Football Cards

Each card is hand drawn on an iPad with Procreate.

As a kid back in the 90’s, I had stacks upon stacks of old football cards that my grandmother had given me, and I continuously added to it with the little cheap-o packs you could buy in the checkout line. When I wasn’t playing or watching football, I’d draw my favorite athletes (from those cards) as a way of playing it vicariously. Before internet, cable TV, and obviously phones, that was a way to occupy myself indoors. I loved trying to capture the strength and speed of their movements, in those bulky pads and heavy helmets. Having a baseline ability to draw helped, otherwise it may not have satisfied the itch I had. But I improved much as I got older and did more of them.

Now that I have the ability to draw digitally, I’ve adapted these drawings for the modern day in an attempt to rediscover my old skill. It's much easier to layer sketch lines, base colors, backgrounds and final details over one another to produce a better end result much faster than before. Plus I can easily cover up any mistakes. The different brush styles help for adding light, shadow and texture seamlessly. Needless to say, I’m pretty excited with how these came out.