Athletic Portfolio

An AD contacted me with an awesome assignment: the athletic portfolio. I was thinking "what on earth is that?" After the AD's description and reading the article, I was eager to start. It was to be a full-page action-oriented image based off one man's integration of kickboxing philosophy into investing. The editors were looking for a kickboxing-based image. I was super-psyched to do this assignment as I was really wanting to do some action-oriented work.

Here are the sketches I provided:
A kung-fu image where I was trying to nail down the feel of old kung-fu posters and movie box covers. I was considering a layer of Japanese text around the figure but thought it might be too candid.

I got the phrase in my head "punch up your portfolio." I think the sketch explains itself. POW!

With the last sketch , I really kind of went nuts and really wanted to push the action. Its kind of like a comic book spread. All of these were really fun to draw, and I was happy taking any of them to finish.

The AD enjoyed the sketches as well, and he decided to go with the "punch up." I think this was the best choice as well as it can be seen as a representation of either boxing or mixed martial arts; its not as limited as the other two sketches. It was the best choice to represent the general phrase "athletic portfolio."

Final Art, approx. 8x10:
I really enjoyed this piece, and I was happy to add it to the website. It was also feature on the ispot's "news" blog and Altpick's "news" section. Thanks for the opportunity to flex my action-drawing muscles!

Enjoy the Day,
Chris
chris-whetzel.com