Architectural Illustration: Capture a City’s Personality
A course by Carlo StangaIllustrator and Architect
A course by Carlo Stanga, Illustrator and Architect
Depict a cityscape using digital and analog techniques to find your own illustration style
Have you ever felt moved while walking through a city, and compelled to express how it makes you feel? This feeling of serendipity can be difficult to communicate in words, but according to artist and architect Carlo Stanga, it is much easier to transmit through an illustration of the place itself.
Architectural illustration is a wonderful way to connect with the mysterious attraction to an urban space, and in this course, you will discover renowned architectural illustrator Carlo Stanga’s methodology, that combines both analog and digital methods, to discover your own visual language and depict an urban space that is special to you.
What will you learn in this online course?
23 lessons & 30 downloads
What We Will Do on the Course
5 minutes, 41 seconds
How to Choose Your City
4 minutes, 13 seconds
Study the City: Find the City’s Personality / Identity
10 minutes, 49 seconds
Open-Air Sketch
14 minutes, 23 seconds
Photograph and Sketch: Buildings and Architecture
11 minutes, 37 seconds
Photograph and Sketch: People and Objects
11 minutes, 17 seconds
What's included in this course?
Carlo shares his artistic journey to date, introducing the ideologies that have shaped his career and motivated him to pursue his passions: illustration, architecture, and traveling. He reveals the artists that most inspire him, along with his philosophical perspective on creativity.
Start with an introduction of how Carlo approaches Architectural Illustration, and a glimpse at how he has prepared this course, with the aim to help you find your own style when illustrating architecture.
According to Carlo, the final result largely depends on your inspiration of the location you decide to illustrate. He suggests many ideas to help you choose yours, such as a place close to where you live, a city you visited that is special to you, or even a mix of different cities. What is important to Carlo is that you let your imagination run free.
Use books, films, internet, maps, and more, to find inspiration and information on your city’s identity. Carlo shows you how to imagine your city as a person and find its characteristics to give more depth to your architectural illustration.
Next, you’ll start your open-air sketch, a practice that Carlo invites you to enjoy using instinct rather than precision. Combine your sketches with photos, to examine the details of your location and move onto selecting your most useful sketches to trace each individual building separately. Carlo will show you an array of options to experiment with, encouraging you to experiment as much as possible, to find the characteristics of your style.
Discover how to implement people, fantasy elements, and more, to obtain your final architectural composition. Move onto scanning your buildings and find out how Carlo uses Photoshop to enhance his work. He shows you how to create the ideal palette, use the Transparency tool, and add shadows, introducing different techniques for you to find your own style syntax.
Once you have completed your final illustration, Carlo shows you how to analyze your work, to find its qualities and defects in order to improve over time. Prepare your file for different uses (personal, advertising, social media, and more) and finish the course with his expert tips on how to create a great portfolio.
Recommended software & tools for this course
What is this course's project?
You will draw a cityscape illustration of an urban area of your choice, implementing professional techniques, while identifying your own artistic identity.
Projects by course students
Who is this online course for?
This course is for illustrators of all levels, as well as designers, architects, and lovers of art and architecture that are looking to find their own artistic language in architectural illustration.
Experienced illustrators who want to improve both their analog and digital architectural illustration technique to a more professional level will also benefit from this course.
Requirements and materials
Basic knowledge in Adobe Photoshop is required to take this course. Previous knowledge in illustration will be useful but not essential.
As for materials, you will need a sketchbook, regular A3 sheets of paper, HB or B pencils, a black ink Rotring Technical pen or a felt tip pen, a scanner, a graphics tablet, a lightbox, and a computer with Adobe Photoshop.
Reviews
- 4 months ago
Excelente curso super recomendado
- 5 months ago
Five hours of amazing techniques and knowledge, what a fantastic course!
- 7 months ago
This was a very inspiring course. The instructor was very generous with his knowledge. Thank you I love your work!
- 8 months ago
What a wonderful course! I simply love learning with Carlo - he is a true gift to the world with all of his work and his teachings. Thank you!
- 8 months ago
aprendi muchas cosas con este curso, ahora utlizo una mejor tecnica pra dibujar
After several years working in Architecture and Illustration separately, Carlo merged his two professions and became a leading expert in Architectural Illustration. He recently published a series of books with Moleskine, telling the illustrated story of 3 major cities: I am New York, I am Milan, and I am London, where he takes the reader on an immersive journey through each city, with illustrations of architecture, anecdotes, and the character that defines each city.
In 2019, he was a runner-up in the Creative Quarterly 55 for his illustration work in the book I am New York, and obtained the American Illustration Award 38. He holds a large number of awards for his work and has held personal exhibitions in New York and Milan. His long list of clients includes Trussardi, Moleskine, Lufthansa, Nestlé, Missoni, and more.
Content
- U1
Introduction
- Presentation (About Me)
- Influences
- What We Will Do on the Course
- U2
Preparation
- How to Choose Your City
- Study the City: Find the City’s Personality / Identity
- Open-Air Sketch
- Photograph and Sketch: Buildings and Architecture
- Photograph and Sketch: People and Objects
- Fantastic Elements
- Tracing Our Illustrations With Ink Using the Lightbox
- U3
Digital Work
- Scanning and Combining All the Elements 1
- Scanning and Combining All the Elements 2
- Scanning and Combining All the Elements 3
- Scanning and Combining All the Elements 4
- Color and the Importance of Contrast 1
- Color and the Importance of Contrast 2
- Color and the Importance of Contrast 3
- Transparency
- Shadows 1
- Shadows 2
- Shadows 3
- U4
Applications
- Consideration About Your Finished Illustration
- Your Specialization and Creating Your Portfolio
- FP
Final project
- Architectural Illustration: Capture a City’s Personality
What to expect from a Domestika course
Learn at your own pace
Enjoy learning from home without a set schedule and with an easy-to-follow method. You set your own pace.
Learn from the best professionals
Learn valuable methods and techniques explained by top experts in the creative sector.
Meet expert teachers
Each expert teaches what they do best, with clear guidelines, true passion, and professional insight in every lesson.
Certificates
PLUSIf you're a Plus member, get a custom certificate signed by your teacher for every course. Share it on your portfolio, social media, or wherever you like.
Get front-row seats
Videos of the highest quality, so you don't miss a single detail. With unlimited access, you can watch them as many times as you need to perfect your technique.
Share knowledge and ideas
Ask questions, request feedback, or offer solutions. Share your learning experience with other students in the community who are as passionate about creativity as you are.
Connect with a global creative community
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FAQs
Yes, this course is designed for intermediate artists who have basic drawing skills and want to deepen their understanding of urban sketching and cityscape illustration techniques.
You’ll need pencils, pens, sketch paper, tracing paper or a light box, a scanner, and access to Photoshop or similar digital illustration software.
You’ll learn to analyze urban environments, combine analog and digital techniques, capture city personality, refine compositions, and develop your unique illustration style for both real and imagined cities.
Yes, the course covers imaginative techniques for illustrating both real and fictional cities, including how to invent cityscapes and depict speculative urban environments.
The course guides you through reflective practices, experimentation with techniques, and portfolio development to help you discover and refine your personal artistic voice.
Yes, you’ll learn step-by-step digital post-production workflows in Photoshop, including scanning, layering, coloring, and enhancing your cityscape illustrations.
Yes, the course covers creating a professional portfolio and effective strategies for presenting your artwork online or on your own website.