graphic

Adelaide graphic designer Tyson Beck scores contract with NBA designing digital art

By Rebecca Opie

South Australian graphic designer Tyson Beck has worked for some of the world's biggest sporting stars with clients such as Kobe Bryant and Allen Iverson on his resume.

The 25-year-old recently landed an official contract with the National Basketball Association (NBA), designing digital art for millions of fans who follow the league on social media.

Over the past eight years, Beck has become a force to be reckoned with in the sports design industry and he has done it all from his home office in Adelaide.

"If someone told me what I would be doing now, when I started out, I probably wouldn't have believed it," Beck said.

His success stems from a love of the Los Angeles Lakers and a devout following of NBA champion Kobe Bryant.

He even won an international competition to be named the World's Biggest Lakers Fan.

He has the largest collection of Bryant jerseys in the world, spanning from recent years to those from his high school basketball days.

When he was 17-years-old, Beck started combining his love of the Lakers with his eye for design and posting his work online.

"I just started making work for fun, putting my name on it and over time NBA teams and other sporting teams in America just slowly started to notice my work," Beck said.

His work attracted fans from around the world, including Lakers representatives, who hired him to create designs for the team's website.

"That was massive for me, it's a foot in the door of the industry, I'm obviously a massive Lakers fan and doing work for them, exclusively for them, that was just a dream," Beck said.

In 2009, Beck's ultimate dream was brought to life when he was invited to a Lakers game and given the opportunity to meet Bryant in person.

"That was just a surreal moment, to meet the person I have idolised all of my life and just to be able to meet them through design, just through my work was incredible," Beck said.

Since then, he has worked for more than 50 NBA players with stars such as Stephen Curry calling on him to turn their on-court triumphs in to one-of-a-kind artwork.

"He's probably known around the
 world as one of the best sports
 designers in the business."

His reputation has also spread to other American sporting leagues, including Major League Baseball, Ultimate Fighting Champions and Major League Soccer.

He was also recently hired to design a set of 600 trading cards for America's biggest professional sport, the National Football League.

"I was probably doing 16-hour days for maybe two months, it was just a crazy amount, I think I worked it out to be about a 1,000-hour project," Beck said.

Beck 'well-known' in US sports design industry

The co-founder and president of San Diego-based digital sports agency STN Digital, David Brickley, has worked with Beck on a number of NBA projects.

He said Beck was a well-known name in the sports design industry.

"He's probably known around the world as one of the best sports designers in the business, so when I was able to start my own company and have the ability to bring people in, he was one of my first calls," Mr Brickley said.

"He's really busy because so many people are knocking down his door."

Former NBA player Kevin Brooks said Beck's working relationship with the league was unprecedented.

"It's pretty special, it's quite awesome to be honest with you, a young kid like that to be picked up by the NBA because that's not something that's easily done, no matter where you are in the world," he said.

"He's well on his way to quite a lucrative and most importantly, I think, fun career for him."

In addition to his current contract with the NBA, Beck is designing limited edition work for Bryant memorabilia, as the star approaches the end of his basketball career.

"The work I'm doing now I just love, I don't look at it as work, it's just such an enjoyment to do," Beck said.

"But as cool as it seems, it was a lot of hard work getting to this point and countless hours building up and refining my skills."

Beck has been offered countless jobs in the United States, but for now he is happy freelancing from Adelaide.

However, he said if the right opportunity came up, he would not turn it down.

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