AS AN ARTIST, you have to stand out in order to get noticed. Kildare based artist Paul Broughall has taken that to a whole other level with his chicken portraits of famous celebrities and they’re quite something.
For example we have Ariana Grande
The @artisticchicks have painted @ArianaGrande as a chick. Hope she likes it. 🐥🎨 pic.twitter.com/Fx7QKSpyB8
— Paul Broughall (@paulieblogger) June 6, 2018
Chrissy Teigen
Here's @chrissyteigen painted as a chick by @artisticchicks 🐥🎨 hope she likes it. pic.twitter.com/umgRStUH4d
— Paul Broughall (@paulieblogger) April 7, 2018
And a very Christmassy looking Ryan Tubridy
The @artisticchicks have painted Ryan Tubridy as a chick ahead of Friday night's #LateLateToyShow pic.twitter.com/bev1RKeCuG
— Paul Broughall (@paulieblogger) November 29, 2017
Paul told DailyEdge.ie that his inspiration came from finding toy chickens in his house and started making up adventures for them.
I made a Stonehenge from rocks for them to visit and they went parachuting and fishing. It was called “chick adventures” and one of their adventures was an art class. I finished it eventually and I found the art stuff about 6 months later and I just started playing around with ideas and Artistic Chicks was born.
It’s a pretty novel idea and one that’s attracts a lot of attention, particularly if the celebrity picks up on the portrait.
Harry Potter author JK Rowling recently shared her delight at her portrait on Twitter which Paul told us had him ‘bouncing around with excitement’.
JK Rowling isn’t the only one who has been impressed by Paul’s drawings though. Ru Paul, Courtney Cox and Sarah Jessica Parker are just a few of the well known names who have appreciated Paul’s work.
@paulieblogger @artisticchicks I do. I'm honored. I dig the beak. X sj
— Sarah Jessica Parker (@SJP) November 4, 2014
@artisticchicks genius....
— Maisie Williams (@Maisie_Williams) June 1, 2015
So why does Paul do it at all?
It’s not your usual illustration. It’s innocent and we live in a fairly dim world sometimes so it’s nice to escape for a bit with something new and light hearted. It’s stopping people for a second to think about what they’re seeing. “People painted as chickens.”
I mean that’s very true, where else would you see The Girl With the Pearl Earring with a chicken substitute instead? The answer of course is nowhere.
If you want to see more Paul’s work you can follow him on Instagram or Twitter. Even if you don’t like the drawnings, the Twitter threads with Paul recreating famous movies with chickens is well worth following.
Thelma and Louise pic.twitter.com/GUZD1iXUzu
— Paul Broughall (@paulieblogger) June 9, 2018
