Advanced Watercolor Cityscapes: Paint Your Own Urban Scenes

In this tutorial we will discuss the three main areas of your subject. Many of you probably already know these areas. However, how you interpret each one and what role you assign them in a painting can be more elusive for many.

The three main areas are;

1. Background

2. Middle-ground

3. Foreground

Now we will breakdown each one and define a very specific role. This is where things get interesting.

Background- this area contains several key elements. It's common for artists to overpaint this area by including too many details and small shapes. This will only clutter the focal point and become a distraction for the viewer.

Here are a few key guidelines to keep in mind about background;

• It should be considered as an interesting shape only

• Always pay attention to how the sky (if included) and positive shape appear in the frame.

• Keep colors cool and/or neutral

• Avoid having too much contrast

Middle-ground- This is where the action is! Most artists, including myself, spend that majority of their time in this area. That applies to both the design aspect and the actual painting time when completing finished art.

Here are a few guidelines to consider with middle-grounds;

• Include a focal point

• Use more saturated colors

• Add some contrast

• In many cases include some white-space

• Think medium and small shapes

Foreground- Another area that's typically overpainted and misunderstood by many. If you treat the foreground as anything other that a way for the viewer to get in you are probably missing the point of this area.

Here are a few guidelines that may help you design a better foreground;

• Use it as an entry point

• Keep it simple so that you don't clutter the middle-ground

• Think quiet space

• Look at images of street scenes and always have a list of ideas on what to use as entry points

Moving forward - In the three examples I used quick, gestural style drawing to convey the points mentioned above. It's a great practice to do these types of drawings on a regular basis. They keep you loose and are subtle reminders to always organize your intent for the three main areas.

Materials used in demo

• Fine point sharpie

• Print paper

Recommended Exercise

• Important: Using images from the image resources create similar studies as demonstrated in the lesson. Work quickly and remember to apply some of the tips to the sketch.

• Use pencil, pen, charcoal, sharpie or whatever else you prefer to draw with.

• Keep the studies small, 5 works well.

• Use printer paper if you have it. Save to premium sketch paper for other exercises.

Demo Images Attached

Here's an example of a finished painting using techniques discussed in previous lessons. It's important at this time to have a good visual of how these methods work in action.

Demo Image Attached

In this tutorial we will look closer into backgrounds. The focus is looking at details, edges and other features that will help balance believability and abstract qualities.

What you need to know

Always get a sense of perspective- using your drawing device is a great way to discover the angles. You can hold the pencil in front of an image and tilt it up to down until you match the angles. Transfer that angle to your paper as best possible. It's rarely perfect but you will get the gist of it.

Pay close attention to the edges- if you look closely at your subjects you will see subtle details that make shapes interesting. Capture some of those characteristics on your loose sketch.

Loosely indicate details- try to discover some of the details within the shapes. In the demo there were architectural details above the windows and doors in the first example. They were loosely indicated in the sketch as a way to acknowledge their existence.

Don't try to create an illustration- as mentioned before you need to keep it loose. Don't add every single window and detail. Work intuitively and quickly to add only those details that catch your eye. It's all about balancing reality and abstract qualities.

Sometimes what you leaveout is more impotent than what is included.

Materials used in demo
#2 pencil
60lb. drawing paper

In this lesson you will learn how to take some of what we learned in the previous exercise and transfer it to a refined sketch. To do this we will use a frame which is the picture frame. By using a frame you will start to inch closer to a finished design and discover how the background fits within the four edges.

What you need to know

Start with a frame- it doesn't need to be exact but it should include one of the three main layouts. They are portrait, landscape and square. Add the frame layout to the paper so you can start to visualize the shapes within it.

Try a few layouts- it's good to experiment with a few designs. There are usually many solutions to achieving a good design and many times you will get several potential layouts that work.

Transfer the shapes- working loosely you can transfer your shapes to the frame. As you do this your brain will start to remember the subtleties of the image and many of them will appear without having to think too much, or refer to the image.

Start with light lines- try to user light lines in the beginning. Using little pressure into the surface will do the job. Darker lines can be used as you refine the shapes.

Use gestural sketching- try to avoid illustration drawing at all times for this stage. Loose gestural sketching works best. Move quickly! If this is a challenge for you set a timer for three to five minutes for the sketch.

See Attached Demo images

Here's a demo where I explore painting background only. It's very useful to do this exercises once in a while to keep your skills sharp!

In this lesson we will have a look at the all important middle ground. As with all aspects of painting you will learn tips to simplify your approach. 

The middles ground should contain the following;

1. Small and medium size shapes- This is the key to developing contrast with the bigger shapes of the background. The smaller shapes typically consist of figures, cars, and building features that are located near the bottom of the buildings such as awnings and signage.

2. Interesting arrangement of shapes- How the shapes are placed within the middle ground determines whether or not this area is boring and/or cluttered. Boring usually happens because there's little variation in shape sizes. Cluttered middle grounds usually occur when there isn't any breathing room between the shapes.

3. Keep figures height at eye level- The tops of figures heads should all be at about the same level unless you are dealing with an hill that is elevating or going lower.

4. More saturated hues- This is where you place the pops of color. By adding more vibrants hues to this area, assuming you don't fall for the trap of a carnival of colors in the background area, it will immediately register as a focal point area.

5. A focal point- Always try to have one area of interest. There may be other features in the middle ground that are interesting but choose one are to have more contrast and vibrant hues.

Demo Images Attached

Now we will take the middle grounds to a new level by turning rectangles into actual objects like figures, cars and building features. Also there are shadows and darker values which play a key role in joining shapes.

Here are some of the key points shared in this tutorial;

1. Always start by visualizing details as basic rectangles, and an occasional oval if there is some signage. Then turn them into objects that are characteristic of what you would see in street scenes such as figures, cars, buses, awnings and so on.

2. Shadows play a key role in connecting shapes. Even if your image/subject doesn't have good shadows that connect shapes you should make them up. There are cases where it may be a cloudy day so this isn't possible. In this case you arrange the shapes accordingly so that the design works without them.

3. Experiment with designing middle ground only. Take some time to study the asset images and see for yourself what types of features you see in middle grounds. Look around at different images and get to know the subject some. This will come in handy when you need to add elements to a street scene.

Give it a try

It's your turn to experiment with middle grounds using the methods shared in the tutorials. 

• Remember to always indicate objects with basic shapes first. 

• Avoid copying what you see in images and situate the shapes in an interesting way. 

• Always have different sized rectangles. Some tall, some short and wide, some horizontal (awnings and signage) and so on. 

• Once you have something that looks interesting try laying a piece of paper over top of it and turn shapes into recognizable objects. 

• Now try laying a blank piece of paper over the refined sketch and loosely add the background shape. 

• You should notice how the smaller middle ground shapes contrast against the more abstract background area.

Remember- The design comes first! Always make the shapes interesting in the very beginning and then add elements that are appropriate to the subject later on.

Most artists work backwards.They copy what they see and then realize later on (usually while painting finished art) that the design isn't working.

Demo Images Attached

In this lesson we will have a closer look at foregrounds. This area plays a key role in the design for many reasons.

Below is a breakdown of guidelines to consider when approaching the all important foreground.

It's an entry point- you don't have to paint long to know that the viewer needs an entry point into the painting. But it's easy to overlook this basic idea. It's also very common for experienced artists to simply forget about it. 

In doing so they make silly mistakes like placing large objects and highly saturated colors in this area which pull the viewer right out of the painting.

Always consider you subject- when designing the foreground you should consider adding common elements of your subject. For street scenes it can shadows, curbs, sidewalk, tire marks, crosswalks and so on. 

Always take time to study images and get to know your subjects. You should have a list of what to use and a sketchbook with ideas on how to address the entry points.

Demo Image Attached