"First
of all, what a crazy day. I was in Grand Rapids this
morning and woke up at a decent time and went straight
down to the office to begin work for the day. As I turned
on SportsCenter, the breaking news came in that the
NBA would be announcing the MVP award TODAY in Akron,
Ohio. I was like, "Oh shoot!" I was planning
on delivering the shoes tomorrow, but not today! Real
quickly I contacted Uncle Wes to confirm all of this
and find out the time of the press conference. Realizing
it was at 4PM this afternoon in Akron, I flipped. I
grabbed everything around me, threw it in the car and
basically took off from Grand Rapids on the 6 hour drive
to Akron. I did not have time for coffee, breakfast,
my scheduled hair cut, or even a shower - not a good
way to start the day! I drove faster than I ever have
and avoided cops entirely to make it to St. Vincent
St. Mary's High School in Akron minutes before 4PM.
The press conference was an amazing experience in itself
as I was located right next to Ben Wallace and the entire
Cavs team the whole time. After the conference Wes introduced
me to LeBron and I presented the shoes to him - he loved
'em with a smile. Problem was my camera broke down right
before that, so unfortunately no picture of me with
LeBron and the sneakers! LeBron then set the shoes over
by his MVP trophy and shook my hand with a big smile."
Directed
by T.Way, photographed by the great Mike Berlucchi,
and music by Adam Hopkins - this photoshoot required
over 200 pictures to rightfully attempt to capture these
MVP sneakers. Although best seen in person, these hundreds
of snapshots are the second best thing.
T.Way
completed this painting weeks before the MVP announcement.
Why? Because LeBron had THAT great of a season and no
matter the arguments, rightfully deserved this award.
Consider this the initial inspiration behind the MVP
sneakers.
T.Way
completed this painting to serve as the "preview"
of what LeBron's Olympic-inspired AF1 was originally
planned to resemble. The theme of this artwork was to
commemorate LeBron's leadership role in Team USA's golden
2008 Olympics, however this project transformed into
the MVP campaign you see above. Below is the step-by-step
process T.Way used to create this acrlyic painting on
16x20" canvas.
"First
of all, what a crazy day. I was in Grand Rapids this
morning and woke up at a decent time and went straight
down to the office to begin work for the day. As I turned
on SportsCenter, the breaking news came in that the
NBA would be announcing the MVP award TODAY in Akron,
Ohio. I was like, "Oh shoot!" I was planning
on delivering the shoes tomorrow, but not today! Real
quickly I contacted Uncle Wes to confirm all of this
and find out the time of the press conference. Realizing
it was at 4PM this afternoon in Akron, I flipped. I
grabbed everything around me, threw it in the car and
basically took off from Grand Rapids on the 6 hour drive
to Akron. I did not have time for coffee, breakfast,
my scheduled hair cut, or even a shower - not a good
way to start the day! I drove faster than I ever have
and avoided cops entirely to make it to St. Vincent
St. Mary's High School in Akron minutes before 4PM.
The press conference was an amazing experience in itself
as I was located right next to Ben Wallace and the entire
Cavs team the whole time. After the conference Wes introduced
me to LeBron and I presented the shoes to him - he loved
'em with a smile. Problem was my camera broke down right
before that, so unfortunately no picture of me with
LeBron and the sneakers! LeBron then set the shoes over
by his MVP trophy and shook my hand with a big smile."
