Kerr’s Clipboard

After many Warriors player projects, the 9th release in the YaniMade series finally celebrates coach Kerr, in one of his finer fiesty moments, getting “heated,” over an official’s bad call. In this 23” x 29” color pencil and graphite drawing on Strathmore Bristol 500 series plate surface paper, I wanted to challenge myself, as well as the shirt template composition and placement (which is an essential component of my signature innovation- the wearable art tee), by adding another subject. In this case, assistant coach Mike Brown holding back Kerr from getting ejected. Keeping with a theme for each project/ release, the coach’s whiteboard, or “clipboard” has often been the musings of the fans and local media, whether Kerr throws it, breaks it, or accidentally cuts himself with it. So to transform the reference photo, I decided I could both superimpose a flying clipboard in mid air (as if he’d thrown it in disgust) and depict him so angry, that his skin would be flushed, then ANGRIER enough that he spontaneously burst into flames, allowing the smoke to fill the background, as well as serve as texture and color for the limited edition wearable art. I always have a few angst ridden junctures along the way to the final composition with every drawing (the feeling that a few weeks of work could go sideways at any point). Besides the color pencil challenges like drawing a tight plaid pattern on coach Brown’s jacket, figuring out the smoke was another, where I had to take a few days, not rush anything and figure out what would work best. I’ve learned to embrace these “on the edge” points in the process, and I went through many tests on separate paper in how to create the smoke- graphite pencil, vine charcoal, willow charcoal, conte crayon, each having their shortcomings and not creating a believable smoke texture. I finally realized that grinding a pure graphite pencil through a stiff metal strainer created a fine powder I could move and blend with a chamois cloth into a soft smoke pattern and texture, adhering to the slick, toothless drawing paper I’d chosen. I created a second color pencil/ graphite artwork of a broken clipboard meant for the back of the shirt, to unify the theme. I superimposed a blood stain as realistically as I could to drive home the concept. Overall, it feels like another step forward in technical and visual challenges met while stepping out into new territory. The beautifully, top notch, custom framed artwork is under museum glass, which will not reflect light or glare. The spots seen are from the phone camera and not from the room lighting. Look for the wearable print to be sold in the Warriors Chase Center flagship team store sometime in the future (date unknown).