My Story
It all started once we’d finished renovating our first place…
I’ve been working within the creative industries, in one form or another, since my art school days back in the early naughties. But it was finishing up renovating our first home back in 2016 that first inspired Ace of Place. I did a super simple graphic portrait of our house to celebrate getting it done, stuck it in a frame and hung it in our hallway - the final piece of the puzzle.
The following Christmas, I did a couple more for friends and family - they went down well too so I set up a page over on Instagram.
Low and behold, the commissions came rolling in fast and the rest, as they say, is history!
c2016, that’s the first ever portrait!
What People Are Saying
“Darren managed to capture it perfectly. The attention to detail was amazing, making it instantly recognisable to anyone that knows the home. ”
— Campbell @CampbellJWilson
“Honestly, we were so delighted …Darren takes great pride in his work and wants his customers to love what they receive.”
— Bev @BevMallinder
My process
When I’m doing bespoke house commissions, most of the time I work from a reference image or two provided by you (or, failing that, sometimes Google St view). I painstakingly draw each one from scratch in Adobe Illustrator and once I’ve got the first draft together, I’ll send it off to you (digitally) to take a look so you can decide if we need to make any changes or adjustments.
Once you’re happy, I’ll prep the file for print and whizz it over to a specialist giclée printer. They’ll print your portrait onto a beautiful, museum grade, heavy-weight, textured art paper.
You’ll normally have it in your hand around a week later *Yay!* and it’ll look AMAZING!!!
What People Are Saying
“The reaction from my parents when I presented it was priceless. ”
— Guy Cullen @GCullen
“I remember seeing it and getting slightly emotional… it was amazing! ”
— Megan Obee @MeganObee