I was asked by a teacher in this lovely girls secondary school in Limekiln Dublin 12 to create a drawing of the building. It was commissioned as a retirement gift for the current Principal who is retiring. It is a small and thus very intimate drawing of the building at just 15 x 20 cm.
Eoin, my client, was very happy with the finished drawing:
Hi Ivana! I absolutely love it!! Thank you so much, my principal will love it and such a nice piece to have!!
Eoin, teacher at St. Paul’s Secondary School in Greenhills, about the finished drawing of the school building, Dublin 12, October 2025
It was important to capture the school’s crest on the front facade of the building. I had a couple of photographs to work from as references. I joined them together to create one composition for the sketch.
There is an interesting break or angle on the front facade of the building. It is a little hard to see at first, but I made sure to capture this when shading. I emphasized it a little to make the sketch more intruiging.
I worked with Faber-Castell Pitt Graphite Matt pencils. These are a combination of graphite and charcoal. Graphite brings stability and strength, meaning the pencil can be sharpened to a fine point. The charcoal content on the other hand takes away the shiny finish of graphite and brings deep darkness to the pencil. It is a perfect combination and has worked for me for years.
I took some photographs of the drawing in progress and the finished sketch. I title all my drawings and sign them underneath. This is covered by the mount, only my initials ‘IL’ visible on the actual drawing. I mounted the drawing before posting. I use a neutral coloured mount to compliment the slight off-white shade of the paper I work on. I use Fabriano 5 50% cotton paper, hot pressed. I find it has enough texture to come through, but is not too rough for when I need to add detail.
I posted the mounted drawing to my client who was very happy with the sketch. I hope his principal liked it too 🙂
If you have a project in mind, I am accepting commissions. Please feel free to email me your requirements to info@trueimage.ie. You can find out more about my work on this website or my Instagram page.
