Artist and designer Michael Raisch has combined his expertise in photorealistic portraiture, his lifelong penchant for cartography and his love of football to create a new multimedia project, The Football Atlas. Will Sharp found out more.

Where did your inspiration for the series originate?

“When moments like the World Cup come around and the world truly shares in an event, especially through social media, it’s just wild to me. So to tap into that connectedness is a great catalyst for a series. There is so much energy and excitement leading up to the World Cup. Any creative knows to jump on a collective and shared spirit. It’s really inspiring.

I’ve always found maps and landmasses visually interesting. Especially how they were a physical medium, found in reference areas in grade school libraries pre-internet. So to pick up on that interest and then combine it with my portrait works was a great way to celebrate the unique countries, kits and cultures in the World Cup.

I found it interesting to revisit analogue and physical reference materials that throw back the late 1980s in grade school. There’s something unique to how information was laid out and presented in the 1970s and 1980s in print. I’m certainly also old enough to remember when the classroom maps changed from the USSR. Think of all the geography-based content that led into the early 1990s, with Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? I loved that! And I have fond memories of Globe Trekker in the mid-1990s as cable became a thing. Even Age of Empires by high school in 1997. That was my connection.”

Lionel Messi, Argentina

Lionel Messi, Argentina

Mohamed Salah, Egypt

Mohamed Salah, Egypt

Paul Pogba, France



Paul Pogba, France

John Obi Mikel, Nigeria

John Obi Mikel, Nigeria

Harry Kane, England

Harry Kane, England

Cristiano Ronaldo, Portugal

Cristiano Ronaldo, Portugal

What is the process behind making your pieces and how did you choose which player would represent each nation?

“Part of my process is using the design and illustration-oriented audience I’ve grown on Twitter. I recently did a ‘trial balloon’ of Harry Kane, in England’s red away kit, and tested the concept of placing the player over a map his country. To my amazement the tweet and process video racked up well over 12,000 impressions in just two days so I thought I was clearly on to something.”

Does this project represent a departure from your usual style?

“My background is in sports branding and sport event logo design and, honestly, after that onscreen day-to-day experience, it’s really nice to disconnect and go analog sketching. In terms of style departure, I would call it an evolution. I’ve been sketching photo-real portraits since middle school, more than 20 years ago. Having my sketchbook passed around in high school was great for talking to girls!

Fast forward to 2018 and it’s really interesting to me to take charcoal physical sketches into the digital realm. I then drop the sketch over the map scans and digital paint all the other elements over it and for that I use an Adobe sketch on a tablet with the Apple Pencil.”

Sadio Mané, Senegal

Sadio Mané, Senegal

Mohammad Al-Sahlawi, Saudi Arabia

Mohammad Al-Sahlawi, Saudi Arabia

Toni Kroos, Germany

Toni Kroos, Germany

Beyond the tournament, will you move into domestic football?

“I catch a lot of the Premier League in the States and found a pub that is popular with British guys, from whom I’ve learned the culture and rivalries. How great would a Manchester derby city map illustration be? A real thrill would be to do it through the league and clubs too.”

Would fans this series enjoy any of your previous projects?



“Two years ago I made a series called Euro 2016 Painted Crests for which, as you might guess, I took it upon myself to make all 32 crests of the countries participating at Euro 2016 as time-lapse watercolours. This one was crazy. I then turned them all into gifs, for fans to tweet and share throughout the tournament, and they did. The Switzerland national team even shared their animated crest. That project was so much fun, but way too much work.”

Christian Eriksen, Denmark

Christian Eriksen, Denmark

Luis Suárez, Uruguay



Luis Suárez, Uruguay

Paolo Guerrero, Peru

Paolo Guerrero, Peru Photograph: Michael Raisch

• This article is from These Football Times

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