Who are you?
My name is Dave Flanagan and I live in a small village in Lancashire, England. I very much like creating images of footballers (soccer players for our American friends) in a range of different styles that I have developed over the last decade.
What are you working on?
I’ve recently joined a group of like-minded illustrator football fanatics who have set up a group called Shwapsies. We each create sticker designs for current footballing events such as the recent Women’s 2015 World Cup and the under-21s European championships. I’m really enjoying the project and the community feeling we have created. Hopefully it goes on to be something we can all be proud of.
Choose a favorite shot of yours. Why is it a favorite?
It has to be my Lionel Messi illustration, which at the time was an experiment with style, but became the start of quite a few big projects. The image was used by a German newspaper who ran it on their front cover on the day of the World Cup final last year, and it was also used and developed further for a web-based project for ESPN in America. I developed the style further and was also commissioned by a premier league football team to illustrate their full squad for the season. Social media plays a big part in promoting my work and clients have recently told me they first saw my illustrations on Dribbble, so thank you for giving me a great platform to showcase my work.
Tell us about your setup. What tools did you use to create the shot (e.g. hardware, software, pens, paper, blowtorch)?
I work on a Mac and mostly use Illustrator although I have recently starting using Photoshop a lot more to add texture and depth to my images. Last year I bought a Wacom pen and pad which opened up new avenues for style creation and I really like switching between using the pen and a mouse to create new images. The best work, though, starts with a pencil and paper but it’s hard to not jump straight into a digital format and see what happens.
Choose a favorite shot from another Player. Why do you dig it?
Llewyn by Richard Perez is an amazing vector illustration which is so simple but still so recognisable it makes me feel sick with jealousy. His other work is really great and he’s one everyone should be following on Dribbble.
Find Dave at Dribbble, on Twitter, and at daveflanagan.co.uk.
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