Shelley Butler

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Fan
Name: Shelley Butler
Alias(es):
Type: fanartist, fanwriter
Fandoms: Star Trek: TOS, Professionals
Communities:
Other:
URL: archived art print gallery and archived original art gallery
Pieta back cover First Time #46, (full gallery below). The pose, which is an art classic, was used decades earlier in the drawing by Wendy Pearson accompanying the poem Pieta in Starbase M.T.L. #6. The artist's comment on the work: "The image is a reflection of the glorious sculpture, Pieta. Here, a long-haired Spock lovingly holds an angelic Kirk on his lap. Notice Spock’s hand delicately and gently placed on a vulnerable Kirk’s belly. Kirk’s blissful, sublime expression relates to their intimate relationship, and a soft light seems to shine on him."
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Shelley Butler is a fanartist and fanwriter. Her story "THROUGH EREBUS AND BEYOND" published in Within the Mirror 7 won a STIFfie award. Her artwork in First Light won the 1997 Philon Award. "The Pieta" won a STIFfie in 1997.

She is co-editor of the long-running Star Trek: TOS newsletter The K/S Press.

Interviews

Introduction

Shelley Butler needs no introduction.... She’s the co-publisher of The K/S Press. She’s a passionate writer with a slew of stories to her credit. She’s the artist whose incomparable pictures draw oohs and aahs when they are displayed at Shore Leave...or anywhere else. [1]

Some of Her Fiction

  • her first story was an erotic sequel to "Elan of Troyius" in a FireTrine Press zine
  • her second story was "Dream Park," written a year after her first fanfic
  • her third story was "Mirrored Passion" in Naked Times #26

Her Start in Art

Shelley Butler explains that for her “it was Robin Hood who really led me on the path of K/S righteousness! I forget the actual circumstances, but somehow Robin found out that I was an artist and if you know Robin, her eyes lit up with glee and she insisted that I draw some K/S. So I did. But I thought they had to be big artworks so I drew a gigantic Kirk and an equally gigantic Spock.... (I) brought these two pictures to a small [con]] being held near me where I lay the two gigantic portraits on the bed and Robin looked at them, then looked at me, and asked if maybe next time I might do something a bit smaller? I said okay. And it was Robin who was always there with encouragement and support and advice. I count Robin Hood as my inspiration to draw K/S.” [2]

Some Inspiration

... not only had Shelley seen other K/S art, but she had been pretty impressed with it, she recalls. “I was so blown away by it. I loved it all, although I had my favorites. One of the very first covers I ever saw was a Marilyn C. showing a winged Spock lying at the bottom of a cliff with a waterfall. I was so amazed by that, and so excited that I bought the zine without knowing or caring what was in it! And I forget who did the artwork, but it was a cover that showed Spock on a horse and Kirk on a leash with a collar and a tent with a L’Matya. I thought that was the most amazing thing I had ever seen and I’d stare at it endlessly.” Oh, how that takes me back to my own early fannish days and how I was so fascinated by drawings of Kirk and Spock, how I’d stare at them, think about them, dream about them—sigh! [3]

Eroticism and an Evil Twin

... when the sexy muse inspires her pen she blames her evil twin Scarlett. I’ll let her explain: “I’ve done few really explicit K/S drawings, but for those I use the name Scarlett. People laugh and say ‘but we know this is you!’ I know they know, but hopefully those who have no business knowing won’t know. Clear? And about really explicit K/S art—I much prefer the suggestively erotic to the ‘in-your-face’ K/S art. Not so much because I’m adverse to seeing Kirk and Spock explicitly getting it on, mind you, but because we all love the romance ideal, don’t we? It’s not that easy to show them really doing it and at the same time suggest this wonderful, passionate romance that they have. Having said that I rather like some of the explicit pieces I’ve done. That is, the ones that Scarlett has done! When I first drew Kirk and Spock’s genitalia... I loved drawing them as well-endowed as possible! But my favorite was to draw Spock’s double ridges which I’ve only gotten to do a few times. In one piece, ‘Spock By The Pool,’ no one except us ever notices that he has those double ridges!” [4]

The Challenges of Reproduction

“...when I first started drawing K/S, I hadn’t a clue how to reproduce my artwork. Those were the days way before scanners or digital anything. So even finding some place that you could walk into with suggestive and erotic artwork and not fall down in mortal embarrassment was hard to do! As it turned out, the medium that I knew best, graphite pencil, was and is difficult to reproduce because of the subtle gray shadings. And when I’ve done color pencil, that’s posed its own challenges too because of pixels and dots and colors and all those things. So when I try to make my own prints these days, it’s still not easy or very good because the size has to be right and my scanner is kind of old and funky. This question just reminds me how complicated this fan art can be! It’s one thing to even draw it, then it’s another to get it printed. Then it’s still another to have the publisher reproduce your art properly. That’s a whole other challenge!” [5]

On The Differences Between Captain Kirk and Mr Spock

"From those earliest, first-blush days, I’ve loved drawing them. I got to know Kirk’s face so well—and he is so difficult to draw! All artists say so. His features are not strong or well-defined—they are rather delicate. Also, he’s got this indefinable quality—strong yet sensitive with a very changeable face according to his moods and the cameraman’s lighting!

Spock is easy in comparison with his definite features. Put upswept ears on him and everyone knows it’s a Vulcan. His hair is one of my favorite things to draw—I do layers and layers until it reaches the thickness and glossiness of that beautiful head of hair.

Kirk has that errant lock that we all love and that prominent vein on his forehead that I love. And those eyelashes. I discovered that the eyelash shadows on his cheeks are not just an invented fan thing—they really exist!"[6]

Gallery

Star Trek

The Professionals

References

  1. ^ from The K/S Press #111
  2. ^ from Scribbling Women: Artists Talk Back
  3. ^ from Scribbling Women: Artists Talk Back
  4. ^ from Scribbling Women: Artists Talk Back
  5. ^ from Scribbling Women: Artists Talk Back
  6. ^ Meet The Artist.
  7. ^ Shelley Butler's Art.
  8. ^ Shelley Butler's Art.
  9. ^ Shelley Butler's Art.
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