"Isn't life a series of images that change as they repeat themselves...?"

Aaah, I have a shit-load of random Andy Warhol doodles in a folder that is falling apart! Therefore, I thought I could gather my favourites in upload them all together. I think the term is a "sketch-dump"! Starting from the first row on the left:

Thinking Helmet Andy - In the wonderful 1996 independent film Basquiat, the role of Andy was played exquisitely by one of my long-time idols, David Bowie. His close friend, a rising artist named Jean-Michel Basquiat (played by Jeffrey Wright), and Andy have been collaborating together, but Basquiat has a nasty habit of painting out everything Andy does, and Andy's own lack of inspiration has been troubling him. Later, Basquiat would chopped off his famous deadlocks and glued them on the outside of a football helmet as a gift to Andy. Andy, on receiving the present, wears it with a sigh. It is one of my favourite scenes in the film!

Walkman Andy - With the invention of the Sony Walkman in 1979, Andy was rarely seen without his trusty cassette-based Walkman in the 1980s.

Gerbil-Cheeked Andy - In his book Philosophy of Andy Warhol: From A to B and Back Again, one of my favourite discussions in the book is about the art of dinner talk. He envied people who mastered the talent of eating and talking at the same time, and how they were able to pass conversation from person to person after they finished each bite. However, when people pass the conversation to him, an embarrassed Andy would have just finished stuffing his mouth full of mashed potatoes, and his friends would have to wait for him to chew and shallow before he spoke. (Awww!)

Smokin' Andy - Another snippet from his Philosophy book, Andy rarely smoked in public unless he was at the airport. He loved sitting at random restaurants at the airport to smoke and munch on a bowl of free honey-roasted peanuts!

"Sunglasses at Night" Andy - Some of my favourite self-portraits of Andy were taken from photo-booths in the 1960s! One of these photo-booth snapshots was used for a 37-cent Andy Warhol stamp in 2002. (I have a beautiful FDC of this stamp!)

Poloroid Andy - Andy, looking smug, with his Polaroid Big Shot. He was purportedly fond of this eccentric camera, which was for portrait use only, and had a fixed focal distance of three feet. Andy loved snapping portraits of celebrities; he would then hand the camera to the celebrity to take a portrait of him.

Blue Jean Andy - This was based off a portrait of him done by Nat Finkelstein. Andy enjoyed Levi's!

Perfume Thief Andy - Yet another drawing from the pages of his Philosophy book and I had originally planned to make a comic of this, but I never finished it. During parties, Andy had an adorable habit of ducking into hosts' bathroom and raiding through their collection of perfumes and/or colognes. When he would find a new smell or an old smell he liked, he would spray all over him, then spend the rest of the party avoiding the hosts, worrying that they would recognise "his" scent.

Phonin' Andy - In his New York City studio called the Factory, located on the fifth floor at 231 East 47th Street in Midtown Manhattan, an old rotary pay-phone hung at next to the entrance door. All Andy's phone calls, business and personal, came from that pay-phone. I drew this while watching the 1996 independent film, I Shot Andy Warhol.

Scarred Andy - In 03 June 1968, a radical feminist writer and Factory irregular Valerie Solanas shot Andy Warhol three times in the chest. He was rushed to the hospital and nearly died. Doctors had to cut open his chest and massaged his heart to help stimulate its movement again. He suffered physical and mental effects for the rest of his life; he had to wear a corset, for example, to support his abdomen and would jump whenever he heard an elevator bell; the Factory scene, also, became more tightly controlled. This was based off an emotional photograph, where Andy pulled down his corset to reveal his large, horrific scars. This photograph always touched me because Andy was presenting his vulnerabilities to the world, which was exceptionally brave of him to do.

Andy and Archie - Andy was a renowned cat-lover, but by the 1970s, his interest with cats faded into dogs. He got a short-haired black-and-brown dachshund named "Archie" and they became inseparable! He took the dog everywhere — to work, to his studio, to art premieres, to dinners, to photo-shoots, etc. As he held Archie during interviews, when Andy did not want to answer a particular question, he would simply deflect the questions to Archie. (I accidentally made Archie's head too big, oops! Also, I have a limited edition Warhol stuffed doll and, in his lap, I gave him a little plastic dachshund which I named "Archie.")

Tighty-Whitey Andy - Andy wore tighty-whities! He was very, very meticulous about his underwear. He had to buy Jockey Briefs, had to be white, had to be cotton, had to have the comfortable elastic bands, had to have the same packaging, same washing instructions, same forty-nine word description, and he always had to buy them in bulk!

Artistic Andy - "If you want to know all about Andy Warhol, just look at the surface of my paintings and films and me, and there I am. There's nothing behind it."

Models - Andy Warhol

Medium - Photoshop, HB graphite, 2B graphite, 4B graphite, 6B graphite, 8B graphite.

Andy Warhol © Diane N. Tran.