How a Designer Started Making Custom NBA Jerseys

There’s something very satisfying about turning your digital designs and artwork into something physical and tactile. Something you can actually touch — embroidered thread, stitched tags, heavy cotton. It feels more official. It feels finished. This stage of a project always excites me, whether it’s a digital piece becoming a mural or simply seeing your logo on a T-shirt. There’s a great finality to it. It translates the work to a medium that people outside of my little design bubble can instantly connect with.

Up until a few years ago, my work mostly lived in digital form — sometimes printed, sometimes turned into merch — but rarely did it cross over into fashion or sports apparel in any meaningful way.

Tim McAuliffe, Casey Bannerman & Karl-Anthony Towns: Custom jersey delivery

That started to shift after I met Casey Bannerman at a basketball art show in 2019. We were both part of a group exhibition for the Philadelphia 76ers called Crossover. Thousands of fans came out for it, including Philly legends like Dr. J and Ben Simmons (lol), and sales of the artwork raised over $50K for the Sixers Youth Foundation.

Casey and I clicked right away — we talked hoops, illustration, and the overlap of design and culture. He was already gaining attention for printing his artwork on custom basketball jerseys, and I was intrigued. We kept in touch and reconnected at future shows.

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Have you ever thought about what it takes to make a large scale mural as a digital artist but weren’t sure where to begin? I’ve received many questions about this over the years and I’ve struggled to find the right resources to provide satisfactory answers, so I decided to make my own comprehensive walkthrough on the subject.

In this article, I’ll take you on a deep dive into the creative process behind making a large mural for a triple-A client using only digital tools. Drawing on my own experience of creating an NFL mural for Oakley’s flagship store in New York City, I’ll share valuable insights into everything from working with clients to designing the hero image while navigating technical constraints.

…Read full article on Medium!