Who are you and what do you do?
My name is Alicia Levantini, and I’m a self-taught pen & ink illustrator dwelling in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I do custom made household and setting up drawings as effectively as produce stationery and prints of my do the job.
Why do you do what you do?
I’ve generally been a lover of Philadelphia’s charming row residences and of strolling around the city admiring them. Above quarantine, I started off to attract Philadelphia stoops in my community, and as before long as I posted them on the internet, I had a extensive waitlist for me to draw other people’s stoops and homes! What started out out as a quarantine interest has turned into my complete-time career. I feel so lucky to do what I do!
You use so many lively colours, do you have any that you favor?
I certainly like when I’m equipped to develop a blooming window flower box or backyard garden landscape in my custom made residence drawings! I love when there are splashes of pinks, purples, and reds in the illustrations. I also swoon in excess of a colourful entrance doorway – I feel blue is my favorite to attract!
What conjures up your art?
My adore of charming architecture, and generating reasonable-looking, to-scale, drawings – all even though incorporating shiny colours and fantastic traces.
How and when did you get into art?
I have been a creator due to the fact I was outdated sufficient to hold a paintbrush. My mother and father say that on my to start with working day of preschool, I walked as a result of the door and right up to the easels! I haven’t stopped building given that.
How has your practice altered in excess of time?
I’ve genuinely great-tuned the art supplies that I use. I have observed my preferred brush pens, high-quality liners, and erasers, and I don’t stray from them! I’ve been applying Strathmore paper from the start off, however!
What is your most loved piece of art that you’ve designed? Why?
This is this sort of a difficult question because I experience so connected to all of my drawings! I consider my preferred has to be this West Philadelphia Victorian home. It actually pushed my boundaries of what I assumed I was able of executing, and it finished up better than I could have hoped for.
What’s the best piece of artwork tips you have been offered?
To scan just about every drawing I do, in equally the define and total-color versions!
What is a person artwork tip/approach you can share with us that you locate genuinely helpful?
Do every thing in pencil initially!! I attract my entire residence drawings completely in pencil 1st and then go in with my micron pens and brush pens. This will allow me to decrease problems, and to make confident every little thing is searching good before it will get finalized.
Do you have any mystery guidelines or tactics you use to salvage a piece when you make a error?
I have a couple of methods I generally use: I use white plastic erasers to erase the hardest darkish pencil marks that are difficult to get rid of, and I always maintain a white gel pen nearby to “erase” any stray brush pen marks from a lighter spot of my drawing.
What is your beloved Strathmore paper? Why?
Fingers down, the Strathmore Bristol paper pads. The paper is so clean and my brush pens glide appropriate on. It also is forgiving for hefty-handed pencil buyers like me!
What kinds of hues are you drawn to for your artwork and why?
I love any bright hues that are obviously found in character and make my drawings pop. Pinks, purples, and reds for bouquets, blue or green front doors, and a beautiful brick purple coloration for homes.
Who are your most significant influences?
My function is extremely diverse from his, but I have generally been a lover of Claude Monet. His landscapes transportation me to a further globe and convey me a feeling of tranquility. I primarily appreciate his waterscapes and back garden paintings.
What’s the most prevalent art-connected query you get from your followers?
Do you do the job off of photos, or do you sit in front of the building you are drawing? I perform off of pics! Every piece requires me many, a lot of several hours. I sit at household, with my cat on my lap, and get the job done off of pics as my references. This also will allow me to draw homes and properties in any section of the globe, not just in Philadelphia.
Internet site/social media links:
Instagram: ArtByAliciaL
Facebook: ArtByAliciaL
Etsy: ArtByAliciaL
About the Author
