Misted Skyline

I received a comment asking how I misted the Toronto skyline on my mini album cover so I thought I'd write a post to share how I did it.

I started off by Googling "Toronto skyline" and chose a picture I liked.

Source: bestourism.com via Bernice on Pinterest

I made the masks using that picture as a reference.

I sketched the outlines on some scrap paper, then it out with a hobby blade. As long as you use paper that's a bit thicker so that it holds its shape and doesn't let the ink soak through, you should be fine.

For the first mask (my background) I chose 4 buildings - two landmark structures and two tall buildings. I wanted to keep this one pretty simple.


Then, I drew a second mask that was more detailed with lots of little buildings. Having buildings of different heights, widths and shapes will add interest. I tried to follow the picture pretty closely but you can be creative here.


Now the fun bit.

Remembering back to my days of watching Art Attack (any other 90's kids out there?), I knew that the background silhouette should be lighter than the foreground, so I misted that one first.

After adhering the mask to my cover, I did a light but even mist of the background. If I had been thinking clearly, I would have done some practice sprays on some scrap paper for a more even coverage, but I'm okay with the splotches.


I let it dry for a bit, all the while wondering whether I should continue on with my original plan and mist the foreground, or leave it as is. I liked the look, but it was a kind of sparse, so I continued.

I lined up the second mask with the first misted image and adhered it down - super important, remember to put adhesive on the little detail parts because if mist gets under, your image won't be as clean and crisp (so I've learned).

Then, I misted this one until it was as dark as I wanted it to be.

The image becomes less blotchy as the ink dries.

Note: at this point, try to contain your excitement and let your project dry a bit before you peel off your mask or you might end up pulling part of the paper off with it. Like I did. I just wanted to see if my idea worked! Luckily, I glued it back on with a bit of Tombo mono multi glue and now you can't even tell.

Hope this mini tutorial was helpful. If you try this out, leave me a link to your project! I'd love to see what you make.