Caesar, Crassus & Pompeius. The political alliance of the Roman Republic.

I had to refer to my 7th grade ancient history class (a favorite subject of mine) for the word and title – Triumvirate.  Wikipedia’s definition can be found here.

(Yes, that’s me in 7th grade – top row, 2nd from left.  1991.  The St. David’s School, New York, NY)

I wanted to artistically depict the 3 main components of a lacrosse team: offensive, defensive and goalie. A TRIO of some sort.  The focus being solely on them, nothing else.  The idea came during a late-night of staying up (couldn’t sleep), mindlessly watching old “Looney Tunes” cartoon characters on some network channel.  The Looney Tunes were all traditionally hand-drawn(!) compared to the present, digital/computer age.  I remember watching these shows either after school or on a Saturday morning, but what stands out the most in these cartoons are the “exaggerated style” that made it comical.

“Drive 2″ (Offensive) progression pics:

This was my 1st of the 3.  I was inspired by the Looney Tunes character the “Road-Runner” – always evading chase from the hopeless, “Wile E. Coyote”.  Just like the “Road-Runner”, I made the offensive player very low to the ground, head tilted forward and focused on the goal in sight.

The finished piece – Drive 2:

“The Hunter” (Defensive) progression pics:

The cartoon character that came to mind right away was “Elmer Fudd” who was always on “the hunt for rabbit!”

Just like Elmer Fudd’s shotgun in hand, I increased the perspective of the defenseman’s pole as the primary focus – the one you see first.  His eyes scanning the field, patiently waiting for the prey.

The finished piece – The Hunter:

“The Stopper” (Goalie) progression pics:

The cartoon character that comes to mind (and my favorite) is the “Tasmanian Devil” or “Taz”.  He’s just a freak of nature, with some screws loose in the head and hard to figure out – just like goalies.  “Taz” would’ve been an awesome ‘keeper!

As a goalie, the hardest shot to stop is anything placed on the “off-stick side”.  Due to stick technology, shots have been so difficult to read that clean saves aren’t the norm anymore.  Stepping is so outdated, rather I believe in keeping good position and surging or “exploding” to the ball, especially from in close, throwing whatever you can.  However, in this piece, I wanted to show a clean, cross-over save.

It was such a simple time back then – cartoons after school, homework, dinner, more homework and lacrosse on the weekends.  Thank god the cartoons still exist on some late-night channel… but what was THAT channel again?!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBzJGckMYO4&fs=1&hl=en_US]