We were lucky to catch up with Alicia Levantini recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Alicia thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?
My business started as a quarantine hobby when I was let-go of my full-time restaurant industry job of 7 years. I’ve always been a creative person, doing small art jobs for friends and families- creating greeting cards made-to-order, hand-drawn USA state maps to track your travels, etc. However, I never identified as an artist, nor did I ever dream of doing this as a career. My plans to start a PhD in Clinical Psychology were put on the back-burner for a bit, and I leaned into my handmade greeting cards when I was out of work due to covid. I started posting hand-drawn pen & ink greeting cards on my Instagram, letting people know that I could create them made-to-order since we all couldn’t safely go to the store to purchase them. I offered to hand-write people’s messages inside of the cards, and to mail them to their recipients for them. The orders started trickling in, and I quickly began doing this every day. I was asked to do a project of drawing 12 stoops in my former Philadelphia neighborhood, Fairmount. This took me months, each 4″x5″ drawing taking me 15 hours each. Once I finally had them finished, I had them professionally printed and sold out of them immediately. This led to neighbors asking me to draw their houses for them, and the rest is history. At the end of 2020 I was asked to return back to work, and I decided that in 2021 I was going to make my business official and start doing this full-time.
My business has grown exponentially in the past 2 and a half years, and it brings me an unbelievable amount of joy to do this full-time. I do custom house drawing commissions, sell my full line of products on Etsy and wholesale to about a dozen shops in the Philadelphia area, and do several craft shows and street festivals a month. Between all of these avenues, I am able to earn a living doing what I love. My business is my baby, and I nurture it every day!
Alicia, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
My name is Alicia Levantini, and I’m the owner of ArtByAlicia. I create hand-drawn pen & ink illustrations of houses, buildings, churches, bars/restaurants, and iconic buildings in the Philadelphia area and beyond. My business started as a quarantine hobby and has developed into my full-time job. Despite living in Philadelphia, I’m able to draw houses and buildings in all parts of the world because I work off of reference photos. My clients will send me pictures of the house or building that they’d like me to draw, and this allows me to draw places everywhere! The closest place I’ve ever drawn is a house down the block from me, an the furthest place I’ve ever drawn is an apartment building in Beirut. I absolutely love creating illustrations that bring people joy. I love knowing the history behind a drawing, and making it super personalized and customized. I draw people’s pets in their house’s windows, I can hand-letter their address or the years lived at the bottom of the drawing, and so much more.
I create prints, greeting cards, posters, stickers, and magnets of iconic houses and buildings in Philadelphia, and this has allowed me to create a brand recognition of “The Stoop Girl”. My Stoops of Philly poster is my absolute best-seller: it features 16 pen & ink drawings of houses all over the city of Philadelphia in different neighborhoods. I always describe the poster as a Philly collage. I feel like this poster captures my brand as a whole: photo-accurate drawings with fun brush pen color to make it really unique. People feel deeply connected to my work and it brings me so much gratitude!
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
I feel very lucky to be living in a city like Philadelphia which really supports small businesses. Of course there are big-box chains of stores and restaurants here, but each of our neighborhoods are filled with thriving small businesses. I think this is what makes Philly so special! I recognize that the majority of America doesn’t have this same experience, however, we all have the internet! I think that instead of immediately going to Amazon, Target, etc to get home decor, art, etc. it would be incredible if people chose to support small first. Head over to Etsy and use the filters to select local shops. There are so many small businesses that rejoice at every sale, and you can do your part by seeking out the small businesses who work tirelessly on their craft. Another really fun thing to do is to check out your local arts and crafts festivals! I suggest you search online for festivals and events in your town, and check them out! There’s definitely always a plethora of these events around the holidays, and this is the absolute best time to shop small. You can find some incredible small businesses this way, and they will appreciate the support more than you can imagine.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
My absolute favorite thing that I get to experience as an artist is when a local Philadelphian meets up with me to pick up their custom house drawing. Some people will just pick it up and be on their way, but I love stopping and chatting with my client for a few minutes, and this often leads to them asking if it’s ok if they open the drawing up in front of me. I hold my breath every time, despite doing close to 200 custom drawings. Each and every time, I absolutely cannot wait to see their faces light up as they see the hand-drawn pen & ink illustration that they ordered. This could be their childhood home, their first home they’ve ever purchased with their partner, the house that they grew their family in, etc. I always say that my goal is to make my clients cry- in a happy way! And I am so proud to say that it’s happened several times!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.etsy.com/shop/artbyalicial
- Instagram: @ArtByAliciaL
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/artbyalicial
Image Credits
Alicia Levantini