Class 1: Silhouette
Part 2

If you can no longer see your pencil lines through the paint, re-draw them with a heavy hand before you start painting.

Then, use a medium and a small round brush to accurately paint the shapes of the buildings.

This can be done with pure Payne’s Grey or indigo.

Because the contrast is so high, every flaw and fault will be very noticeable, so you need to be careful.

Because you also need to be fast so that the color will appear even and uniformly dark, use the larger brush to lay in the thicker, bottom part of the buildings, and then paint the delicate shapes in the tops of the buildings with the small brush.

For very fine lines, you can scrape through the wet paint with a stylus or palette knife.

Remove the tape, and use a fairly dry round brush with a split tip to paint the darker ripples in the water, and the reflection of the tallest building.

You might also need to soften the edges of the light in the water to make it more realistic.

Practice the brush strokes that will appear like ripples on a piece of scratch paper before using it in the painting to make sure you know how it will look before you start.

Class 2: Cityscape from a distance
Part 1

In the second class, we’re going to paint a cityscape that is slightly more detailed, so with a lighter sky and therefore, also more details visible.

The initial layout is just the same as last class, though.

Start with an accurate drawing of the buildings and a horizon line.

Make the pencil lines dark enough that you’ll be able to see them even after painting over the top.

When you’re happy with your drawing, wet the sky area and use a large flat brush to start adding light blues first, mixing with some pinks and oranges.

Once the lighter colors are actively mixing on the page, drop in some darker colors like Payne’s gray and purples in the corners.

Let the painting set up a bit, so it’s dry enough not to bleed very much if you add more paint, but not completely dry.

When the paper is at this stage, use a round brush to paint some purple clouds across the sky.

You can also add some color to the water at this point; plenty of blues and purples, just like you see in the sky.

The horizon line in this painting is not perfectly straight, so there’s no need to tape it off.

Let the background dry completely.

Class 2: Cityscape from a distance
Part 2

When the sky is dry, use some masking fluid to preserve windows in the buildings.

Let that dry, then use a small and medium round brush to cover the buildings with a blue-gray color that is the lighter tone of the buildings.

In this case, the buildings are not all one solid color as they were in the last class, so you can let some different blues and purples mix in the page as you work.

Again, use the larger brush to cover the large shapes as quickly and smoothly as possible, then use the smaller brush to add details like antennas on the roofs and so on. Let the base coat dry.

Next, add the shadow color to the buildings. Before you start, take note of how the light is hitting the buildings in the reference.

Assuming that the buildings are sitting squarely to each other, the light should be hitting the same side of each one and the shadow side should also be consistent.

Use a very dark mix of burnt umber and Payne’s gray to lay in the island and trees in the foreground, as well as shadows in the water.

Remove the masking fluid to finish.

Cityscapes Class 3: Day Scene
Part 1

When you have painted a couple of cityscapes in the night, you will be more prepared to add color and more detail to the mix.

Start, as usual with an accurate underdrawing of the cityscape, including all details that you want in the painting.

If you want the bridge and boat to be in the paint, make sure you include them in the drawing.

Next, wet the sky area, but keep the clouds and buildings dry.

This is called “water masking,” and is a simple way of helping to control where the watercolors go on the painting.

Paint the sky with cerulean blue or other light blues, then let the paint dry and tape the horizon line, then add similar blues to the water.

You can use a dry brush loaded with sea color and let the brush skip over the surface.

The small white specks that this technique leaves on the paper will look like sparkles on the water.

Let the water dry, then start adding the large blocks of color to the cityscape.

Look for similarly colored buildings in different places and paint them concurrently so that you don’t have to waste so much paint.

Doing that will also give the wet buildings time to dry so that you ensure a good, sharp edge between the buildings.

In the first pass, you don’t need to worry about small shapes; windows, shadows, balconies and sign work will all be a part of the detail phase.

Cityscapes Class 3: Day Scene
Part 2

Let the first pass of block painting dry, then look for the shadow shapes on the buildings and paint them.

Not all the shadows will be the same color, or the same darkness, so be prepared to mix a shadow for each color of building.

When you have the shadows in place, add the bridge over the top of the buildings.

Add details in the buildings, and the fine lines of the bridge suspension system.

Add additional shadows in the ripples of the water using that same dry brush technique as in class 2, then add the boat over the top with a round brush.

Remember that in watercolor painting, you get the best results by painting from back to front, so think of your painting as a series of layers, and paint those large, farthest elements first, then come forward in the picture plain working in smaller and smaller shapes.

Cityscapes Class 4: Curved Street Scene
Part 1

This is a closer view of a cityscape, and so will involve the highest level of detail and the closest attention to accuracy.

For this reason, layout the drawing with greater care, using a triangle to keep the lines both straight and at a 90 angle to the horizon.

The vanishing points, too, need to be kept in mind as you draw.

Remember that the vanishing point is always on the horizon line, and all parallel lines on the same plane will retreat towards the same vanishing point.

Use a pencil laid across the angles to get a better sense of how deep or shallow they are, then quickly sketch the same angle in place on your paper before you forget.

Work until the drawing is accurate and clean.

Next, lay in a wash of blues in the sky area and sepia in the buildings to get a sense of the atmosphere of the painting.

This will create a mood to the piece.

If there are bright lines that need to be pulled out before the wash dries, you can do that easily with a flat brush.

Then let the wash dry completely.

Start adding the largest shapes of color next.

Do this with a large brush, so that you can work fairly quickly, though not sloppily.

In textured areas, such as the brickwork or stone, you’re starting a base tone in this first pass that has some sense of texture to it, but isn’t at all detailed yet.

You can get different textures by stamping into wet paint with a wadded up paper towel, or by pressing the brush down at different angles.

Cityscapes Class 4: Curved Street Scene
Part 2

When the base tone is dry, start adding the details on top of that pattern.

For example, use a few different shades of reds and purples to add a few bricks to the wall, and start adding darks to the windows on the buildings.

Always look for the largest shapes of shadow and color as you work and put them down as continuous, intricate shapes of smooth, even color.

Next, add more details in the foreground.

Remember, you paint from back to front in watercolors, which allows you to stack details on top of the background rather than painting around them with background color.

If you need to preserve some whites in the bicycle spokes, do that before you start painting and let the masking fluid dry completely.

Finish with final, picky details like the shadow shapes between the cobbles in the foreground, lettering on signs in the background, and so on.

Before adding more details, let your eyes rest, so you can look at the painting with fresh eyes to see if more work is needed.

It’s easy to overwork highly detailed paintings like this.

Cityscapes Class 5: Loose Approach
Part 1

You can also approach your cityscape in an entirely different way, which is what you’ll be practicing in this class.

This method is more of a direct painting style, and doesn’t necessarily even require an underdrawing before starting the painting.

A reference is still a good idea, however, to give you a better sense not only of the shapes of the buildings, but also the relative lightness or darkness of the buildings as they exist farther in the back or closer to the viewer.

Remember that the further things are in the picture plane, the lighter in color they will appear, and as they come forward in the picture plane, they are darker, with more detail visible and more contrast.

Start in the sky, if you’re going to paint one, because even in a loose approach, you still paint from back to front.

A spray bottle spritzed over wet paint will make an excellent cloud formation that looks natural and effortless.

Before the sky has dried completly, you can start painting in the base colors of the buildings, especially those in the far distance that are light blue and purple.

Cityscapes Class 5: Loose Approach
Part 2

As you paint the closer buildings with more contrast, work on dry background, but before the paint of the buildings themselves can dry, scrape through the wet color with the back of your brush, or a palette knife, to make the white lines for windows and floors.

This is tricky, because you only get one shot at it, so use some care and think about how far apart you want the levels of the building to be, as well as the best angle to scrape them at.

You still need to know where the horizon line and vanishing point or points should be placed in order to do this step well.

To get a looser look, you can also lay a piece of paper over the sky and fling dots of paint over the buildings, which adds interest and makes it more fun.

Then, finish with the final dark, picky details in the windows, and re-darken shadows as needed to get a painting that has some depth and interest to it.

Remember to give yourself a break between stages so that you add details slowly and don’t overwork the painting.

It’s very easy to add too many details.

Reference Guide

Click To Download the Cityscapes Reference Guide

Bonus – Tools & Equipment

I work on a flat surface, so the colors don’t run together, so any easel.

I recommend 100% rag paper for paper; Arches makes a natural white 140# which is what I use, though I know a few other brands also make rag paper.

I like synthetic hair watercolor brushes for brushes (ones that specifically say “watercolor”

They’re made to suck up water and distribute it evenly, unlike a brush intended for heavier mediums like oil or acrylic.

I like the Golden Fleece line, but they make perfect synthetic hair brushes cheaper than sable brushes and hold up better.

I use tube paint that you can squeeze onto the palette, then activate with water, instead of cake colors that stay in tiny cups and are sprayed down as you paint.

The tube paint mixes better, in my opinion.

Student grade quality is fine for beginners, but I’d recommend a good brand, not a craft brand (for example, DaVinci, Grumbacher, Winsor, etc.)

When it comes to choosing the piece you want to paint .

I’d say the possibilities of images are quite vast of what they can do after taking the course, but you can start with subject matter similar to what I painted just to be sure it’s simple enough.

For example, more mountain range pictures, more simple, single-subject images (flowers, cat, dog, bird, cup) of anything at all should be possible.

Stay away from humans and horses.

Those are very tricky and make people frustrated.