Meet the Fan-ily: Super Guy

This whole community, everybody's together. We went through it and we're on the other side and maybe we're better for it.

In our ongoing series to better know the Ballers’ fan-ily, those people sitting in the seats next to you, we talk to Guy Sliwinski, the artist/illustrator/creator all over Raimondi Park, the Ballers, and Bay Area sports. Guy is also appearing this weekend at Cape and Cowl Con at Faction Brewing in Alameda.

Guy designed two of the giveaway posters for B’s fans this season as well as the “Fisheye Tee” of Raimondi on sale at the park and from Oaklandish. His work has been seen with the A’s and Last Dive Bar, Sports Illustrated, and on the side of the Chase Center, to name a few. He graciously took time to chat during the first inning of a B’s and Boise Hawks game, where we squeezed in nine-ish questions for all nine innings.

1) How did you get into art/illustration/capital-C Creation?

I always was into art from a young age. I used to draw a lot of cartoons—Snoopy, Garfield—and I got a little older, and I was really into Garbage Pail Kids and Mad Magazine. All that kind of stuff that was fun and whimsical. I'm one of those guys, I guess, who just kind of never grew up. I still really enjoy all that stuff.

2) The Art Question: How much of art is innate and how much is learned? How much of that is in you, and how much of it is just practice?

I would be ignorant to say that I didn't have some kind of talent. That said, though, it's like in any profession. We’re at the ball game, right? You could be a really talented baseball player, but if you don't do the practice, you don't do the work, you're not going to go anywhere with it. So there is a natural talent, but it is a lot about developing it. Every year, every month, I'm trying to be better than I was before. And art's very interesting in that I'll go look at something from five years ago and I’ll cringe at it now. That’s just how it is. There's always an evolution with it. There's a lot of growth with it. And that's what's really fun too, I think. If you become stagnant as an artist, you get bored. That's not what it's about. It's about exploring. New ideas. The more hours you put into it, anything you're drawing is really like practice. You're leveling up, right? But also, I did do some art education. Live figure drawing, clothed figure drawing; form, figure drawing. And I'm constantly learning still. I don't pretend to know at all, trust me.

3) How did you get involved with Last Dive Bar/A’s and now the Ballers?

Maybe kind of a long answer on all of it, because everything's kind of organic. I started getting into drawing again during the pandemic. And I got an iPad Pro, and when it was all locked down, I started really getting back into it. I got a really good response right away from Instagram and posting stuff, including some of the A’s players right away—Mike Fiers right away, Frankie Montas followed me, and I got to do some stuff for his family. It was surreal.

I didn't necessarily know Bryan and Paul and Carl originally. We kind of knew who each other were, being part of the community. One day, Bryan was like, “Look, hey, we want to do the Ride the Wave deal.” And they're like, we have this picture Stomper, but we can't use it because we don't have the rights. Will you draw a cartoon version of Stomper, which I kept pushing for the same reason as a “cartoon elephant”—I never called him Stomper—and then before you know it, they're like, "Hey, like, you want to do another one?” And then, like, “You want to do another one?” Another one, and… then they were doing so much for the community that, to be honest, the first stuff I was doing for them, I was like, don't pay me. I want to help the cause. I want to do stuff. So early on, a lot of the stuff they paid me with, I'm just like, okay, I'll be buying [their] merch. So that's how I got in with them and we've had a great relationship. That's one of the beauties of right now. When I was in art school, you know, way back in the late 90s, there it was so hard to get somebody to see your stuff. I'd have to walk around, “Look at my thing!” Now, I post it, and the algorithm does this magic.

And the Ballers, yeah, I knew some of that network already, and Casey [Pratt]’s a big part of it. He's a fan and supported me a lot. He's kind of been my little angel, I think, that's been whispering in ears here, but I don't think he's the only one. It’s one of the many things about the Ballers I love. I just really love the family thing here, right? It just feels good, giving love and I feel like you get love back. I sat behind [co-founder] Paul Freedman's mom a couple times, I chatted with her, she’s a sweetheart. And as much as I was like, The Internet and Instagram!, the organic part of it is really a big part too. The face-to-face and all that.

4) From the outside, you’ve really made it—your work on the Chase Center, the B’s, Oaklandish. When did you feel like you’d made it?

Oh, man. This is a really tough question, because, I don't know if you saw, there was recent interview with Steph Curry about having imposter syndrome. Yeah. Steph Curry and having impostor syndrome.

I don't want to say I necessarily have imposter syndrome, but it is a constant, like, feeling I'm going for more. And I don't want to say I haven't made it, but I have a lot of other goals.

But I think one that was the most memorable was the Battle of the Bay, 2.0 in San Jose. I got to do the poster. And the [San Jose] Giants set me up right up front to sign posters there. That was the first time I felt like a star. I signed hundreds of them. But it wasn't just the signing. It was the people saying, “I appreciate what you do.” “Hey, we've been rooting for you.” I was like, oh my God, you're gonna make me tear up, guys. I just love the love, like I said. This whole community, everybody's together. We went through it and we're on the other side and maybe we're better for it. I hate to keep bringing it up, but like, if the A’s are still here, this doesn't happen for me. This shit, as painful as that was, and what a big part of my life that was, maybe a lot of the stuff that’s happening now wouldn’t have happened for me. So I’ve got to look at it that way and go, look, it's sad. I miss them. I'm always gonna have that opening, right? They're never gonna go away. But things happen for reasons sometimes.

5)        Can you talk a little bit about Cape and Cowl comics, your interest in comics generally, and this series of posters that fans have gotten all throughout the season?

The poster giveaways are sponsored by Cape and Cowl and AC Transit. They did eight of them in the collection. I was asked to do two. So I did the one this week and the one from last week. They were like, "Hey, do you want to Amazing Fantasy 15?" First appearance of Spider-Man. He's my favorite superhero ever. I'm like? Yes, yes, it's awesome. The one we did for today. So then they hit me back and said, “Hey, do you want to do another one?” I'm in. And they're like, “Here's the ones you can pick from. Action Comics #1, the first appearance of Superman.” They are giving me the two most iconic covers to do? Yes, yes, I'll do it. And then what was really fun on that one too is I got to sneak in some of the culture. So I got Ice Cold Kenny in it. I got Mayor Mike in it. That's a lot of the stuff that I like to do with my art, too. There's a lot of like, if you know, you know.

6) Recently, you crowd-sourced ideas for your next piece(s). Where do you get ideas from generally, especially doing a lot of art surrounding a particular team and place?

 Okay, so the newest thing that I went and reached out for, that was not so much for ideas, although some people gave me great ideas. I was more like, I'm a really big fan of the team. Like, the entire team. And I've been talking to my wife about this and some people were like, “I’ve watched a lot of teams and sometimes there is that weak link, that one guy you are like, oh, no, they're bringing him in from the bullpen. Or, the rally killer’s coming up for the double play.” But there's no guy on the team like that. There's no weak link. So, I was more in the problem of like, I don't know who I should draw next. I want to draw everybody, and I only have so much time. So what are the fans feeling? And one of the funny stories—I don't know if I share it or not, but whatever—is I got one of the Ballers players, who said: “Me!” And it was Gabe Tanner. And I was like, ok, I got you man. If you’re going to ask for it, you’re going to get it. Hell yeah.

Now, like everything else, [art] is a lot of brainstorming. I'm one of those people, my brain doesn't turn off. It's always going. I can't get to sleep at night sometimes. But I definitely, in a lot of cases, especially early on, I was trying to be like, what has somebody not seen before? Because I would be like, if, even if my art isn't the strongest, the concepts are there. To make somebody feel something. That's the biggest reward. I don't make a lot of money doing this. But I’ve had people come in tears over stuff sometimes. And it's like, man, I just do cartoons. It's just crazy like that sometimes.

7) The Future Question: what would you say to someone who wants to follow in your footsteps, pursue art for a lifetime, work freelance, etc?

The number one, huge number one, one through ten: make sure you're having fun. If you don't love it, if you're not having fun, it’ll feel like any other job. My uncle was a commercial artist. He always tried to talk me out of doing art because he was miserable. He's like, I had to redraw the same garbage can three times because they don't like it. A lot of times where you have to change stuff for the client, you know it looks bad, and then then you're like, my name's attached to it. So I like being freelance.

Number two is, you gotta have a really level head. It's so hard to do. But I have a lot of fellow artists, and we talk about the artist’s rollercoaster. You'll have a lot of peaks and valleys. Like this week and last week, I have a shirt out with Oaklandish and the posters. But then something might not happen for two, three months. I always feel like I'm still chasing other things. But you're putting yourself out there. Artists are bound to get judged. But when it comes down to it, in my opinion, there is really no bad art. It's subjective. It's arts. And to, you know, sit there and go, well, mine doesn't compare to somebody’s else or whatever, I think you're just gonna drive yourself crazy. So you do you, have fun with it. And then take advantage like I did of Instagram, the internet, then networking. You can DM people directly now. You would be surprised how many people actually see that stuff. They might not respond. It doesn't mean they didn't see it. So that’s my best advice, really. I try to listen to it myself, trust me. It’s a lot of me in the mirror, “Don’t get down on yourself Guy, it’s ok.”

8) What’s your favorite part about coming to Raimondi Park?

Definitely the feeling of family. Community. It's a lot of that vibe—you see the same people, you get very familiar. This season, I started feeling like I'm home. Last season, everything was kind of new. This year, I come in here and I feel like I'm at home. I think one of the coolest vibes is, like, sometimes as you walk out of here, you high-five Scrappy. And one of the co-founders if not both are out here thanking you for coming to the gate. This is rad, man. You just feel like you're a part of something. And this feels a little less like we're the customers and more like we're family. And I think that's my favorite thing about coming to the park.

9) Okay, last and most important question. If you drew yourself as a superhero, what would you look like?

This is the hardest one, because I never really thought about it. So I'll tell you this. Number one, I don't want anyone to see me in spandex. So if it is spandex-related, there’s a mask involved. Taking full advantage of the secret identity. Now, if I could get away with not that, I'm probably gonna go a little more casual, like a Miles Morales Spider-Man. I'm not going full-blown superhero, bright colors. You know, I might have some Nikes on, I might have a jersey on, who knows, but probably still a mask involved.

Catch Guy this Sunday, August 24th at Cape and Cowl Con at Faction Brewing in Alameda from 11am-6pm. Free, all ages.