Toby Willsmer - Illustrator, Artist.

What I look like A UK Essex born illustrator with a long history steeped in creative projects. From writing and producing electronic music with all the cover artwork throughout the 90s, to web design work and graphic designs for T-shirts, flyers and posters.

With a love of graffiti and it's many styles of which he briefly flirted with in the mid 80s, you can see the influence it has had in his illustrations and in the colouring techniques he uses today. He produces one off's or complete collections of original highly detailed illustrations ready to use or print.

"I work mostly in photo editing software to create my illustrations. Normally starting from a very simple, clean hand drawn outline, then digitally colouring and correcting to produce the finished artwork. I do some web work but my real passion lies in strong colours and letting my imagination run riot which it frequently does!"

'Just one more week' Part 4
'Just one more week' Part 11
'Just one more week' Part 10
'Just one more week' Part 2
'Just one more week' Finished layout.
'Just one more week' Part 5
'Just one more week' Parts 3 and 9
'Just one more week' Part 8
'Just one more week'  Part 7 close up.

'Just one more week'.  Click the small images to enlarge.

'Just one more Week' was the birth of a character called 'Big Ron'. The story follows Ron for the week prior to his first holiday in many years.

Originally I created this character for a one-off piece that eventually turned into this large format poster. Since the piece went public I have received plenty of positive feedback on the story and character. Now I've developed the story into a short graphic novel, of which I am currently working on. See 'More Big Ron' for some of the more detailed parts of the graphic novel.

This is printed as an A1 to A0 size poster with the individual pieces printed in A2 poster size.

Click www.smacked.co.uk to visit the 'Big Ron' print gallery.

More 'Big Ron'.  Click the small images to enlarge.

During the creation of the 'Ron' character the 'J1MW' (Just one more Week) story evolved from the large format poster (previous screen) to graphic novel still a work in progress. The story is the same as the poster only in full, following Ron in the week before his much deserved holiday.

Here are some of the more detailed full / half page pieces that go to make up the story so far, along with the Cover artwork for the finished graphic novel. This project is expected to be finished and ready for the shelves in 2011.

Click www.smacked.co.uk to visit the 'Big Ron' print gallery.

'Big Ron J1MW comic cover.'
'More Big Ron no1.'
'More Big Ron no2.'
'More Big Ron no3.'

'No Pity' Part 3
'No Pity' Part 1 left'No Pity' Part 1 left
'No Pity' Part 5
'No Pity' Part 2
'No Pity' Finished layout.
'No Pity' Part 9 close up.
'No Pity' Part 4
'No Pity' Part 6
'No Pity' Part 1 right

The 'No Pity' poster.  Click the small images to enlarge.

This story spawned from my love of chrome and robots, the perfect match for each other in an illustration. One small kid, one big robot and a hint of revenge is how the 'No pity' story goes.

As with all my illustrations, the individual parts are all hand drawn outlines, digitally coloured and corrected. The text in the poster is a mixture of vector and traditionally drawn.

The 'No pity' story poster is printed at A1 or A0 and the individual pieces are printed in A2 poster size.

Click www.smacked.co.uk to visit the 'No Pity' print gallery.

The 'Organics' collection.  Click the small images to enlarge.


'The Organic series no1.'
'The Organic series no2.'
'The Organic series no3.'
'The Organic series no4.'
'The Organic series no5.'

Inspired by two old aquaintances known as 'The Essex Rockerz' who paved the way with the 'organic' style in the Essex graffiti scene in the 90s. I came up with this little collection, my spin on the organic incorporating metal, real life influences, the organic theme and a healthy dose of imagination. These illustrations were done in the usual way with hand drawn outlines and digital colouring.

The 'Organic' Collection is printed in sizes A2 to A0.

Click www.smacked.co.uk to visit the 'Organic collection' print gallery.

The Hitman series.  Click the small images to enlarge.

Inspired by the French film 'Nikita' I came up with this series of three Limited edition prints. Everyone loves the idea of a hitman, stealth, no holds barred carnage and looking good at the same time. This is another idea that I will be developing into a short story poster in the near future.

The 'Hitman' Series of three are printed at A2. Limited to 50 prints each.
Click www.smacked.co.uk to visit the 'Hitman collection' print gallery.

'The Hitman limited edition series no1.'
'The Hitman limited edition series no2.'
'The Hitman limited edition series no3.'

Pencil and Sketches.  Click the small images to enlarge.


'Big Ron concept pencil sketch no1.'
'No Pity concept pencil sketch.'
'Big Ron concept pencil sketch no2.'
'Big Ron concept pencil sketch no3.'

This is where the majority of all my illustrations start... pencil and paper. Normally, I'll work from quick scamps then just draw up the outline and colour it. Here I have used some more complete pencil sketches with a simple one colour overlay added for depth. Originated for development of the 'No pity' story and the 'J1MW' characters.

These pencil sketches are all printed at their original size A3.

Click www.smacked.co.uk to visit the Smacked print gallery.

'One off's No.3 - Zombie.'
'Album center fold out.'
'The spray can homage no1.'
'One off's No.2 - Voodoo.'
'Album center fold out.'
'The spray can homage no2.'
'One off's No.4 Bull Runner.'
'One off's No.1 The Thing.'
'Redneck skateboard design.'

The Other sides.  Click the small images to enlarge.

Like the title says 'The Other Sides' is a collection of one off ideas for different illustrations I've created.

Some of these were the fold-outs for album sleeves that were never used, a homage to the spray can and a deck design for a friend's skateboard company. The others are just ideas I've had for individual pieces. All of these were done with a printable use in mind, be it a framed piece for the wall, artwork for an album cover or for getting thrashed on the bottom of a skateboard.

This collection of illustrations are printed at A2 size.

Click www.smacked.co.uk to visit the 'One off' print gallery.

'Stage one.' E.P Cover.
'Reach for the skies.' Album Cover.
'A ball park figure.' Album cover version 2 unused.
'Lyric.' Single Cover.
'Confidential document.' Single cover.
'Guttersnipe.' E.P Cover.
'CD fold out unused.'
'Brutal behavior.' Single Cover.
'A ball park figure.' Album Cover.

CD Cover artwork.  Click the small images to enlarge.

As an innovative person, I used to write electronic music as another outlet to channel those creative juices.

With that went the artwork for the covers and labels for each release produced for my self-funded label 'Smacked recordings'.
After many years I eventually closed the label to concentrate on other ventures. Displayed are some of the used and unused cover designs I came up with for some of the releases.

"It wasn't about the money, or trying to be famous, just about producing something that I liked to hear on really big speakers."

Vector designs.  Click the small images to enlarge.


'Vector Malibu Lowrider.'
'Vector Gun design.'
'Vector Consol Capri.'
'Vector 303 Blueprint.'

Although I work mainly with photo editing software, vector illustration has also been something I have used when designing. It's ideal for colour layer positives for screen printing or for T-shirt designs and, more often than not, web design where the flat accurate colour of vectors can be used effectively.

These are some T-shirt designs I have made in the past for a small independent clothing company. I used vectors for all of the line work and blocking, then a small amount of airbrushing to add finishing touches.

Retouching / Colour Management.  Click the small images to enlarge.

As with all my artwork, at some point I need to colour correct parts of an image or whole images and stitch two or more pieces together seamlessly to make one. Along with retouching to 'cover up' blemishes and unwanted marks. This has to be one of the more satisfying parts of the process in getting the right result, if a little time consuming.

Some 'before' and 'after' examples are displayed here. Included are techniques used with image stitching and colour management, coupled with some intricate retouching for the finished image.

'Retouching / Colour correction and stitching'
'Retouching / Colour correction.'
'Colour correction.'
'Retouching / Colour correction and stitching.'

Contact and Messaging

For commissions, work or more information, please contact Toby Willsmer. Once the form has been sent, you will be redirected back to the home page. I will reply to your email as soon as I can. Thanks for your feedback.

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