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 living in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  I do custom household and developing drawings as perfectly as create stationery and prints of my perform.

Why do you do what you do?

I have always been a lover of Philadelphia’s charming row households and of strolling about the city admiring them. In excess of quarantine, I begun to draw Philadelphia stoops in my neighborhood, and as quickly as I posted them on line, I had a very long waitlist for me to draw other people’s stoops and houses! What commenced out as a quarantine hobby has turned into my entire-time position. I experience so blessed to do what I do!

You use so many vivid shades, do you have any that you favor?

I completely like when I’m in a position to produce a blooming window flower box or yard landscape in my custom made home drawings! I adore when there are splashes of pinks, purples, and reds in the illustrations. I also swoon more than a vibrant front door – I think blue is my favorite to draw!

What inspires your artwork?

My appreciate of charming architecture, and building real looking-wanting, to-scale, drawings – all while incorporating brilliant hues and great strains.

How and when did you get into artwork?

I’ve been a creator considering the fact that I was aged plenty of to maintain a paintbrush. My moms and dads say that on my initially working day of preschool, I walked as a result of the doorway and right up to the easels! I have not stopped creating considering that.

How has your exercise altered about time?

I’ve definitely wonderful-tuned the art materials that I use. I have observed my favourite brush pens, fantastic liners, and erasers, and I never stray from them! I’ve been using Strathmore paper from the start, although!

What’s your most loved piece of artwork that you have created? Why?

This is these types of a tough issue simply because I truly feel so related to all of my drawings! I imagine my favorite has to be this West Philadelphia Victorian household. It truly pushed my boundaries of what I imagined I was able of performing, and it finished up far better than I could have hoped for.

What’s the very best piece of artwork tips you’ve been provided?

To scan each drawing I do, in both equally the outline and whole-coloration variations!

What’s one artwork suggestion/technique you can share with us that you uncover really practical?

Do almost everything in pencil very first!! I attract my whole dwelling drawings wholly in pencil first and then go in with my micron pens and brush pens. This will allow me to minimize mistakes, and to make confident everything is on the lookout excellent in advance of it will get finalized.

Do you have any key strategies or methods you use to salvage a piece when you make a mistake?

I have a pair of tips I generally use: I use white plastic erasers to erase the toughest dark pencil marks that are difficult to get rid of, and I always preserve a white gel pen nearby to “erase” any stray brush pen marks from a lighter region of my drawing.

What is your most loved Strathmore paper? Why?

Hands down, the Strathmore Bristol paper pads. The paper is so easy and my brush pens glide appropriate on. It also is forgiving for large-handed pencil users like me!

What styles of shades are you drawn to for your art and why?

I adore any shiny hues that are in a natural way observed in character and make my drawings pop. Pinks, purples, and reds for bouquets, blue or green front doors, and a lovely brick pink shade for homes.

Who are your greatest influences?

My operate is pretty various from his, but I have usually been a lover of Claude Monet. His landscapes transportation me to one more planet and deliver me a emotion of tranquility. I particularly adore his waterscapes and yard paintings.

What is the most prevalent art-related query you get from your followers?

Do you get the job done off of photographs, or do you sit in front of the developing you are drawing? I get the job done off of photographs! Each individual piece takes me many, several several hours. I sit at property, with my cat on my lap, and work off of photographs as my references. This also permits me to attract houses and properties in any part of the world, not just in Philadelphia.

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