Michael Jordan Screen Printed Illustration

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Screen Printed Michael Jordan Illustration

When I was a young buck I was the BIGGEST fan (like everyone else) of MJ! Each year, I think starting in when I was 12, I would create a new Jordan drawing. One, it was MJ, and two I wanted to test my skills. Once he retired and became a grown-up I just stopped, just wasn't a priority anymore. Then came the Jordan documentary on ESPN. All the nostalgia, wanting to do something creative while stuck at home during the pandemic, it was time! I needed to create a new illustration.

Being a teacher I'm always trying to stay up to date with all the Adobe CC software. I've always been a vector head, so when Adobe Ideas, then Draw came out, I immediately gravitated to the app. I wanted to jump into Fresco and it would be the perfect vehicle for the new Jordan illustration. I did some digging on the web found a

pic (Nathaniel S. Butler/NBA/Getty Images) that wasn't the typical action pose I always gravitated to, I wanted something with more emotion, capturing the feeling of the docu-series. Once again being a teacher, everything is a teachable opportunity, I was very intentional about the green/red complementary color theme to demonstrate color theory. I also need to show my students I still have skills. Once I finished the illustration in Fresco I took it to Illustrator to clean up and prep the art.

Once finished, I made the decision to take on the sizeable task of screen printing the illustration. We finished our screenprint lab at school, unfortunately just before the beginning of the pandemic. This summer, I needed to go back in to finish organizing the lab, but more importantly to break it in. It would be a 7 color print, several more layers than I had ever tried before. The paper was 100 lb cover stock from French Paper Co. I used Speedball Acrylic Screen Printing Inks. There were a few mistakes in prepping screens, mixing inks (especially the transparent black), and printing so many layers, but lots of lessons learned.

I am selling 20 prints of my Jordan Illustration!

If you enjoy my work and are interested in purchasing one of the posters for $75, please shoot me an email (jamgonzo@gmail.com) and we can connect.

Thanks!