F is for Football - Mark Mckenny Illustrates the Alphabet
Illustrator Mark Mckenny has taken to Instagram with a super cool new project; posting an illustration of a footballer everyday in alphabetical order. Mark, who is based in Liverpool, gives himself just 30 minutes everyday to knock out each portrait and picks a player randomly for that days letter.
The project started due to Mark wanting to "do something different" with his instagram account stating "there's only so many pictures of people's food you can see before you decide to try something else". Although he admits posting a picture a day under a certain subject isn't an original idea, he felt projects he had previuosly seen encouraged him to follow the account and look forward to the next days post.
The Alphabet angle came about simply as a way of putting a number on the project and eventually giving some closure to it. However, it has also added a bit of direction; "It's been fun thinking of footballers beginning with that letter. Some of the ones that come into your head are players you'd forgotten even existed." 
Mark comes from a fine art background and his transition into graphic design has been another driving force behind the project. It has given him direction for his own 'style' something which is extremely important in the world of commercial illustration and his self imposed 30 minute time frame is helping to keep his timimg sharp.
"If you look around at all the illustrators in the world now, most of them have a style. Oliver Jeffers for example, you see a piece of his work, and you know it's him. I'm trying to find that...I think with each illustration I'm either getting better at a particular style, or worse.. No matter what I'm getting quicker, and working in a graphics environment that's important" 
You can see the influence of being a Liverpool fan both on this project and in other work on his website. Highlights include a tribute to Philippe Coutinho and an awesome illustration of Daniel Sturridge's celebration with the words "Do the Sturridge" drapped over his shoulders. Gerrard and Fowler have already appeared on instagram so we're wondering who's next; Rush, Reina or even Suarez maybe!?
He has kept it global though with Balotelli, Ibrahimovic and kagawa all featuring so far. It's interesting to note that the players he chooses are appear how remembers them best. Thierry Henry is shown in his Arsenal home kit rather than Barcelona or New York and Cafu, Ibrahimovic and kagaawa are shown in their international strips. 
To this point our favourites have got to be Neymar, Mario Balotelli and Cafu but that's just our opinion. Speculating on who's portrait he may post over the coming days has served up some debate at SoccerBible HQ and it will be interesting to see if our predictions come true. Until then we'll be checking our instagram daily in anticipation of the next one.
What do you think of mark Mckenny's portraits and who do you think he will illustrate for the rest of the alphabet? To see the full gallery check out Mark's Instagram account. Join the conversation online, on Twitter and on Facebook.
