Beginner Watercolor Cityscape

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Are You In The Mood To Travel To A City?

Well, look no further. Through our own watercolors, we are going to take a trip to New York City. The painting we will be creating is going to be a loose watercolor cityscape. This is a four-step tutorial that will help you learn how to create your own cityscape and use these techniques in other paintings.

Supplies You’ll Need:

1. Pencil
2. Eraser
3. Waterproof Ink Pen
4. Watercolor paper
5. Round paintbrush
6. Flat paintbrush
7. Watercolor paint (burnt sienna & ivory black)
8. Washi/Painters tape (optional)
9. Two cups of water
10. Paper towel

If you would like to see all the art supplies I recommend, check out, “My Supplies” page. Click HERE to check it out! You might be saying I know absolutely nothing about watercolor supplies to even know what you’re looking for. If that’s the case check out this post, Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Watercolor, to learn all about the different kinds of watercolor supplies.

Let’s Sketch!

Step 1:

Grab your pencil and begin sketching out the city silhouette. Use the sketch below as a guide. It may look difficult to sketch out, but remember any sketch can be broken down into basic shapes. This drawing is made of basically rectangles and triangles. Use different widths and heights to create dimension. When you have completed your outline, take your waterproof ink pen and trace over your pencil marks. Wait a few minutes and erase your pencil lines.

Let’s Paint!

Step 2:

Grab the paint colors winsor violet and manganese blue for our first layer. We will be using the wet on wet technique in this step. Take a flat brush and load it up with water, then apply a layer of water right below where the city outline ends. Work the water up into each building about a fourth of the way up.

Now take a small round brush, dip it into your winsor violet and begin painting from the top of your first building working your way down into the water layer. You should see your purple spread out into the water creating a flowering effect. Repeat this step on all the buildings. Switch between winsor violet and manganese blue on every other building. Now, wait for this layer to dry before moving on to step 3.

Let’s Add Shadows!

Step 3:

Take your flat brush again and add another layer of water on the base of the city outline and a fourth of the way up into your buildings. Now create a darker mix of both winsor violet and manganese blue. Dip your brush in winsor violet and add a darker layer over your first building. Move the paint down to blend into the water layer. Skip a few buildings then add a darker layer of manganese blue. Repeat this step as needed, skipping every other building. This will add depth to your buildings.

Step 4:

To add more detail we are going to create windows in a couple of the buildings using white paint. You can also use a waterproof white ink pen. Put some white paint on your pallet, but do not add any water. Take a slightly damp tiny round brush and dip the tip into the white paint. Choose two or three buildings and tap in three windows. Create two layers of three windows then add one layer of two windows underneath.

Wait for your windows to dry then load up your medium round brush with a good amount of water and manganese blue. Now tap the handle of your brush on your finger with the bristles over the painting. This will create a splattered layer. Repeat this step with winsor violet.

You’re Finished!

Congrats on completing your loose watercolor cityscape! Comment below on what landscape you would like to paint next. If you enjoyed painting with me check out my other tutorials HERE. Don’t forget to follow me on Instagram, @reflectioncreation, and Pinterest.

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Hope To See You Again Real Soon!