"Torre"

tim carroll · Jul 18, 2014

So....about 2 months ago I was approached by the Office of the Commissioner of MLB. I was then commissioned to create a piece of Joe Torre - for Joe Torre - in recognition of his Cooperstown HOF induction. Since today was his birthday, they went ahead and gave him the piece. I used over 100 Torre's in the piece - all sent from MLB. Torre's face appears almost 50 times; his name almost 150. Couldn't be happier with the turnout (or reaction from the Commissioner's Office). Looking forward to meeting Mr. Torre at the National!

MrMet · Jul 18, 2014

WHAT! dude your work is amazing, that is awesome!

BigAppleJak · Jul 18, 2014

Really nice! Congrats and your stuff keeps getting better.

dano7 · Jul 18, 2014

Amazing piece of art!
DANNY

gracecollector · Jul 18, 2014

Greatest thing I've seen on the boards in awhile. Congrats, be proud, fantastic work!

MisterT · Jul 18, 2014

Wow. Fantastic.

Juan Gris · Jul 18, 2014

Really freaking impressive! The details are so crisp and lifelike. Ballpark, how long did that take to complete?

tim carroll · Jul 18, 2014

Thanks, guys! Really appreciate the words of encouragement. If you are at the National on Friday or Saturday, swing by the Upper Deck booth - I'd love to meet you all.

As for the time question......this one took roughly 60-65 hours of work. The script/text on the piece was INTENSE. I'll try to add a front view pic of the piece before the night is over.

Tim

gt2590 · Jul 18, 2014

Congrats man, quite a feather in your Cap!

Brewer Andy · Jul 18, 2014

Would I be considered "uncultured" if I said you were my favorite artist? Would I care?

tim carroll · Jul 18, 2014

Brewer Andy said:
Would I be considered "uncultured" if I said you were my favorite artist? Would I care?

Hahaha......I'm a bit biased, but I would think you were perfectly cultured! A humbling statement. Thank you for that!!

Tim

tim carroll · Jul 18, 2014

gt2590 said:
Congrats man, quite a feather in your Cap!

Thank you!

RStadlerASU22 · Jul 18, 2014

Great , about all that's needed to describe it

Ryan

mrmopar · Jul 18, 2014

Tim, that is cool. All your pieces rock, but to know that MLB asked for this and it ended up in the hands of the subject is that much cooler. i wonder if this might not lead to more work directly for players? This could be a gateway piece to something huge for you. Congrats!!

tim carroll · Jul 19, 2014

mrmopar said:
Tim, that is cool. All your pieces rock, but to know that MLB asked for this and it ended up in the hands of the subject is that much cooler. i wonder if this might not lead to more work directly for players? This could be a gateway piece to something huge for you. Congrats!!

Thanks, Curt! I certainly hope so - I've been working towards turning this into a full-time gig. Almost there. With 3 children, it's just so tough to take the plunge away from my safe salary. It was pretty interesting how the MLB thing all went down. I was asked to create a piece each for LaRussa AND Torre - but LaRussa took a job with the Diamondbacks a couple of days later. Since he no longer worked directly for MLB, it was a conflict of interest for them to commission a piece for him. I was *this close* to making this a 2-for-1!

It would be amazing to create even more pieces for more of the guys directly involved with the game (past or present). I didn't have the natural ability to turn myself into a professional player.....but it is nice to still have a chance to do something with what I love and rub elbows with those guys.

I am going to be working on an EPIC piece for Upper Deck at the National. If you make it out there - swing by! They'll have my Griffey piece there (he signed it for them a few months ago), and I will also have a commission piece there that I finished last night. It's Gretzky, and they are going to have him sign that one as well.

Tim

deaconblues63 · Jul 19, 2014

I have been following your work since you started posting on the Bench and have always been impressed by your work. For a long time now, I've thought that your work would be displayed in galleries or that you would find a niche making commissioned pieces for athletes like Opie Otterstad does. I'm glad to hear that you are on the cusp of this. I understand the leap of faith that it will take to leave the security of a full time job, but I am confident that you will succeed with your art. The best thing about teaching will be that you can always return to it if things didn't work out as an artist.

mrmopar · Jul 19, 2014

I think I may end up having regrets in not taking you up on commissioning a piece when you first started showing these to us! I won't be at the National unfortunately, but I enjoy viewing the pieces when you share them.

nevermore · Jul 19, 2014

Nice work, my favorite to date! Your pieces keep getting better and better. Hope it leads to many more referrals for you.

scotty216brs · Jul 19, 2014

When are you going to open your museum?? I'll be the first in line!

Awesome job as always, Tim. Your work is truly 'one of a kind'. To have MLB actually contact you about doing this one for them is amazing in itself...you must be getting well known.

MrMet · Jul 19, 2014

Crazy! I just saw the new pics, awesome! I don't know if you do it, but I'd love to see some pics of the process, like, how you start out, and some pics of during, and then the finished product. I might be the only one, but I think that'd be really interesting to see.... Unless you don't want to give away any trade secrets, haha

Welcome to our community

Be apart of something great, join today!

"Torre"

Active member

Well-known member

Member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Active member

Super Moderator

Active member

Active member

Active member

Active member

Member

Active member

Well-known member

Member

Well-known member

Active member

Well-known member

Similar threads

Log in