female cardinal w.c.

The Shiawassee Arts Center is hosting its 14th Annual Member Exhibition, lasting from April 26th 'til June 12th. This is my submission into the show. If you happen to be in Owosso within the next couple of months, be sure to visit the gallery! This framed, 5x7" watercolor painting of a female cardinal is up for sale at $60 USD. If it doesn't happen to sell while on display there, I'll make it available online afterward. Prints are available, so contact me if you're interested.

The Holy Family

Commissioned for Susan, a local lady, as a gift for her mother, she requested a portrait of the Holy Family rendered in watercolors.

For our initial meeting, I brought along a big pile of art books from my personal collection. On a whim, I also did an online search for a handful of other paintings, which I took along on my handy li'l netbook. Like the books, I felt that my client would appreciate looking over various renditions of the Holy Family to help her decide on the details. Wouldn't you know it, she decides on one of the last minute, digital images.

As it turned out, this was a good thing. She took a real shine to "The Holy Family" by Janet McKenzie, whose work I wasn't familiar with in the least. So, I did some searching around and found that I liked a lot of her work and subject matter. While I may not completely agree with the artist's beliefs, I can still appreciate the paintings' beauty and themes. (Holiness & The Feminine Spirit: the Art of Janet McKenzie is a good reference.)

After some discussion, my client and I also chose to go with a more historically accurate portrayal of the Holy Family. So instead of White, or Black like in Janet McKenzie's original, here they are Hebrew. For this aspect, I referred to the artwork of James Tissot, whose attention to accuracy humbles me. Tissot's rendering of Joseph can be seen reflected in my own. (James Tissot: The Life of Christ is another good reference.)

Having finally finished this, I'm very pleased with the result. If you would like a print of this, or commission something similar, please contact me at andrew.shirey@yahoo.com.

The Unique Tales #3

So here's the big reveal of all the work that's been going on behind the scenes as of late. The latest issue of 'The Unique Tales' has made its online debut today and is available for your reading pleasure, absolutely free. If you're a fan of Adam Withers and Comfort Love's 'The Uniques' series, I probably don't need to elaborate too much. But for those of you who are unfamiliar, 'The Uniques' is a present-day, superhero comic book series revolving around a younger generation, rag-tag team of heroes. Issue three of 'The Unique Tales', 'The Uniques's sister mini-series, delves into the Golden Age of their heroes' precursors during World War II. Sounds interesting, doesn't it? Read 'The Unique Tales' #3, "...As Defined By Our Choices," here.

I have to really applaud Adam and Comfort with their undertaking in 'The Unique Tales'. It's no small task orchestrating a mini-series like this, collaborating and constantly deliberating back and forth with the contributors involved. They may not work for Marvel, DC, or the other big name publishers out there, but make no mistake they are true professionals. (And quite frankly I am glad for their independence. They have their own, real identity as artists and in their work.) So it's been a privilege working with them and indirectly with the others contributing to this particular issue.


Aside from the Golden Age Taskforce character designs, here's my main contribution to issue three. From top to bottom, left to right, the team is composed of: Ghost, Virtue, Guardian Angel, Liberty, Countryman, and Mercury. Technically it's still a work in progress, but I was satisfied with this stage of the pin-up for the web premiere deadline of this issue. I'll be sure to post the finalized variant sometime before 'The Unique Tales' reaches the publication point. In the meantime, however, I'm going to take a break from this beast and work on some other interests. And if you're interested, 11x17" prints of this pin-up are also for sale. Contact me via e-mail.

postcard zombie prints: NotLD's Karen Cooper

Here's the next postcard-sized print in my series of cinematic zombies, Karen Cooper (Kyra Schon) from Romero and Russo's 'Night of the Living Dead' (1968).


Aside from the gruesome discovery of young Karen devouring her father's remains, the most memorable bit of this sequence was the stabbing of her mother with a bricklayer's trowel. In some respects, the "ghouls" of 'Night of the Living Dead' were more revolutionary than their modern, shambling (or in some cases running) counterparts. After all, these were tool-users. Additionally, unlike Romero's later adaptations, these zombies seemed to have an immediate grasp of the concept. In films like 'Day of the Dead' and 'Land of the Dead' it was a gradually learned process, whereas in this first film it was instinctive. Personally, that notion instills a greater sense of dread. I wanted to convey this in Karen, capturing her with the trowel raised in hand menacingly.

These prints are for sale, so send me an e-mail if you are interested in purchasing. My current asking price is $1.50 USD each ($4 for four prints), plus an additional $2 for mailing costs. Prints will include my personal signature as well. There will also be no watermark, as seen here.

NOTICE: The background is the original poster artwork from the film. It's a filler and gives recognition to the movie from which the depicted character is derived from.

postcard zombie prints: NotLD's Cemetery Zombie

Here's the next postcard-sized print in my series of cinematic zombies, the Cemetery Zombie (Bill Hinzman) from Romero and Russo's 'Night of the Living Dead' (1968).


Hinzman's zombie appears at various points throughout the film, but the scene most memorable to myself is his attack on Barbra (Judith O'Dea), when she is trapped inside her brother's car. Something about the way he slammed his palms against the windows made it intense, so it seemed to me that it would make a dynamic pose in this print.

These prints are for sale, so send me an e-mail if you are interested in purchasing. My current asking price is $1.50 USD each ($4 for four prints), plus an additional $2 for mailing costs. Prints will include my personal signature as well. There will also be no watermark, as seen here.

NOTICE: The background is the original poster artwork from the film. It's a filler and gives recognition to the movie from which the depicted character is derived from.

postcard zombie prints: RotLD's Tarman

With the Motor City Comic Con nearing, I've decided to get a start on some artwork to sell. Here is the first in a series of illustrations depicting cinematic zombies, the Tarman (Allan Trautman) from Dan O'Bannon's 'The Return of the Living Dead' (1985).


There's also a cameo of Tarman in 'The Return of the Living Dead: Rave to the Grave' (2005), which did an awesome rendition of the zombie, but I decided to opt for the original version instead. These postcard-sized prints are for sale online as well, so send me an e-mail if you are interested in purchasing. My current asking price is $1.50 USD each ($4 for four prints), plus an additional $2 for mailing costs. Prints will include my personal signature as well.

Next on the agenda is George A. Romero's movies, starting with the 1968 classic, 'Night of the Living Dead'. Expect to see the Cemetery Zombie (Bill Hinzman) sometime next week.

NOTICE: The background is the original poster artwork from the film. It's a filler and gives recognition to the movie from which the depicted character is derived from.

BPRD trio pin-up

Sometime I'll get back to finishing my six-part series of Hellboy pin-ups. But in the meantime, here's a variant 11x17" print that includes the three main characters: Abe Sapien, Hellboy, and Liz Sherman. If you've been on the fence, unable to decide on which of the three individual prints to buy, perhaps this combination will do it for you. You can purchase one for $7, plus an additional $5 for mailing costs. I accept payment through PayPal.

Fast Food Mafia pin-up v.2

For those of you who are interested in some of the more recognizable characters, here's a condensed version of the previous Fast Food Mafia pin-up with just the first five that I drew. You can purchase a 9x12" gloss print for $5, plus an additional $4 for mailing costs. Just contact me at andrew.shirey@yahoo.com if you're interested. I accept payment through PayPal. And of course the prints won't include the watermarks.

Fast Food Mafia pin-up

This really just started out as a simple drawing to amuse myself. But after getting a lot of positive feedback I decided to make more of these fast food mafia characters and create a pin-up with them. Going from left to right, top to bottom, the fast food chain restaurants and their respective persons/mascots parodied here include:

• Jack in the Box -- Robert "Jack in the" Box
  
• McDonald's -- Ronald McDonald, Grimace, and Birdie
  
• Burger King -- "The King"
  
• Wendy's -- Wendy
  
• Kentucky Fried Chicken -- founder Harland Sanders
  
• Papa John's Pizza -- founder John Schnatter
  
• Little Caesars -- Little Caesar
  
• Taco Bell -- chihuahua dog
  
• Panda Express -- panda
  
• Sonic Drive-in -- founder Troy Smith and Katie the carhop
  
• Quiznos -- talking baby Bob
  
• Subway -- spokesman Jared Fogle
  
• Dairy Queen -- talking red lips
  

You can purchase an 11x17" gloss print for $7, plus an additional $5 for mailing costs. Just contact me at andrew.shirey@yahoo.com if you're interested. I accept payment through PayPal. And of course the prints won't include the watermarks.

Hellboy pin-ups

Been working on a six-part series of Hellboy pin-ups, which can be pieced together to form one large picture in the background. (This was inspired by the '94 Fleer Marvel Cards of Spider-man, which did the same in sets of nine.) So far Abe Sapien, Hellboy, and Liz Sherman are available. Eventually this will include Johann Kraus, Roger the homunculus, and Captain Daimio. You can purchase a 10x15" gloss print for $5, plus an additional $4 for mailing costs. As an added incentive, you can purchase three prints for $12, plus $4 for mailing, which saves you a few dollars. I accept payment through PayPal.