iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Alex (Sandy) Tomlinson @alexillustrator.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Found this looking through some old photo albums for some reference. Now I'm thinking about getting The Chocolate Finger Gang back together again for one last job. Mainly because I'm craving chocolate fingers.

Photo of my birthday party from the summer of 1972 in a small village in North Yorkshire. 5 boys and one girl standing against a wall under the kitchen window all armed with various toy guns, a sword, a bow and arrow, all pointed at the camera. Some of us are eating chocolate fingers. Some are wearing dapper party hats and jaunty striped outfits whilst I, the birthday boy, am dressed in shit brown from head to toe. It is July and yet we are mostly wearing jumpers.

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Alex (Sandy) Tomlinson @alexillustrator.bsky.social · 13/06/2026

Just oiled my print trimmer for the first time ever and it's a fucking revelation. Why did I not even consider the possibility that I could just take it all apart and oil it before now? It was a piece of piss.

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Alex (Sandy) Tomlinson @alexillustrator.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

Had my first neg feedback on a painting in >40 years and it's sent me into a spiral where I can’t finish it because I’m afraid if I pick up the brushes I’ll stab them into my skull like a game of KerPlunk. But I can’t work on anything else until it's finished. Thinking of burning it so it’s ‘done'.

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Alex (Sandy) Tomlinson @alexillustrator.bsky.social · 03/03/2026

Absolute dogshit of a day at work today. Send positive vibes.

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Alex (Sandy) Tomlinson @alexillustrator.bsky.social · 03/03/2026

Lads! Lads! It's that time again. It's time to refill the 'big stapler'.

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Alex (Sandy) Tomlinson @alexillustrator.bsky.social · 25/02/2026

Quite shocked to have made it through to the 'extended longlist' for the Jacksons art prize. Was convinced I’d be disqualified for being 'an irregular shaped canvas' with all my post-it notes sticking out. But here I am, along with thousands of properly good artists from 110 countries. Yay! Go me.

Self portrait of a bald man with glasses holding up a paintbrush witht the words 'these are not the hands of an artist' on the knuckles. behind the head is a whiteboard covered in partically rubbeed out mesages and measurements inlcuidng the title My Head Is All Noses.

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Alex (Sandy) Tomlinson @alexillustrator.bsky.social · 13/02/2026

Proper Dickensian snow going on up here now.

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Alex (Sandy) Tomlinson @alexillustrator.bsky.social · 04/02/2026

Went out to fill up the bird feeders and found this perfectly preserved poppy skeleton. It’s got ribs n veins n everything.

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Alex (Sandy) Tomlinson @alexillustrator.bsky.social · 03/02/2026

Everyone on the list goes in the chipper.

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Alex (Sandy) Tomlinson @alexillustrator.bsky.social · 25/01/2026

I’ll just catch up on our local news site to see what’s the hot topic in the county today...oh.

A screen grab from Richmondshire today website with a picture of a fire engine under the headline: Sheep rescues itself before crews arrive at Bolton Abbey.

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Alex (Sandy) Tomlinson @alexillustrator.bsky.social · 07/01/2026

I was right about the secret #traitor from day one because they were so obvious.

Kryten from Red Dwarf with the caption Smug Mode Engaged.

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Alex (Sandy) Tomlinson @alexillustrator.bsky.social · 06/01/2026

First painting of 2026 handed over. Technically the third in my ‘Faces of Richmond: In Their Own Words’ series, but the first person who isn’t me or a relative :) Ellis from Cooper & Leatherbarrow opticians and the man who ensures I can still see well enough to paint. 40 x 30cm acrylic on canvas

Painting of a man wearing scrubs and purple glasses. The background has the handwritten message "Sight is something you take for granted until you think you might lose it" overlaid onto the same message arranged to look like an eye sight test becuase of the placement of the figure in front it reads SIGHT IS ME.

Photo of a man in scrubs and glasses (I'm going to say 'proudly') holding up a portrait of him wearing the scrubs and glasses.

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Alex (Sandy) Tomlinson @alexillustrator.bsky.social · 20/12/2025

It’s looking positively Dickensian out there right now. 😬

photo of a gatepost with an old gas lamp on top being swallowed by fog, a ruined Victorian street lamp in the distance. No muppets or ghosts or muppet ghosts - yet.

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Alex (Sandy) Tomlinson @alexillustrator.bsky.social · 16/12/2025

@coldwarsteve.bsky.social you got a mention in the Times quiz today. I did not buy the paper I hasten to add.

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Alex (Sandy) Tomlinson @alexillustrator.bsky.social · 12/12/2025

It looks like a storyboarding job has just dropped into my lap and saved Christmas - maybe even a chunk of 2026. 🤞

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Alex (Sandy) Tomlinson @alexillustrator.bsky.social · 30/11/2025

After living next door to us for 7 years he (Rabbie) finally decides to grace us with his presence and poke his head through the kitchen door for a chat a week before he moves house (he knows something is up but doesn’t know he’s only moving a mile down the road)

Ragdoll cat cautiously peering around a door.

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Alex (Sandy) Tomlinson @alexillustrator.bsky.social · 25/10/2025

Huge plump pheasant in the garden rn 👍

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Alex (Sandy) Tomlinson @alexillustrator.bsky.social · 27/09/2025

Posting this on all the socials to get a wider range of opinons - but then I follow the same people everywhere so you've probably already seen it. Which do you prefer, the one with post-it notes or without? (The notes are made from canvas.) The original idea included notes but then I had a wobble.

Self portrait of a bald man with glasses holding up a paintbrush and squinting to measure. His head is surorunded by writign on a whiteboard and there are yellow canvas post it notes stuck onto it.

Same painting as previous but without the post it notes.

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Alex (Sandy) Tomlinson @alexillustrator.bsky.social · 25/09/2025

Lots of crinkly bits and fjords today with tiny brushes.

Close up on a self portrait of a man with a shaved head and ginger/grey stubble with glasses squinting at a paintbrush he’s holding up to measure with.

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Alex (Sandy) Tomlinson @alexillustrator.bsky.social · 22/09/2025

A few more layers of glaze done today but that rogue highlight is really annoying me. Will kill it first thing tomorrow.

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Alex (Sandy) Tomlinson @alexillustrator.bsky.social · 21/09/2025

At the risk of sounding a bit Alanis Morissette I do find it ironic that I have to use these tiny makeup brushes to paint blemishes ONTO this chonky Otto Sump fuck.

Photo of a half finished self portrait with a hand holding up a bunch of makeup brushes used as paint blenders.

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Alex (Sandy) Tomlinson @alexillustrator.bsky.social · 18/09/2025

There is no such organisation as ‘antifa’, it is simply the state of being opposed to fascism. Every allied serviceman and woman fighting fascism in WW2 was ‘antifa’. He’s calling our grandparents terrorists because he’s a fascist and surrounds himself with fascists. (see alt text)

My grandfather. A tank commander in the 6th Antifa - sorry Royal tank regiment. Photographed shortly before he was captured by the German (fascist) Afrika Korps at the siege of Tobruk after his tank had run out of both diesel and ammunition. He went on to spend the rest of the war in various Italian (more fascists) POW camps, before being moved to a POW camp in Poland (Auschwitz III - subcamp, E715) where he was bombed by the USAF trying to hit the IG Farben plant next door. He was then 'death marched' across Poland and Czechoslovakia in the snow by the nazis (again, fascists) who were trying to outrun the advancing Russians (anti-facists). He was eventually liberated by the American 47th antifa tank battalian near Moosburg Bavaria.

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Alex (Sandy) Tomlinson @alexillustrator.bsky.social · 17/09/2025

I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve repainted the whiteboard and it’s still not right. Meanwhile the massive hand is taking as much time to paint as a second head and it currently looks like a rotten zombie hand, it looks okay IRL I think the orange underpainted head is throwing everything off.

Partially completed self portrait of a fat man holding up a paintbrush, surrounded by words on a whiteboard.

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Alex (Sandy) Tomlinson @alexillustrator.bsky.social · 12/09/2025

I spent all morning painting the ‘bobbles’ on my Bauhaus 100th anniversary t shirt. My eyes have gone funny.

Photograph of a painting on an easel. A self portrait of a fat bloke holding up a paint brush that is still in progress.

A detail of the previous picture shows a magnifying glass attached to a Mahl stick which shows a close up of a no to AI badge attached to my painting apron.

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Alex (Sandy) Tomlinson @alexillustrator.bsky.social · 10/09/2025

Is it possible to have an 8 hour panic attack? The usual 'remedy' isn't working.

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Alex (Sandy) Tomlinson @alexillustrator.bsky.social · 06/09/2025

The transfer of the whiteboard drawing turned out to be not as bad this morning as it looked last night (at one point it was leaking a bright bubblegum pink goo out the sides.) Today it’s more of a dirty ginger (I haven’t been called that for a long time) and most of it made it onto the canvas. 👍

A self portrait of a fat, bald man in orange pen, wearing a Bauhaus anniversary T shirt under a painter's apron. He's holding up a paintbrush to measure his own features. The words "my head is like a whiteboard" are drawn across his forehead in red pen. Behind him are various measurements and comments scribbled on the whiteboard meant to give an impression of the process of constantly refining a drawing while trying to achieve a likeness. there are references to comparative drawing and using the nose as a unit of measurement. There are also direct quotes from some of my art teachers around my head. They are not complimentary. There are two yellow post it notes stuck to each side of the canvas as placeholders.

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Alex (Sandy) Tomlinson @alexillustrator.bsky.social · 03/09/2025

So this is the finished underpainting composition (lots of whiteboards photographed and composited together) that will be transferred onto a 14 x 18” canvas and (hopefully) become the background/underpainting for an acrylic painting ‘self portrait - with encouraging comments from my teachers.’

An image made up from a composite of multiple photos of whiteboards. A self portrait of a fat, bald man in red pen, wearing a Bauhaus anniversary T shirt under a painter's apron. He's holding up a paintbrush to measure his own features. The words "my head is like a whiteboard" are drawn across his forehead in red pen. Behind him are various measurements and comments scribbled on the whiteboard meant to give an impression of the process of constantly refining a drawing while trying to achieve a likeness. there are refernces to comparative drawing and using the nose as a unit of measurement. There are also direct quotes from some of my art teachers around my head. They are not complimentary.

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Alex (Sandy) Tomlinson @alexillustrator.bsky.social · 30/08/2025

Finished the sketch today, now I just have to somehow do it all over again on a dry wipe board so it can be the background/underpainting. Yes, I have once again overcomplicated this project needlessly.

Completed self portrait in black and white.

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Alex (Sandy) Tomlinson @alexillustrator.bsky.social · 29/08/2025

WIP. Was supposed to be a quick value study for the self portrait but got lost in the playlist and everything went a bit *Chuck Close. *Yeah right. I should be so lucky

Black and white drawing partially finished of a self portrait of a man with a shaved head, glasses and stubble holding up a paintbrush.

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Alex (Sandy) Tomlinson @alexillustrator.bsky.social · 24/08/2025

Same with Darkseid. I thought it was like Heid!

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Alex (Sandy) Tomlinson @alexillustrator.bsky.social · 21/08/2025

Finished and ready to varnish. I took my old 80D outside to get some more accurate colour shots (see how blue the t-shirt looks in comparison on the iphone photo of my Dad at the end) but a big gust of wind came out of nowhere and blew everything over. He seems happy with it. 👍

Painting of an old man wearing a Free Tibet T-shirt with the scribbled names of his favourite mountains/hills behind him; Everest, Makalu, Annapurnas, Chamonix, Atlas mountains, Ben Nevis, The Munros, The Wainrights etc.

Detail of the previous panting close up on the features.

Detail of the painting close up on the words Everest and Chamonix.

Painting of my dad holding up the portrait I painted of him, for comparison, helpfully wearing the same Free Tibet T-shirt that he's wearing in the painting.

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Alex (Sandy) Tomlinson @alexillustrator.bsky.social · 19/08/2025

Easiest way to paint edges of a canvas? Put a couple of screws into your easel to hang the canvas off of then mini foam roller down each edge flipping it anti clockwise. “Bish! Bash! Bosh!” As the toshers on our site always used to say.

Picture of my left hand holding a paint roller in front of a canvas on its side dangling from an easel as I paint its edges black. Apologies for the scruffy studio background.

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Alex (Sandy) Tomlinson @alexillustrator.bsky.social · 17/08/2025

I think he’s done. Everyone says it looks just like him so that’s ok. Will probably just paint the edges black, initial the front and photograph it properly before varnishing. Found a black float frame behind a desk that’ll fit so that’s him sorted. Dad: Mountain Man. Acrylic on canvas. 30 x 40cm.

Finished portrait of an elderly man wearing a Free Tibet t shirt.

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Alex (Sandy) Tomlinson @alexillustrator.bsky.social · 16/08/2025

I love apartment branding, gives everything a Mega-city one vibe. "Max Jaffa Block forever....." "Zap those darn Fred Gee blockers."

A sequence of panels from Judge Dredd comic drawn by Mike McMahon showing a battle going on between giant apartment blocks with names like Max Jaffa Block, Fred Gee and Gore Vidal block.

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Alex (Sandy) Tomlinson @alexillustrator.bsky.social · 11/08/2025

Portraits always feel like a tug of war in paint. One minute you’re looking at someone so familiar you’re worried you might’ve been talking to them for the last hour then a couple of brushstrokes later you’ve lost them and you’re looking at a complete stranger. Quit while ahead today, back tomorrow.

Work in progress portrait of an old man wearing a free Tibet t shirt.

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Alex (Sandy) Tomlinson @alexillustrator.bsky.social · 11/08/2025

If you see this, post a bad woman you love.

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Alex (Sandy) Tomlinson @alexillustrator.bsky.social · 10/08/2025

That’s enough for today. Just started coughing and realised I’ve been absently chewing/smoking a short flat number 1 brush for the last 3 hours and now whatever it’s painted/varnished with is no longer on the handle and more than likely in my tum. 😬

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Alex (Sandy) Tomlinson @alexillustrator.bsky.social · 10/08/2025

Making progress on the portrait (My Dad:Mountain Man. 30x40cm acrylic on canvas). Also included a pic of my genius invention for supporting the canvas so I can draw on it without stretching or creating dents in it.

Half finished portrait in acrylics of an elderly man wearing a Free Tibet T-shirt. The background is meant to look like an annotated relief map of all his favourite mountains. You can make out the words “Everest, Makalu, Annapurnas, Atlas Mountains, Chamonix, Snowdon, Ben Nevis, Munros, Wainrights, Howgills, Shunner Shuffle x10, or maybe just around Easby today?”

Photo of a hand lifting a 30cm x 40cm canvas up to reveal that I built sort of plug to fit into the recess in the back of the stretcher to support the canvas when flat. It’s several layers of foam core glued together.

Photo of the portrait at an earlier stage, the background is all drips of paint and crayons. The foreground figure is just sketched out in crayon.

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Alex (Sandy) Tomlinson @alexillustrator.bsky.social · 09/08/2025

Spent the day doing tests of various combinations of clear gesso/crayons/acrylics/fixative/varnish like some sort of scientist. This sort of scientist.

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Alex (Sandy) Tomlinson @alexillustrator.bsky.social · 26/07/2025

Since he's doing that thing again here's an oldie I painted for a calendar the last time around.

Painting of the Trump family attempting to raise a golf flag with the number 45 on it mimicing the pose of the famous photo of the raing of the flag on Iwo Jima. They are on Trump's golf course in Scotland and offshore are a lot fo windo turbines that appear to be working the wrong way and blowing mangled seabirds onto the golf course.

A picture of the whole calendar showing the painting from the previous photo.

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