Making of: Lady Giraffe

This is one my brand new pieces I created for show MENAGERIE @ Steam Whistle Gallery, Toronto. It's still up currently and will be up for the rest of the month if you care to see some new works in person. 

I've tried something new for this body of work. I know a lot of people love seeing the 3-dimensional look of sculpture and my work more or less starts out as a sculpture, but the final ends up being a photograph illustration. I sculpted and wooden panel this time, also using crackle paste, which I had never tried before. I must say it was really cool seeing how the cracks formed over 2 days of drying. I definitely did a lot more painting than sculpting this time around. I forgot how time consuming it was, I got so accustomed to sculpting and set building. I thought for an art show it would be the perfect time to test out a different way of presenting my sculpture illustration. Of course I'll still be doing sets and full character dolls. I feel its a new year and there's many things I can still experiment with and grow as an artist. Your work will always change and grow over time, it's a good thing.

PS. my new website and updates are still on their way. I've been really busy! I apologize for the long wait.

MENAGERIE - Anthropomorphic Art Show

Menagerie - a series of anthropomorphic illustrations.

“Menagerie” is an art show that engages the imaginative exploration of anthropomorphism – the attribution of human qualities to nonhumans. Through visual study, nineteen local up-and-coming artists will explore the idea of anthropomorphism as a form of self-extension. As we “humanize” nonhuman entities, personal relationships are established, and a special - sometimes disturbing - attachment is then applied to the animal or object. This can be seen from our naming of pets, to drawing faces on inanimate objects, to shouting at a car when it has broken down. Through us, the animal/object takes on its own humanity. The result of this visual exploration is a modern bestiary - a collection of creatures, human and nonhuman, situated and interacting in contemporary society.

Hope to see you there! I'm so excited about this :)
Click HERE for the facebook event & artists featured.

Egg Pendants!!

This is something I'm having fun with. I'm doing a few different pendants that will be for sale for my upcoming show MENAGERIE, Feb 2nd. I'll post the invite for the event as soon as it's up. The series of works I'm showing at the exhibit are anthropomorphic with a bit of Russian inspiration. I'm super excited to show them off and see the reactions people give off. I sculpted on panels this time to try something different and I must say I did enjoy it. It was more painting then sculpting, but I definitely do miss painting so I didn't mind at all.

More updates soon, sorry I'm depriving you of my process works, I haven't had time to take photos of everything. Lots of exciting things are happening soon.

xo

January Update

Sorry to keep you all waiting. I assure you I have plenty of new work coming, it's just that my site isn't completed yet. I have 2 shows coming up in February, both shows are only one week apart so it's time to really get crackin'. I've been doing some experimenting and trying some new things. The direction is different from most of my work, but I think it's only natural for any artist to progress and change over time. I'm really excited to share my new works with you and see the response I get. It's all personal work that I think is leaning more in the fine art direction, but it is definitely still illustration, still conceptual. I'll be keeping you posted.

xo Kira

Merry Christmas from me to you!

Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and a loving and joyful holiday with the fam. I'm pretty excited to get together with family friends and enjoy some scrumptious foods...yyumm! All the best to you guys and cheers to an amazing upcoming 2012! Year of the Dragon baby!

xo Kira

Making of "Bump in the Night" - coming soon..

Oh it's been a while I know... but I'm back! 

These are some sneak peeks of the piece I've been working on. I must say it turned out better than I expected. The plan was to do a piece that was set based,  not so much revolving around a character or a well known person. Everything I sculpted got painted in fluorescent paints for the purpose of getting photographed under blacklight (ie. the purple light that makes whites glow blue in the dark). I did some research about which paints to buy since not even a normal white paint will glow under blacklight, so I purchased some specific paints online. I just felt like I needed to let loose and do a over super fun and crazy, over the top piece. Can't wait to share it.

I'm also working a new website design currently, which I'm pretty excited about. It'll be a lot more fresh looking and easier to browse through all my works. And of course an updated logo.

OC WEEKLY Cover Process

 These two spot illustrations below are Marilyn Davenport, accused 

for calling Obama an ape. The two cops are part of the Fullerton Police Department,

accused for beating an innocent homeless man to death and getting arrested.

My new cover, just in time for Halloween. This was my first time working with OC Weekly and Art Director Laila Derakhshanian. Laila is totally awesome for having thought of me for a Day of the Dead themed cover and spots. I was beyond excited to do this theme as well as be working on a special issue "OC's Scariest People" issue.

This just brought me back to my old "Chivalry is Undead" series. How could you not have fun making skulls and creepy characters?? Anyway, I figured I'd share my thoughts, hope you all got a treat for your eyes ;)

PS. Click OC Weekly to read the article

Happy Halloween!!! xo

Adele: Process GIF Animation

 Here is my piece!! Finally had time to put it up. I figured I'd go ahead and make a gif animation instead of posting all the images separately.

I'm a big fan of Adele so this is a personal piece I did for fun. Took about a week to finish, I just worked on her sporadically since I had other jobs at the same time. I'm really happy with the outcome, I put a lot of detail into her which makes her pretty life-like I think. Practice makes perfect :) Hope you all enjoy.
To see the final image, visit my website

Time Out Chicago magazine (Jerry Kleiner)

Here is my recent illustration in context. The art director Stephanie was nice enough to send me 2 copies of the issue. The article was pretty long, about 3 pages, luckily when I got a summary version. Hope you guys like it.

Time Out Chicago Illustration

My recent job for Time Out Chicago magazine. This is a full page illustration on restauranteur Jerry Kleiner. He's owned a bunch of restaurants and clubs, which are now all closed down because of his many debts and 11 lawsuits. He's a slick character who thinks he can get away with not paying venders, rent and produce.

The concept of this piece was to incorporate Kleiner's intensely colored, over-the-top decor. He's offering a plate of one of his meals and is being bound by the swirling mess of debt he's in.

I must say this was a tricky piece to do, quite challenging since Kleiner's restaurant decor has so many different clashing colors and patterns, I didn't know which ones to use. All in all, the art director was happy and loved the piece, the end. And on to the next one!

Now Taking Commissions

Hey everyone! 

I am taking commissions at the current time, until the end of October. If you have an Anniversary, friend's Birthday, Wedding, any special occasion and would like a relpica doll created of your loved one, let me know. It takes a week to complete and can be shipped worldwide. Price ranges from $300 for a single doll on a stand and $550 for a pair (Any add -ons such as chair, pet, props - are extra). Feel free to email me: kira@kirashaimanova.com

This is Pearl

Hey guys, sorry for not updating in a while. I'm really excited about this new project. It's actually something I've been working on for a while, trying to get things perfect. It's an iPad story book, as well as paperback book. Since its on the iPad, most parts will be animated, but the look of the story will resemble stop-motion. That's all for now, enjoy!

Birthday Commission

This is a recent birthday commission I did for Olga. Her husband, Emil's birthday is at the end of the month so she wanted a unique gift this year. I thought it was pretty funny she wanted him portrayed just as his usual self, with his Blackberry cell phone and Starbucks coffee. He's totally removable from the couch so if desired, he can sit on other surfaces as well. Happy Birthday Emil!

Recent Interview in Wowza Mag

This is an interview I did back in May, it's the first online & print issue of Wowza Magazine. You can see the online version by clicking [ here ]. Enjoy!

"Sweat" Opening Night

This is only a few photos from opening night. A great crowd came, so nice to see familiar faces, some unexpected. It was a pretty neat space also, lots of character, not your typical gallery space. If you missed opening night, the show is on until July 29th, lots of merchandise and prints for sale as well.

Video: Making Oscar - Las Vegas Weekly Cover

So here it is!! I hope you all enjoy this video. I worked really hard on this cover piece. It had to be completed in 5 days! I pulled it off just fine, without pulling my hair out. The art director I worked with wanted to make a video of how I created the cover for their website. I basically took a bunch of photos along the way and they put it together in a video. Don't you love the music?? I think it's a perfect choice.

Las Vegas Weekly Cover Illustration

Hey everyone! So here it is, my first cover!! It just came out today, July 7th. I am soo super excited about it. I think it's one of my best pieces I've done so far. It was really great having some art direction during the process. Ryan Olbrysh Art Directed this piece. 

It's a portrait of Oscar Goodman, the mayor of Vegas. He's a favourite Mayor in Vegas and now celebrating his retirement after 12 years. I hope he picks up a copy and see's himself as sculpted doll. It would be neat to see his reaction. 

Anywho, there's also a process photo/video coming soon, of how I created this piece. Mind you I had under a week to do it.

Upcoming Art Exhibit - "SWEAT"

So I've been pretty darn busy, sorry for not posting in a while. I had a cover I've been working on, which I'll definitely post process photos for when it comes out. 

Anywho, please, please come to the "Sweat" show if you're in town!! It's going to be amazing. A fun, light-hearted, summer show for all. There's an awesome artist lineup, most are previous OCAD students, a various of different styles. Opening night is July 15th! Join us :) This is the link to the facebook invite page - HERE -

Prints On Sale!

I finally have some prints for sale, new pieces and old favourites. They're up on my ETSY account! And the best part is they're only $20 - $25 each. That's an awesome deal if you ask me. All the prints are photo matte paper, very lovely quality. They're perfect for framing.

NEW WORK! "No Hard Feelings" piece

Hey guys! Here it is, my final piece. I have to admit this was a hard piece to do. So many men to sculpt, dress, paint and add hair too. Even the shooting processes was tricky, I had to position all the men so that the ties all show up, since they're the main concern in this concept (ties represent penis's) - it is a metaphorical piece of course. I just wanted to create a pattern type piece with a little comedy. The colour palette is different from what I normally use. The skin on these guys is in fact grey and not desaturated on photoshop. All the colors are as you see them in the image. Hope you guys like it. 

Cheers, Kira

(PS. you can find this on my website as well)