I did this illustration for a friend shortly after Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna, and seven others tragically passed away in a helicopter crash in January 2020. The title of the piece, “Mamba Out,” is in reference to Kobe’s nickname that he gave to himself, The Black Mamba, and his farewell speech after his last NBA game in April 2016. In his final performance, Kobe scored 60 points and hit the game winning shot. After the game, he spoke about growing up a die-hard Lakers fan, and described his NBA career as “absolutely beautiful.” He thanked the fans, and then thanked his wife Vanessa and daughters Natalia and Gianna for their sacrifices that allowed him to train and play professional basketball. He closed the speech by saying, “What can I say, Mamba out,” and walked off of the court. The concept of this piece with the background divided in half by light and dark skies was inspired by various quotes from Kobe:

“Basketball is my refuge, my sanctuary. I go back to being a kid on the playground. When I get here, it’s all good.”

“To a certain extent, every day I was vulnerable. You’re always dealing with fear, with something in your imagination. Something that you think can happen. But you just say, ‘I don’t know if I can do that. But I’ll give it a try.’”

“Use your curiosity to search all over the world for musings that you can use to decorate your Musecage. The more musings you find, the more powerful your Musecage becomes. Every Musecage is powered by two forces — light musings and dark musings. Light musings make you feel good and happy. Dark musings make you feel bad and angry. Dark musings just might be our greatest source of energy and power. If you’re looking for your inner beast, it’s most likely living inside of a dark muse.”

“Because now I understood that I could really lose myself through the game. No matter what affected me, no matter what happened in life, I could always step on a basketball court and let my game speak to that. Step on that court and absolutely erupt. And that feeling of playing with rage was new to me… But I f***ing loved it.”