Bride and Newlywed Portraits!

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of drawing a portrait of this beautiful bride. I love her hair!

When the bride received her drawing, she was so happy that she ordered another one! This time it's of her and her husband:

Handsome couple, right? These portraits are going to be gifts for their parents, and I just think that's awesome. Not only is that some serious planning in advance on their part, but their parents are getting thoughtful, sentimental, custom-made gifts this year. I am excited for them to receive their portraits!

Custom Anniversary Portrait

Here's a recent pencil portrait I drew for this couple's anniversary. Last year they ordered some portraits of their children, so it was a pleasure to draw for them again! "There is no rush on this, so you can spend extra time making us look younger (than the photo)" the husband said, which I thought was funny because they're such a good-looking couple anyway. I simplified and lightened the wrinkles a little bit, but not that much. Everyone has wrinkles around their eyes when they smile, so if you leave those out entirely, it diminishes the expression in the face.

I love the bride's beautiful eyes. Here's some pictures of the portrait in progress.

They were very happy with their portrait!

Paper Anniversary Portrait

This enormous (16x20!) custom pencil portrait is a combination of three images:

This photo of the couple dancing...

...this pretty sash, which was actually on the right side of the dress, I drew on the left side to make it more visible...

...and this monogram sticker thing I added to the floor beneath the couple's feet.

This triple combo was the customer's idea - and that's the fun of getting a custom drawing. You can be really creative with it!

This young couple ordered this pencil portrait to celebrate their first anniversary, because the traditional 1st anniversary gift is paper. What a creative idea, right? Because the couple was local, I had the pleasure of delivering the drawing to them in person, which was a first for me! "So happy to have our money go to a local artist versus a jewelry store!" they said. I completely agree: the biggest pleasure of buying on Etsy is knowing that your work is going directly to an artist rather than through a big corporation.

(Just in case my husband is reading this: there is nothing wrong with jewelry stores. I completely support you buying from them. For me.)

A wife's birthday gift

This portrait was ordered by a husband (again! A man using Etsy! Amazing!) for his wife's birthday. All together now: aaaawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww! He was great to work with.

You know what's kind of crazy? Whether buying or selling, I have never had a bad experience on Etsy. None of my customers have been anything less than a total pleasure to do business with.

There was one person who messaged me, wanting some x-rated line drawings done as patterns for a quilt. She even told me that she could provide photo references for the different positions. (Yikes!) But she was still super polite when I turned her down.

Great story, Kelley!

60th anniversary portrait!!

I had the honor of drawing a portrait of this lovely newlywed couple as a gift for their 60th anniversary. See those dates on the bottom of the drawing? 60 years, people!! Next week I am going to be celebrating my 3-year anniversary, which is cool and all, but I'd say that as far as anniversaries go, this couple wins.

The couple, who live in the Netherlands, will be receiving their portrait pretty soon. Congratulations, Afra and Gerard! You are an inspiration to everyone.

5th Anniversary Portrait

I really had a good time drawing this handsome couple. In fact, this is one of my favorite 5x7 portraits that I've done in a while. I especially like how the bride's satin shawl came out - it was kind of tough to get right!

I'm trying to apply some of the principles I've been learning in my oil painting classes to my pencil portraits, such as "edge control." (One of my professors' favorites phrases.) I hope this will give my portraits a more fine art feel to them.

The customer - the lovely bride in the photo - was very happy with the portrait as well. "The drawing is fantastic! Thank you! It's going to be the perfect anniversary gift!"

Here's the drawing, ready for shipping. I packaged it carefully, spanked it on the bottom, and delivered it into the capable hands of the postal service - the organization, not the band.

Vintage Couple portrait, finished!

I am really, really happy with how this came out. I wish you could see it in person; the scan didn't capture all the details.

The lace on the dress took a lot of patience. I drew it while watching an entire season of The Office (the UK version); it helped keep myself from getting bored while drawing and shading and erasing and shading and drawing all those tiny little patterns.

It was worth it, though. Once she received this, the customer told me, "I've been showing alot of people your drawing & they can't get over the detail. They love it!"

See this drawing in progress: part 1 and part 2.

Vintage couple drawing, part 2

Still working on the drawing of this lovely vintage couple. The lace overlay of the wedding dress is definitely presenting me with a challenge. Not only is there a floral pattern, but there seem to be multiple layers and they're all casting shadows on each other.

I want the finished wedding dress to look convincing, not confusing. I know I can do it, it's just going to take some time and a lot of careful shading.

I'm back!

I'm back from a long haitus! We moved to a new apartment, which as you know is an exhausting process. Since then, I've been suffering from a malady almost every blogger experiences at some point - the "why-do-I-even-bother-no-one-cares-what-I-write-except-my-parents" bug.

Now I have a new Etsy commission that I'm excited to share with...uh, whoever is out there.

This sweet couple is the customer's parents. That's quite a dress, isn't it? I really like the way the bottom part looks. Drawing the lace is going to be a challenge because it will mean a lot of negative drawing (drawing around white space). Luckily the customer ordered a large 11x14 size, so I have plenty of room for all this detail. I've already off to a good start on the couple's faces.

Each of their faces is only 1 inch wide!

(By the way, thanks for your feedback on a fabric for my cubicle. I chose a fabric and put it up, and I'll take a picture of it soon!)

Happy 50th Anniversary portrait, finished!

(click for full view!)

Yes, it's done already! I pushed myself to get this drawing finished in 5 days, and I am really happy with how it turned out. I was a little nervous about drawing such elderly people, but I feel like their faces look quite expressive. You can feel how happy they are.

I'm really glad that I included the tiny pins in the man's lapel - they're cute! I also like the plaid pattern in his tie.

"You have done an outstanding job. I really can't thank you enough for creating such a wonderful gift," was the customer's feedback. I am happy to do it! Congratulations on your 50th anniversary, people in my drawing! I hope that you like your present!

See part 1 of the drawing here.

Happy 50th Anniversary portrait, part 1

This couple is going to be celebrating their 50th anniversary soon! (Wow!) It is my honor to create a drawing for them, a gift from the couple's children. The customer needs it shipped by Friday, so I have been hustling to get this finished!

In order to get more detail in their faces, I cropped the photo and scooted the two lovebirds closer together.

I think these are the oldest people I've ever drawn, and it's a bit of a challenge because the skin is so much more complex than, say, a baby's. Still having fun with it, though!

Stand By Me portrait, completed!

Finally! The last Christmas Etsy order is finished!

(The image quality on this isn't so good because I'm visiting family and not working with my usual computer. I have my laptop with me, but my brother-in-law has been hogging it all day so I'm working with Mr. Drawworm's computer.)

Ah, I have to admit that it feels good to not have any in-progress drawings hanging over my head. I'm going to be taking a little break from drawing for a bit, and work on reading all these books I got for Christmas. I hope you had a good Christmas too!

Better Together portrait, finished!

Hooray! The Better Together portrait is finished! I like the way it came out. I think my favorite part is the bodice of the bridal gown.

I now have one Christmas order left! Gasp! I've been continually working on drawings for about six weeks now, and I'm feeling a bit burnt out. I've discovered that giving myself plenty of time to finish each piece helps a lot with keeping the fun alive. If I have an extra day or two to work on a drawing, then if I come home from work feeling cranky, tired, and brain-fried, I can leave drawing until the next day, hopefully to sit down to it with a fresher mind.

But this last drawing needs to be done by Sunday at the latest, so I have no such time luxury. My bosses have been asking for overtime at work and there's still Christmas shopping to do and cookies to bake. Yikes! I just have to make it through this last week!

See this drawing in progress: part 1 and part 2.

Better Together portrait, part 1

When I first began my Etsy shop last year, I was only half-serious about it. I didn't promote it at all, and it was a miracle that my first customer ever found me three months later. (I didn't relist that entire time!) She was so great to work with, and left me glowing feedback that was really more like a testimonial. From then on, Etsy sales were fairly steady, so I'm super grateful to her.

So, I was thrilled when this customer contacted me again last month, wanting some portraits as Christmas gifts for her children. I started working on the first one today, a cute newlywed couple. (The Bridal Gown portrait is on hold while I wait to hear back from the customer.)

Here's what I've got so far.

By the way, I decided that from now on I'm going to try and name my drawings after song titles or lyrics. This one is named after a wonderful song by Jack Johnson.

Couple Portrait, completed!

Hooray! I couldn't see the top of the guy's head in the original photo, but my co-worker told me that he had an Army buzz. So I looked at some reference photos and improvised it - I hope it looks right.

I added the shaded background to keep the drawing from looking too lopsided, with all the dark on one side and so much light on the other.

And guess what? I got another Etsy commission! My next drawing will be of a grandmother lifting a cute baby into the air. The only problem is that I need to get this drawing done in time for the grandmother's birthday on Friday - so I need to get going!

Anniversary Portrait, completed

After two weeks, the anniversary portrait is finished!

I'm rather proud of it, because the reference photo was very small, very blurry, very overexposed. At first I wondered if I should take the commission at all, because I wasn't sure if there was enough to draw from. But a second, clearer reference photo provided by the customer helped a lot.

When I sent the customer a scan of the finished drawing, she had some recommendations. The husband's eyes were a bit too far apart, his hairline too high, and his chin a little too prominent. So I made some subtle changes, and the customer said it looked "truly like an exact copy of the photo!"
All that's left to do is spray the drawing with fixative, and ship it! Hooray!

As soon as I was finished with this drawing - literally, almost the exact minute I finished - I got another order for a drawing. And it is an AWESOME order. The customer sent me a photograph of a super adorable baby boy, with a huge smile on his face and two little teeth. It is a 5x7 drawing, so hopefully it won't take too long to finish. Then again, sometimes the smaller sizes are more difficult because every little pencil mark can make a big difference in how the face looks.

Foo'.

Today at work we had a going-away party for a coworker, who has been with the company for 4 years. We ate burritos and cake and told funny stories for a whole hour. It was awesome.

Another coworker recently discovered my blog. He suggested that I make a drawing for the soon-to-be-ex coworker, and sent me a photograph I couldn't resist.
But since this coworker is leaving TOMORROW, I had to finish this drawing tonight. So I decided on a small 5x7 size, and worked quickly while watching the movie Rainman. (Actually, it was more of listening to the movie; I was concentrating so hard on the drawing.)
Here is the product of three hours of frantic drawing. It's definitely rough, and now that I see it on the computer screen, I see some flaws in it that I didn't notice before. Why does this ALWAYS happen when I upload drawings to this blog? Hmm...I'll make a few finishing touches before I give the original to my coworker.

It's going to be kind of an awkward gift, actually, because I almost never talked to the guy. My job doesn't really require a lot of human interaction. "Um...here...someone gave me this picture of you...I drew it...well, have a nice trip!"

But awkwardness or not, I can't help it! I just love making drawings for people! Even if they didn't ask for it!