Another Featuring Dirk Nowitzki
Last year, I did a sketch tribute to my favorite basketball player of all time, the king of the one-legged jumper, Dirk Nowitzki. That first drawing was from one of my favorite moments in NBA history, when Dirk led the Dallas Mavericks back on the road to tie the 2011 Finals series against the Miami Heat. The Mavs were down by 15 with like seven minutes to go, and Dirk had an incredible drive to the bucket to win the game.
2011 NBA Finals Game 2, Mavs vs Heat. Dirk’s game-winner on the road as time runs out. This tied the series against heavily favored Superteam of Lebron, Wade, and Bosh. Dallas would go on to win 4 games to 2. (Credit: .gif made by me, video from NBA.com)
My sketch tribute to that Finals moment, which I originally posted a few months ago.
After hitting on some decent video game sketches last week, immediately followed by a couple that weren’t very good, I decided to drift back to my art comfort zone. That comfort zone being subjects who exist in real life, with actual physical characteristics I can reference. What better subject than his Royal Dirkness? I decided to go with one of my favorite Dirk looks, his bearded phase a season or two after the championship. The Mavericks weren’t very good that season (or any since they won the title, if I’m being honest), but the “we’re getting back to .500” beard was awesome.
My new Dirk sketch. I can’t remember exactly when this was from, maybe the 2012-2013 season. The Mavs were under .500, and several guys from the team vowed not to shave until they had a winning record. Strangely, I’m not 100% certain they accomplished that…but I think they did.
I showed this to my wife, and she said he looks kind of scary. I think Dirk was actually yelling in triumph after making a shot, rather than yelling in anger. But that’s pretty close! Bearded Dirk I’m sure is a terrifying adversary on the court. Overall, I feel a lot better about this sketch compared to the ones from my last post. If I was in a drawing slump, I think this Dirk Nowitzki sketch helped me feel like I’m getting past it.