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Field notes
For couples who postponed their coronavirus engagement sessions, the artists intervened to create traditional illustrations and portraits.
By Hilary Sheinbaum
As the coronavirus pandemic disrupted marriage plans and industry jobs, many couples postponed their engagement photo shoots to meet social estrangement guidelines. Others have hired illustrators to commemorate their nuptials, ceremonies and other milestones in their relationship. Below are some artistic examples of artists.
For couples who want to advertise their commitment without dressing up (or wearing a mask), all they want is an online order.
MariaAlejandra Ramirez, owner of Illustrated Fashion in Miami, works on 25 to 40 wedding-focused projects a year, adding engagement illustrations and support ads.
Instead of sketching, Ramirez asked clients to send him as many pictures of themselves as they wanted. It also encourages inspiring outfit, bouquets and pet photos. “The more shots they send me, the better,” he says. “That way, I can have a better concept of your style.”
Ms. Ramirez then draws subjects with an Apple pencil on her iPad Pro and uses Procreate, a rendering app with a virtual collection of brushes, inks, and other media. Photoshop is used to load text. Prices range from $150 to $400 for traditional designs, and final paints are delivered in two to 4 weeks.
During the close of the pandemic, Khyati Patel, an illustrator from Vadodara, India, won a variety of traditional applications, adding greeting cards for bridesmaids and bridesmaid proposal cards on her Instagram account.
Using a photo provided by the couple as a reference, Ms. Patel draws a pencil comic strip and then a fine outline. Use watercolor paint and watercolor pencils to form subjects’ skin, hair, and clothing. Details are added with metallic acrylic paint and a white Sakura Gelly Roll pen. The clothes are shaded with crayons and watercolor paint. Patel digitally scans the entire room in its background using the Autodesk SketchBook app.
Ms. Patel, who has customers in India, the United States and Australia, spends 10 to 11 hours on an assignment and executes orders within 15 days. Their coins charge between 2000 and 5000 Indian rupees (about $26 to $66).
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In mid-March, before the home stay order took effect in Washington on April 1, Grace Wahlbrink and Zachary Hill, either of the 31, sent 60 illustrated wedding invitations to a circle of family and friends for their May 10 nuptials at the Iron Gate restaurant. (Temporarily postponed the wedding until September 13).
Even before the coronavirus outbreak, Ms. Wahlbrink, who works in virtual marketing, and Mr. Hill, a source planning specialist for Northrop Grumman, waived a $1,000 engagement inquiry. “It was one last thing we had to do in the madness of the wedding planning process,” Wahlbrink said. “None of us cared much. We didn’t need to prioritize it.”
Instead, Wahlbrink’s friend Riley Sheehey, a watercolor illustrator at Falls Church, Virginia, created a portrait for the couple’s invitations.
Sheehey uses one or two images as a reference, combining main point requests and pet insertion, to expand a comic strip theme to two sets of retouches. Once her clients approve, Ms. Sheehey applies watercolor paint.
Between 2016 and 2019, Sheehey designed 60 original wedding-like works, starting with $600. Each requires five to six hours from start to finish with a delay of two to 3 months. In the end, it sends the original painting and a virtual scan to the couple, which can be taken to a printer for duplication.
Allison Lewis, owner of Bright Eye Designs in Owensboro, Ky., has designed for couples who have postponed their wedding.
Alternatively, some partners still marry in person, with no professional photographers on site. As a result, Ms. Lewis also remotely illustrates newlyweds who say “yes” at home.
“Most of the Covid couples I’ve worked with recently sent me an image of their wedding to recreate it,” she says. “These images regularly show the bride and groom dressed in their wedding clothes but in their living room or in the garden. I like to do those illustrations because I know how intimate the time was for them.
Ms. Lewis, who designs her Procreate sketches, asks her clients to submit their favorite images before jointly agreeing which one to recreate. His sketches last between two and six hours, with a delay of one week. Each piece sells for $50 or more, depending on the amount of details.
Similarly, Ashby Florence, a virtual illustrator in Washington, recreates photographs of recent marriages. His company It’s More Like It, which charges between $15 and $40 according to the piece, has noticed a 15% increase in its business since March. “Almost all of my marriage-related commissions are due to the coronavirus,” he said.
Each year, Nicole Updegraff of Oahu, Hawaii completes 10 to 15 wedding requests, adding illustrations for internet sites and thank you notes. The number of marriage programs has remained constant, however, many of its clients have had to replace their plans due to coronavirus. A bride and groom waiting for 250 visitors at their wedding married six other people on May 30 (adding an officiant and a photographer). Ms. Updegraff’s paintings appear on the couple’s recent thank-you cards.
Ms. Updegraff begins her one-and-a-half hour to 12-hour procedure by requesting separate, clear, close-up photographs of people’s faces and full-length photographs for height and height references. She talks to clients about her visions and the elements they need to come with before opening their sketchbook and using watercolor markers. Then transfer the art to your iPad Pro and use your Apple Pencil and Procreate to load fine and blank main points on the chart.
Ms. Updegraff charges $150 to $300 for illustrations of a single figure and $300 to $500 for couples illustrations, which are delivered within 3 to five business days.
For Alicia Ann Wilke, an illustrator from the circle of relatives in Rockford, Michigan, almost every one of the wedding requests in the last six months has served as a birthday present. Often customized with dates and wedding names, with teams of people, Ms. Wilke’s drawings are drawn in Procreate, then painted and published on cardboard from 8 to 10 inches. Each composition is priced from $80 to $300.
In March, when orders for shelters began in several states, Brittany Register of Auburn, Alabama, began creating virtual portraits. By June, Ms. Register had completed 15 specific wedding requests, adding a bride and groom whose rite had been canceled an hour before walking down the aisle. Using subject images, Ms. Register uses the Procreate app on her iPad Pro and spends one to three hours in the room. Complete orders in two weeks. His traditional creations start at $17.
Cassie Barraud, 29, from Queensland, Australia, discovered Ms. Register’s Etsy page while browsing engagement gifts. Barraud’s sister, Chantelle Rowntree, became engaged to Josh Pratt, 23, of Queensland on April 3. Array “It’s anything else and a beautiful reminiscence of that special moment of their lives.”
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