Would you like to try an easy watercolour painting, that even kids can make? Paint a watercolour cityscape, using a free printable prompt!

This art project came as a result of our previous watercolour experiment that we named “a snowy cityscape“. It was also an easy watercolour painting. My son and I masked the silhouette of the city, then painted the sky over top, removed the masking tape and drew the city. This is how it looked.

The post contains Amazon affiliate links to the products we used.

This is the same idea, but presented backwards. It still explores the use of masking tape, but we start with drawing a city instead.

…Or with printing a picture of the city I drew. I find that we all (kids and adults alike) can feel a little overwhelmed to start a new project, especially if it presents an unfamiliar technique. With my kids, I often like to offer them a little prompt. Like when I showed them how to make rain with watercolours, I first drew a picture of a child with an umbrella. I think it helps. With the paper no longer blank, it isn’t difficult to add more lines or colours.

Materials

free printable template
watercolour paper
liquid watercolours or watercolours in pans
masking tape
salt
scissors

East Watercolour Painting Tutorial

1 — Print the city prompt.

2 — Cover the drawing with masking tape. Some tips for masking:

mask the very bottom of the sheet and add the silhouettes of the buildings on top of that
use different widths of masking tape
scissors that are gunked up with adhesive can be cleaned with rubbing alcohol
no need to mask roof peaks

3 — There are different ways to paint the watercolour sky. We used the method we created for painting space in watercolours. Using a transfer pipette, drip watercolour paint all over the piece of watercolour paper. Let some drops mix as they fall on the piece of paper. Be spontaneous and have fun. Kids seem to do this step just perfectly and enjoy the process of working with pipettes.

We used three colours: blue, purple, magenta and gold. My son also loves adding gold to his sky paintings, and it looks realistic when painting a sunset.

4 — Using a wide brush and some water, do a quick wash over the sheet of paper. It’s important to use watercolour paper for this project, because drawing paper would wrinkle or even tear during this step. It’s lovely to see different colours flowing into each other and mixing interestingly.

5 — Sprinkle with coarse salt. The salt crystals soak up the liquid from the paint, creating areas without as much pigment and giving an impression of snowy flurries floating in the sky. Salt and watercolours are magical together. It may seem messy at first, but it always turns out enchanting in the end.