Last week I was approached by the FA, who told me they were keen to commission an illustrator for both the FA Cup semi-final and final match-day programmes. This was the first time in the competitions’ history that illustrators were being considered for the task.
The FA had three illustrative styles they were particularly interested in using, one of which turned out to be mine. So, alongside two other artists, I was invited to pitch my ideas with a view to creating all three covers.
Sadly the magic and romance of the cup ended for me today, as I discovered I’d not been selected. However, it’s been a wonderful project to be involved with and a genuine honour to even be considered.
Anyway, as any football fan will tell you, there’s always next year…
Footnote (June 2019):
Since I no longer need to keep this under wraps, here’s one of the roughs I did as part of my pitch.
My intention for the quarter-finals had been to include some modern players, yet to write their names into FA Cup folklore e.g. Deeney and Milivojević , alongside some legends who’d already made their name at each club e.g. Wright and Taylor.
I’ve also included two of the semi-final covers from the eventual winner Marcus Marritt. I was already a long time admirer of his Home project, so had no qualms about bowing out to Marcus. His work is always particularly slick and I thought his finished article suited the occasion perfectly.
The portfolio of Steve Welsh 
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