NEW for 2025!! Participating Students Receive a Free Set of Prints in Express & Online Programs! 
Cityscapes Lesson Plan
Teacher Input
Define “cityscape” ~ Painting or drawing of things found in a city: such as buildings and streets. Discuss the differences between the sites seen in a city and the sites seen in a more rural area.
Discuss and view artwork depicting cityscapes. Pittsburgh Memories by Romare Bearden, Cliff Dwellers by George Wesley Bellows, Rainy Night by Charles E. Burchfield and New York, New York by Gene Steffen are all excellent examples.
Provide project examples and materials. Discuss with students how size, detail, overlapping and placement will create depth in their cityscape. Demonstrate different techniques to show depth on the board. Discuss what shapes would be appropriate for cityscapes. Discuss how shapes can be used together to create interesting buildings.
Process
- Students should design cityscapes of their own, lightly in pencil, using basic shapes.
- Remember to reserve space for a border (lightly block off ½” to a full inch all the way around the edge of the paper).
- Designs, doors and windows should be added to buildings as desired.
- Remind students that images should get smaller as the buildings go back.
- Once a successful design has been completed, trace over the final design lines using black marker.
- Any pencil lines still visible should be erased.
- Create a design for the boarder.
- The design should represent the sky ~ stars, curvy lines, spirals and clouds.
- It may be helpful to practice border ideas on a piece of scrap paper first.
- Once the border images have been successfully drawn on the artwork, these too should be outlines with black marker.
- Erase any pencil lines still visible.
- Color the central and border images in with colored markers.
- Stress the use of bright bold, bold colors.
- The background in the central image should be colored with black crayon.
- Students should not press too hard when coloring with the crayon ~ make sure that the marker outline of the stars and buildings is still visible
Special thanks to Nicole Foreman Adaway ~ Art Educator in LA
Age Group
Grades 3-5
Difficulty
Time
1-2 Class Sessions
Materials
- 8 1/2″ x 11″ white art paper
- pencils
- erasers
- black crayons
- fine tip black markers
- colored markers
- pictures of cityscapes
- example of the project