Nike/ Richard Hamilton TV commercial

-the fake Richard Hamilton

-the real Richard Hamilton

Ordinarily I get hired to do storyboards for TV commercials, but from time to time I get hauled onto the set to do all sorts of things. Just a few days ago I got the call in the middle of the day to participate in a Nike commercial featuring Detroit Pistons star, Richard "Rip" Hamilton. This two day gig consisted of me replicating Rip Hamilton's tattoos on two stand-ins. I was given photo reference as to what the tattoos looked like and I had to find a way to apply them to the actors' arms. Throughout the shoot I also had to be on hand to touch up the artwork as sweat and abrasion would wear it down.

It's always amazing working on a larger production like this. There were well over 300 actors which included the crowd, two basketball teams (dressed as the Pistons and the Milwaukee Bucks), announcers, photographers, scorers, referees, towel boys, and everything you'd see at a real basketball game. Being a part of the crew that helps make this illusion look so real is daunting and yet humbling- turning Detroit's Cobo Arena to look like The Palace of Auburn Hills, making 300 people look and sound like 20-30,000 cheering people and me making two Michigan State students look like an NBA All-Star.