Queensboro Plaza Station, Queens, NYC

You know that moment when you're standing on an elevated platform in Queens, and suddenly everything clicks? That's how this piece started. I was watching the 7 train curve through the morning haze, steel tracks cutting through concrete and glass, and thought: "Damn, I need to capture this."

The Thing About Train Tracks

Here's what they don't tell you about drawing curved train tracks - they're a total pain in the rear. Seriously. I must've redrawn that curve twenty times before it felt right. But there's something almost hypnotic about getting lost in all that industrial geometry. One minute you're cursing at your iPad because the perspective is slightly off, and four hours later you're still there, obsessing over the way sunlight hits a steel beam.

When Digital Meets Gritty

Let me tell you a secret: I nearly scrapped this whole thing halfway through. The problem with drawing urban scenes is that they're messy. Real city life isn't clean lines and perfect angles - it's rusty bolts and weather-stained concrete and that one weird shadow that makes no sense but is definitely there in real life.

Procreate is amazing, but sometimes you find yourself fighting between what the perfect digital line wants to do and what actually looks real. You know what saved it? Embracing the chaos. Once I stopped trying to make everything perfect and started throwing in those little imperfections - the slightly worn edges, the uneven paint on the train - suddenly it started feeling alive.

The Morning Light Cheat Code

Here's my favorite trick with urban scenes - early morning light makes everything look cooler. It's like Instagram filters for real life. Those harsh industrial lines? Throw some dawn light on them and suddenly they're poetic. That's not me being artsy - that's literally what happens when you catch the 7 train during golden hour. The whole city transforms.

Real Talk About Process

You want to know how this actually went down? Picture this:

• 3 AM: "Just one more tweak to that window"
• 4 AM: "Why am I still drawing rivets?"
• 5 AM: "Oh look, the sun's coming up... just like in my drawing"
• Also 5 AM: questioning all life choices that led to becoming an artist

But that's the thing about urban scenes - they get under your skin. You start noticing details you never saw before. Like how the VRP signage throws these weird shadows in the morning, or how the whole structure seems to breathe when trains pass by.