Lerthon Theuma, who lives in Brooklyn, works in advertising at McCann and as a passion project recently did a portrait, with Joan Heo, of Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna.
After the tragic helicopter crash involving Bryant, his daughter and the seven others, they decided they wanted to do a drawing to honor them. They posted it online two days after the incident and it got a lot of positive reactions and shares.
Since it was such a horrible loss, they wanted to do something more and have it visible in public, so they got it printed and on January 31 it was posted on the street sign at 24th Street and 8th Avenue. The significance of this intersection is that those are the two numbers that Bryant wore in his career with the Lakers.
They used an app on the IPAD called procreate to make this drawing. They stayed up late and rushed to finish this because they wanted to make sure it was posted in a timely manner after the incident.
They compensated and worked harder and faster than normal since there was a rushed deadline after this helicopter crash. Heo said the late nights and quick turnaround was definitely worth it.
Their idea really resonated with a lot of people because of the background behind Kobe and his daughter and the colors of the picture.
“We wanted to have a halo effect behind them to give that heavenly feel but at the same time it kind of worked out because the Lakers colors are gold and purple,” Heo said. “That’s why we went with the idea.”
They enjoyed the positive reaction and they got satisfaction from getting this drawing out there after this event that effected people around the world.
“There were a lot of positive comments,” Theuma said. “Everyone loved the halo effect on the drawing. It felt nice to be able to sketch two people that were part of a really unfortunate tragedy.”
Proving how it has circulated online, the drawing that Theuma and Heo did was one of the best posts on the r/IPAD subreddit after they uploaded it. It had 1.5 thousand uploads on Reddit and it did really well on Instagram as well.
Theuma thought it was was really encouraging to read the reactions people left.
After this positive reaction, they were convinced they had to print it and have it posted on 24th and 8th avenue. The print was at the street sign at that intersection for just under 48 hours, and they were proud it stayed so long.
They got a message from a lieutenant who works in the area since there were a few calls from some people about taking it down. The cop did not want this piece of art to be destroyed so he took it and contacted Theuma.
They will be posting this picture at a new unknown as of now place where it can be more permanent. They were happy to hear that the piece also had meaning to the cop.
“It felt wrong to him to have it destroyed especially because of the meaning behind it,” Heo said.
The cop was able to contact the artists because their contact information including their Instagram handle, @alertsketch, was posted on the piece.
They were honored that many people stopped to pray, reflect, take pictures etc. in front of their portrait.
“Someone actually brought flowers and put it at the intersection, which was amazing to see,” Theuma said about a fan’s reaction. “It made our day that someone went out of their day to stop and buy flowers with their own money and put it under our drawing.”
Most of the reaction they have heard was online. People have thought it was a beautiful and clever gesture and the artists thought this portrait was the least they could do in such a moment of mourning.
Another reason for leaving their Instagram handle on the portrait was so people could use their hashtag when sharing pictures. This is how they could see that many people were taking pictures at the intersection.
They were overwhelmed when they realized they had about a million online impressions of the picture and they have been excited to get the image in front of people.
They realized that the picture had 10,000 likes and 2,000 retweets on a share someone made, which goes to show how well they designed the picture and how much of a legend Bryant was.
“Our point was not really to get all the fame that comes with it, it was more to send a message,” Theuma said.
Theuma thought that drawing two people was a challenge compared to other sketches. Heo added that when drawing only one person it is easier to concentrate more on the face and get more detail.
This was the first time they had done a drawing after a tragic event like this, but in the past they have done portraits of sports and TV/movie celebrities.
One of their favorites was drawing Heisenberg, the main character on Breaking Bad. That took them three weeks and they were able to perfect it. They rushed this current Kobe picture to the best of their ability to get it out there.
They have done portraits leading up to sporting events, like before a Connor McGregor fight, and have also drawn Liev Schreiber when he was Ray Donovan on the hit show with the same name.
Theuma went to Hofstra University and has lived in Greenpoint, Brooklyn for the last few months. He likes the impact that his picture of Kobe and his daughter has had on so many people.
