Blue Thunder was rocking as it welcomed fans to the Virginia Mason Athletic Center on this hazy, mid-80s summer day.
Sketched August 9, 2017
The Seahawks training camp has become a hot ticket since it opened its doors to fans in 2009. On a recent weekday morning, I watched a long stream of fans wearing the team’s jerseys and hats descend from a fleet of school buses that were transporting them from The Landing in Renton to the Virginia Mason Athletic Center on the Lake Washington shoreline. According to the Seahawks, about 2,500 attended on this day despite temperatures in the mid 80s and hazy skies. The fans I sketched said the opportunity to watch players up close for $9 a ticket made it all worth it. A new season is just around the corner and everyone seemed very excited for another shot at Super Bowl glory.
A Seahawks staffer was surprised to see that my drawing tools were an iPad Pro and Apple Pencil. “We thought you’d be bringing an easel!” she said. The digital tools allowed me to share my preliminary drawings live on Twitter and flesh them out later to create this report.