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.
{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.
One really wonderful aspect of working with the Micron pen is how much control you have. I have to admit, this amount of control requires a learning curve if you’re used to drawing with a dip pen {as I am}. It’s sort of like driving a new car with super-touchy brakes that you’re not used to. The ink exactly echoed what my hand did … which in some cases I liked, but other cases I didn’t. For example, a dip pen is forgiving if you hand shakes slightly. The Micron pen would respond to shaking by creating a shaky line.
When I needed to fill in dark areas, I would use a larger Micron pen, like a 08. I like adding a lot of contrast to cityscapes to add visual interest.
One of the crappiest most time-consuming aspects of creating a cityscape illustration is drawing in all the itty-bitty windows. Drawing in the windows requires a large amount of patience and an understanding of perspective. With these windows, I drew lines that intersected, then I filled in the intersections.
Next, I needed to put trees in my cityscape. I have heard it said that one should not draw individual leaves, and normally I disagree with that statement. However, in this case, I realized that drawing itty bitty leaves would be sensory overload, and I needed my buildings to take center stage. So, I experimented with a new tree-drawing technique. First, I drew a few strokes to represent the trunk and limbs:
Then, I drew a light “cloud” to denote large clusters of leaves.
Next, I drew in a few squiggles to give the cloud texture and volume; then, I shaded the bottom of each “cloud”.
It was a quick process … I don’t think I have ever drawn a tree in so little time!
To keep some variation going, I alternated between drawing trees and doing my building outlines. If I really wanted to feel like I was making progress, I’d fill in black areas.
But, if we’re being honest, my favorite things to draw were the trees. There wasn’t any pressure to make a perfectly straight line.
Once I was out of trees to draw, it was time to tackle all of the windows. I used a ruler to help me in this endeavor.
You know, in cityscapes, it’s really not the building outlines that are the difficult part. It’s drawing in all those tiny windows. The next series of photos was probably taken in a seven-hour span. No kidding.
When I finally finished, I was rewarded with this pleasant outline:
And it was time to erase my pencil lines.
Okay, so here’s where I tell you why I won’t use Micron pens on an illustration like this again: basically, erasing faded the ink by a few percentage points. I was disappointed to see that what had been vivid black was now a faded black — this doesn’t happen if you illustrate with a dip pen and India ink. It still looked fine, but after putting in all that time, the fade was somewhat disappointing.
Now, it was time to put on my India ink wash. I chose to do an ink wash vs. watercolor because I needed a muted, elegant color palette. Watercolor would have been too vivid.
For the ink wash, I just took a painter’s palette and mixed different ratios of water to India ink. One was around 90% water, 10% ink; the next 75% water, 25% ink, and the last one was 60% water, 40% ink. I then alternated between using a Brause Blue Pumpkin nib to fill in small areas, and a tiny brush to fill in larger areas.
I noticed that the pen always rendered darker results, probably because it doesn’t spread the ink wash out as much as a brush does.
For the trees, I used the brush.
See the darker areas on the bottom? Those are there because I went over the ink again with a second wash layer. Ink wash works a little differently than watercolor because an ink wash is all about increasing opacity with additional layers of the wash.
But for the windows of the Georgian Terrace Hotel, I used the Brause nib because I needed precision. Same with small details on the Fox Theatre.
I also used the dip pen to make shadows, as shown on the building, cutting through windows. I did this because they were in one of several reference photos that I examined, and I liked the interest the shadows added.
To finish the illustration off, I used some Faber Castel Manga pens that I got from a garage sale. Who knew, the gray served my purposes beautifully! {Manga fans are probably going, “Ah, gimme a break!” right now.}
After eight hours of working with the ink wash, I was finally finished!
So, today I whipped up this design and printed off the programs on Cranes Lettra Digital paper; then I used a custom stamp to emboss the bride and groom’s names in gold. Now Emily has a very unique program — and I’m sending her the original 8″x10″ cityscape illustration to have as a keepsake.
Though cityscape illustrations are time-consuming, they’re also really cool … and it is fun to get to know a place by creating one.
Here’s what I used to make the illustration:
70 lb. Drawing Paper
Speedball India Ink
Clear Plastic Ruler
Small Brush
Brause Blue Pumpkin Nib
If you decide to create a cityscape, make sure you give yourself plenty of time to create it. Cityscape illustrations make for wonderful artwork … which translates into great gifts {anyone know someone with a birthday coming up? start drawing!}. If you have any questions along the way, of course feel free to comment or email me. When you’re finished, I’d be delighted to see your creation! Lately, I’ve been getting emails from readers sharing their TPK blog-inspired projects with me. I love seeing them!
I’m off to emboss more of Emily’s programs; but before I go, I want to thank you again for reading. Enjoy your weekend!
XO,
*This post contains affiliate links to Amazon