In the build up to this summer's Football European Championships (Euro 2016) my initial idea involved having a collage of moments in the tournament's history on either a t-shirt or a large scale poster. Eventually I came to the idea of having illustrations of players, both past and present, from each of the 24 competing nations on A6 postcards. The design resembles playing cards.
The players representing the past for each nation could prove divisive as I only concentrated on those that have made an impact at a previous European Championship finals. For nations making their debut, I selected those that made a great impact in qualifiers gone by. Deciding the players for the present was slightly easier.
I came up with original designs for each nation's emblem. This way viewers find the cards more interesting to view instead of a flag or having the exact emblems just photoshopped onto each illustration. The typography was hand drawn and given a basic look, so that most of the attention is focused on the heads. Each head, emblem and letter was done with grade 2B pencil to start with before multiliner pens were added to make them stand out. The reverse side of each postcard features the names of the players and countries in the French language. After slight adjustments in Photoshop and Illustrator, the result looks impressive.
After getting testicular cancer and undergoing chemotherapy towards the end of last year, I'm doing my bit to raise awareness of this disease and help raise funds to beat all types of cancer. All 24 postcards will come in a set and be available to buy for £3. All proceeds will go towards Cancer Research UK. If you are interested in buying a set, I can be reached through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram https://www.instagram.com/illustratingowl/ or my email account hiblejames@gmail.com.
