THE TOOLS
MATERIALS:
- POSCA Paint Pens (Or any paint pens/markers/pastels), I have tried so many brands and so far they are my jam!
- Cardboard scrap or chipboard (I used Chipboard for this project)
- Charcoal Pencils in B & W, if you don’t have use a white colored pencil or just a regular pencil.
- Sharpie or black paint pen
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THEME: Geometric Cityscape
ART LINGO:Shape Design, Pattern Play
APPROX TIME: 30+ minutes
LEVEL OF DIFFICULTY: Any Age
New Year + New Project! Join us for a super fun and super easy geometric building art lesson.
I love the idea of arriving into a new city; the shape design of the tall buildings, the rusted copper roofs tinged turquoise and the bright colors of city life excite my soul! What better way to capture that feeling then creating our very own imaginative cityscape straight from our imagination!
Find some scrap cardboard (maybe from that amazon package you just got) some fun paint pens and turn on your creativity for this one, it’s an anyone and everyone project, I am pretty sure I had more fun doing this then my kiddo.
You ready to get to it?? COME ON AND SCROLL DOWN WITH ME
STEPS
Step 1:
Grab your materials and let’s get to it! I used Chipboard for this that was already 8×10 but you could use any type of cardboard you have around the home/class, just be sure to pre cut it to be a nice size to work with (nothing too small but not too big that it becomes overwhelming to work with. Something along the lines of 5×7-8×10 is perfect! It can be in the shape of a rectangle, square or even a circle!
Once you have your cardboard/chipboard, find your white charcoal pencil (I love to use Charcoal for this step because it really stands out against the tan of the paper and if I make a mark I don’t love I can simply just smudge it away with my finger.)
Now is the time to start layering shapes for our city scape. For my city I was inspired by the skyline of NYC with the buildings stacked on top of each other in the most unique and fun shapes. Play with the ideas of half circle building domes, long rectangle buildings, short stout ones and pointy triangle shaped buildings. There is no rules to this one only that we layer the buildings in front of and behind! (See Photo 1)
Step 2:
Once you have your cityscape layered now comes the fun part! Start filling in each building with the windows, doors, and any other fun accents. Are they made of bricks, geometric shapes, glass, fur, gumdrops? The sky is the limit here! I ended up turning some of my buildings into creative creatures while others were inspired by ‘it’s a small world’ at Disneyland! (See photo 2)
Step 3:
Ready for the color!! Grab your paint pens and get to it! If you have never used Paint pens before (they are acrylic paint in a thick marker form) all you need to do is press the tip of the pen against a piece of paper and press up and down a few times until the color bleeds to the tip of the pen! If you notice the pen getting drier at anytime just push the tip up and down a few times on your cardboard/chipboard and your pen tip is reloaded with color! You can use any paint pen but I love the POSCA Paint Pens brand, they are hands down the brightest and most fun colors! Use your Paint pens to layer color over your patterned buildings. I love to outline my shapes and then go from there leaving some areas of the chipboard unpainted in each building. (See Photo 3&4)
Step 4:
Once you have your color now is the time for details! Using either or both of your white paint pen and black sharpie (I used both but just choosing one could be fun too) go into each building one by one and add any fun final details. Maybe you outline some beautiful pattered part or showcase some pretty window design or add fun polka dots to the skyscraper. Again this is an opportunity to just focus on the details and have fun!!!! (See Photos 5&6)
Step 5:
Take a look at your piece and see if there are any areas where you need to add one last pop of color! It could be just adding yellow over some blue or some pink over some purple, a final run over of color is never a bad thing! Paint pens love to be layered and the more details you give to the shapes the more interesting they become (See photos 7&8)! When you are done stand back and marvel at your beautiful new inventive city you just created!!!!!!! Woo Hoo!!
That’s it for now! Thanks for building a cool cityscape with me!
xx Mrs. K!
