#Sports&Festivals, Timelapse, Studio blog

Twickenham Rugby

I have a new addition to my sports & festivals collection to share, and it has arrived right in the middle of the Six Nations tournament. It’s an imagined match between England and Ireland at Twickenham.

Twickenham Rugby, a colourful illustration inspired by an imagined Six Nations Rugby match between England and Ireland. It features players reaching into the sky for a line-out ball, viewed from the pitch level. You can see the shape of the stadium and the goalposts in the distance. This original painting was created with acrylic and ink by artist and illustrator Jonathan Chapman.

Twickenham Framed

It was difficult to give a feel for the stadium shape, while also getting close enough to the players. I wanted a sense of action. I love my last sports inspired piece, a detailed view of Lords Cricket Ground, but it’s quite still. This one needed to capture more action and It took a few drawings to develop this fish-eye viewpoint. Some things I think work well… others less so. But I hope the overall effect is dynamic, interesting and a little different. The original painting is acrylic and fine liner pen on specialist acrylic paper. Here presented in a cinematic black frame and black mount.

Twickenham Rugby, a colourful illustration inspired by an imagined Six Nations Rugby match between England and Ireland. It features players reaching into the sky for a line-out ball, viewed from the pitch level. You can see the shape of the stadium and the goalposts in the distance. This original painting was created with acrylic and ink by artist and illustrator Jonathan Chapman. Here the artwork is framed in black with a black mount for cinematic effect.
Twickenham Rugby, a colourful illustration inspired by an imagined Six Nations Rugby match between England and Ireland. It features players reaching into the sky for a line-out ball, viewed from the pitch level. You can see the shape of the stadium and the goalposts in the distance. This original painting was created with acrylic and ink by artist and illustrator Jonathan Chapman. Here the artwork is framed in black with a black mount for cinematic effect.

Timelapse: Twickenham Rugby

Below is my timelapse of the painting process…

Adapting for Merchandise

I’d class this as a personal piece (not commissioned by anyone), but I definitely had it in mind for my Etsy shop. My growing sports collection has proved to be a best sellers over recent years. Finding customers through all seasons as nice small gifts and birthday cards. Although I knew I wanted to tackle (if you’ll forgive the pun) Twickenham… I was also aware that one of the things that make the Tournament so special is the different match ups between the home nations. Each one has a great rivalry to it, so picking one particular matchup is a tricky business. But that is the joy and flexibility of carrying traditional painting into a digital format. Once the artwork is scanned it’s easy enough to adapt it, tweak colours and sharpen up details.

I always want to keep my hand drawn illustration style, but using the Apple Pencil on my iPad Pro allowed me to shift the colours in this composition to (I think) great effect. So the original England vs Ireland contest can instead be England vs Wales, or England vs Scotland.

Below you can see some of those different combinations presented on ceramic. These are already available on my studio shop and over in my Etsy store. The sales from these shops help keep my income steady between the bigger commissions and long term projects.

Six Nations Rugby Coffee Mug, ceramic drinking mug with a colourful illustration of a rugby match at Twickenham between England and Wales. Original design created with acrylic and ink by artist and illustrator Jonathan Chapman.
Six Nations Rugby Coffee Mug, ceramic drinking mug with a colourful illustration of a rugby match at Twickenham between England and Ireland. Original design created with acrylic and ink by artist and illustrator Jonathan Chapman.
Six Nations Rugby Coffee Mug, ceramic drinking mug with a colourful illustration of a rugby match at Twickenham between England and Scotland. Original design created with acrylic and ink by artist and illustrator Jonathan Chapman.
Six Nations Rugby Coffee Mug, ceramic drinking mug with a colourful illustration of a rugby match at Twickenham between England and Wales. Original design created with acrylic and ink by artist and illustrator Jonathan Chapman.
Six Nations Rugby Coffee Mug, ceramic drinking mug with a colourful illustration of a rugby match at Twickenham between England and Ireland. Original design created with acrylic and ink by artist and illustrator Jonathan Chapman.
Six Nations Rugby Coffee Mugs, ceramic drinking mugs with a colourful illustration of a rugby match at Twickenham. Original design created with acrylic and ink by artist and illustrator Jonathan Chapman.

Every time I complete one of these, it seems to lead me somewhere new. One idea creates several more and i’ve thought about creating a set for the Autumn internationals. It would be great to see those iconic colours of South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. In the meantime I’m going to try and make my England vs Ireland illustration available as a print and a greeting card.

Keep sending me your suggestions. You can get in touch here on the blog (leave me a comment or use the contact form) or follow me on one of my socials: https://linktr.ee/illustrationbyjonathan.