Composition in watercolor painting has more on focal points.
Step 2: Make a light sketch
Keep the drawing minimal.
- Draw the horizon line, and for a street view, a vanishing point on it.
- Block in the larger buildings as boxes. Lines for rooftops and bases go toward the vanishing point in one-point perspective. See perspective in watercolor painting.
- Add a few key doors or windows only where they help the focal point.
Heavy pencil lines can show through light washes, so draw lightly. For more on this, see how to draw for watercolor painting.
Step 3: Paint the sky
Wet the sky area with clean water and brush in a soft wash (the wet-in-wet technique). Use a pale blue at the top fading to a warm tone near the horizon, or a gray for a moody day. Blot with a tissue for a few soft clouds; see how to paint clouds in watercolor. Let it dry.
Step 4: Block in the buildings
Mix a few light, varied colors from your palette and fill building shapes with flat or lightly graded washes. Let neighboring buildings differ in color or value so they separate from one another. Buildings farther away are usually lighter and cooler, with less contrast. Let each shape dry before painting an adjacent one, or let edges touch while still damp if you want them to blend.
Step 5: Add shadows
Mix a darker, cooler version of each building color, or a transparent gray. Paint shadows on one side of each building and beneath roof edges and awnings. Keep the light direction consistent. This step makes the buildings look solid.
Step 6: Add windows, doors and street elements
Use a small brush and a darker mix.
- Suggest windows with simple rectangles, varying their size and spacing, and skip many.
- Add dark doorways and signs in the foreground only.
- Paint a few figures or cars as simple shapes if you wish.
Put your darkest darks near the focal point.
Step 7: Foreground and finishing touches
Add a street, pavement or water with a wash that picks up the colors above. For reflections on wet streets, see watercolor techniques for painting water. Finally, add a few lines or marks with a small brush or pen, then stop. Overworking is the most common problem.
Common mistakes
- Too many details. Remove windows rather than adding them.
- Equal values everywhere. Add contrast near the focal point and keep distant areas softer. See value in watercolor painting.
- Converging lines that do not match. Check that lines run toward the same vanishing point.
- Muddy colors. Let layers dry and avoid mixing too many pigments. See mixing colors in watercolor.
Practice ideas
Take a small sketchbook to a street and paint a single corner in 20 minutes. If you want to paint outside regularly, see plein air painting in watercolor, and for a travel-friendly kit see travel watercolor painting.