Skyline DIY

Today I am going to show you how to make this cool art! You can customize it to be any city you want or any colors you want!

I got this idea when I went to Target, as usual, a few months ago and came across this painting

Now I was drawn to this painting for a number of reasons. One being that out of all the pictures I have hanging in my bedroom I yet to have one of anything Chicago. Two, I love skylines. Photos of skylines, for any city are some of my favorite. 

They wanted like $35 for this. I looked at it and was like I bet I could make this my self for a lot cheeper, and I did. I made it for around $8 instead.

First things first you are going to need to get everything you need. I used a 12x12 canvas for mine because thats what fit my map, but feel free to use any size you want. You're also going to need a map the state you wanna do and a silhouette of a city in that state. I also used stickers to put on the canvas so I could easily paint out the letters. You will also need black and white paint and a paint brush.

First you are going to tape on the map to the center of your canvas. Then you are going to trace around the map with a pencil to get the shape of the map onto the canvas.

Then you are going to place your cutout skyline onto the canvas with the skyline centered on the map. You are then also going to trace the skyline onto the map with a pencil. Don't worry about tracing the bottom because all of that will be black anyways.

You are then going to move the skyline a little up and to the right to create the shadow of the buildings. You are going to trace this skyline the same way as before just with out tracing inside the buildings already drawn.

Then you are going to add the stickers to the canvas to spell out the cities name. you can use any font of sticker you want, I used these because it was what I already had. Make sure the stickers are super stuck down because, as you will see with my final, sometimes the paint tends to slip under them.

Next you are going to paint the skyline, but just in that first skyline you drew. Make sure to paint over the letters too, being careful not to get a lot of paint underneath the letters. 

Then you are carefully going to remove the stickers, making sure no to touch the other paint too much.

Next you are going to need to make a dark gray color by mixing some white with a little black. You are then going to use that color to paint the other skyline you traced. This will give you a shadow effect over the skyline.

Then you are going to make a really light gray by mixing mostly white with a little bit of black. You are going to use this color to fill in the sky. You can do some shading by making some areas darker than others.

You will then get your finished product! So much better than paying $35, and this way you can brag to your friends about how you actually made this!

I hope you try this out and see you back here soon!

Squad Out - Caroline