Heart of Midlothian F.C. Fundraiser Illustration

I had been a supporter of Edinburgh’s Heart of Midlothian F.C. since I was eight years old. It was the mid eighties and I was taken in by the romance of a small team standing up to the big guns of the footballing world, giving no concessions and more often than not, coming away victorious in the football field.

In actual fact, that picture of Hearts of Midlothian-otherwise know simply as “Hearts”-only remained accurate for the first few months that I followed them with a much more realistic pattern of success emerging thereafter. Still, it was too late. I was and remain completely hooked on all things Heart of Midlothian.

So in 2013, it was to be no surprise that myself and every other supporter one of Scotland’s oldest football club’s was left completely devastated to learn that due to years of reckless mismanagement from the former owners, the club was placed in administration with an apparently grim future awaiting. Make no mistake, the club was edging towards deaths door.

Tynecastle Park, home of Heart of Midlothian F.C.

Now, this may all seem slightly trivial to somebody that has never known the experience of following a sporting side but the way I see it, in this age where people are struggling more and more for a sense of togetherness and belonging, football clubs can still provide a sense of community and local spirit which is rarely found anywhere else. Add that to the fact that there were so many local businesses in Edinburgh that relied on the existence of the club for their own survival and there could be little doubt that this was no trivial matter.

Stunned, I asked myself what I could do to help. I was a simple freelance illustrator living thousands of miles away in the state of New Jersey. I could always buy a season ticket and then donate it back to the club for them to sell again. Maybe even buy two. It all seemed woefully inadequate though.

Then it struck me. I knew exactly what a simple freelance illustrator should do. I should illustrate something, sell prints, a fundraiser of sorts with all proceeds going to the cash stricken club. I would begin immediately.

The Challenge

I had a clear idea of what I wanted to achieve with the artwork. I wanted something original, something you might not be used to seeing within the niche of sports art.

I also wanted it to be almost like a history lesson that highlighted the important moments in Heart of Midlothian’s history and also provided an insight as to what the club was all about and what it meant to so many people.

I became inspired by the “Hearts Song” with the chorus spelling out the name. “H-E-A-R-T-S”. I would take a similar approach with my artwork, with each letter containing images relevant to the club.

Enlisting Help

At the time, in terms of fundraising for Hearts, I was by no means a trailblazer.

It seemed like everyone was doing something. Whether it was buying additional season tickets for raffles, putting on events or even donating money straight to the club, the spirit of fundraising had taken hold. I decided to take advantage of the communal spirit going on and enlist the help of a few supporters on the popular Hearts forum Jambos Kickback.

In order to give the project a collaborative feel and help raise interest in the project I asked the folks on kickback what Hearts related imagery they would like to see depicted within the artwork. What started as a trickle at first, soon became a deluge of suggestions and advice as the project began to pick up steam.

Sketching

Along with the ideas I already had on my own, I set about making everybody’s suggestions a reality. The illustrations immediately began to flow.

Colouring*

Usually, I won’t start the process of adding colour until the drawings are completely signed off but on this occasion I wanted to provide as clear an insight as to what the finished illustration would look like as possible so I began to develop the colour alongside the drawings simultaneously.

The response from the punters on kickback was fairly encouraging and some even got quite emotional…

Pre-Orders

With the project being time sensitive and being extremely well received I decided to make it available as pre-order even though the artwork was still in progress. I put it up as an item on my online store then went to bed without giving it much more thought. You would imagine my shock when I was to awake the next morning to a deluge of orders. I’d raised over a thousand pounds in the first few hours alone! The limited edition of 250 sold out in just under two weeks.

Printing

Finally the artwork was complete. Despite creating the artwork in New Jersey, understandably almost all the orders were placed from supporters in Scotland.

With that in mind, it only made sense to have them printed and distributed from Scotland which meant that I’d obviously have to make the trip back to Edinburgh to oversee the process. Although, it wasn’t all hard work, I was also able to take a few hours out of my schedule to witness this.

A Huge Success, Thousands Raised!

On so many levels, I found this project to be extremely rewarding and enjoyable.

The final amount raised was £5,790 which went straight to the 1874 Fighting Fund, a trust that had been set up to help the running of the club.

That wasn’t the end of the story either. Following on from the success of the limited edition prints, I even went ahead and used the same artwork to create a series of ceramic mugs, also proving to be very successful,raising a further £700.

What’s more, to everybody’s relief connected with Heart of Midlothian, the club survived, exited administration under new ownership and is now in arguably it’s strongest financial position during my lifetime.

Closing Thoughts

Putting my ideas online and getting constant feedback kept the project moving forward. It gave me a chance to create art in an almost communal environment and further underlined to me the importance of keeping people involved throughout the creative process. In order for projects to evolve, it’s important to keep the conversation going.

A special thanks is owed to everybody on the Hearts forums for suggestions and encouragement, Copymade Printers in Edinburgh for helping me out with the printing costs, Paul Rendall and Viv Granton for helping distribute the mugs and also to “the Gasman” for valuable advice and general chit chat.

Update: Due to the success of the original edition, I have now released a second edition of the print which you can purchase form my online store.

*I know, I know, that’s not how you spell color in America but this is for a Scottish football club. Scottish theme, Scottish rules. Ha!