I’ve said it before. Not a Jordan fan. But why such an effort in illustrating Michael Jordan? Well MJ is the greatest of all time—the GOAT if you will—in basketball. And PERHAPS in all of sports and athletes. But there is just something in his moves that is just plain… art.
An art professor once told me that a portrait is not just some photograph or illustration of someone’s face. It should have the story or the character or memory that describes who the subject is. This, for me, is Michael Jordan. The hard teammate. The ultra-competitive. The proud monarch. The undefeated champion.
Truth be told, I was never a fan of MJ. I never collected his cards when I was young. I didn’t really root that much for his games, in fact I wanted my Lakers to defeat him. But my beloved ’90s era was the decade of his greatness, and it was harder not to be in awe of this certain genius.
This is the last Bulls portrait in my planned collection, and definitely one of my favorites.
After my digital watercolor exploration on the previous Shaq-Kobe piece, I got a little closer to the effect that I wanted with this one. I just need the right brush. But this is a bit close.
I just love drawing basketball shoes 😍
I couldn’t remember now how much hours I’ve spent drawing the crowd. I love giving details to my artworks, but somehow this particular one made me say I’m going to rest from drawing spectators for a while. Still, I loved it.
The photo reference I used in this illustration was shot by Nathaniel S. Butler. I’ve seen many of his NBA shots, they are as legendary as their subjects. God bless his greatness.
The Art of Erik Pingol 