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studio leilu

Live Drawing

Take home something tangible.

Live portraits for brand activations, launches and events. Each portrait made by hand, in the moment, for the person in front of me.

A little human connection. An original drawing. Something worth holding on to.

Discuss a live drawing session
Close-up of the artist drawing a portrait on a small bookmark with a black pen at The Other Art Fair
a portrait on a bookmark, Brooklyn
The pop-up portrait booth for Phillips' Pride activation on the pier at Hudson River Park
Animated line drawing of a person’s head and shoulders in pink, blue, green and orange strokes
one line, a minute or two

No photographs, no screens.

Guests sit, we talk for a moment, and a drawing is in their hand before the conversation is over. It's an intimate interaction with an artist, and the result is an original made just for them.

For brands and event producers, that means a moment guests seek out, and a takeaway with your event attached to it long after it happens.

How it works

Three small touchpoints.

  1. A simple setup

    A small table and a little space. It should feel like an invitation, not a queue.

  2. A moment of sitting

    No posing. I draw what I see: the posture, the hair, the expression people have when they forget they're being looked at.

  3. Handed over on the spot

    The portrait goes home with the guest. A keepsake, not a giveaway.

The artist seated at her booth table with a pen in hand, talking with three visitors standing on the other side, beneath a letterboard sign reading free one-minute sketches
free one-minute sketches at The Other Art Fair

The portrait

  • Quick, expressive portraits, made live
  • Option for 1-2 minute line drawings, or slightly longer painted sittings
  • Drawn or painted on small paper keepsakes.
  • Cards can carry your branding, event name or date, so the keepsake doubles as the takeaway

Selected work

Places I've drawn in

The Phillips Pride portrait booth on the pier at Hudson River Park, New York
Two people seated on a wooden crate with their backs to the camera, facing the wooden portrait booth on the pier

Phillips Auction House · 2023

Phillips Auction House: Community Pride Portraits

Live-drawn community portraits for Phillips' inaugural Pride activation: a pop-up portrait studio on the pier at Hudson River Park, New York, inspired by an analog photo booth.

See the Phillips Auction House project
The artist drawing a bookmark portrait at The Other Art Fair: Brooklyn
The artist seated behind a white-draped table at her booth, smiling and talking with visitors, with pink botanical line art and artist biographies printed on the wall behind her

The Other Art Fair

The Other Art Fair: Brooklyn: Live Portraits

One-minute line-drawn portraits on keepsake bookmarks for visitors to the fair's Illustration Corner, a tangible token of their time there.

See the The Other Art Fair project

Who it's for

  • Brand activations
  • Launches
  • Retail events
  • Art fairs
  • Conferences
  • Dinners
  • Weddings
  • Private parties

Looking for a bespoke illustration instead? See commissions, or browse all live drawing work by studio leilu.

Tell me about your event.

Share the type of event, the date and roughly how many guests you're expecting. That's plenty to start.

Discuss a live drawing session