Andy Tolley

Andy Tolley is a Cambridgeshire artist who takes commissions for portraits and animals/family pets. He's not on twitter, but you can visit his Facebook account by clicking on any of the images he has kindly allowed me to use here.

As you'll see from the images, Andy has an enviable talent - particularly in his pencil work - and his studio, Andy Tolley Creations, already has a string of very happy customers who have unique pieces thanks to what he can do.

Let's start with the animal images:

 I'll start out with my favourite - which is an elephant with photo realistic qualities. 

This is a cheeky little fellow that Andy has captured. Andy is actually a talented photographer as well as an artist, so many of his wild life images come from fantastic shots that he has taken in wild life parks and then translated through his own hand drawn images.

 I love this image of a horse that Andy has done. He has captured that outline in the light so beautifully. 

Some of these images of dogs are 'the dogs'. So to speak.

I particularly like this one - but it's hard to choose a favourite from the canines because Andy does a fabulous job in capturing expressions and - quite importantly - eyes too. 

this piece (left) is actually a self portrait. Andy is quite magnificent.  

Superb German Shepherd dog. Personally I struggle with the texture of hair. I think Andy is showing off with this!

So we'll move on to a handful of portraits that I've selected from his gallery. All of these are just screen captured from his Facebook page (with permission of course) - his actual compositions ought to be seen in real life and in the dimensions that the artist intended.

This is a photo that Andy took a half finished pencil drawing of Arnold S... (nobody can spell his name?). 

 As you can see (right) Andy is fascinated with self portraits. When he's had a shave and back combs his body hair he looks a awful lot like Judy Garland.

Iconic 1960s image of the original super model and muse 'Twiggy'. I think this is fabulous. Genuinely brilliant - the light, the soft focus, the eyes, the use of shadow. First class. Take a bow. 

 Mohammed Ali. This is a man that I've drawn myself. Some call him the greatest of all time. I think he'd be more than happy with this.

Madonna. I'm not a fan of Madonna but this looks great. Using the same techniques that made the Twiggy image so outstanding. Great texture in the hair, interplay between light and dark, soft focus technique - it's all top draw.

 Elvis Presley the King of Rock and Roll.

A commissioned piece of an unnamed child. If you'd like an image of a child like this contact Andy through Facebook. 


















 Another commissioned piece here. Rumours that Andy glued the two infant children together to get the composition 'just right' are absolutely NOT true.

A photo realistic rendition of Kate Bush.

And below is the finished piece of the Arnold S... (whatever) that we began with. Thanks to Andy Tolley for allowing me to share his work on my blog. Click on any of the images to visit his Facebook Page.

Jonathan Priestley (aged 8)

These drawings come from my son, Jonathan, who will be nine years old next month.

He has drawn them using a B2 pencil on reasonably high quality sketch paper.

He likes drawing cartoon characters, and mainly Disney, although sometimes Warner Bros too.

 Donald Duck

Tweetie Pie

 This is the first time I've seen Jonathan decide to draw something like this. I don't know why he picked this image out, but he has drawn the traditional BBC microphone!

 Mickey Mouse

 Goofy

















Pluto (below)

 Another Mickey for the collection.

The Disney logo. And below is Dumbo (I love the knot in the trunk).

Jonathan drew all of these last weekend in an explosion of one after the other. I love his drawing. I hope you've enjoyed seeing them. He's happy to draw you a picture on request by the way!

Another week of odds and ends!

Ok so this has been an odd week for me. I'll be honest, I've been trying to form some sort of image of George Best - anything at all - from the most basic to something more elaborate. I have been utterly unable to capture him. I have nothing that I would be willing to share.

Along the way I have also drawn the following images - which are all unrelated really:

This is a pretty scruffy sketch of Carlos Santana. I wanted to capture his hallucinogenic quality, but it was all a bit rushed and it didn't really come off.

This picture of director Quentin Tarantino is something I drew seeing something that someone else did - it's almost a direct replica. I don't know who the original artist was or I would credit them. It's a reproduction drawn by me - but I'm pretty happy with how it came out.

I was taken by the simple style, the noir quality, and the sensation of his face coming out of the shadows. It was great for him.

This is a picture of my sister and her daughter Evie.

Evie is nearly nine now, but she was doll like when she was a baby. I'm really happy with this because it captures both of them well. You'll have to take my word for it.

This picture of Eric Cantona was for a friend. Dead simple really but I thought it worked well. Tried to do something similar with George Best - no chance!



















Below is the delightful Disney creation 'Tow Mater' from the Pixar film 'Cars'. I'm not massively fond of Disney to be honest, but Mater is a great character, lovable red neck rusty tow truck. Did this one for my sons. I intend to put some of their pictures up soon.

John Doe @SailorAlien

This hidden jem can be found on Twitter. Unlike @JimllPaintIt - with his 70k + following, this artist has (inexplicably) got just over 1,000 followers.

Surely that is going to explode.

Check out these amazing pencil and paper drawings that he/she has scanned in:

The first image that I saw was Amy Winehouse (above). I'm a massive Amy Winehouse fan - actually I think I revere her more than anything, I think she was possessed by an ethereal kind of brilliance, a genius that was just so intense that her body and mind couldn't possibly cope with it.

Look at these further images - the simplicity, combined with the detail - but also the absolute absence of noise and distraction or background. There's a simple perfection in there that is almost machine like. The accuracy is haunting. How can a human hand produce this? 

This image of Lana Del Rey - taken from her album art 'Music to Watch Boys To' - just blew me away. The way the hair tumbles down is incredible. The sophisticated light in the contrasting the simplicity of the clothing is also enough to make you stop and marvel. 

I don't know what this one below is about - or what is going on - I just like it an awful lot. I can't wait to see more.

You can follow John Doe @SailorAlien on Twitter. Also through instagram: https://instagram.com/sailoralien/

Jim'll Paint It

Ok, I realise that I'm late to the party on this one. This guy has 70k+ followers on Twitter and a massive following on Facebook too, and he has a collection of his artwork in print too - all of this being the case, I found out about him this week and it's amazing.

Funny, topical, detailed, incredible accuracy and his images are so clean and consistent.

Check these out:

Everybody knows what the one above is all about - but as a satire on the events of that particular story, he has definitely nailed it better than anything else I've seen. This isn't just art this is comic brilliance too. It's a flash of comic inspiration and the ability to actually deliver it.

He's not afraid to be dark and subversive either. Above is the Minions taking over absolutely. The silhouette of the man who has hung himself in the window of the building is a brilliant touch. Below we've got the most exceptional 'unexpected item in the bagging area' commentary ever.

Terry Wogan stalking someone below:

And professional snob/idiot, former Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson, getting fired from McDonalds after ruining everything. Look at the detail. Just admire it. He has captured everything from the smug expression of the imbecile, to the detailing of the electrical strike in the background, the boxes from the fries. I would suggest that if I was this talented I would've been tempted to put the weasel face of Richard 'Hamster' Hammond on the dead co-worker. 

Zero gravity 'Faulty Towers'. I love the liquid and the automatically guilty expression of Manuel. Plus the Moose. Perfect.

Have a good laugh at the potato faced Wayne Rooney trying to peel a potato:

You can follow Jim'll Paint it @JimllPaintIt on twitter. Enjoy.

Super Mario Land

These are Super Mario characters that I did for my kids.

Icons and a selfie

This week it has been icons for me. It started with this picture of Marilyn Monroe which I was really please with - I approached it wth a very different style to what I usually usem and to be honest it just felt 'right' from the off. I know that the likeness isn't spot on - but there is resemblance - and I was happy with the hair, which is usual for me as hair is usually a point of frustration.

Marilyn kind of put me in the mood for Hollywood icons. I actually followed it up with Albert Einstein (I know, weird tangent) but quickly went on to Elizabeth Taylor. With Elizabeth I wanted to capture the chameleon nature of her personality, and her dangerous, even somewhat vicious nature that was notoriously just under the surface.

Again - I was feeling a bit braver with Elizabeth - I think my confidence was up after the portrait of Marilyn - so I felt quite free to try something very different for me and attack the colours a bit. I was quite happy with the outcome.

 

Albert Einstein just has an incredible face and I find it fascinating staring at his face and trying to imagine what it must have been like inside his head! I'm sure that he didn't see the world anything like I do - and that maybe even something wasn't wired up the same as the rest of us. He also has such character and expression. I don't know much about Einstein, but his face just has such benevolance and warmth.

Was I happy with this picture - yeah, mmmh, so-so. I like his eyes - although they're ever so slightly exaggerated. What I'm not happy with is that it's a bit flat. 

So I then did a drawing of Grace Kelly. I don't believe in monarchy so we can leave the 'princess' fantasy/fairy tale garbage alone. She was notoriously isolated and alienated by the whole experience of being brought into a royal family.

I think the picture is recognisable, but it's a bit step backwards for me. My drawing has come on a long way in the space of a few weeks, but this is little better than anything I was doing a few months ago. It's exceptionally bland and looks like an unfortunate porcelain doll. 

This is a self portrait. The first I've ever done actually. You'll have to take my word on how good it is! It's a 6/10 job I'm afraid. It's alrighty I suppose.