House Portrait - Finished!

I have been working on a house portrait commission this spring and just completed it this morning. This is a wonderful little 1950s brick ranch house. It has a lot of great details on it that made it very fun to draw, including the garage windows, the front door glass inset, the wrought iron porch railing and house number sign, as well as the scalloped awnings over the windows. 

The final portrait is only 10 x 8 inches, so it was a bit of a challenge to get the details in there accurately, but I think it turned out well. It mats up to 11 x 14, so a nice addition to the wall space of the homeowner.

I have a pet portrait next in my queue, so stay tuned!

House Portrait - Finished!

I have completed another house portrait in pen and ink! 

This was done on smooth Bristol with my 3x0 (.25) width Rapidograph pen. The drawing is 10 x 8 inches and will mat up to 14 x 11 and fit into a standard frame. I like working with the thinner pen width as I feel it gives me a little more control, especially with the size of the drawing.

This one is for a friend and her family who are building a new home at the same site. Her children, especially her youngest, expressed 'missing the old house' as they await moving into the new one, so I thought it would be a nice little memento to have of the original home. I worked from a photo of the house early-demolition, so I hope that it comes close to the original!

I hope to deliver it either in person or via mail over Thanksgiving. They may actually be close to moving into the new home then as well, so the timing is good!

House Portrait in pen and ink - another finished!

I have completed my most recent house portrait commission that I showed you in-progress earlier this month. The final turned out very well, I think. It is approximately 10 x 8 inches and was rendered with a 3X0 (.25) Rapidograph technical pen on smooth Bristol paper (100 lb.)

I have one more house portrait to start on and then I think I will be working on some more botanicals. But you never know what might catch my eye in between, so stay tuned!

Have a great week!

House Portrait in progress!

I am making good progress on my current project - an 10 x 8 inch pen and ink house portrait. 

This property has quite a few trees and foliage around the house itself. One of the trees is situated right in front of the front door. I always try to make sure at least part of the door is visible, so I have been working with the owner to determine how big to make the tree.

Here is a progression that you might be interested in seeing - from initial pencil drafts through several revisions of the front tree:

  Rough pencil draft placing house features, trees, etc.

 Additional details on the house and landscaping.

I sent this draft to the owner to see if the scaling-down of the front tree was acceptable.

 The owner wanted to expand the tree a bit more to reach up to the upper window, so this is the adjustment I made.

The owner approved the height of the tree, but I did some additional tweaking on the sides to fill it out a bit more.

I actually did some more revisions on the brick work as I thought it looked too heavy and uneven here. Stay tuned for the next update to see the finalized pencil draft and beginning pen work!

House portrait - pen and ink. Finished!

I just completed another pen and ink house portrait commission. It is a beautiful home that really worked well for this format/style of drawing. This one is approximately 10 x 8 inches and done on smooth Bristol paper using a 3x0 (.25) Rapidograph technical pen.  

There were lots of fun details on this home including the wrought iron stair railing, front yard light post, stone work at the foundation and beautiful plants and foliage which help to soften the overall drawing and give it some warmth and dimension. I hope you enjoy this one!

House Portrait - in progress (final pencil draft)

I think I have finalized the pencil draft of this house portrait. I added the landscaping in the front and actually had to tweak the perspective a bit as the line from the back of the house to the front flower bed was a bit off as I worked. I also finished penciling in the siding - it looks a little rough here, but when I do the final inking I will be using a straightedge for some of it to make sure it stays on track. I did some additional adjustments with the front steps, sidewalk, and also added some foliage to the side beds, working closely with the client.

I should be ready to start inking now. Stay tuned for the final artwork!

House Portrait - in progress (pencil draft)

I have been working on an 8 x 10 house portrait this week. I thought it would be interesting to post some in-progress scans so you can see how the process works. I always try to get as much detail down in pencil before I do any inking. It's much easier to correct pencil, of course, and so the longest part of the process is getting the pencil just right.

What you see above is the first pencil draft I scanned. Here I am still working on the siding and adding details in the landscaping as well as some details on the home. It is starting to come together nicely, but still needs to be finalized. 

Stop back to see an update on the pencil scan as I finalize it. Then onto the inking!

Condo House Portrait (pen and ink) - finished!

I have finally finished my last pen and ink house portrait commission for the year! The image size is approximately 10" x 8". This was a condo/townhouse unit and it was a rather tricky portrait to complete. There is actually a large pine tree right on the corner of the house that obscures most of it, so the client agreed that I could remove that from the final drawing. 

In addition, the front of condo faces another condo with just a narrow walkway in between the two. It was difficult to get a good reference photo, so I did a lot of cobbling together of various photos and angles to get the final view. Overall, it was a very interesting portrait to complete and a good learning experience!

House portrait in pen and ink - finished for Christmas

I have completed the first of two house portrait commissions that I am doing for Christmas this year. This is done in pen and ink on Fabriano Artistico Bright White 140 lb hot press paper. It's approximately 14 inches wide and 11 inches tall, and will be put into a 20 x 16 double black conservation mat.

One of the challenges of this portrait was the fact that the home is on a larger piece of land with a long, tree-lined driveway. If you took the long view to include the surrounding driveway and barns, the house would end up being rather tiny. So as the client and I discussed different options, we ultimately agreed that this cropped view would be best. It includes part of the long drive, but gives a closer view of the house. I also did something a little different and included the homeowner's three dogs in the driveway, as they are an integral part of the landscape and family.

House portraits - what makes a good photo to draw from?

Today I thought I would post something a little different. I have been working on some house portraits in pen and ink lately and usually work from photos. See my online portfolio for examples of completed portraits.

It is extremely important to have good photos to work from, including a single shot from the angle at which the final portrait will show the house, and close-ups of architectural details such as doors, windows, light fixtures, landscaping, etc. I have been able to take the photos myself this time, but often, a client is located elsewhere and has to take photos of the home themselves. 

Some of the tips that I post to my website for taking great photos include the following: 

• At least one photo should be taken of the front of the building, from an angle away from the garage, so it is not the predominant feature.  If possible, include a small view of the side.
• Close-up photos are very helpful. If possible, take photos of the front door, windows, any special features of the building, especially if hidden by bushes or trees.  
• Avoid having the front of the building in deep shadow. Cloudy days are fine if there is enough light. 
• Utility lines, cars, and people will be removed from the photos unless you request otherwise.  
• The building(s) on either side of your building will not be included, unless you request otherwise.

Here are some example photos so you can see what I mean:

Great photo!

This shows a three-quarter view (e.g., part of the side) and the front door will be visible in the drawing. The front porch is in a bit of a deep shadow, but a close-up will help resolve that.

 

Ok photo.

This is workable as it shows the front door clearly, but it is a straight-on view of the front, so the drawing could turn out a bit flat without the side perspective.

Not good.

This view makes the garage the prominent feature and the front door is basically hidden. This would not make a good final drawing.

  

Close-up details: 

This allows me to include all of the architectural details of the home including the front door, porch, windows, lamps, etc., making the final drawing accurate and personal to the home owner.

 

 

A custom house portrait offers a unique way to commemorate a special place. They make great gifts for birthdays, anniversaries, retirements, holidays and more. Consider ordering a house portrait for someone or yourself today!

NOTE: The holiday season is rapidly approaching. House portraits typically take 3-4 weeks to complete, so my commissions list is nearly full for this year. However, I am happy to offer gift certificates that can be presented at holiday-time with the portrait to be completed after the new year.


Email me at carol @ ccreechstudio . com  with questions or for more details!

House portrait - pen and ink

This is a recently completed a house portrait that I rendered in pen and ink. This was done on smooth Bristol with a Copic multiliner pen (size 0.05) and the image size is approximately 10 X 8 inches. There was a lot of detail both in the house and the landscaping, so it was a fun portrait to complete.

House portrait - final

After waiting a few days, I decided to do some additional tweaking to this house portrait - just added a bit of shading. Here is the final version.

House portrait - inking finished

I have finished the inking for the house portrait (I think). I still feel like there might be some tweaking to do, so I am going to just let it sit for a day or two and look at it with fresh eyes to make sure there is nothing left to finish. I want to be cautious and not get too carried away with additional shading, but at the same time, sometimes one or two small changes can really improve the look. So, we shall see! The final image is approximately 9.5" X 7.5" and should fit nicely into an 11 X 14 mat.

House portrait - inking continued

This is an intermediate snapshot of the pen and ink process for my current house portrait project. Now that some of the landscaping has been inked (trees, shrubs, some grass) and more of the house is finished, it's coming together nicely. Additional shading and finishing the landscaping will complete the portrait soon.

House portrait - starting the pen and ink

I've begun the pen and ink work with this house portrait. It looks rather skeletal right now, but it will slowly fill in and really start to pop once the shading is added. Stay tuned!

House portrait - final pencil draft

I am finishing up with the pencil draft on my current house portrait. As you can see, many additional details as well as shading suggestions are included. I'll begin inking soon.

House portrait in progress - early pencil draft

This is a house portrait that I am working on. This is a very early pencil draft. I still have much work to do on it before I go near it with ink, but it is starting to shape up nicely. It's a bit hard to see, but you can get an idea of the perspective and layout. Stay tuned for more progress!

House portrait - pen and ink

This is a house portrait that I completed recently. It was a birthday gift for the owner. I love doing house portraits in addition to the pet portraits and other artwork. They have to be precise in the perspective and proportion, but they don't have to be dull. For example, all of the landscaping that is around this house softened up the look of the portrait and gave it a bit of liveliness. And getting the details just right really helps the portrait come together and become a unique piece of artwork for the owner.