Five young illustrators have tackled the Springbok rugby squad — from the safety of their canvasses. Using pen, ink, paper and paint, they turned 15 members of the squad into superheroes, and the sale of the artwork will be used for sports development in underprivileged areas.
Supersport scouted social media to find the illustrators for the Let's Play initiative.
Animator and digital artist Joel "Cyzo" Matladi, 28, illustrated Cheslin Kolbe, Eben Etzebeth and Damian de Allende. "I wanted something that would immortalise the players and celebrate the sport and its culture," he said.
Matladi grew up in Tafelkop, Limpopo. He later moved to Johannesburg to study animation.
Joburg graphic designer Tyler Jade de Klerk, 25, said he mixed a lot of styles to illustrate François Steyn, Handré Pollard and Duane Vermeulen. "I wanted the players to look like my favourite cartoon characters Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Dragon Ball Z. I've morphed the players with animals, given them horns and things."
Without formal training, Seyabonga Vincent Lebeko, 21, from Vereeniging, is establishing himself as VinDollar, a portrait artist.
Lebeko illustrated Siya Kolisi, Faf de Klerk and Elton Jantjies. "I'm really happy with the players I got — their features are perfect for my kind of illustration."
André Human, 32, a freelance concept artist in Cape Town, was approached to illustrate Tendai Mtawarira, Malcolm Marx and Sibusiso Nkosi. "I am more of a soccer guy but I thought it was kinda cool when I got the brief. I get to use my own fun comic bookstyle characters."
The artworks will be sold at the Gallery of Champions pop-up auction in Sandton later this month.
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