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 customized house and setting up drawings as properly as build stationery and prints of my function.
Why do you do what you do?
I have normally been a lover of Philadelphia’s charming row households and of going for walks all-around the city admiring them. In excess of quarantine, I began to attract Philadelphia stoops in my neighborhood, and as soon as I posted them on-line, I had a extensive waitlist for me to draw other people’s stoops and houses! What commenced out as a quarantine hobby has turned into my full-time career. I sense so blessed to do what I do!
You use so a lot of vibrant shades, do you have any that you favor?
I definitely like when I’m in a position to make a blooming window flower box or yard landscape in my customized home drawings! I appreciate when there are splashes of pinks, purples, and reds in the illustrations. I also swoon in excess of a colourful front door – I imagine blue is my favorite to attract!
What conjures up your artwork?
My love of charming architecture, and building reasonable-hunting, to-scale, drawings – all although incorporating vibrant shades and good strains.
How and when did you get into art?
I’ve been a creator since I was outdated enough to hold a paintbrush. My parents say that on my first working day of preschool, I walked through the door and ideal up to the easels! I haven’t stopped developing considering the fact that.
How has your practice altered more than time?
I’ve truly great-tuned the artwork provides that I use. I have identified my favored brush pens, fantastic liners, and erasers, and I really do not stray from them! I’ve been working with Strathmore paper from the begin, even though!
What is your favorite piece of artwork that you have designed? Why?
This is such a tricky query because I feel so related to all of my drawings! I assume my preferred has to be this West Philadelphia Victorian household. It actually pushed my boundaries of what I assumed I was able of doing, and it finished up much better than I could have hoped for.
What is the greatest piece of art assistance you have been supplied?
To scan each and every drawing I do, in both equally the define and whole-colour versions!
What is just one artwork suggestion/procedure you can share with us that you obtain really useful?
Do everything in pencil to start with!! I draw my total household drawings fully in pencil very first and then go in with my micron pens and brush pens. This makes it possible for me to minimize errors, and to make positive almost everything is on the lookout excellent in advance of it gets finalized.
Do you have any secret ideas or tactics you use to salvage a piece when you make a mistake?
I have a couple of methods I constantly use: I use white plastic erasers to erase the hardest darkish pencil marks that are challenging to get rid of, and I generally hold a white gel pen nearby to “erase” any stray brush pen marks from a lighter spot of my drawing.
What is your favorite Strathmore paper? Why?
Fingers down, the Strathmore Bristol paper pads. The paper is so easy and my brush pens glide ideal on. It also is forgiving for hefty-handed pencil customers like me!
What styles of colors are you drawn to for your artwork and why?
I appreciate any brilliant hues that are by natural means found in mother nature and make my drawings pop. Pinks, purples, and reds for flowers, blue or environmentally friendly front doors, and a gorgeous brick red color for residences.
Who are your largest influences?
My do the job is extremely unique from his, but I’ve constantly been a lover of Claude Monet. His landscapes transportation me to one more environment and deliver me a feeling of tranquility. I in particular adore his waterscapes and backyard garden paintings.
What’s the most common artwork-relevant concern you get from your followers?
Do you function off of images, or do you sit in front of the constructing you’re drawing? I get the job done off of shots! Each piece usually takes me numerous, quite a few hours. I sit at dwelling, with my cat on my lap, and function off of pics as my references. This also will allow me to attract homes and properties in any part of the entire world, not just in Philadelphia.
Web page/social media back links:
Instagram: ArtByAliciaL
Fb: ArtByAliciaL
Etsy: ArtByAliciaL
