Artist Profile: John Hanley - Capturing sports with extraordinary talent and style

John Hanley's sports artwork is an amazing study of liquid energy and color fusion, masterfully blended with precise composition. To say he is talented is an understatement - his work sets the bar at a high level.

A nominee for the United States Sport Art Museum's "Sports Artist of the Year Award", John has forged a name for himself nationally. He became a freelance artist in 1989, and his career began to flourish. John found his niche in sports art, entertainment, and the publishing industries. This powerful combination allowed him to build a prestigious client list creating posters, books and promotional art for motion pictures including: Jurassic Park, Batman Forever, Batman & Robin, Small Soldiers and others.

John graciously made some time to talk to the Sports Artwork Forum about his work and the industry and we are very privileged to feature a discussion with this industry-leading talent.


SAF: Your style is really unique and fluid - Without revealing too much, what is your process for creating a new piece?
JH: I try to go to many games and take photos of players and collect as much reference (material) as possible on whatever I am painting. I do thumbnail layouts and super tight pencil sketches and color studies before I paint anything - my illustrator training forced the discipline I guess. Unless a client requests a certain image to paint, I combine different (reference) images to create my own-using a headshot on another body, etc.

SAF: Who is your primary clientele?
JH: My main clientele are professional sports teams, sponsors and advertisers of the teams and working directly with athletes. I also sell prints of my work and have clients all over the country.

SAF: How did you get started in the industry?
JH: After graduating from the American Academy of Art in Chicago I started my career as an illustrator for ad agencies. I had always wanted to do sports art and paid my dues until I could go freelance and paint what I wanted to, instead of what others wanted.

SAF: Who are your main artistic influences and which artists' work do you most admire (classic or contemporary)?
JH: I always admired N.C. Wyeth, Thomas Wilmer Dewing, Norman Rockwell and Bernie Fuchs

SAF: What is your preferred medium to work in?
JH: I work in a mixed media of oil, inks, acrylic and prismacolor on canvas and gessoed board.

SAF: Since you have been a working professional, what would you say is your biggest accomplishment?
JH: I had a book published in May of this year entitled Classic Cubs (see Amazon link in left column) which documents the entire history of the team, players , owners, managers and ballparks. The project took me 6 years to complete. The timing could not have worked out better with the success of the Cubs this year. I was rejected by many publishers but never gave up. I also have been blessed to have worked directly with many Hall of Fame baseball and football players over the past few years, including Gale Sayers, Hank Aaron, Fergie Jenkins, Ernie Banks, Billy Williams and Ryne Sandberg. My work is also in the homes of many ballplayers and owners of teams.

SAF: How do you feel about technology as it relates to art? What technical resources have you found critical to your art business (web sites, software, tools etc.)?
JH: I feel it is a huge relation to art as far as marketing yourself. I can reach people all over the world via my website and using referral sites with links on blogs and sports related sites. As far as software I use (Adobe) Photoshop, Illustrator, etc. It is huge as far as layout and imagery, but I hand paint everything. I feel my work stands out because of that. Many young artists use the computer and software to manipulate images, but can they draw? The computer is a tool, not the end all be all. I have a hammer but that does not make me a carpenter.

SAF: The question our readers most want to know; What one bit of advice would you give to other artists who might be struggling to achieve success in the sports artwork industry?
JH: If you love it go for it, but there is a lot of rejection as in any field so persevere! Learn to market yourself - it is a business and the more you know about sales and marketing the better off you are. Be professional - sometimes you get one shot to make an impression.

SAF: Great advice. What are the negative aspects to pursuing a career in sports art?
JH: There is a lot of rejection and politics involved. It comes down to who you know and how to get your work in front of the right people. It is like a puzzle that has been spilled on the floor, putting the right pieces together. Getting on the phone and making face to face meetings if at all possible. With voice mail it is easy to be ignored. You have to be creative to get in front of the right people - it is very frustrating and time consuming.

SAF: What new or interesting projects do you have coming up that you would like to share?
JH: I have some projects related to my book-signings and discussions and I am trying to get a couple of new books similar to the Cubs book, Red Sox, Yankees and football teams as well. I am always looking at what is hot as far as who and what team and how can I make my talents fit.