Ten of your brilliant Billy Connolly portraits

Lynn said of her inspiration for her artwork: “I wanted to show the more serious side of this legend of a Scotsman, so I purposely chose a photo that reflects his multidimensional personality.

“I did the portrait in pastel as it’s my favourite medium, and I remember finishing this one very quickly - in less than 30 minutes.

“The reason I did the portrait was because I met him about 17 years ago in Union Street in Aberdeen - he lived out at Candacraig then - along with my then eight-year-old daughter, who he spoke to so kindly.

“I was impressed with the way he interacted with her and had a good laugh with her about her Glasgow accent!”

Amy-Anna is a pupil from Williamwood High School in Clarkson, East Renfrewshire, with a love of art and design. Her model is made from paper and card and features Billy in his tartan trews and legendary big banana feet.

She said: “It took around 12-13 hours to create and finish my model. Making the body and base was a simple origami folding technique which was relatively quick, though the embellishment and detail was very time consuming.”

She added: “I feel that Billy is the perfect representation of Scotland, in that he is amazing at what he does and can naturally make people laugh and feel welcome.”

James is a picture framer by trade but didn’t take up painting until late in life. He has chosen “watercolour with a touch of gouache” to capture the comic in a piece called Billy the Drifter.

He said of the portrait, “I decided on an amalgam piece using several different pictures to capture the Billy that I wanted to portray- the guy who can make me laugh even before he starts to speak.”

The portrait features Connolly’s love of fly fishing, Hank Williams and The Grateful Dead, his banjo playing, and a nod to some well-known Connolly stories/jokes.

Kian is a pupil from Alloa Academy and his artwork was submitted by his teacher, Miss Urquhart, along with portraits by a number of other classmates.

Miss Urquhart said: “All pupils worked on the project for three weeks. We spoke about Billy Connolly and what expressions they would like to show in their work. The pupils had to research an image of Billy they wanted to work on.”

Kian's work is a continuous line drawing, aiming to reflect the comedian in Billy.

Fiona’s portrait owes something to Leonardo da Vinci in its presentation - which is interesting given Billy's appearance as the Vitruvian Man on the cover of his 2010 DVD The Man Live in London.

Fiona said: “I've been wanting to do this for a while, to capture something of Billy as an acutely wise observer of human nature.

“I love him in his more serious roles as an actor and philosopher, and musician as well as in his more well-known guise as a towering genius of comedy. It's not perfect, but then who is?”

By sheer coincidence Margaret had already begun a series of three portraits of Connolly when the call went out to budding artists, and we’ve chosen one here, entitled Billy Connolly, in the Beginning.

She said: “I wanted one of him as a young man, because that is how I remember him. Each portrait took me probably a couple of weeks to complete to my satisfaction, but that was just working on them for an hour or so each day.

“My inspiration to paint these portraits is Billy himself. I met him a long time ago, in 1973 or 1974, when he came to Irvine to perform a gig.

“I have never met him since, but he was a larger-than-life character and I was not in the least surprised to see him on the Parkinson Show a short time later. He will not remember me, but I have never forgotten him.”

Rachel said: “I have always been drawn to portrait drawing over still life or landscape art, and I favour drawing faces that are unique and have character - I knew I had to get Billy's mischievous eyes on paper.

“It took a combined 20 or so hours to finish my portrait. So many people associate pencil drawing with rough sketches, and I like to turn that on its head and give back finished portraits that are soft and dreamy in contrast to the usual ideas of sketching.

“I view Billy Connolly as being a figure that perfectly embodies the joining of great presence and great silliness, and having the prompt to do his portrait was irresistible.”

Mhairi’s taken a colourful and individual approach to her Billy Connolly representation. She explained: “I created my own illustration of Billy that I then turned into a laser cut acrylic brooch.

“I have very fond memories of seeing him when he used to visit my hometown on the Isle of Bute to visit the local folk festival with his banjo. I've also been donating sales from each brooch to Parkinson's UK.”

Jillian’s portrait is instantly recognisable to people of a certain age who know the 1985 ITV show An Audience with Billy Connolly. Eminently quotable, the programme was a favourite in playgrounds and pubs alike.

The challenge was a labour of love for Jillian. She said: “I have spent the past three months working on painting my entry.

“My health is poor and this has been a wonderful project for me to work on, giving me a focus. I loved painting it.”

John, who is deaf, was inspired to paint his portrait, The Big Yins, after seeing BBC Scotland's Billy Connolly: Portrait of a Lifetime documentary.

He said: “I was moved by Billy’s revisiting of his favourite painting, Christ of St John of the Cross by Salvador Dali. His childhood experience of Kelvingrove Art Gallery so matched my own - born in Drumchapel, and growing up in 1960s Glasgow.

“I decided to paint Billy’s portrait either standing in front of, or within, his favourite painting; it is up to the viewer to decide.”

For more of John's work, see this short film on YouTube.

Billy Connolly: Portrait of a Lifetime, which tells the story of Billy sitting for his three portraits by Jack Vettriano, John Byrne and Rachel Maclean, is available on BBC iPlayer until 1 December 2017.

A host of public submissions have also been put on display at the at the People's Palace in Glasgow. The exhibition runs until 10 December 2017, with free admission.