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 tailor made home and building drawings as properly as develop stationery and prints of my work.
Why do you do what you do?
I’ve always been a lover of Philadelphia’s charming row properties and of walking around the town admiring them. Over quarantine, I started out to attract Philadelphia stoops in my neighborhood, and as quickly as I posted them online, I had a long waitlist for me to attract other people’s stoops and homes! What began out as a quarantine pastime has turned into my full-time career. I sense so blessed to do what I do!
You use so many vivid shades, do you have any that you favor?
I completely really like when I’m capable to create a blooming window flower box or backyard landscape in my customized home drawings! I really like when there are splashes of pinks, purples, and reds in the illustrations. I also swoon more than a colourful front doorway – I consider blue is my favourite to draw!
What conjures up your art?
My love of charming architecture, and generating practical-hunting, to-scale, drawings – all while incorporating brilliant colours and wonderful traces.
How and when did you get into art?
I have been a creator given that I was old more than enough to hold a paintbrush. My mothers and fathers say that on my very first day of preschool, I walked through the doorway and proper up to the easels! I haven’t stopped building considering that.
How has your observe changed above time?
I have seriously fine-tuned the artwork supplies that I use. I have identified my preferred brush pens, high-quality liners, and erasers, and I do not stray from them! I have been working with Strathmore paper from the commence, however!
What’s your beloved piece of artwork that you’ve created? Why?
This is these a tough problem since I truly feel so linked to all of my drawings! I think my beloved has to be this West Philadelphia Victorian household. It seriously pushed my boundaries of what I thought I was able of performing, and it finished up improved than I could have hoped for.
What is the most effective piece of art information you’ve been supplied?
To scan every single drawing I do, in each the outline and complete-coloration versions!
What is one art idea/approach you can share with us that you uncover truly valuable?
Do everything in pencil to start with!! I draw my full house drawings absolutely in pencil 1st and then go in with my micron pens and brush pens. This makes it possible for me to limit issues, and to make absolutely sure almost everything is on the lookout excellent right before it will get finalized.
Do you have any solution ideas or approaches you use to salvage a piece when you make a error?
I have a few of tricks I normally use: I use white plastic erasers to erase the toughest darkish pencil marks that are tough to get rid of, and I normally keep a white gel pen close by to “erase” any stray brush pen marks from a lighter spot of my drawing.
What is your favored Strathmore paper? Why?
Palms down, the Strathmore Bristol paper pads. The paper is so sleek and my brush pens glide correct on. It also is forgiving for significant-handed pencil users like me!
What varieties of colors are you drawn to for your artwork and why?
I appreciate any vibrant hues that are by natural means found in character and make my drawings pop. Pinks, purples, and reds for bouquets, blue or green entrance doorways, and a stunning brick red shade for residences.
Who are your major influences?
My function is really diverse from his, but I’ve usually been a lover of Claude Monet. His landscapes transport me to another environment and provide me a feeling of tranquility. I particularly like his waterscapes and backyard garden paintings.
What is the most popular art-relevant problem you get from your followers?
Do you function off of photos, or do you sit in front of the making you’re drawing? I perform off of pictures! Each piece normally takes me a lot of, many hours. I sit at property, with my cat on my lap, and operate off of pics as my references. This also allows me to draw homes and structures in any aspect of the world, not just in Philadelphia.
Web-site/social media hyperlinks:
Instagram: ArtByAliciaL
Fb: ArtByAliciaL
Etsy: ArtByAliciaL
