Featured duCret Alumni, Tommy Athanasiou

Tommy Athanasiou is a 1986 graduate of The Ducret School of Art and has been a Creative Art Director and illustrator in both NYC and South Florida for the past 28 years. He is an accomplished painter specializing in pop art style pet portraits (www.TommyPopArt.com), and the creator and artist of PitbullShirt.com, which features pitbull-positive clothing and accessories. 10% of all T-shirt proceeds are donated to non-profit pitbull rescues each month. 

Late summer of 2009 brought an unexpected turn for Tommy, when his wife, Sharon, informed him of a terribly abused and injured pitbull named Smokey, who was being nursed back to health in California. With fundraising needed to help with sky-high vet bills, Smokey’s caretaker planned an auction of various items. Knowing her husband’s artistic talent could help out the pup, she volunteered Tommy to do a hand painted portrait of Smokey as an auction item. Tommy enthusiastically completed the pop art rendition of Smokey, excited to see how much it could bring in to help the brave pooch. Ultimately, the painting raised $300 for Smokey’s vet bills. Tommy was beyond ecstatic. But he wasn’t quite able to put the paint brushes down yet. 

Requests for dog portraits began streaming in from people who saw Smokey’s artwork. The TOMMY POP ART Studio was born. (TOMMYPOPART.COM,) Ten percent of every commissioned painting was donated to the non-profit animal rescue organization of the customer’s choice. And the more paintings Tommy created, the greater the demand grew....which was just fine for Tommy, since that meant more money donated to rescue.

The decision was made to focus all his time to this next chapter of his career. PITBULLSHIRT.COM was created to raise awareness about the plight of the pitbull, spread the message of rescue & adoption, and generate funds for pitbull rescue & advocacy non-profit organizations.All of his designs are positive and fun, and are great conversation-starters for those who enjoy pitbulls!