I have always wanted to illustrate NFL athletes. So here they are now. And yes of course, it's gotta be the Green Bay Packers for me (at least the first ones)
The young Kobe Bryant was something. You gotta give him credit for his heart. His courage. A brave young man. But man, I hated him. There were times he was throwing airballs. There were times he wasn’t passing and making selfish decisions. I loved Eddie Jones. I loved Nick Van Exel. But Kobe wasn’t passing, he had to drive and dunk it on someone else because he had to be a legend NOW!
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.
Ballin' with Bamba is a Youtube channel about NBA and has many NBA documentaries in Japanese. All previous videos have English subs, while the Larry Bird and Michael Jordan feature have a separate English version.
The past posts, I illustrated Slam Dunk characters in NBA uniforms as how Takehiko Inoue must have imagined them. Shohoku representing Bulls, Kainan for Lakers, Sannoh for Magic. Here, I'm back with my own fictional universe of NBA X Slam Dunk, as my original post.
Shaquile O'Neal was the most dominant big man of his time. He was quick, strong and wise and those can be seen in his stats—points, rebounds, blocks. This portrait was the Orlando Magic Shaq—the young Shaq that despite his tremendous power, was still working his way up the steps of NBA greatness. A rookie with crazy potential. A young man destined for the Hall of Fame. He didn't disappoint.
Grant Hill. He was sensational. Good handles. Scoring machine. Good defender. He was known as Mr. Nice Guy, yet as tough when it really counted. In the time of MJ's absence, Grant Hill was seen as his successor—some in the media actually believed he could have been better than MJ. Tough statement to make.
Before Steph Curry, there was the legendary trash-talking three-point sharp shooter Reggie Miller. He made impossible shots and won seemingly impossible games. Truly, a legend from the '90s.
The first set I did was my personal fiction. What would happen if the Slam Dunk characters went pro—or more specifically were drafted in the NBA? What team would best suit them? That was my take. This time, we thought of how Mr. Takehiko Inoue must have imagined the players and the teams.
This, for me, is Michael Jordan. The hard teammate. The ultra-competitive. The proud monarch. The undefeated champion.
I was never a fan of MJ. I never collected his cards. I didn't really root that much for his games. But it was harder not to be in awe of this certain genius.