Custom Cityscape and Skyline Paintings of Any City, Hand Painted

We paint cityscapes and skylines by hand, to order, of any city in the world. Send a photo of your hometown, your street or the view from your window, and our studio in Dafen Art Village, Shenzhen paints it in oil or acrylic on canvas, in any size. Never printed. One to five paintings take 7 to 10 business days. We send photos of the finished canvas, and nothing ships until you approve.

Any city, any size, any mood

Most skyline decor is a print of a generic city nobody lives in. We do the opposite. Our painters work from your photo, so the skyline is your skyline and the building on the corner is the one you pass every day.

Cityscapes we paint

A cityscape does not have to be a wide skyline. Some of the best ones are a single wet street. These are the scenes buyers ask for most.

• Skylines. The view from across the water or from a high floor. Day, dusk or night, with lights reflected in the river or harbor.
• Rainy streets. Umbrellas, wet pavement, shop lights mirrored on the road.
• Night lights. Glowing windows, streaking headlights, a bridge lit against a dark sky.
• Cafes and markets. A corner cafe or a market street with people. Good for restaurants and hotel dining rooms.
• Your hometown. The main street, the old station, the water tower. A city does not have to be famous for us to paint it.
• The view from your window. Your rooftops, your balcony view, the bridge you cross every morning.

Riyadh, Doha and Dubai skylines are popular with our Gulf clients. A mid-sized town nobody has painted before is just as welcome.

From your photo to a finished canvas

You do not need a professional photo. A clear phone photo taken in good light is enough.

1. Send your photos. One is enough. Several from the same spot are better, because they show detail the main shot missed. Please use photos you took yourself. Professional cityscape photos and drone stills are usually copyrighted.
2. Tell us what to change. We can combine several photos into one composition, add your building, leave out the crane, remove parked cars or widen the view. We can turn a daytime photo into a night scene or a rain scene.
3. Pick a style, size and finish. Realistic, impressionist, textured or silhouette. Any size. Rolled, stretched or framed.
4. Approve the color, if matching. For brand or lobby projects we mix the key colors first and send a daylight photo for approval before painting starts.
5. Watch it come together. Progress photos during painting, then photos of the finished canvas. You approve, and only then does it ship.

Pick a style: realistic, impressionist, textured or silhouette

Realistic

Every window and cornice where it should be. Best when the building itself is the point, such as a headquarters or a landmark hotel.

Impressionist

Loose strokes, wet reflections, soft edges. This is how we paint rainy streets and night lights. Our impressionist collection holds 161 designs, and any of them can be repainted with your city in the frame.

Loose and textured

Heavy palette-knife paint, so the skyline stands up off the canvas and catches the light. Textured pieces ship stretched or framed, because rolling thick paint is not recommended.

Minimalist silhouette

The skyline as a clean shape in two or three colors. Popular for offices and brand work, because the whole painting can be built from your palette.

Size and format: panoramas, verticals and sets across floors

Skylines are wide, and lobby walls are wide too. Our 60 standard sizes run from 24 by 20 inches up to 80 by 60 inches. Any other size is painted to your measurements at the same rate. Larger single canvases beyond 80 by 60 inches are quoted case by case. For a very wide lobby wall, a set of two or three panels is often the practical answer, because each panel ships and hangs more easily than one giant stretcher. See extra-large paintings for how big canvases are stretched and packed.

Not every cityscape is horizontal. A street seen down the middle works well as a tall vertical for a stairwell or the end of a corridor. For a hotel, we can paint the same skyline at several sizes, one for each floor or room type. Mixed sizes and designs count together for trade pricing.

Color matching for brand and lobby finishes

A lobby skyline usually has to sit with a stone floor, a wood desk and a brand color. Send us the paint codes, a fabric swatch, a finish sample or a photo of the space. Our painters mix the key colors to match and send you a photo of the mixed color taken in daylight. You approve it before any paint goes on the canvas. Read more on color-matched paintings.

Timeline, approval and ordering for several rooms

Our studio paints to order every day, so the schedule is short and predictable.

• 1 to 5 paintings take 7 to 10 business days.
• 6 to 20 take 10 to 15 business days.
• 21 to 50 take 15 to 20 business days.
• Pieces 36 by 48 inches and larger, heavy texture and multi-panel sets sit at the top of their band, because thick paint has to dry between layers, and oil takes longer still.

We send progress photos while it is being painted, then clear photos of the finished canvas. If a piece has a defect that is our fault, we repaint it at our cost. Nothing ships until you approve.

There is no minimum order. Trade pricing starts from one piece, improves at 6 pieces and again at 21, and mixed designs count together. Payment is usually a 50 percent deposit with the balance before the goods are released, by wire transfer, PayPal or card. Full terms are on our trade page.

Shipping and customs for large canvases

Delivery is EXW our Shenzhen studio. We quote freight separately at cost and do not add to it. Express by FedEx or DHL takes 5 to 10 business days. Air freight and sea freight are available for bigger projects, and sea takes 25 to 40 days. CIF and DDP are available on request.

Rolled canvas ships in a tube and is the cheapest way to move volume, especially over about 20 pieces. Stretched and framed pieces ship boxed, and very large or multi-panel skylines ship in a wooden crate. We confirm the crate count with you before transport is booked.

Paintings executed entirely by hand fall under HTS 9701, which carries a free base rate of duty into the United States. Other China-origin measures can apply, so please confirm with your customs broker. Under EXW, transit risk sits with the carrier and your freight insurance. If we arrange the freight, we help with any claim.

Start with the city collection, or send us your own

Our city and urban collection holds 7 hand-painted designs. Each one can be repainted with your city, your colors and your size.

• Hazy rust and teal Brooklyn Bridge. A bridge over hazy water with a soft skyline behind. Swap in your own bridge or harbor.
• Crimson and amber New York street. A street canyon at sunset with taxis on wet pavement. Works for any downtown.
• Pink and blue rainy Paris cafe street. A vertical rainy cafe street with flowers and umbrellas. A favorite for restaurants and hallways.

Did not find what you like? Send us what you like and we paint it

Most city commissions start with something you already have. A phone photo from a hotel balcony. A Pinterest board of rainy street paintings. A render of a lobby that is not built yet. Send it through the quote form with the size and the wall, and our studio comes back with a plan. WhatsApp replies are usually immediate; email replies usually arrive within 12 hours. If you want to see what goes into that reply before you write to us, here is how we quote.