The Gift

My youngest daughter Emily and Corleone, New Years Eve, 2010. Emily is 19 and Corly is 12 months. She purchased Corly for me in March 2010, and dispatched oldest kid Kara to Berlin Center, Ohio to fetch him -- a complete surprise, though I'd wanted a German Shepherd for some time. I guess the girls got tired of me talking about it. I knew, as soon as I snapped the original photo, that I had to draw it. The last of many drawings for 2010.

Although there are a lot of folds, creases and hair here, I still got off easy: The eyes are closed! Eyes are tough. Hands are worse. I think this is the first good hand I've done. Practice, I guess.

Finished but not yet framed.

He really did fall asleep in her arms!

Here's where it happens.

"The Gift"
December 2010, pencil, 3' x 4'
For inquiries on creating or purchasing sketches: hankbonesman@embarqmail.com

The Sisters

This was certainly a challenge! The curly one on the right is my neighbor Janet, with her sister Debbie. Janet had a scratchy black and white photo from the early 1960s that she wanted sketched for Debbie.

Click on illustrations to magnify; then click once more for greater magnification.

Much guess work was involved here, but I think it's a very close approximation. Janet chose a black frame and she hand-painted the matte. This will hang upstairs in her sister Debbie's home.

You can follow the process and compare the sketch with the original photo.

It was nearly finished here, save for some final highlights.

The faces and hair are finished. A good sign that the REST of it will work, too.

I think it was at this point where I knew it would come together OK.

The faces are roughed in. The basic geometry is there.

The Sisters
P.C. 2010 Tom Wills Productions
SOLD
For inquiries: hankbonesman@embarqmail.com

The Glimmer Twins

Click on images to enlarge, then magnify.

Jim Marshall, the photographer who captured some of rock & roll's most unforgettable images, died March 2010 in New York at 74. He took this great photo of two Rolling Stones, Keith Richards and Mick Jagger in Los Angeles, in 1972. They are The Glimmer Twins.

Marshall also shot the photo of Keith smoking a cigarette and playing the guitar, which I have also drawn (see "Mr. Richards.") I think the contrast in his black and white photos is stunning, and very hard to capture in a sketch.

 I took a big liberty here by incorporating the Rolling Stones Records logo on the back of the music stand. Otherwise I felt the drawing would have been too black, too empty there. Hope I am forgiven.
I found a suitably 1972 country honk vintage frame for these boys, too. It's got all kinds of dents and gashes in it. If the frame fits ...

Rolling Stone, the magazine, says "Marshall spent his heyday working with some of the most influential artists of his day, artists that remain indescribably influential to modern rock. From the iconic shot of Johnny Cash with his middle finger to the world, to candid backstage shots of The Beatles, Marshall developed trusting relationships with many of the artists he worked with all the way up to recent days."

This photo was actually cut out of a Rolling Stone magazine article, probably in the early 1980s. I had found the most unique leather frame somewhere, and no family photo ever looked right inside. But this shot looked perfect. I still have it, and every now and then it falls over because the back is bad. But I prop it up and it hangs on a bit longer.

Sound familiar?

The Glimmer Twins
From a photo by Jim Marshall
Sketch by Tom Wills / December 2010
THIS PICTURE WAS SOLD 7/10/11
Inquiries: hankbonesman@embarqmail.com

The Bad Elves (Are Good)

Bad Elves. Pencil, 3' x 4' November 2010.

Happy Holidays

From Tom,
Bella, Corly, Waylon and Weez.

Clockwise from left, Weez, Corly, Bella and Waylon.

"This is not a dunce cap." -- Corly

"Was this really necessary?" -- Bella

Frame and matte salvaged and painted by TW.

"I curse the artist." -- Weez

It is, after all, the holidays.

"Bad Elves" Original art P.C. 2010 Tom Wills Productions. For inquiries about commissioned work, hankbonesman@embarqmail.com
Now, let's have some fun out there.

Keith Richards

Never got a flash out of cocktails,
When I got some flesh off the bone.
Never got a lift out of Lear jets,
When I can fly way back home.

You lovely ladies in your leather and lace
A thousand lips I would love to taste
I've got one heart and it hurts like hell
If you can't rock me somebody will

Sometimes I'm sexy, move like a stud
Kicking the stall all night
Sometimes I'm so shy, got to be worked on
Don't have no bark or bite, alright

The scars healing
But the dealers squealing
The pool's in but the patio ain't dry
Well the sense is sensing
That the juice keeps pumping and I know why

Well now you're a pillar of society
You don't worry about the things that you used to be
You're a rag-trade girl, you're the queen of porn
You're the easiest lay on the White House lawn

Look out for number one
My country right or wrong
Let the devil take the hindmost
I was brought up to cheat
So long as the referee wasn't looking
I'm never wrong at all
I always fight the call
I don't admit it

Rolling Stones lyrics (Mick Jagger/Keith Richards) P.C. Promotone B.V.
Keith Richards sketch by Tom Wills, pencil, 3' x 4' November 2010

23 Broken Pencils

"The Rat Pack: Carnegie Hall, NY 1961"
by Tom Wills, October 2010

You can almost taste the cigarettes and the Scotch whiskey. Somewhere in the venue are a couple grilled steaks, maybe with a lobster tail thrown in for good measure. The babes are there, sure. But they are waiting somewhere else. This is guy time.

Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Frank Sinatra. Part of the "Rat Pack."

"The Rat Pack: Carnegie Hall, NY 1961," shows Sammy Davis, Dean Martin, and Frank Sinatra enjoying a lighter moment. Dino said something stupid, Sammy busts a gut and Frankie just looks coolly amused.

There is some sleight of hand going on here, however. The original photograph had more separation between Dino and Sammy. And a big burly dude was standing behind Dino with his hand on his shoulder. I moved the two closer together but there's still a space. Why? Any closer and Sammy's hand would have been picking Dino's nose.

Maybe Frank would have laughed more at that.

Sammy and Frank, all tuxed up.

This drawing was done on Oct. 16-17, 2010 -- straight through. It took me about 10 hours. I destroyed 24 pencils, and had to vacuum the floor because of all the broken pencil tips. This one to this point was  the most difficult piece I had done, with Jimmy Page in a tweed coat coming in second.

Those black tuxes were hard on the pencils, which kept snapping.

Of course I have all of the Sinatra records. On vinyl. Half of them are mono. They're a mix of incredible and dreck. I have one Dino album, all dreck. No Sammy. His stuff is hard to find. Grandparents have any in the attic? I'll give them a home. The records, not the grandparents.

RIM SHOT!

So, did I play classic Sinatra for 10 hours as this drawing came together?

No. I played Aerosmith. Not all of the albums, just the cool stuff from the 1970s. Rocks. Night In the Ruts, Toys in the Attic, Get Your Wings ... and of course, Draw the Line.

I decided not to mat the picture in the frame. Gave it more of a classic look.

A Tom Wills Production, 2010.
Pencil, framed. $200
For inquiries, hankbonesman@embarqmail.com

Accidents Of Nature

SON-PUP

REMINGTON, June 2011

 

THREE OF A PERFECT PAIR

CORLEONE, September 2011

ODIE THE GIANT BEAGLE

FACE TO FACE

CORLEONE

CARLY

"A really companionable and indispensable dog is an accident of nature. You can't get it by breeding for it, and you can't buy it with money. It just happens along." -- E.B. White, The Care and Training of a Dog

SPEEDY

JIGGS

GWEN and her BLANKET

DAD, CAN WE KEEP HIM?

I've been drawing people since high school, but started drawing dogs in earnest in late 2009. I think they turn out better than human portraits, and I enjoy doing them more. People seem to get a lot out of these, which makes the work even more meaningful to me.

REXFORD, RALSTON and GRACIE

GRACIE

RALSTON

RIPLEYS

RIPLEY

Some of my best dogs are friends' dogs that I've never met, yet I've come to know them from looking into their eyes for four or five hours, by studying every curve of their bodies and trying to convey their personalities onto paper.

HANK

REXFORD

BAILEY, 12'' x 16'' February 2011. From a cel phone picture.

MOOSE

ROXIE

Some of my dog portraits end up becoming memorials. The pet has gone but its image remains. Some hang in living rooms, family rooms, bedrooms. I get a lot of satisfaction from knowing that people can still greet their pets every day in this way.

CORLY'S BALLS

CORLY PUPPY

EMILY and CORLY

CHRISTMAS CORLY

There have been trillions of great words written about dogs. Some of the best are at http://www.dogboston.com/blog/famous-dog-quotes-page-1/


But the piece below is the absolute best. I found these words more than a year ago, but I don't remember where. A friend had found an old dog and taken him in. He has now moved on. I kept these thoughts because they are so right. Tell me, please, if you know the writer.

HANK and BELLA

They cost relatively little to adopt and to care for. They are seldom ill.
They ask for so little and give back so much. They appreciate what is important and ignore the small stuff that drives humans crazy.

BELLA SUNNING

CHRISTMAS BELLA

CORLY and BELLA PLAY

Their expectations are realistic. They don't worry about how they look or smell. They don't lie, they don't try to hurt our feelings. They don't betray us. They will sit by us, kiss us, comfort us, and listen to our problems, without asking anything in return.

They'll protect us and our property, keep us company when we're alone or under the weather, play with us and eat our leftovers if we let them.

MOCHA

All they ask is to be fed, kept warm, and be allowed to be a part of our life and love us.

No 401K, savings account, or CD will give you the return on investment that a four-legged friend will, one who will love you for nine or twelve or fourteen years and stay in your heart forever.


Contact hankbonesman@embarqmail.com for details about a sketch of your best friend. It's not really work.