DIGITAL PAINTING: QUICK BUILDINGS
BY FIORELLINA MANGIACORE

How to make quick, sketchy buildings in Photoshop. This tutorial is very simple - not many words, lots of pictures.

Buildings Picture 1

As always, I started with a sketch, concentrating on shape and form.

 
Buildings Picture 2

The first layer was this green, red, blue, and gray sky. All the tones were very subtle, so that the sky would look gray without being boring. The buildings themselves have also been outlined in gray, using the Paintbrush tool, and the Airbrush for the smudgy details of windows and doors.

 
Buildings Picture 3

A little more colour, a little more light and shadow, all added with the Airbrush tool at a large, soft-edged setting.

 
Buildings Picture 4

Here I've added some sketchy trees, and the basic layout of the ground, in a dark brown shade.

 
Buildings Picture 5

'Snowy' highlights on the roofs have been added, using a light blue shade. I used blue instead of white to make the highlights more subtle, and more print-friendly.

 
Buildings Picture 6

Here's a detail of the central buildings and trees, with a blowing snow effect added with the Airbrush tool set to 3% transparency. A 'glare' has also been added to the windows with diagonal Airbrush strokes.

 
Buildings Picture 7

And here's Mr. Bird in the foreground. He was sketched in using layers of medium blue, green, purple, dark brown, and light blue.

 
Bird detail


And a detail of the bird, just for fun.

 
Buildings Picture 8


The finished product. I added the border with the Canvas Size command, under the Image menu.
 

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