Curry in Your Kitchen

Half way through completion of the chalk pastel drawing, while the Warriors were making their way through the 2015 Western Conference playoffs, I got the idea that this iconic, powerful and exuberant image of Steph would look great on a T-shirt.  In the road blue uniform, it had inherently rich color, captured movement, and symmetrical qualities to it that begged to be seen on the body.  So I started researching processes for making my drawing come to life as a shirt print.  I was thrilled to learn about Dye-Sublimation, but quickly learned it was costly, and that there are only a handful of companies in the country that do this process, let alone care to do business with a "nobody artist" ordering a small quantity of product.  After two months of wasted time with a company in LA, I had the fortune of getting through to a legit sublimation company in Phoenix, Az.  So at the point of exasperation and almost giving up, I flew from Oakland to Phoenix, and the next day flew home with samples.  Their knowledge and attention to detail was exactly what I needed to make this vision come to life.  From the computer program design templates to the color balances, they were able to deliver and show me the process in person, from print set up to pressed garment. However, before printing the shirts, there was a lot of photo prep work to prepare the final image, from the tedious photographing of the finished chalk drawing in RAW format (thanks to Lenny Van Boven) to countless hours of Photoshop with friend and project partner Todd Wagner- getting the background of the original drawing horizontally extended slightly to fill the space needed for the T-shirt template, and saved in the proper CMYK color format for printing.  The "all over" Dye- Sublimation printing process is labor intensive (comes with the occupational hazard of arm and hand burns), an artistic science, and delivers the most beautiful and lasting results.  In a huge steel press that weighs more than a car, special non-toxic dyes from a large paper print of the artwork is sublimated into the fibers of a prepared comfortable, cotton-like ring spun polyester Tee or Tank at 400 degrees F for 50 seconds. This is not a screen print which will erode or even fade over time. Sublimation allows for the "all over" print style which lends itself to the original piece. The vibrant and true color brings the drawing to life, a wearable print!

Update 2-2-19: Curry In Your Kitchen made it’s professional debut in the Oracle Arena courtside club kiosks, displayed and sold through the NBA Finals, along with the limited edition fine art prints, both editions of 100. The inventory sold out and were a huge success, proving the chance the Warriors retail team took on my concept, and allowing me to having a display inside the exclusive VIP area.