TikTok pet portrait artist from Teesside goes viral

A Teesside woman has quit her day job and become a full time artist after going viral on TikTok.

Drew Stirling, from Billingham, shot to fame on the social media app last year when a video of her drawing a border collie received over 6m views.

Now Drew, 28, has quit her day job and is selling drawings of pets online, including for some famous clients.

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Drew, who goes by the name of ‘petportraitsbydrew’ on TikTok, told The Northern Echo: “I started out when I wanted a portrait doing of my dog but couldn’t afford to pay for one, so I did it myself, posted it online and loads of people started asking me to do them one.

Picture: DREW STIRLING

“I wasn’t sure about TikTok at first but I thought I’d give it a go and I think within a month I had a video get over 6m views.

“I thought if even half a percent of the people who saw it asked me to do them a drawing I’d have something like 30,000 messages so I decided to quit my job and go full time.”

“I was working mainly as a barmaid but was in an admin job when I quit. I’ve got an archaeology degree so nothing to do with art at all!”

@petportraitsbydrew 🐑 S H E E P D O G 🐑 #bordercollie #dogportrait #traditionalart #painting #artist #fypthis ♬ Umbrella – Vl4s

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Now the social-media artist has even done drawings for the stars including Chelsea Hamill, Star Wars star and daughter of Luke Skywalker actor Mark Hamill, and Tina the Chihuahua who has over 90,000 followers on Instagram.

Her TikToks have been viewed by millions, receiving over 2m likes and over 320,000 followers.

Drew’s painting of famous chihuahua Tina. Picture: DREW STIRLING

She added: “The video of me painting the border collie took about five or six hours but some of my paintings can take 50 or 60 hours to finish.

“It’s coming up for a year since I went full time and I’m really enjoying it, plus I get to spend all day with my dog!”

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