Artist Interview – Alicia Levantini
Who are you and what do you do?
My name is Alicia Levantini, and I’m a self-taught pen & ink illustrator residing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I do customized household and developing drawings as perfectly as build stationery and prints of my do the job.
Why do you do what you do?
I’ve usually been a lover of Philadelphia’s charming row homes and of going for walks about the town admiring them. Above quarantine, I started out to attract Philadelphia stoops in my neighborhood, and as shortly as I posted them on the net, I had a lengthy waitlist for me to draw other people’s stoops and properties! What started off out as a quarantine interest has turned into my complete-time task. I come to feel so lucky to do what I do!
You use so many vivid colors, do you have any that you favor?
I absolutely really like when I’m equipped to make a blooming window flower box or yard landscape in my tailor made house drawings! I love when there are splashes of pinks, purples, and reds in the illustrations. I also swoon about a vibrant entrance doorway – I imagine blue is my favourite to draw!
What inspires your artwork?
My adore of charming architecture, and creating reasonable-looking, to-scale, drawings – all although incorporating shiny hues and wonderful lines.
How and when did you get into artwork?
I’ve been a creator considering that I was previous ample to hold a paintbrush. My dad and mom say that on my 1st day of preschool, I walked by way of the door and appropriate up to the easels! I haven’t stopped creating since.
How has your apply adjusted around time?
I’ve actually great-tuned the art supplies that I use. I have uncovered my beloved brush pens, high-quality liners, and erasers, and I don’t stray from them! I have been employing Strathmore paper from the commence, even though!
What is your preferred piece of artwork that you have created? Why?
This is these kinds of a rough query due to the fact I come to feel so related to all of my drawings! I think my favored has to be this West Philadelphia Victorian residence. It genuinely pushed my boundaries of what I assumed I was able of performing, and it finished up better than I could have hoped for.
What is the very best piece of artwork advice you have been provided?
To scan each drawing I do, in equally the outline and total-shade variations!
What’s one art suggestion/procedure you can share with us that you uncover seriously useful?
Do anything in pencil very first!! I draw my full home drawings completely in pencil first and then go in with my micron pens and brush pens. This makes it possible for me to limit issues, and to make guaranteed all the things is searching great in advance of it gets finalized.
Do you have any mystery ideas or approaches you use to salvage a piece when you make a blunder?
I have a couple of tips I normally use: I use white plastic erasers to erase the hardest dark pencil marks that are hard to get rid of, and I often continue to keep a white gel pen nearby to “erase” any stray brush pen marks from a lighter space of my drawing.
What is your favored Strathmore paper? Why?
Hands down, the Strathmore Bristol paper pads. The paper is so sleek and my brush pens glide correct on. It also is forgiving for large-handed pencil customers like me!
What styles of hues are you drawn to for your artwork and why?
I enjoy any bright shades that are in a natural way found in mother nature and make my drawings pop. Pinks, purples, and reds for bouquets, blue or eco-friendly front doorways, and a lovely brick red shade for homes.
Who are your largest influences?
My do the job is very distinct from his, but I’ve generally been a lover of Claude Monet. His landscapes transport me to another environment and deliver me a sensation of tranquility. I primarily appreciate his waterscapes and garden paintings.
What is the most popular art-associated issue you get from your followers?
Do you function off of pictures, or do you sit in entrance of the building you are drawing? I function off of photographs! Just about every piece can take me numerous, several hrs. I sit at residence, with my cat on my lap, and operate off of shots as my references. This also allows me to draw houses and structures in any aspect of the environment, not just in Philadelphia.
Web-site/social media inbound links:
Instagram: ArtByAliciaL
Facebook: ArtByAliciaL
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