This full landscape wedding portrait was completed back at Easter time. The location of the wedding was beautiful and worked so beautifully in the drawing. It was an anniversary present for the bride in the photo, commissioned by her husband. The drawing was 40 x 40 cm in size, so it was quite large. It took a good few hours to complete, especially the background, but I think the size worked very well for all the detail that was in the image. This way, the bride and groom themselves did not end up too small in the overall portrait.
The mountains and sky in the background was drawn in less detail for the main subjects to be the centre of focus.
The client was very pleased with the finished drawing when I emailed him with the final scan:
Thank you for sending over the image. I absolutely love it, the attention to detail and how you’ve captured it is amazing.
Sean, Dublin, Ireland
I received another email from the client after he had given the drawing to his wife. I love when I get these as I don’t always know how a portrait is received. Often, they are gifts and even when the client is happy, I love to hear how the person getting the portrait feels about it.
Good morning Ivana…I wanted to send a massive thank you for the drawing. My wife loved it and I think it’s amazing. Really really happy with how it turned out and the reaction I got from my wife was what I’d hoped for.
Sean, Dublin, Ireland
Below is the clients photo I worked from for the drawing.
I worked with graphite pencils on Fabriano paper. I work in layers of pencil, from harder to softer grades. I use Staedtler Mars Lumograph for the harder grades and Staedtler Mars Lumograph Black pencils for the darker shades. The black pencils contain some charcoal which achieves beautiful dark tones and a little less shine than graphite on its own.
Once the drawing is finished, I often turn it around and avoid looking at it for a couple of days or so. I then return to it and compare it to the reference photo fixing any mistakes I made. Once I am happy, I scan it and email the scanned image to the client. Upon approval, I spray the drawing with a fixative and insert into a mount ready for posting.
