Working on ‘Estate’: A Fictional Story That Feels All Too Real

I’ve been lucky to work alongside J. Andrew Shelley on his upcoming novel Estate, and it’s one of those rare projects that slips past your defenses.

It’s fiction, yes—but fiction that knows exactly how it feels to be the one left behind. The one with the keys, the list of tasks, the boxes to open. The one who has to decide what to keep, what to give away, and what can never really be let go. J. Andrew hired Warfield Studio to create images for the upcoming book in a collaborative process.

Estate by J. Andrew Shelley, coming in September 2025

The process of helping shape the visual elements—photographing personal artifacts, staging small scenes from the estate itself—has deepened my appreciation for how to tell a story visually. An old toy or faded postcard can say more than a page of dialogue, so we tried ways to make the objects speak.

If you’ve ever lost someone, or had to sort through what they left behind, Estate will meet you where you are. It’s fiction, yes—but it understands the truth.