Who are you and what do you do?
My title is Alicia Levantini, and I’m a self-taught pen & ink illustrator dwelling in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I do custom home and building drawings as very well as produce stationery and prints of my work.
Why do you do what you do?
I’ve generally been a lover of Philadelphia’s charming row homes and of going for walks all around the city admiring them. Above quarantine, I started out to attract Philadelphia stoops in my neighborhood, and as soon as I posted them on the web, I experienced a extensive waitlist for me to draw other people’s stoops and homes! What commenced out as a quarantine hobby has turned into my total-time position. I experience so lucky to do what I do!
You use so a lot of vibrant colors, do you have any that you favor?
I absolutely adore when I’m equipped to create a blooming window flower box or back garden landscape in my custom house drawings! I enjoy when there are splashes of pinks, purples, and reds in the illustrations. I also swoon around a vibrant entrance door – I imagine blue is my beloved to attract!
What inspires your artwork?
My enjoy of charming architecture, and building sensible-wanting, to-scale, drawings – all while incorporating vivid shades and wonderful strains.
How and when did you get into artwork?
I have been a creator considering the fact that I was old more than enough to keep a paintbrush. My mothers and fathers say that on my initial working day of preschool, I walked as a result of the doorway and ideal up to the easels! I have not stopped building because.
How has your practice improved about time?
I’ve truly wonderful-tuned the art materials that I use. I have identified my favorite brush pens, great liners, and erasers, and I never stray from them! I’ve been working with Strathmore paper from the begin, even though!
What’s your beloved piece of artwork that you’ve made? Why?
This is this kind of a challenging question for the reason that I feel so connected to all of my drawings! I consider my favourite has to be this West Philadelphia Victorian property. It definitely pushed my boundaries of what I believed I was able of performing, and it ended up much better than I could have hoped for.
What is the most effective piece of art guidance you’ve been specified?
To scan every drawing I do, in equally the outline and total-color variations!
What’s 1 art idea/system you can share with us that you obtain really handy?
Do anything in pencil initially!! I draw my whole home drawings completely in pencil initially and then go in with my micron pens and brush pens. This lets me to lower errors, and to make guaranteed almost everything is wanting great ahead of it receives finalized.
Do you have any secret recommendations or methods you use to salvage a piece when you make a error?
I have a pair of methods I generally use: I use white plastic erasers to erase the hardest darkish pencil marks that are tough to get rid of, and I constantly maintain a white gel pen close by to “erase” any stray brush pen marks from a lighter location of my drawing.
What is your favored Strathmore paper? Why?
Palms down, the Strathmore Bristol paper pads. The paper is so smooth and my brush pens glide appropriate on. It also is forgiving for large-handed pencil users like me!
What forms of shades are you drawn to for your art and why?
I love any shiny colours that are naturally discovered in nature and make my drawings pop. Pinks, purples, and reds for bouquets, blue or inexperienced entrance doorways, and a gorgeous brick crimson color for properties.
Who are your most important influences?
My perform is incredibly distinct from his, but I have usually been a lover of Claude Monet. His landscapes transport me to one more world and provide me a emotion of tranquility. I especially appreciate his waterscapes and garden paintings.
What’s the most prevalent artwork-relevant issue you get from your followers?
Do you operate off of pics, or do you sit in entrance of the creating you are drawing? I operate off of pics! Every piece can take me quite a few, many several hours. I sit at household, with my cat on my lap, and operate off of pics as my references. This also allows me to attract homes and buildings in any aspect of the world, not just in Philadelphia.
Web-site/social media backlinks:
Instagram: ArtByAliciaL
Fb: ArtByAliciaL
Etsy: ArtByAliciaL
