NBA ×
Microsoft.
The NBA Creators program picked ten Canadian illustrators by portfolio. I drew the season: Draft, Lottery, Playoffs, All-Star, the Finals and the champions — on the Surface Pro the campaign was built to launch.
Interpret,
don't reproduce.
When Microsoft launched the new Surface Pro with NBA Canada, the NBA Creators program recruited ten Canadian illustrators to shape the artwork of the season. Selection by portfolio, brief wide open: each marquee event had to be interpreted, not reproduced. No mandatory palette, no house style. Broadcast partners like TSN carried the work into the coverage itself.
I delivered six visuals across the season, drawn directly on the Surface Pro they sent over — the tablet became my actual working tool for the run, which kept the partnership honest. Thick black outlines, flat color blocks, characters built on silhouette and rhythm. Made for the feed, then reworked as mock billboards and prints to prove the series held at street scale.
"No mandatory palette, no imposed house style. Just the event, and whatever story each artist wanted to tell around it."
NBA Creators program — the brief, 2022
Drawn on
the product.
Working documents — raw
Every piece started as pencils and shipped from the same tablet the campaign was selling. Six events, six stories, one visual language — the constraint wasn't the style, it was the deadline of a live season: the artwork had to land while the event was still the conversation.
Season,
illustrated.
Final result — real life
STREET SCALE — WHEATPASTE
DRAFT 2023
LIVE — NBA CREATORS
Toronto,
on the clock.
The room the season was drawn in
Ten illustrators picked by portfolio, six visuals carried into national coverage: TSN, social, the season itself. The style wasn't adapted to the league — the league came for the style.