Bob Cherewick is a 1984 graduate from the college of engineering at Michigan State University. Aside from engineering, his studies focused on industrial design, architecture, and photography, all combined with his personal passion for illustration.
Having worked in the corporate world for over 15 years, he acted on his ever present realization that there had to be more to life than "time analysis", "mission statements", "vision statements", "team building", and of course the all important "safety training" (office environments can be incredibly hazardous with those flying paper clips). So, instead of the 9:00 am staff meetings, Bob now concentrates his efforts on creating illustrations with meticulous detail and realism striving to satisfy the scrutiny of the most serious collector.
In his free time, Bob enjoys scenic road trips throughout the US, great movies, the TV shows "Friday Night Lights" & "The Office", any Nelson DeMille novel, Little League Baseball, and hanging out with family, friends, and Pam & Jimmy.
"The Rookie" is the first in what Bob hopes to be a series of fine art illustrations depicting admirable and accomplished sports celebrities.
Bob extends his sincerest gratitude to the entire Roethlisberger family, as well as Ryan, Kerry & Traci for helping make a lifelong dream come true.
A few questions and answers with Bob:
Q: What made you decide
to create this illustration of Ben?
A: Living in Findlay myself, I had
the opportunity to watch Ben play a few high school football games back in 1999,
and I was very impressed. Well, a few years later, when word got out that
Ben was going into the NFL draft, Findlay actually started to come to
life. I had a lot of fun following Ben's first year in the NFL. Not
only was his play tremendous, but he handled himself in a way that you couldn't
help but admire. For the past several years I had toyed around with the
idea of creating high quality illustrations of sports celebrities, but never got
the necessary inspiration to do anything about it................that is until
Ben broke practically every conceivable record in the book as a rookie.
That inspired me.
Q: How long did it take
you to create this illustration?
A: Somewhere between 80 and 90 hours of drawing time, and several more hours
of time where nothing was accomplished other than just looking at the
drawing. From start to finish, it took me about a month to complete,
working a few hours here and a few hours there.
Q: We hear that there
are some interesting items that you included in the illustration. Can you
tell us about those?
A: I had seen and read about Ben wearing a "LIVESTRONG"
bracelet, as well as writing the initials "PFJ" and the #40 on his
shoes during his rookie season. I also read that the NFL kept him from
making that a regular practice, or else he would face fines. So, I thought
it would be kind of fun to immortalize those things in the illustration.
If the NFL kept him from doing it in real life, I could permit it forever in the
drawing.
Q: Do you have any
picture of what this print could look like when it's framed?
A: Great question! I just happen to have one here,
and another here.
Q: What would you
consider to be the most fun you had while working on this project?
A: That's easy. Working with the Roethlisberger family. They
have all played important roles in making this dream of mine become a
reality. Before I even had an agreement in place with Ben's agent, Mrs.
Roethlisberger had told me about her sister in the printing business. So,
as it turned out, Ben's aunt Traci (Hey there, Traci) helped me through the
whole printing process and produced an incredible finished product. When I
was discussing print shipping arrangements with Traci, she threw out the idea of
her folks bringing the prints with them during one of their Findlay
excursions..............Ben's grandparents actually drove the prints from Kansas
to Findlay. It truly has been a family effort, and I am very grateful for
the opportunity to work with such quality people.
All content Copyright 2007 Victory Prints
