Painting the Urban Landscape

Here Are Some of the Techniques You'll Discover

• How to break tried-and-true painting rules — and why you should do it...
• Scott's secret brushwork technique to keep your lines thin and sharp...
• Why you should never paint your focal point first
• The color you should use in your first paint layer, the same way you use salt in your cooking
• How to use every part of your brush to give your painting depth and complexity
• Where to place the slight changes that can have a huge impact on your final results
• The exact colors and brushes Scott uses to paint urban scenes that come alive before your eyes
• How Scott developed his own voice in a world filled with copycats and generic, "me-too" artists
• The surprising role that this common, yet easily overlooked, object plays in bringing your painting to life

Sound difficult? It's not!

If you've ever wanted to take the energy and complexity that is the urban landscape and infuse it into a painting

with all of its rich and inspiring details

in a way that is straightforward and gives you complete confidence in your ability to succeed with any urban scene

then there's no better teacher than the bad boy of the art world, Scott W. Prior.

Over the years Scott has developed his own unique process for capturing the life of urban scenes on canvas. He paints the same streets he grew up on.

This process is clear enough to apply on your own, but flexible enough to fit your personal painting style.

It's something that anyone can learn, even if

you've never painted an urban scene before

or you've tried and been overwhelmed in the process.

An urban scene is unlike any other. The speed of a city means your scene is constantly changing. No one is sitting still waiting for your paint to dry.

There's an energy infused into the scene by people, cars, and bicycles rushing by

• massive towers of steel and glass rising up from all angles
• an entire palette of colors dancing before your eyes.

Painting an urban landscape is an exciting challenge to take on, and there's a deep satisfaction that comes with capturing these scenes on canvas.

Scott Prior has nailed down a process for doing so, but until recently, he's only taught that process in local classes or in expensive one-on-one lessons (lessons that those who could afford it were happy to pay for). However, we were able to convince Scott to come into our studio and reveal his techniques for painting urban landscapes.

You don't need to be an experienced painter to learn how to do this.

And you don't have to have talent to paint. That comes from training.

In fact, in the words of our publisher, B. Eric Rhoads, if you can follow a recipe and bake a cake, you can learn to paint. Because painting is a process.

This training is right for you if:

• You love the energy of a city and want to learn to capture it in a painting
• You're a beginner or intermediate painter ready to take a course that will dramatically improve your painting technique
• You're an advanced painter who has painted urban landscapes before, but struggled to paint them in a convincing way

Vibrant CityScapes

World-Class Painter Shows You How to Paint An Everyday Cityscape

Cities fascinate us.

We love the energy, the colors, the sounds, and the people.

Most of the world lives in the city … and cities are some of the places most visited by tourists.

And while many of today’s plein air painters enjoy painting rural landscapes, some of the best known painters of all time painted cityscapes. Today, a growing number of plein air painters are returning to these roots and capturing the vibe of the cities they visit.

These painters capture those little moments that reveal the emotion, the energy, and the people that make cities an important part of the lives of so many.

Paintings of cities have been around since the beginning of cities.

Edouard Cortes, Eugene Boudin, and Claude Monet painted the lights of Paris and London.

Canaletto painted Venice.

Childe Hassam painted the skyscrapers of New York.

Now a crazy man from Southern California has become a renowned city painter…

Scott W. Prior is known not just for documenting the city in paint … but for capturing the feel and energy of the place he is painting.

While many artists around him focused on painting landscapes, Scott found interesting stories that needed to be told by capturing the city in paint

… a classic, yet radical idea at the time. Scott likes to buck the system, and he does what works for him artistically. Maybe you're the same.

Vibrant Cityscapes With Scott W. Prior

We conducted an interview with Scott.

It was, quite simply, fascinating.

He revealed:

What he focused on in high school instead of art…
 
Why he didn’t pursue a role at Disney (or another animation company) in favor of staying in school…
 
And why he’s a “rebel” — something that comes across in his painting (this is very much a good thing, by the way!)
 
Why he’s so passionate about helping others.

Now, we’ve conducted a lot of these interviews with artists…

But it’s safe to say this was one of the most interesting yet.

And now for the great news:

You get a recording of this interview alongside this special art instruction video — it comes as part of the package.

Of course, you’re probably wondering what’s included in the art instruction video itself.

So here’s a sneak peek:

• How to paint a yellow subject and capture the warmth and light that hits it. (You’ll be amazed at what colors you will use!)
• The 13 colors Scott lays out on his palette (plus a couple of “experimental” colors too)
• How to stop your painting from “growing” too much. (Scott explains what this means and how you can prevent it from happening.)
• Why Scott leaves the “best part” as the last thing he paints
• The two major benefits of things overlapping in your painting
• The specific brand of brush Scott uses (and the specific brand of paint)
• Why drawing through a vehicle in your painting can help you. (Scott shows you how to do it.)
• How to measure your proportions
• What Scott has to say about drawing the trees in your painting (and how this can make it much easier — and faster — for you to draw them)
• There are certain details you might not pay much attention to in other forms of painting. But in urban scenes? You must pay attention to them. (Hint: It has to do with windows.)
• How to paint a “bouncing” reflection
• How to paint light on people
• How Scott uses the colors in his palette to help with color harmony
• The speedy way Scott paints wires. (Many cityscapes will include wires, so it’s important you know how to do this.)
• The fascinating way Scott makes a person’s shirt “pop out” using blue and white
• Scott adds minor details to the focal point toward the end … which is the kind of attention to detail YOU should have. (These details add more “dimension” to your painting.)
• A clever way to indicate what’s going on in the background of your painting — without having to spend much time on it

Plus a whole lot more