Baseline BTS: Tim Duncan

Baseline BTS brings you behind the curtain to see what went into the supporting illustrations for The Baseline Review. Editor and Creative Director JP Boneyard shares his insight into the process. Next up is Tim Duncan from Clayton Crowley's story The Ballad of Tim Duncan, illustrated by Jonathan Bartlett.

The Concept
Tim Duncan is a lot things: The greatest power forward of all time, an intimidating presence in the kickboxing ring, a car nut, and a nerd. I mean that in the most endearing way possible. Duncan put up some impressive—and incredibly efficient numbers—during one of the best eras of NBA basketball. The game could be rough and rugged. That's why it's so compelling to learn that Duncan is into renaissance fairs, has a Merlin tattoo, and was big into World of War Craft. Leaning into the nerd concept also helps reinforce Clayton's sentiment: The leader of a dynasty doesn't need to be a dictator or a sociopath to achieve greatness. 

Supporting Illustration from our Story The Ballad of Tim Duncan

So, on the medieval nerd tip, two thoughts immediately came to mind: Duncan on the iconic Iron Throne from Game of Thrones and Duncan meticulously hand painting some D&D miniatures of his rivals. We explored the minis concept for a few weeks but ultimately felt the throne was the way to go. An aspiration for the supporting illustrations is to be able to say “yes” to the questions “would the player be stoked on this representation of themselves?”— and—“Would they want a copy for their office wall?”. It felt like an optimistic “yes” for the throne concept. It's bad AF but also chill AF, just like Duncan.  

We initially thought to have Duncan's throne be made entirely of his trophies. Without the swords though, it felt like the GoT analogy may be lost. We went for a hybrid approach. Jonathan blew us away with his sketch—and final rendering—of Duncan. Duncan's posture evokes the nerdiest, low key flex you can imagine. We admire all of the work that Jonathan put into this one. The misty background and the wonderful shading add so much to the mood of the scene. It feels like such a great way to support Clayton's wonderful story. 

The Inspiration
Here's a funny thing to admit: I've only ever seen one episode of Game of Thrones. I saw a man get freaky with his sister(?) and I tapped out after that. The show may not be for me but I do love pop culture references. I also grew up loving the game Diablo and still play HeroQuest with my little brother (our Wizard is affectionately named Duncan), so, I'm here for the medieval vibes. Yes, that probably puts me on the nerd spectrum but I have to imagine most people writing—or reading—about basketball in this context are on some part of that spectrum as well (hello friend!). Anyway, sports and renaissance fair vibes go directly to Game of Thrones and D&D for us. We explored some amazing D&D covers to potentially make a parody of. We decided to go for the reference that a larger group of people would get more immediately. Enter: The Iron Throne.

The Iron Throne from Game of Thrones (Warner Brothers / HBO)

Color Palette
The colors harken back to the Spurs Fiesta Colors that are so iconic. That is easily one of the coolest color palettes in NBA history. I mean, you have a 7'1", 249lb bear of a man named David Robinson on your team and your first thought is “He'd look pretty sick in hot pink, right?”. It turns out yes, yes he would. Shout out to guys like the Admiral for embracing the heck out of those warmups and that color palette. Real champions wear hot pink.

David Robinson in those Rad Fiesta Colors (NBA)

The Fiesta Colors Even Made it onto the Starting Lineup Collectables (Hasbro)

Color Seperations
Our background is in printmaking and we have run some of our stories as screenprinted zines / stand alone issues. In what ever kind of work I am doing I always want the door to be open to collaboration. This goes back to my days in the early 2000's setting up over 100 DIY concerts in my mother's backyard shed. I'm not a fan of gatekeepers, I don't care about what's cool. If someone is doing something creative and interesting—and they aren't stuck up—they're invited. Period. The same is true here: Normally we work with folks who are versed in drawing on separate layers for screen printing. We don't want to limit our roster of rad illustrators to just poster folks so we often work with illustrators who haven't illustrated screenprinted work before.

Color Separations for the Main Supporting Illustration

We suggested that Jonathan draw Duncan like he would any other illustration and we would figure out the rest on our end. That's where printer Danny Askar and color separator Ben Gunter come in. The three of us spent a few weeks turning a mostly flat image into a seven color screen print. Ben does the bulk of the heavy lifting in this department and his work is phenomenal. I always say that Ben and Danny make dreams come true. I hope they know I'm 100% sincere. Danny and I then share feedback from the printer—and art director—perspective. We make tweaks, adjust values, and end up with something that just feels like magic. How Danny pulls off such clean, crisp prints is also magic. Both Danny and Ben do this work by hand. This is totally why one story costs $50 (and likely should cost $80 if we wanted to work from a sustainable margin). Every step of creating these stories is a labor of love mixed with impeccable craftsmanship. Shout out to Danny, Ben, Jonathan, and Clayton!

The Cover
Quiet and contemplative. That's how Duncan often looks during idle moments of a game. The full page illustrations are usually where we lean into an analogy, metaphor, or something just plain surreal (see Kobe mid-game surrounded by actual sharks). The covers are where we aim to show more of the genuine essence of the player. Duncan may rank second all time in defensive win shares—and was a beast on the boards—but he gives off the energy of a gentle giant when the clock has stopped. For this cover it's easy to picture Duncan in a moment of contemplation: looking up at the five championship banners that he helped hang in San Antonio.  

Cover from our story The Ballad of Tim Duncan

TL;DR
We took inspiration from Duncan's nerdy side. The Iron Throne from Game of Thrones was a great way to show off Duncan's remarkable achievements and his inner nerd. The Spurs' fiesta colors are the best in NBA history and felt like a great  tie in with the vibe of this story. Color separating flat images feels like actual magic and the results are phenomenal. The cover shows Duncan's essence during a moment of quiet contemplation. Jonatan Bartlett Raised the bar with this one. Go, Spurs, Go!

Bring it In
This has been another installment of Baseline BTS with Editor and Creative Director JP Boneyard. Thank you for taking the time to learn more about the player, the supporting illustrations, and the creative energy that went into this work. We appreciate you!