Mission Impossible: Artist Wilf Elliott teams up with film

Wilf Elliott, 21, from Clacton, is a tattoo artist at Loveless Tattoo Lounge in Ardleigh.

Over the last few years, Wilf has gained many famous fans as outside of work, the colour-blind artist draws portraits of some of his favourite musicians, actors and celebrities.

He’s even had the chance to meet many of the people his art is based on after showing his work online.

Artist - Wilf Elliott (Image: Wilf Elliott) Last November, Wilf spoke to the Gazette about the moment when A-list actor Tom Cruise personally asked to meet him after Wilf created a portrait of the Top Gun star.

Now, Wilf has been recruited by Paramount Pictures and the Mission Impossible team to help promote Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning which is being released on May 21.

At 6pm on Wednesday, Wilf unveiled his new portrait of the actor in a collaborative post with the official Mission Impossible Instagram account, which was also supported by Paramount Pictures' social media accounts.

The video shows Wilf creating the new artwork of Tom based on the currently released poster from the film.

New - Wilf with his new artwork (Image: Wilf Elliott) Art - a drawing of Tom Cruise for Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning (Image: Wilf Elliott) So far, the Instagram post has been seen by 195,000 people and has been seen by 25,000 people on Facebook.

Wilf said: “It’s probably the proudest moment of my life. I don’t know how in five years since Covid and since I started drawing, I’ve been able to do this.

“I don’t know how I’ve managed to do this artwork for the Mission Impossible film. It is very surreal, it is pretty incredible.

“I’ve had so many nice comments, and friends and family members have supported it.

“The actual reactions have been incredibly positive.”

The massive opportunity came following a meet and greet with the actor, and since January there have been multiple discussions in person and by emails with the marketing team at Paramount.

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A post shared by Mission: Impossible (@missionimpossible)

Wilf says the picture took about 60 hours to complete using charcoals and red paint for the film’s title.

He started in December before he was even asked to create an artwork.

Wilf remained tight-lipped when asked if he will be creating more artworks or if he has a cameo in the film.

He said: “What I can say is this won’t be the last time I will be working with Paramount Pictures and Mission Impossible for the release of the film.

"There are ongoing plans, I can’t disclose.”

When it comes to his day job, Wilf’s tattoo work is fully booked until August, but he is taking new clients for the end of the year.

To find about more about Wilf’s work, visit instagram.com/wilfelliott.art.