This latest pencil drawing is the next step in my new series of wildlife work. The adorable zebra foal caught my eye at the wildlife preserve, and as striped critters make such great drawings I found myself throughly inspired! Titled “Birth Marks” this artwork is now available in Limited Edition Prints. (It is sold matted to a non-standard frame size.) You can purchase these signed and numbered Zebra Art Prints on this site, or on my other site www.pencilplace.com. If you would like to purchase products with this zebra art, please see my customizable zebra art zazzle items or myzebra art cafepress items!
This recent pencil drawing takes me into a new genre of work – wildlife! I chose for my first piece this beautiful white swan – splashing its magnificent wing span on the water. Titled “Dreams Take Flight” this artwork is now available in Limited Edition Prints. You can purchase these signed and numbered Swan Art Prints in either black and white or tinted with color.
My sincerest thanks to Ken Conger (www.kencongerphotography.com) for providing the reference photo for this drawing!
NEW: ePub Artist Marketing Book by Kelli Swan!
I recently published a second edition of my Artist Marketing Book – available now in ePub format! Visit From Creating Art to Creating Income Too (2) – Marketing Tips for the Visual Artist.
“How did you get started selling your artwork?” This is the question that inspired me to write my first book, From Creating Art to Creating Income – Marketing Tips for the Visual Artist. It is a question I have been asked many times over the years. Whether self-schooled or traditionally taught, most emerging artists have been taught little about how to generate income from their work. They realize that the creative aspect of the endeavor is handled. It is the marketing of the work which is challenging!
Portrait of Teddy the dog
My last portrait portrait for 2011 features Teddy – the adorable Shih Tzu dog. I didn’t think I would make the Christmas deadline for this one, but owner Dan decided to order the portrait anyways. Due to a schedule change, I was able to get the portrait to him before the Holiday. WHEW!
Please visit my Custom Portraits Page for more samples of previous portraiture work along with pricing, terms, etc.
Portrait of a Rescued Dog in Sedona, AZ
This summer I was contacted by Cher H. of Canada. She wanted to commission a portrait of her brother’s dog as a gift for his upcoming wedding. However the family is quite spread out, and they were all meeting in CA for the wedding. This made shipping the portrait and consequently carrying it in a suitcase problematic at best! Cher was delighted that I would supply a scan of the portrait so that she would have something to easily print out and transport as a gift. As the wedded couple lives Sedona, I was able to deliver the gift personally upon their return!
“Scooter” is a rather famous dog in Sedona. She was rescued by some wonderfully caring people in 2009. At the time, Scooter was giving birth to a litter of puppies … in the street! She has come to be loved by all who meet her, and I was so very honored to be chosen to create her portrait!
Please visit my Custom Portraits Page for more samples of previous portraiture work along with pricing, terms, etc.
Custom Pet Portrait of Smokey the Husky Dog
This summer I had the pleasure of drawing a portrait of “Smokey” the Husky dog. Talk about an expressive creature! His mom Tricia sent many wonderful photos which allowed me to come up with a composition she liked. The portrait turned out great, and evidently Smokey has a mind of his own as he sent me followup pictures expressing his joy at being immortalized LOL! 
This custom portrait drawing of a lady family member is one of several portraits I have completed so far this summer. Fall is just around the corner, and the holiday portrait order-rush has already begun! :-)
One of the questions I am most frequently asked is “How do I make print (reproductions) from my drawings [or paintings]?” This is often asked after numerous attempts at making reproductions – usually with disappointing results. Many artists think that finding a good printer is the problem, when in fact the secret is in the image preparation!
The key to getting good reproductions is the image scan & prep. You need to start with a top quality high-res image scan. This scan then needs to be edited for reproduction use via a program like Photoshop. Once that is done, the rest is easy – you can have the end result file printed through a variety of outlets – a local printer, a print-on-demand website, etc. (My current favorite source for POD (print on demand) fine art prints is Fine Art America. I have a number of my open edition Horse, Dog and Cat prints available there now.)
Preparing images for reproduction is a specialized area, and what needs to be learned & understood could not be covered in a single blog post. So, if you can find a local graphic designer that has a good scanner and specializes in pre-press work, that would help a lot. If not, you might try Fine Print Imaging. They are based out of Colorado and can do just the scan, or the editing work and even the reproductions. I used them once when I had a drawing too large for my scanner and their service was great.
Slide show courtesy of Fine Art America:
This is one of my recent Custom Pencil Portraits. The drawing scene depicts the rodeo/gymkhana event of Barrel Racing. Original Drawings makes great gifts! I create one-of-a-kind works of art using your photos as reference material. And while I specialize in pet portraits, you will see from the samples on my pencil portraits page that I also offer architectural and family drawings. Feel free to contact me any time for additional information.
I have finally found a Shopping Cart system that works well with my blog. You can access it through the side bar or through the PRINTS STORE link at the top of the page. This store features my horse art prints, dog breed prints, aviation art prints and more! It is easily searchable. Feel free to email me feedback of your shopping experience!
