Andy Anderson

Andy Anderson’s history begins in 1968 when he was first inspired by the custom paintwork on motorcycles. This led to Andy building his first Harley, a 1949 EL, in 1969/70 at the ripe old age of seventeen. Andy painted it of course and the rest is history as they say. Someone saw that bike and word got out. Soon, it was a struggle to keep up with the paint jobs. Motorcycles were the main focus, but larger projects were occasionally ventured into. In 1971, Andy painted a tour bus and did a mural on the side of Jimmy Buffett’s bus. Andy was also doing commercial art and illustration for the Nashville music industry.

By 1971, Andy found himself printing shirts for a few businesses, as a way to reproduce his art on T-shirts for his growing music clientele. His first clients were those who he had done art for and the Allman Brothers special event shirts.

In June 1976, Andy founded Anderson Studio, Inc. (ASI). Over the years, Andy has done work for legends like the aforementioned Jimmy Buffett, as well as Charlie Daniels, Barbara Mandrell, Dottie West, and many others. Artists who perform rock and roll were also among this list such as Neil Young.

Andy was one of the first to utilize techniques as time-honored as original works are done in airbrush, pastel, and oil, to the very latest in digital 3D illustration and photo retouching into the screenprinting of textiles. Andy specializes in full-color custom work as well as promotional work for corporations. The first successful 4-color process work produced in Nashville, and certainly some of the best on a national level, was done at Anderson Studio and still is.

In 1984, Andy won an award for a print for Kenny Rogers, and ever since ASI has consistently been the choice of local and national merchandisers looking for pieces that were both sensational and sellable. Simulated process, stochastic work, custom ink processes, and perfectly captured portraiture reproduction were pioneered at ASI far in advance of competitors, as well as the newer high-end digital separation techniques now in use. Consistently tackling jobs anyone else was unable to produce, Andy quickly gained a reputation as a “printer’s printer”, the printer to use on “the hard stuff”; and, with the addition of his new 14 and 16 color presses, his capabilities are among the highest and best of any print shop nationwide.

Leading pioneers in the field of apparel printing and high-end color separation, regularly use Anderson Studio as both a testing ground and showcase for their latest innovations. In keeping with that tradition, in January 2003, Andy upgraded his print capabilities to the highest possible level, purchasing the latest and largest of the M&R Challenger series, the Challenger 2, in both a 14 and 16 head configuration. Complemented by the new, faster, and larger Sprint 2000 dryer, they have nearly doubled our output strength in both color and speed. Multiple bases, specialty inks, and endless variations of both process and spot separation are now at our fingertips, making Anderson Studio second to none in the textile screenprint market today.

Today, Andy still paints motorcycles for his choice of clientele. Over the last five years, his work has been featured in Hot Bike, Hottest Custom Harley, Big Twin (his personal bike was featured on the cover) Easyriders, American Iron, and various trade books on custom painting. Tim Remus also has a coffee table book “Custom Harley” that features Andy’s bike on the cover.

Current books in which you can find Andy are “Custom Harley” by Tim Remus, “How To Custom Paint & Graphics” by Jon Kosmoski and Tim Remus, “Advanced Airbrush Art” by Tim Remus, “Custom Harley Motorcycle Art” by Tim Remus, and “Pinstriping Masters 2” by Airbrush Action. Magazines that have published Andy’s motorcycle and paintwork start with Street Chopper in 1973, 1974, and 1978. Those continued on through current times. Andy has had work in most of the major motorcycle magazines, from Street Chopper, Hot bike, American Iron, Hot Rod Bikes, Easyriders, V-Twin, Big Twin, Barnetts, Airbrush Action, and Auto Art to name a few.

Anderson Studio Inc. has been in all the T-shirt trade magazines, and in the past, Andy wrote many articles for The Press magazine and had contributions in Printwear and Impressions Magazines.

Andy has also been a freelance photographer with photos and a cover in Hot Rod Bike magazine and features in the magazine.

Over 55 international and industry awards have been won by Anderson Studio. They have won both gold and silver in the SGIA printing competition and have won first place awards in the Impressions Competition several times.

Andy was inducted into the prestigious Academy of Screen and Digital Printing in 2012.