GERRY SHAMRAY

GERRY SHAMRAY
Illustrator/Graphic Designer /Writer
9217 Ansonia Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44144 . 216-661-3191 . shamray@hotmail.com
F
rom the moment Gerry Shamray
got his first box of Crayola Crayons as a child, he’s been creating
bright, colorful images and imaginative
stories. The crayons may have been
replaced by a Wacom tablet and mixed
media but Gerry’s inventive
imagination continues to be fresh and
youthful.
Gerry has worked at Cleveland’s Sun
Newspapers as their Graphics Editor
where he has won over 24 national and
statewide awards. He also picked up a
Regional Emmy while working at PBS
station WVIZ-TV.
He is best known for his sketchy life-like
drawings of Harvey Pekar in the comic
book “American Splendor” that was later
turned into a hit movie starring Paul
Giamatti. He’s also worked with legendary comic strip artist/writer Tom Batiuk
(“Crankshaft,” “Funky Winkerbean”) on
the nationally syndicated strip, “John
Darling.”
Gerry lives in Cleveland with his wife
Tracy along with their two cats and
dog. He loves to visit restaurants that
leave crayons on their tables.
PROFESSIONAL CAREER SUMMARY
Award-winning Illustrator/Designer with career emphasis on developing creative solutions for clients and
corporations.
PROFESSIONAL SKILLS
Illustrator
Supervisor
Adobe Creative Suite
Photography
Graphic Designer
Editor
Cartoonist
Writer
Digital images
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe InDesign
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Illustrator
•Taught Digital Synthesis at the Cleveland
Institute of Art, Spring 2015.
•Designed and illustrated Griffin logo for Griffin Cider Works. Did illustration of Lemonhead
character for a cider label that won a first place
national award.
•Penciled several weeks of the comic strip
“Funky Winkerbean” for cartoonist/writer Tom
Batiuk (“Crankshaft”) that resulted in taking
over full-time drawing duties for the comic strip
“John Darling” (Distributed by King Features
Syndicate)
•Illustrated innovative comic book art for the
highly regarded autobiographical book “American Splendor” written by Harvey Pekar. Recognized by celebrated artist Robert Crumb for a
fresh approach to comic book art in the forward
continued on next page 4
of Doubleday book “American Splendor.”
•Acclaimed character actor Paul Giamatti recognized my Harvey
Pekar illustrations as “the most useful thing” used in forming his
award-winning film performance of “American Splendor”
•Created “American Splendor” artwork that was placed in the
highly regarded “De Superman au Chatd du Rabbin.” This international art show opened in Paris and traveled throughout
Europe for two years.
•Created illustrations which were published for the following books: Comic Relief, F.L.Y.E.R.S., American Splendor, More
American Splendor, The New American Splendor Anthology,
Best of American Splendor, The Life and Times of Harvey Pekar
and American Splendor-Our Movie Year
•Referenced/listed in the following books: Professional Photoshop: The Classic Guide to Color Correction (5th Edition) by
Photoshop Hall of Famer Dan Margulis, Comic-Book Superstars,
Who is Who Among Comics Creators (Comics Buyer’s Guide),
Comic Books as History and The Book of Games
•Recognized and inducted into the Brooklyn High School Hall of
Fame in the Cultural/Performing Arts category
•Developed caricatures of celebrity Clevelanders for the Cleveland Press comic strip “Cleveland” that became the topic of a
Dick Feagler column called “The Shamray Effect”
Graphic Designer/Writer
•Created promotional photos and photo illustrations for Griffin Cider Works. Photo illustrations included a
popcorn tree and a human lemon head which lead to an award for best cider label for Lemon Blues.
•Wrote a restaurant column for Patch.com
which included photography and videos, one
which won a first-place award in the Cleveland
Press Club’s Excellence in Journalism awards.
•Developed, designed and edited “Weekend,”
an entertainment weekly published by Sun
Newspapers (Ohio’s leading weekly newspaper)
that successfully grew from a single advertisement zoned edition to five editions
•Created cutting edge newspaper graphics,
digital photo illustrations and illustrations that
have earned 26 national and statewide awards
including 9 first place awards
•Contributed both bold page designs and entertainment articles/reviews/columns for Sun
Newspapers’ “Intermission” section (movie reviews, interviews, etc.). Section’s success generated over $200,000 a year in ad revenues
•Supervised, proofed and approved pages for
over 20 editions of Sun Newspapers
continued on next page 4
•Created editorial cartoons that won a first-place national award from Suburban Newspapers of America
•Awarded an Emmy for a TV segment written and co-produced on Superman’s connection to Cleveland for the
WVIZ-TV series “Dimensions”
•Wrote movie reviews that generated quotes in national movie ads and appeared on the nationally acclaimed
web site www.rottentomatoes.com. Illustrated movie review that looked like a page from a comic book for “Sin
City” which then became a feature story in the highly regarded publication, “Editor & Publisher”
•Skilled observations and knowledge of animated films that lead to the article, “The Hidden Frames of Roger
Rabbit,” in the highly regarded national
movie magazine, “Premiere”
PROFESSIONAL WORK EXPERIENCE
Shamray.com
2009 - Present
Freelance Graphics/Illustrations
Cleveland Institute of Art
2015 - Present
Teaching Digital Synthesis
Patch.com, Strongsville, Ohio
2010 - 2011
Freelance Writer/Photography/Videos
Sun Newspapers,
Valley View, Ohio
1988 - 2009
Graphics Editor
OTHER WORK EXPERIENCE
Illustrator for John Darling Comic
Strip” with Tom Batiuk, Medina,
Ohio
Illustrator for American Splendor
Comic Book with Harvey Pekar
Graphic Designer for WVIZ-TV
EDUCATION
Cooper School of Art - Design and Illustration
Cuyahoga Community College - Art 2 years
CONTACT
Samples and references are available upon request. Please
feel free to contact me with any further questions.
-Gerry Shamray