Dirty Donny
Gillies
Deemed to be one of the most influential artists to invade the pop culture scenes of the punk, rock n roll and heavy metal underground, Dirty Donny has been spreading his art across all mediums for decades; ranging from skate decks to pinball machines, hot rods and album covers to name but a few.
Somewhere between the extreme high art of Robert Williams and the bizarre Dungeons and Dragons world, we find one Dirty Donny Gillies.
"Howie Pyro"
Hired early on by metal giants Metallica, young Donny escaped the cold winter grasps of Montreal and headed for Sunny California to paint murals, guitars, design T shirts and even paint the grand piano in their rehearsal space.
I first drew Sparky on the chalkboard at Metallica's headquarters. He was flipping the bird, and James Hetfield loved it. He requested I put "tallica sux" on his shirt. Then he asked if I could ink it for T-shirts and guitar picks. When I got the gig to do the Metallica pinball for stern, I thought it would be cool to have this new Metallica character in a electric chair for Ride the Lightning.
A lotta guys can draw monsters but can't do the car bit. The Dirty one knows cars, drives hot rods, and draws 'em like he drives 'em - Fast and furious.
"Howie Pyro"
" I use a lot of medium in my work depending on the job. My ink and brush backline work has always been a nod to traditional comic books, rock posters and pinball machines. I just love doing it that way; I always have "
Donny is a true master of his craft, an insanely talented painter and illustrator, always working, always pushing himself.
"Brann Dailor, Mastodon"
Fast forward a full decade of west coast living, these days when Donny’s not airbrushing custom van murals or tinkering with his muscle car he can be found in his Palm Desert home studio designing art for top fuels Funny cars, skateboard shoes, guitars and guitar accessories, model kits and pinball machines for the likes of Snap-on, Vans, AMT, Fender, Dunlop and Stern pinball to name a few.
