Tip: Rules for Simplifying Cityscapes

Terry Miura is well-known for his urban cityscapes. In his work he looks for the "subtle emotional responses" that can be trigger in a viewer. Terry believes that any subject can trigger an emotional response but he is able to do this using inner-city views of "buildings, people, atmosphere, [and] light..."

Recently Terry posted an article describing simplification as the key to painting successful urban landscapes. One reason cityscapes are hard to paint is that the man-made objects they contain must be drawn well to be credible. Although the greater challenge, as with all landscape painting, is dealing with the overwhelming amount of information that the artist sees. As Terry states, "simplification is key, but arbitrary editing of detail can easily end up with a weak painting that lacks a sense of intent. With so much 'stuff', it's not easy to know what to include and what to edit out, especially because you know all that detail contributes to the texture of the city clutter."

Terry's approach to simplifying involves what he calls "rules for editing". The rules help him systematically make good decisions about what to include and what to leave out. Here are the rules he uses most often:

• Decide on a dominant color theme (in this case, blue green) and mix every color as a variation of it. (you want violet? start with blue green and bend it towards violet. Think of it as a violet-er version of the original blue green)
• Paint every element (car, tree, asphalt, etc.) in just two values. Later on you can add a third value to the more important elements.
• Link all similar valued adjacent shapes.
• Have a large passive area. (Forces me to have an area with NO detail, juxtaposed against which the more active areas need less "stuff" in order to look detailed)
• Treat super sharp edges as exclamation points. Don't shout everywhere.
• These are not rules for all painting nor are they for every painter. They're just rules that guide me to do what I do, and they work well for me. With another painting, I may have a completely different set of rules. The point is, having this type of structure is helpful in keeping my mind organized and focused. It helps me avoid making arbitrary and thoughtless decisions.