For the second of my sportrait series for online gambling site Buddybet, we decided to run a poll on Facebook to find the world’s most popular footballer. Despite heavy competition, David Beckham came out a clear winner and it is in his honor than I created this illustration depicting the moment before he scored that legendary last minute free-kick against Greece that booked England a place at the 2002 World Cup finals.
To convey the moment of calm before impact, I have created several kinetic thrusts: the rush of the player, the downward swoop of his leg and the imaginary arc of the ball as it blasts its way past the wall and into the back of the net. To further intensify the velocity of the scene, I have drawn Becks as a figurative lightening bolt, poised at the moment of striking its way to earth.