Well, it seems I've gotten most of my Christmas shopping done and it's not even Halloween! And it's all thanks to an absolutely wonderful job done once again by
melike! Below is a commission I requested from the incredibly talented Mike, and it probably bears some explanation.
In the pic below you'll find: 11 superheroes, 1 supervillian, 1 NBA basketball superstar, and eight special kids who, among many other things very dear to me, have all played on youth basketball teams I've coached for about eight years now. And there's also one very odd looking character in the bottom right-hand side of the picture (he looks kinda like me and has my name on his shirt, but oh well ...).
The concept only sounded simple: I asked Mike to combine the three greatest things in my life: these eight kids, basketball and superheroes.
And he came through beyond anything I had imagined! This is a whopper of a picture: It measures just less than 17x24 inches, and took seven scans to get it all in for this forum image. So it's cut off a bit at all four sides, and you might see a scan seam, but you get an idea of the total picture, which Mike is still tweaking here and there. This artwork is simply amazing to me.
Not only is "Marvelous Hoops" going to end up framed on a wall of my house, I'm getting it professionally copied, framed and individually wrapped for each of the eight kids for Christmas. I've been like an uber-fun uncle to them for most if not all of their lives (in fact, I'm a true uncle to two of them). I'm the guy who's taught them how to shoot, dribble, pass and defend, but I'm also the guy who has taken all of them to practically every Marvel superhero movie that's come out since the first Spider-Man. So I have no doubts
every one of them is going to go ape when they see themselves interacting with these superheroes!!!! Their reactions will be the best thing I've gotten for Christmas in years and years and years, and you can't put a price tag on that.
So thank you, Mike. This means so much more to me (and them) than I can possibly say. You're the real hero in "Marvelous Hoops."
-- Neil --
Congrats on your pick up.
