Andrew “Andy.P” Phillips
1991–
“Everybody jokes about me, saying that I was born with a paintbrush in my hand.” – Andy.P
Using a blend of spray paint, acrylics, and plain old house paint, Andy.P creates bright, vibrant, explosive paintings full of movement, color, and light. He paints realistic animal subjects in an unreal array of shimmering colors. He paints serene scenes of rustic homes with vibrant spatters of paint spewing from the chimneys. And then there’s a series depicting a contemplative astronaut who represents Andy.P’s inner spirit.
“I love the overall freedom of animals,” says Andy.P. “The little fish is just swimming, doing whatever he wants. He’s so chill and relaxed, with no one telling him what to do. Even a bird. You watch him sitting there in his own little happy place, just enjoying the wind blowing. I like that whole sense of freedom.”
The houses he paints tend to have a woodsy, cottage-like vibe. The idea is when you get off work, you just want to come home and relax. Andy.P likes that sense of peace and looks to imbue his paintings with that feeling. And then he adds his splatters of color to layer a feeling of vibrant life over the scene.
No matter what he is painting, Andy.P loves mixing different colors and changing things up. He might be painting a blue jay or a goldfish, but he might start with red and add a little hint of purple, a little bit of orange, and then give it a bit of a glow by adding a bit of yellow. The next thing you know, it’s almost a completely different bird or fish, but in colors that just make it pop.
READ MORE +Personal History
From early on, Andy.P was obsessed with art. He says he “failed pre-K because my pencils were more important to me than nap time.” Later, they put him in ESE programs in school, thinking he had disabilities. But he was just focused on drawing because he was bored and not learning anything new. School didn’t move fast enough for him. He got so bored in high school that he took the teacher’s hall pass and laminated it just so he could go to art class.
He started making money in middle and high school drawing portraits. Every day, he was drawing five to ten people. Kids learned about it by word of mouth and would write their names on the back of a piece of paper, giving him their ID photos to use as reference material. He was making $30–$50 apiece doing it, creating his own business without even trying.
In high school, his teacher gave him some acrylic paint and showed him how to paint a little bit here and there. His first painting was a little rough. But his grandma knew how to paint a little bit and showed him how to mix colors. So he brought his painting home, worked on it, and when he took it back, his teacher was astonished, wondering where he learned to do that. After that, he experimented with shapes, colors, and shading and got really good at painting.
He went to the Digital Media Arts College in Boca Raton, Florida, to learn animation, thinking maybe he could make his art in 3D. But instead of doing the animation part of it, he was doing 3D modeling, creating characters, creatures, and similar subjects that he is doing now, but in 3D. He ended up not taking the animation route but made use of the graphic design classes. From there, Andy.P started messing around with line work and started to understand how to develop designs.
Process and Style
Each painting usually starts by laying down a layer of spray paint to give it a tone between one color and another. Then, he puts acrylic paint on top of that to give it texture. He scrapes the paint on to give it a bumpy texture, while still being able to see the undertone of the spray paint. He usually draws up some ideas and emails a rough draft to himself. At that point, he uses a tablet with a digital pen to work up some options and details.
Once his design is fairly close to being fully developed, he prints it out and starts to commit the design to the canvas. He creates a quick silhouette and paints everything within it white. Basic details, like an eye or fingers, are then drawn on the whited-out shape and full-color painting begins on top of that. Having that white silhouette base gives the fully defined colors a vibrant, “wow” factor. It is the key to making the colors pop and creating the glow around each subject.
This is when he starts adding his splatter technique on top of all that. He creates the splatter using an old rough-and-tough paintbrush and will also use his finger to flick paint onto the canvas. He will usually add some sort of glow.
“The glow in particular, for me, represents an inner glow of people in particular,” said Andy.P. “Everybody has something they are good at, even those who say they’re not good at something. It doesn’t matter what it is. Everybody has something. That’s what makes them special. That glow, to me, is a representation of somebody else being who they are.”
One last touch Andy.P often adds is hiding little happy faces in his art. He loves seeing someone, especially a child, discover one and start looking for more. He finds joy and inspiration when he sees a 6- or 12-year-old looking at it and being involved with the artwork.
“It’s the joy and wonder and thinking about your inner self. You look at the brightness, and you just sit back and you’re like, wow… that makes me happy.” — Andy.P
