Cristiano Ronaldo sports poster,
inspired by Japanese sumi-e ink painting
colliding with contemporary sports photography,
background — pure white Pantone 11-0601 —
not off-white not cream —
the white of a fresh sheet —
maximum contrast ground,
the figure —
NOT full color photography —
hand rendered ink illustration —
the tradition of
Yusaku Kamekura's 1964 Tokyo Olympics poster —
but looser —
more gestural —
the crosshatching technique of Image 1 —
fine pen lines building form —
areas of pure black —
areas of pure white —
grey tones built from line density —
his face rendered with
microscopic crosshatch detail —
ten thousand individual ink lines —
his jaw in heavy parallel hatching —
his forehead in fine stippling —
his hair in bold black mass —
the rendering technique
of an illustrator who has
studied anatomy for twenty years,
BUT —
exploding out of the ink illustration —
at the point where his right boot meets ground —
a BURST of photorealistic color —
the actual Nike Mercurial boot —
photographed hyperrealistically —
erupting from the flat ink world —
the only photographic element —
the tool that changes everything —
rendered in its actual colors —
electric blue and white —
surrounded by ink splash marks —
the collision of two realities —
illustration meeting photography —
at the exact point of contact,
paint intervention —
three vertical strokes —
cadmium yellow Pantone 109C —
tall narrow bands —
running from top to bottom —
positioned right third of composition —
the yellow of a Caution flag —
the yellow of danger and speed —
these strokes sit OVER the illustration —
behind the typography —
a middle layer between
drawing and text,
his pose —
full body —
mid celebration —
arms spread —
head thrown back —
the SIUUU moment —
but rendered in ink —
so the movement is
captured through line —
through direction of stroke —
through the energy
of the illustrator's hand —
not through photography —
you feel the speed
in how the lines were made,
typography —
bold — aggressive —
the energy of Image 5 —
left side —
massive condensed black type —
Impact or Haettenschweiler —
white —
stacked vertically reading upward —
I'VE —
JUST —
BEGUN —
each word a separate block —
the quote as architecture —
occupying full left third,
right side —
contrasting —
Helvetica Neue Ultra Light —
6pt —
tracking 1000 —
vertical column —
bone white —
CRISTIANO · RONALDO ·
MADEIRA · PORTUGAL ·
MMXXIV,
bottom —
full bleed —
yellow band —
Pantone 109C —
matching the vertical strokes —
containing in black —
Bebas Neue —
48pt —
CR7 · THE STANDARD IS ME,
texture —
the ink illustration
has the tooth of
cold press watercolor paper —
the yellow paint
has actual brushstroke direction —
the boot photograph
is hypersmooth by contrast —
three different surface qualities
in one frame.