A few months ago I drew a portrait of baby Lily and her parents. The photo I worked from was taken during her christening. Andrew, my client, is her dad’s brother and he wanted me to create this memory of the special day for them. I previously drew a larger pencil drawing of Andrew and his wife on their wedding day and he wanted me to create another portrait for his brother.
The drawing is in the smallest size I work in at just 15 x 20 cm. I cropped the image slightly around William and Christine, so the happy parents and Lily are more in focus. I kept the background of the church in the drawing for context.
The photograph offered a lot of detail for me to work from. Because the drawing is quite small in size, I had to keep my pencils very sharp. I needed to make sure to capture the likeness of baby Lily and her parents. Andrew, my client, was very happy with the resulting drawing when he saw the scanned image I emailed and when he collected the portrait.
Thats perfect Ivana thank you!
Andrew, upon seeing the scanned image of the finished pencil drawing of his brother and family, Celbridge, September 2025
I started the drawing with a fine line pencil sketch of the entire scene. I worked slowly and carefully not to miss any detail. Only then, I moved onto shading. This is the fun part and involves me moving in and out working simultaneously on the entire surface. I often step back to make sure the portrait works well as a whole.
I used Staedtler Mars Lumograph Black pencils. These are my favourite and keep a sharp point for a longer time compared to other pencils.
After spraying the finished drawing with a fixative, I inserted it into a neutral coloured mount. I included some promotional materials with the drawing for the client, together with a handy information postcard on how to care for the drawing.
I have had such a great year with True Image Fine Art and I am so excited for the next one already. I have some interesting projects lined up and cannot wait to get started, after some rest of course ….
Do contact me at info@trueimage.ie if you would like to discuss your own project.
