Colorful City Portraits: Illustrate Your Favorite Place
A course by Alex Foster, Illustrator
Joined October 2020
Capture the essence of the place you love using mixed digital techniques
Take a visual trip down memory lane by illustrating the structures and buildings of a city you love. Illustrator Alex Foster shows you how to depict urban structures in your own style, using your favorite drawing tools and Adobe Photoshop.
Draw a city portrait by exploring a series of original techniques. Mix analog and digital drawing methods to create a unique and colorful city portrait that stays true to your style. Are you ready to rediscover your favorite city?
What will you learn in this online course?
13 lessons & 32 downloads
What's included in this course?
Meet Alex Foster, see some of his illustration work, and find out why and how he became an illustrator. Discover the artists, books, and podcasts that inspire him, before seeing how to create your city portrait.
Start collecting ideas by exploring what makes a city portrait. Discover Alex’s useful tips for researching your city, before seeing which materials he likes to use and why.
Sketch your ideas onto paper and do some thumbnail drawings to try out different composition styles. Then, upload your drawings onto Photoshop to refine and enhance your rough sketches with Alex’s step-by-step method. Prepare your digital canvas for color and start drawing digitally. Continue by adding color and texture to your composition, seeing ways to experiment and create visually striking artwork.
Learn to analyze your illustration to identify where to add more elements such as typography or decorative elements. Wrap up the course by adding the final details using and seeing how to prepare your file for printing.
- 99% positive reviews (107)
- 2,482 students
- 13 lessons (2h 21m)
- 32 additional resources (1 files)
- Online and at your own pace
- Available on the app
- Audio: English
- English · Spanish · Portuguese · German · French · Italian · Polish · Dutch · Turkish · Romanian · Indonesian
- Level: Beginner
- Unlimited access forever
What is this course's project?
Illustrate a portrait of a city you love using both manual and digital techniques.
Projects by course students
Who is this online course for?
This course is suitable for illustrators of all levels who want to learn how to illustrate city portraits using image-editing software.
Requirements and materials
You don’t need previous drawing experience as Alex starts with the basics.
As for materials, you can use any materials you like (pencils, watercolors, or other), paper, a computer with Adobe Photoshop or any other image-editing software, and a scanner or camera to upload your artwork.
Reviews
Alex Foster
A course by Alex Foster
Alex Foster is a freelance illustrator from Margate, UK who specializes in map illustration and children’s illustration. He is known for launching a personalized House Portrait service on his online shop, where customers can request a custom illustration of their home. He has created over 400 House Portraits, and regularly updates his online shop with limited edition print collections of maps and city portraits.
His list of clients include Penguin Random House, Air Canada, American Express, Airbnb, Expedia, and English Heritage. Alex has been exhibited internationally and has received a World Illustration Award from the Association of Illustrators in 2015.
Content
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U1
Introduction
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About Me
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Influences
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U2
Formulating Your Idea
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What Is and How to Make the Portrait of a City?
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Research and Save Images
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Materials
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U3
Creating Your Artwork
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Sketch Out Ideas on Paper
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Bringing Your Rough and Textures in Photoshop
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Preparing Your Digital Canvas and Preparing for Colour
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Drawing Buildings
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Adding Colour
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Textures
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U4
Final Touches and Preparing for Print
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Final Touches
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Printing and Presenting
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FP
Final project
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Ilustrated City Portrait
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What to expect from a Domestika course
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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.
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Learn from the best professionals
Learn valuable methods and techniques explained by top experts in the creative sector.
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Meet expert teachers
Each expert teaches what they do best, with clear guidelines, true passion, and professional insight in every lesson.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Connect with a global creative community
The community is home to millions of people from around the world who are curious and passionate about exploring and expressing their creativity.
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Watch professionally produced courses
Domestika curates its teacher roster and produces every course in-house to ensure a high-quality online learning experience.
FAQs
Yes, this course is designed for beginners and guides you step-by-step through illustration techniques, city portraits, mapmaking, and digital workflows.
You’ll need basic art supplies like pencils, a sketchbook, and a scanner, plus access to Photoshop or similar digital illustration software. A metal ruler and Wacom tablet are useful but optional.
You will learn to research, sketch, and design city portraits, integrate maps, landmarks, and local businesses, and develop both analog and digital illustration techniques.
No prior experience is required. The course covers Photoshop basics, digital layering, and introduces bookbinding and zine design for beginners.
The course teaches scanning, importing, and refining sketches in Photoshop, including working with layers, texture overlays, and color adjustments.
Yes, you’ll learn to design engaging foldout zines and concertina books, including layout planning, bookbinding techniques, and preparing illustrations for print.
Absolutely. The course covers both real and fictional mapmaking, helping you personalize city portraits with creative layouts and illustrated grids.
Excelente curso! Despertei para uma nova concepção do desenho com esse professor. Desenhos muito divertidos. Com certeza vou fazer um estudo de minha cidade utilizando essa técnica. Obrigado ao professor e sucesso!
This was an absolutely fantastic course! I learned so much and I absolutely love Alex's personality, artistic voice, and way of explaining everything. He's so humble and soft-spoken, and communicates everything really clearly. Thanks so much, Alex!
Esta bueno!
This is the best class I’ve taken. I love Alex’s artistic style, and the whole course was incredibly enjoyable and inspiring. I came away feeling motivated and excited to create. Thank you so much!
I enjoy the sincerity and simplicity of his approach. One of my favorites. Would love more classes from him.