City kits split into two camps. In one, the buildings are clean shapes and the picture is really about light and color: a canal at dusk, a pastel coast, a lantern-lit street. In the other, every window is its own region and the picture is a test of patience. Both are good; they are just different evenings. Here are the city kits in the store, grouped that way, starting with the one that sells best.

Minimalist Amsterdam

Minimalist Amsterdam is a row of canal houses at dusk, windows lit, a few boats moored below, and the whole scene reflected in the water. The reflection takes up almost half the canvas, and it is where this kit is clever: the regions in the water mirror the houses above in softer tones, so by the time you reach them you already know the shapes. The houses themselves are tall, narrow blocks with simple gables. It is a first-kit picture, and the one we send people to when they say they want a city but not a skyline.

Light and color: the easier cities

Amalfi Coast Village stacks pastel houses up a cliff over turquoise water, with bougainvillea spilling over the walls. The houses are flat blocks of cream, pink and ochre; the sea is the easy part and the flowers are small dabs at the end. Rainy Lantern Street is a Japanese street in the rain, red lanterns glowing, a single figure under an umbrella, drawn in the flat cel-shaded style of anime, which means clean edges and few gradients. Anime Fireworks by the River is in the same style: two friends on a riverbank watching fireworks, lanterns along the water. Both sit in the anime collection too. Vintage Havana is a turquoise classic car under palm trees, more about the car than the buildings behind it.

Landmarks: the middle ground

Magnificent Notre Dame shows the twin towers and the rose window above a crowd in the square. The stonework is where the detail lives; the crowd below is a band of small colored shapes that goes faster than it looks. The Roman Colosseum is the amphitheatre under a blue sky with a stone path leading in, arches repeating around the curve. The Redeemer of Rio, Sunset Over the Great Wall and Cafe Terrace are in this group as well: a single famous subject, a lot of sky or landscape around it, and the detail concentrated in one place.

Streets and skylines: the long evenings

Parisian Boulevards and Metro in Lisbon are street scenes, which means facades with rows of windows, balconies and signage. Skyline of Hong Kong and LA Skyline are the towers-and-lights pictures where the windows are the point. These are the kits for someone who has finished two or three canvases and likes small regions. Buy them one size larger than you think you need: the 20x26 inch canvas turns a window from a dot into a square you can actually fill.

How to choose

If the kit is a gift and you do not know how patient the person is, pick Minimalist Amsterdam or Amalfi. If it is for a child or a teenager who likes anime, Rainy Lantern Street. If the person has travelled somewhere and wants the memory on the wall, pick the landmark and plan on three weekends. The full set lives in the cities collection, and for a city of your own, a holiday photo turns into a kit through the custom kit, as long as the photo is sharp and at least 1500 pixels on the short side.

What is in the box

Every city kit ships the same way: the printed canvas rolled in a tube, the numbered acrylic paint pots for that picture, a set of brushes, and the DIY frame kit if you chose it. On the skyline kits, where two colors meet along a straight edge, let the first color dry before painting its neighbour. Start a city kit from the top. Sky first, then the buildings, then the street or the water, and the lit windows last, on top of a dry wall. Painting the small bright regions last is the difference between crisp windows and smudged ones.

Questions people ask

Which city kit is best for a beginner?

Minimalist Amsterdam. Few colors, large regions, and the reflection repeats shapes you have already painted.

Are the windows really painted one by one?

On the skyline kits, yes. Each lit window is a small region. That is why we suggest the larger canvas for those.

Do you have a kit of my city?

If it is not in the collection, a photo of it can become one. The custom kit page explains the photo requirements.