Behind the Mind: Making Drawings of Towns / Cities / Landscapes

​Behind the Mind: Making Drawings of Towns / Cities / Landscapes

You'll get to read about how I create elaborate drawings of scapes.  

This past year, I've been cranking out more realistic drawings along with my stylized drawings of animals. The amount of effort put into the details astounds me. Considering I would normally spend several hours on most other drawings, the ones I've done of towns, cities, and landscapes, I would spend days on them. 

I have made drawings of cities and landscapes before, but much simpler and more stylized.

"Jungle" - Sean O'Brien. 2014.

Since the drawing I've done of New York City last year, I've been inspired with making more drawings like this. Each time I've spent on them, I've noticed more patterns in my details. The more time spent, the more details.

Photography really helps me on these drawings. Most of these drawings done are based off of photos I've taken myself. I usually prefer to draw places based off of my own photos. One of my primary methods of drawing is using Adobe Illustrator. I would place the photo on the canvas, trace over many little details by drawing lines seemingly invisible. I can tell where these lines are by different patterns of color.

My process sounds like cheating, but I don't really believe that. I love working on these drawings of big places and the work spent on them, I truly appreciate that. I hope to continue making more of such drawings in the future, and my progress gets more refined. 

Thanks for reading this article! - Sean