Third String Goalie Holiday Shopping Guide - The Hockey Art of Robert Ullman

Hockey fan and illustrator Robert Ullman has several hockey related offerings available once again this holiday season. Ullman, who is a Penguins fan, creates eye-catching illustrations of pin-up girls wearing nothing but hockey sweaters, stripey socks and sexy smiles and describes his work as "Archie Comics gone bad".

He has begun a tradition of creating battling babes in sweaters to represent his choices in the annual NHL playoffs each spring, which he posts on his blog, Atom-Bomb Bikini.

And these are not just generic hockey-style jerseys either. As a true fan and artist with an eye for detail, the jerseys are highly accurate in striping and even the addition of patches. A perfect example is this Minnesota North Stars jersey with the drop shadow on the numbers properly going down and to the right, unlike most of the retail versions of this jersey which we have dubbed, The Most Frequently Screwed Up Jersey of All Time™.

A new offering this season is a 9" x 12" signed print for fans of the Stanley Cup champion Los Angeles Kings, available in his online store for just $16.

In addition, for those of you in the Eastern Conference, he also has a new Washington Capitals design for the same low price.

Ullman has also published a number of collections of his work, two of which contain his NHL pin-ups. The first is the all-color hardcover book "Atom-Bomb Bikini: The Lurid Art of Robert Ullman", a 64 page collection of his art featuring girls from a variety of themes, "sporty, super or birthday suited" as he puts it, which includes many of his hockey girls. It its available for just $16.

Another of his publications of interest to our readers would be Teeny Bikini #5, a 20 page collection of hockey sweater wearing pinup girls (all different illustrations than those in Atom-Bomb Bikini) in black and white with a color cover, which can be yours for a mere $2.

His newest offering is Bluelines, 32 pages of his hockey-themed pin-up commissions and Stanley Cup playoff drawings. In both black and white and color, Bluelines is limited to just 300 signed and numbered copies, which will actually be 299 right after we order our copy.

In addition to his pin-up art, he has also created a "mini-comic", the wonderfully titled Old-Timey Hockey Tales, which is worth $6 just for the cover alone.

Along the lines of Old-Timey Hockey Tales, you can also purchase a print of Liberez le Rocket!, Ullman's illustrated story about the Rocket Richard Riots. A signed 8" x 12" signed print is available for $10.

What's that you say? $2 is too rich for your wallet in these tough economic times? Fear not, for Robert is having a private sale just for readers of Third String Goalie in time for the holidays! Everything mentioned above, as well as all the other items in the Atom-Bomb Bikini online store and his original art available in his Etsy store is now a generous 25% off through midnight December 17th! Just enter the code "TSG2012" when you check out!

C'mon, you've got a $1.50 under the cushions of your couch or in the cup holder in your car - buy something! Beyond the hockey girl related items, Ullman also has t-shirts, other books and sketch books, prints, stickers and cards available.

Now for the best part - Robert does commission work! You simply provide him with some photos of your significant other and he will create one of his popular pin-up pieces of her wearing your sweater of choice created specifically for you. It doesn't even need to be a hockey theme or even a real person depicted, as he has also created baseball and football themed pieces and can certainly draw you a pretty girl at will.

For $250 you will receive both the original hand drawn 11" x 14" art as well as a color print of the image with all the logos and uniform details. After a quick sketch to ensure you are happy with the pose, he'll begin creating your one of a kind original - a fantastic gift for the holidays!