My Gallery of Digital Cityscape Art!

In each painting, I try to do something different to show what is possible given the tools available to me. Some paintings will use photographic elements. However, that is not say you do not need skill and to let the program do it for you!

On the contrary, the photo elements are used as a shortcut rather than a crutch. That is, I picked up the textures I needed from the photos and filled out the shapes I have sketched out. From there, I hand painted the light and shadows elements.

Except for the first half, each painting took at least a month to complete. The reason why it takes so long is that I’m painting them on a large digital canvas for reasons of creating extreme details. On top of that, they are done from scratch from a simple sketch.

Clicking on the pictures will open up a larger version of the picture. From there, you can look at it closely through high detailed close-ups. Even with the close-ups, it is still only at 25% of the total size! That tells you how big the original digital canvas is!

The pictures are ordered from past to most recent.

1. Phoenix World

The key ingredient in this particular digital cityscape art is speed. I wanted to create a simple dynamic environment dealing just with one or two tones of color. Because of the need for a semi speed painting, I opted out to use as few layers as possible.

In the end, there are about four layers at the end of the painting: each containing its own element of the foreground, the middle ground, the background, and a color adjustment layer. The solitary city in the middle adds to the feeling of loneliness, from a period that was once prosperous, as the sun goes down.

The name of the piece is based on the color of the composition. The sky looks like the tail of a phoenix. As such, hope is there that this city will once again prosper in the near future.

Speed paintings give what clients want: a quick overview of what their commissions to be. As well, it saves time for the artist because we are not working on any details that could potentially be rejected if the client does not like the composition.

Such poor time management is costly in the real world for both the artist and the client! Be efficient with your art!

2. Tree of Life

This particular digital cityscape art painting uses multiple layers unlike the previous speed painting. The advantage of having multiple layers is that you can add more details without carrying it over to other elements of the picture. However, speed is sacrificed.

This painting aims to create am ambient environment where nature and technology can potentially exist. The mist is caused by evaporating heat coming from the city activities and to be readily absorbed into the tree. While the first painting uses a simple one point perspective, I am working with two point perspective in this painting.

The vanishing points are way beyond the boundaries of the painting. This allows a more natural look at perspective.

The background is hand painted ever so diligently. Originally, I only wanted this to be a painting about the mountains and a simple valley. As you can see, I decided to add more to the composition. As an aspired digital artist, we always have the tendency to strive for completeness.

While this is good, don't ever let go of the need to balance it out with the time constraints that are placed.

3. Future World

Remember, this is not a replacement for your own skills! I still had to do a speed painting of this composition before I can move towards this state. Don't forget that speed paintings come from your knowledge of perspective, composition, and other various art theories. You need to have a good foundation regardless!

The focus of this digital cityscape art painting is the water. I wanted to try something different so I placed the horizon above eye level so I can focus more on the water. I wanted this feeling of grandeur to be present.

As mentioned before, the details were grabbed from photographic elements. When I grabbed the photos I wanted, it was very small. Through the clever use of the clone brushes, I am able to expand a small photo so that it covers the majority of the composition.

It is a shortcut because I am controlling the photos to form my composition rather than have the photos dictate my composition. Having said that, you still need to do a lot of painting after the photos are in place. Since there are about ten photos referenced, they all come in different colors, shapes, and resolution.

Having it all 'merge' correctly requires a lot of basic art knowledge, techniques, and color theories for this digital cityscape art piece. That's why you need to build up that foundation first!

4. Future World 2

In this second futuristic digital cityscape art painting example, I am pretty much expanding on the the concepts on the first painting. The complexity in this painting is a result of adding an extra foreground element such as a balcony. As usual, after the initial speed painting is approved, I begin to work on the details.

I wanted to create a futuristic environment where a character can look over. The general blue tones all around adds towards the future theme as it is a safe color to use for most compositions.

Combining what we already know from art basics and of our digital art tools, I begin to experiment using different shape manipulation tools for this digital cityscape art piece. Once again, I used photographic elements for its textures as a shortcut rather than painting out an endless amount of details.

The buildings are done by duplicating the textures and then manipulated into the perfect perspective. The hardest part is getting the shadows right in comparison to the light source. As a result, I had to add another vanishing point to where the light source will be.

Overall, it is a very challenging composition but one that is rewarding provided you already have developed a good artistic foundation. This is something I stress a lot because it always comes back to knowing and practicing the basics. So practice often so you can be ready to do your own digital cityscape art!

Return from Digital Cityscape Art to 2d Digital Art Gallery.
Return from Digital Angels Art to the 2d Digital Art Guide.

Have A Painting To Show Off?

Do you have a great 2d digital art painting/drawing or two you want to show off? Are you proud of your accomplishment? If you are, share it so others can get some inspirational ideas!

This is your section to show us what you are capable of! Once submitted, your picture will become a 'live' page on this site.

You can submit as many paintings as you want, using a new submission for each piece. However, remember that it is always quality over quantity!