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  • Cityscape Illustration Tutorial

    by

    Lindsey Bugbee

    , ,

    “Cityscape Illustration Tutorial” … a blog post which I would like to unofficially subtitle “I Have Never Been to Downtown Atlanta But I Can Tell You Exactly How Many Tiny Windows the Georgian Terrace Hotel Has”. In all honesty, cityscape illustrations are fun to make and always turn out as extremely pretty and ornate works…

    Atlanta Cityscape Illustration | The Postman's Knock

    Today’s blog post is essentially The Odyssey of illustration-centric blog posts. Like Odysseus, I underestimated how long my quest would take. Unlike Odysseus, I was only down for the count three days creating this Atlanta cityscape illustration.

    My beloved client Emily — the fantastic woman I created the Persian-inspired wedding invitations and the Atlanta skyline save the dates for — is getting married within the next couple of weeks. That, of course, means that it’s time to complete all the finishing touches: programs, escort cards, thank you cards, etc. For the programs, I proposed that an original Fox Theatre illustration be utilized. Emily pretty much leaves me to my own devices once she hears an idea, so she essentially said, “Yeah, go for it,” and I was off!

    First, I began by freehanding an outline of the cityscape as depicted in an image on Google that had the angle I wanted.

    Atlanta Cityscape Illustration | The Postman's Knock

    {Yeah, I know I already started filling it in in this photo! It didn’t occur to me to have the illustration double as a cityscape illustration tutorial until after I’d filled in a couple of things!}

    Even if you have a reference photo, it is vital to have an understanding of two point perspective* if you want to draw a cityscape. Several years ago, I was taught about perspective through creating a drawing like the one in this YouTube tutorial. Making your own imaginary cityscape by using the techniques outlined in the YouTube tutorial will do wonders for your understanding of how to draw buildings — and many other objects — realistically.

    *If an illustration has good perspective, it means that the artist has convincingly depicted 3D objects on a 2D surface {usually paper}.

    Next, I pulled out my brand-new 005 Micron pen, which I purchased for the purpose of creating typography art. Next time, I will use a dip pen and ink, though — keep reading to find out why.

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