Pen & ink #107K house portraits is an article about stylus sketches, of a home, written by artist Stephen F. Condren, BFA-SAIC, at Condren Galleries, a Fine Arts Gallery, offering prints and JPEG & PDF scans, which are on sale at low discount prices. Because pen & ink house portraits are great, their prints are great!
Pen & ink house portrait by artist Stephen F. Condren.
House portrait #624Z, or architectural rendering of the Chad Muir home in Houston, Texas, with scans for note cards, and stationery, by artist Stephen F. Condren of CondrenGalleries, a Fine Arts Gallery.
This gracious estate is the home of Mr. & Mrs. Chad Muir of Houston, Texas, a great and wonderful city. As you can see from the photo below this is indeed a grand manor, heralding back to the grandeur of ante-bellum Natchez, Mississippi. In many respects this splendid residence reminds me of Stanton Hall, in Natchez, one of the glories of the old south.
Cantilever
A most distinguishing feature of this fine home is the wonderful cantilever extension over the driveway. The detailing, and proportions of this element are quite remarkable, as they not only give space, and light to the home, they also give the home a noble stature.
Photo of the Muir residence in Houston, Texas by artist Stephen F. Condren.
Preliminary Sketch For House Portrait #624Z
Clinker Stylus Sketch
The pencil sketch was submitted to Mr. Muir for approval before I commenced the architectural rendering.
Pencil drawing of the Muir residence in Houston, Texas by artist Stephen F. Condren.
Pencil Drawing
Stylus Sketch
The pencil drawing as you can see below is the first phase of drafting up the rendering. This is the foundation of the work of art as I use it as my guide. It must be understood that I do not “copy” over the drawing, for that would stifle my creativity. Rather, I use the sketch as a guide to bring out the spirit of the house.
Pencil drawing of the Muir residence in Houston, Texas by artist Stephen F. Condren.
Pen & Ink
Rendering
Below is the finished pen & ink drawing of the home. If you look closely you can see the pencil sketch below the ink.
Pen & ink drawing of the Muir residence in Houston, Texas by artist Stephen F. Condren.
Matted House Portrait ~ Finished Product
Certificate Of Authenticity ~ Included With House Portrait
Shipping
Framed house portraits are double boxed for safety
Condren Galleries Ltd. For House Portraits
House Portrait As Fine Art
Fine Arts Gallery
Condren Galleries is pleased to have been to participate in the execution of the house portrait.
Stephen F. Condren For House Portraits
House Portrait As Architectural Rendering
Artist and architectural illustrator
As an artist I have made house portraits a staple of my architectural rendering works.
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House portrait #624Z watercolor with pen & ink, and scans for Realtor closing gift note cards by artist Stephen F. Condren.
This article is about watercolor house portrait #276Z, of a property sold by Broker/Realtor, Renee Devedjian, of @Properties, 2571 Waukegan Road, Bannockburn, IL 60015, and written by artist and United States Navy Veteran, Stephen F. Condren, BFA-SAIC, of Condren Galleries, a Fine Arts Gallery ~ the house portrait is done first as a pencil drawing and then a pen & ink, which comes with JPEG & PDF scans for making prints, note cards, and stationery. Congratulations Renee Devedjian!
Pencil Drawing For Watercolor house portrait #276Z
Clinker Stylus Sketch
The pencil drawing is the foundation of the house portrait. As you can see from the sketch below I have captured the image of the house precisely. The photo of the home was distorted making it recede down to the left, so I adjusted the perspective to a more natural view.
All that you need in the sketch is the simple clean line. I do not busy up the preliminary sketch with shade and shadows, that is not that task at hand.
Because the large ornamental tree and flowers were blocking the right side of the house, I moved them over to the right so as to get a clear view of the entire structure.
Pencil sketch of a house portrait by artist and United States Navy Veteran, Stephen F. Condren.
Pen & Ink Drawing
Stylus Sketch
The pen & ink drawing is where the rubber meets the road! There is no turning back at this point and you have to do it right! Once the ink hits the paper it is final, just like a house closing. You cannot use white out or other gimmicks to cover over mistakes because when you apply the watercolor it washes all the white out away! What you see is what you get.
In the drawing below you can see that I have carefully followed the outline given to me from the pencil sketch from above. I enhanced the tree behind the house to have grace to the composition. Generally, I do not put ink on the background trees but this drawing seemed to call for it.
Pen & ink house portrait by artist and United States Navy Veteran, Stephen F. Condren.
Watercolor
Painting
The watercolor is very carefully applied because you cannot go back and fix it. Since watercolor is transparent you can see everything, so you have to set the colors in place correctly the first time.
On both sides of the composition I have put a touch of red for the Norway Maples which are there. The sidewalk and steps are brick pavers and so I used a touch of red and brown to bring out those tones.
Watercolor house portrait by artist and United States Navy Veteran, Stephen F. Condren.
Scans
JPEG & PDF
As a follow-up after sending the house portrait to me clients, I email them the scan of the watercolor. The scan can be put into JPEG or PDF formats for making note cards or stationary as follow-up gifts for clients.
Condren Galleries Ltd. for Watercolor house portrait #276Z
Fine Arts Gallery
Condren Galleries is pleased to have been to participate in the execution of watercolor house portrait #276Z for Realtor Renee Devedjian.
Stephen F. Condren for Watercolor house portrait #276Z
Artist
As an artist I have made watercolor house portrait #276Z a staple of my architectural rendering works.
Alt Image Tag
Watercolor house portrait #276Z pen & ink drawing with prints by artist Stephen F. Condren at Condren Galleries.
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Watercolor house portrait by artist and United States Navy Veteran, Stephen F. Condren.
This article is about watercolor house portrait #269Z, of a property sold by Anne Ferrante, Realtor, Kienlen Lattmann Sotheby’s International Realty, 68 North Finley Avenue, Basking Ridge, NJ 07920, and written by artist Stephen F. Condren, BFA-SAIC, of Condren Galleries, a Fine Arts Gallery ~ the house portrait is done first as a pencil drawing and then a pen & ink, which comes with JPEG & PDF scans for making note cards. Congratulations Anne Ferrante!
Pencil Drawing For Watercolor House Portrait #269Z
Clinker Stylus Sketch
This is the pencil sketch or stylus sketch, that begins the drawing. I have done a nice layout of the drawing in relation to the landscape and the trees behind. I made special not of the large tree on the lawn to the right, so as not to let it overcome the right side of the landscape.
House portrait sketch for Realtor Anne Ferrante.
Pen & Ink Drawing
Stylus Sketch
The pen & ink drawing, which is a stylus sketch, is carefully done over the pencil sketch as a guide for the ink. All changes, if any, must be made at the time of the pencil sketch because the pen & ink is merciless! When the ink touches the paper that is it, no going back.
If you look closely you can see the lines of the pencil in the background, under the house, and through the trees.
House portrait pen & ink sketch for Realtor Anne Ferrante.
Watercolor
Painting
The watercolor rendering or house painting, is the final step. I have made if very clear to have the colors show through. I do not want the paint to look “worked”. Watercolor are at their best when they look fresh.
I have made sure that the ink lines show nicely for the tree trunks and blend in with the leaves. I did not make use of any hatching or cross-hatching in this rendering because the house is very wide and thin.
Hatching
If I had hatched the eaves it would have made the walls look too close to the brick below. Also, in the covered porch I did not us hatching either, because there were too many lines being used to show the curved of the door and entrance. Putting down more lines would have caused confusion. I did, however, shade the area under the entry with a nice lavender tone, but no ink lines.
Bird Bath & Fence
To keep in the charm I made sure to include the fence. Not much is showing, but that is all that you need to bring in the charm. The birdbath makes for the cherry on the cake!
House portrait watercolor for Realtor Anne Ferrante.
Scans
JPEG & PDF
As a follow-up after the closing for making note cards.
Condren Galleries Ltd.
Fine Arts Gallery
Condren Galleries is pleased to have been to participate in the execution of watercolor house portrait #269Z for Realtor Anne Ferrante.
Stephen F. Condren
Artist
As an artist I have made watercolor house portrait #269Z a staple of my architectural rendering works.
Alt Image Tag
Watercolor house portrait #269Z with pen & ink drawings, prints, and by artist Stephen F. Condren at Condren Galleries.
This article is about watercolor house portraits #266Z, of properties sold by Realtor Daniel Soldano, of Douglas Elliman Real Estate in Brooklyn, New York, and written by artist Stephen F. Condren, BFA-SAIC, of Condren Galleries, a Fine Arts Gallery ~ the house portrait is done first as a pencil drawing and then a pen & ink, which comes with JPEG & PDF scans for making note cards. Congratulations Daniel Soldano!
Pencil Drawing For Watercolor House Portraits #266Z
Clinker Stylus Sketch
The pencil drawing, which is a clinker stylus sketch, is the first thing that I do. This is the foundation of the rendering. I look at the MLS images that are emailed to me by Daniel Soldano, so that I can get a good understanding of how to approach this work of art.
It must be understood that these renderings are commissions and unique works of art that go up in value.
Black BMW 3 Series
As you can see from the sketch below, I have captured the essential form of the structure, and given just enough detail so that I can move on to the next step which is the pen & ink. If there are to be any changes to be made, this is the time. For example, I texted Mr. Soldano these two sketches for him to view. He came back to me as asked me if I could put a black BMW Series #3 in front of the condominium building. I was pleased to do this, so I took the sketch and then penciled in the BMW, which you can see below. This car was not in the original as you can tell from the bolder line work. Naturally, I had to tease Danny by telling him that I would have to draw the BMW with a boot since it is illegally parked!
Rendering
The rendering of this duplex structure is very pleasing. The well designed structure rests firmly on the lot with ample setback from the street. The pencil sketch nicely captures the proportions and scale of the dwelling.
Pencil sketch rendering by artist Stephen F. Condren for Realtor Daniel Soldano.
Perpective
Below you can see the vanishing lines of the perspective heading down to the horizon line to the left. Like spokes in a tire, these lines all radiate from a fixed point on the horizon. On the bottom right you can see the BMW 3 Series sketched in place.
Pencil sketch hand rendering by artist Stephen F. Condren for Realtor Daniel Soldano.
Pen & Ink Drawing
Stylus Sketch
Pen & ink, as stylus sketch, is where we separate the men from the boys. Unlike the loving and merciful lead pencil, the pen & ink lacks all kindness and can truly be called merciless. When that ink touches the paper the party is over, there is no going back, or asking for favors. What you see is what you get! With that in mind, it is crucial to follow the guidelines of the pencil so as to have direction. The purpose of the pencil sketch is to make the foundation of the drawing, the pen & ink is the drawing!
Hatching & Cross-hatching
The best way to give accent to a pen & ink drawing is through shade and shadow, and this is done through hatching and cross-hatching. To effectively bring out the depth of field in the rendering, as well as give strength to the image of the structure, I have done fine line hatch marks, in parallel under the awnings. Further, I have encapsulated the hatched lines with a contour line so as to make sense of the hatch marks. Pen & ink lines are strong, and they make their image strong!
Pen & ink hand rendering by artist Stephen F. Condren for Realtor Daniel Soldano.
Hatching
In the rendering below you can see the same use of hatching done to give shadowing to the lower section of the building, especially the garage entry, and the shops. I have eased up on the hatching under the trees because that is not the area of focus it is not prudent to put attention to minor spots.
Pen & ink hand rendering by artist Stephen F. Condren for Realtor Daniel Soldano.
Watercolor
Painting
Now the fat lady sings, for we are now in the watercolor painting. This fair lady is the crown jewel of the rendering as she brings in her grace and finesse. Because the hard work of the pencil sketch, and pen & ink lines have done their part, this ballerina gently flows across the image and fills it in with life. Look how fresh and natural the rendering looks with tones and color!
Watercolor hand rendering by artist Stephen F. Condren for Realtor Daniel Soldano.
Landscape
Both in the renderings below and above the touches of green bring the architecture to life. Green is the most restful color to the eye, and thus is a comfort to those viewing it.
Watercolor hand rendering by artist Stephen F. Condren for Realtor Daniel Soldano.
Scans
JPEG & PDF
The images of watercolor house portrait #266z are capture with JPEP & PDF scans.
Condren Galleries Ltd.
Fine Arts Gallery
Condren Galleries is pleased to have been to participate in the execution of watercolor house portrait #266Z for Realtor Daniel Soldano.
Stephen F. Condren
Artist
As an artist I have made watercolor house portrait #266Z a staple of my architectural rendering works.
Alt Image Tag
Watercolor house portrait #266Z pen & ink drawing with prints by Stephen F. Condren at Condren Galleries.
This article is about watercolor house portrait #264Z, of a property sold by Broker/Realtor Ray Wade, owner of Legacy Texas Properties in Houston, Texas, and written by artist Stephen F. Condren, BFA-SAIC, of Condren Galleries, a Fine Arts Gallery ~ the house portrait is done first as a pencil drawing and then a pen & ink, which comes with JPEG & PDF scans for making note cards. Congratulations Ray Wade!
Pencil Drawing For Watercolor House Portrait #264Z
Clinker Stylus Sketch
The pencil drawing, which is a clinker stylus sketch, is the foundation of a house portrait and it can be seen under the pen & ink in the image below under Pen & Ink Drawings. It is against aesthetic practice to erase any work done by the artist, no matter how small. The same holds true for house portraits, which are Fine Art as they are private commissions. Each house portrait is a work of Fine Art and must be treated with utmost respect. In the case of pencil sketches that I do for my clients, I only erase the writing of the note. So if you look at the note in the pen & ink below you will see my hand writing.
Because I am going to write the note in ink, the pencil is merely a guide and not part of the work of art. If you look at the watercolor below you an see that my pencil notes are gone. However, if you look closely you can see the pencil sketching under the house and the landscaping, that is good artwork!
Pen & Ink Drawing
Stylus Sketch
The pen & ink drawing, which is a stylus sketch, is the blood and guts of the house portrait. Nothing can be hidden from the all might pen! Because the pen & ink lines are so bold and clear you have to make sure that they are correct from the start. Most importantly, pen & inks are very demanding and very unforgiving. If you make a mistake it is there forever. There is no use in using “white out” or other slick patches to “fix” the error, for when the watercolor come it will expose all of that folly! When you do pen & ink you have to do it correctly.
Picture Plane
The picture plane is the paper, or the TV screen, or a movie screen. This is the surface that everything that your eye sees rests upon. In the rendering below you can see that I have left space for the trees. Thus, when I drew the eave lines I stopped and made a pause and then continued, leaving room for the tree trunk. This hold true for the bushes and other objects in front of the house. The use is that any object in front gets priority seating. Thus, the bushes in the front of the yard get the highest priority as they are in front of everything.
Shade & Shadow
Because the nature of pen & ink is linear, they express form and motion through hatching and cross-hating. If you look at the front porch you can see a series of short vertical lines going along from the left to right. Please note that I have left space for the columns. If I had just kept making the vertical lines through the columns then it would have ruined the depth of field for the porch, flattened the image, and ruined the drawing. Hatching makes a pen & ink drawing strong!
Pen & Ink House Portrait
Watercolor
Painting
The watercolor of the rendering is the final step in doing the house portrait. Watercolor like pen & ink is very demanding and very unforgiving. When the brush hits the paper there is no turning back, what you see is what you get! And since your client has paid for this commission it had better be good!
Freshness
The most important element in a watercolor is freshness. You should be able to smell the roses! When you try and work the brush over the paper the drawing will immediately fall into ruin. You have to be fresh, clean, and clear when applying watercolors. You cannot undo what is wrong. It is better to live with error than ruin the work of art over a detail. Every work of art in history, form Leonardo Da Vinci to Picasso has errors in every single work that they have done, and I have as well.
Sunset
The time of year in the watercolor is winter and the time of day is sunset. I have put a suggestion of crimson in the yellow sky to give the warmth of the evening sun to the rendering. A bit of lavender sets the tone of the evening sky and a touch of green in the trees gives hope for spring that is almost here.
Watercolor House Portrait
Scans
JPEG & PDF
As a follow-up after the closing, every good Realtor know that you have to stay in touch with your clients. A good way to do this is to come offering something. So at a later time that the Realtor deems appropriate he or she can call upon their client with a nice box of note cards or stationery with the watercolor of their home!
All house portraits come with scans in JPEG format. You can email this scan to any local printer and they can make note card or stationery at your request of watercolor house portrait #264Z.
Condren Galleries Ltd.
Fine Arts Gallery
Condren Galleries is my place for art and it is here that I offer paintings and watercolor of any subject. Because I have done house portraits and architectural rendering for my entire career and I am pleased to offer this to all of my clients.
Stephen F. Condren
Artist
As an artist I can do figure drawings and paintings as well and portraits of people, the range is great and I love my work. I am honored to do watercolor house portrait #264Z for Ray Wade.
Alt Image Tag
Watercolor house portrait #264Z, pencil drawing, pen & ink, JPEG & PDF scans, Condren Galleries.
This is about Watercolor house portraits #263Z, pen & ink drawings, which contains two renderings done for Realtor Megan Beechen, and written by artist Stephen F. Condren, BFA-SAIC, of Condren Galleries, a Fine Arts Gallery. Congratulations Megan Beechen!
Pencil Drawing For Watercolor House Portrait #623Z
Stylus Sketch
The very beginning of all house portraits starts with a fine line stylus sketch or drawing. Just like in Real Estate, so too in art, you have to have a foundation! The sketch is the basement for all practical purposes. As you can see from the image below the sketch does not offer much refined detail, in the same manner a basement is unfinished. Because the sketch is the starting point it is crucial for laying out the correct size, scale, and details of the house to be rendered.
This fine home is a two story house in traditional style. There is a bay window in the living room and a nice covered porch at the entry. The garage is attached to the side of the home. The second floor is the same size as the first and there is no third floor outside of an attic. The landscaping is handsome in that it offers a lovely stone wall to secure the boundaries of the front lawn and gardens. There is a large birch tree directly in front of the entry and a large maple on the right side of the property. These trees are both enclosed in the stone wall framework.
It is amazing how much information you can get form this simple sketch! Now the next step is to put the pen & ink to work.
Lead Pencil House Portrait
Pen & Ink Drawing
Stylus Sketch
The pen & ink drawings or stylus sketch is very demanding and also very unforgiving. When it come to drawing this is where you separate that men from the boys for you have to know what you are doing. There no room for error, when you put the pen & ink on the paper it is final, so you have to be sure that it is correct from the moment that you start.
Sketch As A Guide
Because pen & inks are so demanding you can appreciate the need for a sketch as a guide. To draw pen & ink on a blank sheep of paper is a whole different ballgame. As an artist, my clients demand and expect the best, as they are entitled to. These house portraits not only cost money they are a statement to the Realtor’s client. Therefore, it is serious business to do things right, and from the start.
As a graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, I am well educated on how to approach a work of art, which every house portrait it. Further, each house portrait is a commissioned work of art, thus the client is taking a risk that the rendering will be what he or she is expecting.
MLS Images
My approach to pen & ink renderings is to carefully take the pen and look at both the MLS list image and the paper. The funny thing about all of this is that I draw very quickly! It is difficult to explain, but as I see the image on the MLS page I only have moments to grasp that form and carry it over to the paper with my pen. For that reason, the longer that I take the more that I will forget. I need to move quickly. I carefully outline the entire structure and then start to fill in the detail.
Picture Plane
The thing that I draw first is the landscaping and any other object in the front of the picture plane. If you look at the pen & ink below you can see that the birch trees out front are going right up and not cut through with lines from the eaves of the house. This is because I had to layout the area for the trees before hand and leave that space blank for the trees. The same holds true for bushes and other object in front of the house.
Pen & Ink House Portrait Pen & Ink House Portrait
Watercolor House Portrait
Home Painting
Most importantly, the final step is applying the watercolor to make the house portrait or home painting. Just like the pen & inks, watercolor is also very demanding and very unforgiving. Once the brush touches the paper that is it! You cannot erase and when you attempt to rub it out with the paint brush the watercolor then look “worked”, a very bad and undesirable thing. Watercolor have to be fast and fresh.
Because you can see from my brush strokes below, they are worked together as I apply the paint. I put a few colors from my pallet on to the brush and then work them onto the paper. I never go over it and work it out. Light, fresh, and fast is the key to success!
Watercolor House PortraitWatercolor House Portrait
Condren Galleries
Fine Arts Gallery
I am honored that Megan commissioned me to do her renderings and I look forward to working with her again.
Note Cards and Housewarming Gifts
JPEG & PDF Scans
Note cards and stationery as well as many other things can be made from the scans that I email to the Realtor. Simply email the scan to any local print shop and they can produce what ever you want. Scans are available JPEG & PDF formats.
This is about House portraits $99, which is for sale at discount with prints by artist Stephen F. Condren, SAIC, of Condren Galleries, a Fine Arts Gallery, offering JPEG & PDF scans. Realtors love giving house portraits to their client because they are always remembered. Not only is the Realtor remembered, also referred to, over and over again.
Referrals
The most important fact about house portraits is that they generate referrals, and they generated endlessly. The house portrait hangs on your client’s wall for years being shown to all their family, friends, and neighbors.
Personal
Nothing is more personal or touching than giving a house portrait of the very home that is being closed on? This creates a lasting and healthy bond between the Realtor and client that creates loyalty and good business practice.
This is about House portraits large & small compared, which is for sale at discount with prints by artist Stephen F. Condren, SAIC, of Condren Galleries, a Fine Arts Gallery, offering JPEG & PDF scans. This pen & ink drawing is the first phase of a watercolor house portrait which is showed in comparison to a smaller house portrait below. The task of this post is to show a visual comparison between a large non-matted (13″x 19″) house portrait with a (11″ x 14″) matted house portrait. As you can see from the photos below the large house portrait is 3 time the size of the matted one. This is an exceptional value for the client as he or she is getting much for artwork for their money!
Another excellent feature of the large un-matted house portrait is that you have no framing or gift constraints. You can have it famed and matted in a wide choices of sizes or you can choose to mount it to a board or panel as a collage house warming gift. The flexibility is all yours with an un-matted house portrait.
The house is modern Midwest suburban two story structure. The lines of this home work well for rendering as the architect did an excellent job of correctly aligning the central block of the structure to the rest of the dwelling.
Hatching & Cross-hatching
The house lends itself naturally to pen & ink, especially in the entry and porch on the first floor. The use of hatching was a natural here as well as on the dormers in the front over the garage.
House Portrait Pen & Ink Drawing By Stephen F. Condren
This is about House portrait pen & ink 7/14/2018E by, which is for sale at discount with prints by artist Stephen F. Condren, SAIC, of Condren Galleries, a Fine Arts Gallery, offering JPEG & PDF scans. This residence is at 618 Brighton Drive, Mundelein, IL and sold by Nano Engdahl.
House Portrait Pen & Ink By Artist Stephen F. Condren
Sold by
Nano Engdahl
Real Estate Broker
Certified Staging Consultant-CSC
Pricing Strategy Advisor-PSA
Short Sale/Foreclosure Representative – SFR
Baird & Warner – Lake County Office
847-814-5543 direct
Delineation
This is a modern Tudor style home built by Cambridge Homes, a long time building contractor in Libertyville, Illinois. The line work on this rendering was difficult due to the many boards that crisscross along the façade of the house. It is imperative to align all of the board patterns to that they for the correct delineation of the house.
Hatching & Cross-hatching
There was a nice amount of hatching in the rendering due to all of the eaves and front porch. The watercolor that is to follow nicely fills in the tones of the colors of the boards and plater material.
This is about House portrait pen & ink 7/14/2018C, which is for sale at discount with prints by artist Stephen F. Condren, SAIC, of Condren Galleries, a Fine Arts Gallery, offering JPEG & PDF scans. This residence is at 795 West Trail North, Grayslake, IL 60030 and sold by Nano Engdahl.
House Portrait Pen & Ink By Artist Stephen F. Condren
Sold by
Nano Engdahl
Real Estate Broker
Certified Staging Consultant-CSC
Pricing Strategy Advisor-PSA
Short Sale/Foreclosure Representative – SFR
Baird & Warner – Lake County Office
847-814-5543 direct
Delineation
The pen & ink of this home is most pleasing to me. I like everything about it. All of the lines work together to bring out the form of the structure. Also this is a waterfront property so I made sure to let the water behind the property be seen. This pen & ink does not bring out the lake behind but the watercolor to follow will.
Hatching & Cross-hatching
The house made use of a good amount of hatching but no cross-hatching. The entry and porch are the areas with most of the shade in the image and thus took most of the line work.
