One, nil to the Arsenal.... apparantly.

So, apart from the fact that England were s#!t, I think we can all agree that the completely brilliant world cup should have left us all desperate for the new footie season!

Well Arsenal are starting things off with their now customary curtain raiser in the form of The Emirates Cup (August 2 & 3). With a stella line up of teams from across Europe, Benfica Monaco & Valencia (in case anyone is wondering, not inviting Leeds United was intentional, surprisingly. I know, I checked)

Aaaaanyhoo, this year I was asked to contribute in a small way. I couldn't say "Yes" quick enough & was already halfway through cleaning off my boots before I realised I wasn't going to be an 85 minute shock substitution, but instead I would help in the production of the promotional poster..... their loss.

So the diamond geezers & all round nice blokes at top design & branding agency 'The Creative Arms', asked if I could come up with illustrations of key members of the star talent from the four participating teams (Luisão,  Diego Alves, Radamel Falcao & Jack Wilshere) but making them look like comic book heroes. I had done something similar for FIFA a few years ago, so I wasn't worried about the concept working, my problem was that on this job the artwork had to look like actual players... I always find likenesses tricky, plus the fact that these guys seem to change their hair styles at the drop of a hat (Luisao excepted, obviously), so squeaky bum time!

At he eleventh hour I was asked to do one last drawing of Arsenals major pre-season signing (Alexis   Sánchez) since he was clearly going to be a major draw for the event. That was a bit of a rush job, but ironically turned out to be my favorite of the lot.

Right, enough of the pre-amble bollocks, here's what you actually want, the artwork!

There was a little to-ing & fro-ing between the pencils & the final art, mostly revolving around the likeness & what kind of superhero character each player would be represented as, but these guys are 'brands' in their own right (let alone the clubs) so that was to be expected, no biggie.

There was some debate as the whether Alexis Sanchez would be represented as 'Super-Sanchez' hence the version with the decidedly 'super' cape, but ultimately it seems that wasn't the approach which was taken.

So next, the guys at The Creative Arms took this raw material, & turned it into press ads, web banners & window vinyls. All of which look pretty bloomin' brilliant, I think you'll agree. All together now..."One, nil, to The Arsenal, one, nil, to The Arsenal..etc etc".