Toronto Maple Leafs fans might not only want to hang on to their 2016-17 season tickets — they should frame them.
No, not because Auston Matthews is on pace for a 328-goal season. The tickets themselves are that cool.
Tampa-based Conrad R. Garner, a self-anointed “creative gun for hire,” was asked by the Maple Leafs’ internal design team in May to produce something special for the franchise’s 100th season.
Under a deadline tighter than Mike Babcock’s Team Canada defence, the artist delivered more than 200 sketches and the most attractive package of home game tickets we’ve laid eyes on. (As Nick Nolte said in 1997’s mediocre drama/romance After Glow, “I don’t know what I like, but I know art.”)
“It was an incredible amount of work in a very short time frame,” Garner tells Sportsnet. “The largest project I have ever done in my life. I created a few sketches to help them sell the idea through, and once that was approved I had about 17 days to create finished artwork for almost 60 pieces of art.”
The tickets incorporate classic quotes and iconic Leafs photographs to celebrate the franchise’s storied past and glory-days heroes while also feeling fresh and unique. From Turk Broda to Auston Matthews, from King Clancy to Morgan Rielly, Garner invested roughly 500 hours to give everyone a stylish tribute.
“It was the perfect balance of direction and freedom. We seemed to all get on the same page very quickly with the vision, and once I was in the groove, the work just started flying,” says Garner, who worked in concert with Leafs art director Louis Cohen and creative director Matt Coyle to complete the series. “They put in a ton of hours, I am sure.
“Physically, it was very intense. There was a window where I was working almost nonstop for 17 days straight with naps here and there. I thought my shoulder was going to fall off.”
Garner, 33, graduated from Boise State University with bachelors of fine arts in both graphic design and visual art. He has gone on to win a list of international awards as an illustrator, designer and art director specializing in packaging, branding, and advertising for some hefty corporate clients — including the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The Atlantic Division rival has used Garner to craft playoff logos, presentation materials and, yep, Lightning Girls calendars. So he’s familiar with a blue and white palatte.
“I live in Tampa now and have become a Lightning fan. I still like the Leafs and will always like the Leafs. I really want to see both teams do well. I would love to see the Lightning get that Cup they’ve been so close to getting, but if they can’t get it, then I wouldn’t mind seeing the Maple Leafs take the Cup this season,” says Garner, who is either being kind to a Toronto-based reporter or high off ink fumes.
“I was always drawn to teams’ logos and graphics and would always draw those. I loved drawing the Blackhawks, the Red Wings, and the Maple Leafs logos. I even made my own bootlegged Leafs shirt when I was 12 out of an iron-on. Don’t tell them.”
The long-awaited Toronto rebuild has touched nearly every detail of the Maple Leafs this season. Of course, it starts on the ice, with a skilled collection of young talent that has the city buzzing. The team’s dressing room was renovated; a new, 15-year-old anthem singer was hired; a fresh in-game announcer was handed the mic; the logo was revitalized; and — thanks to Garner — the ticket art is now second to none.
“Some I love just because the of imagery, but others just because of who the certain iconic player’s quote it was. But I really like all of them,” says Garner.
“I was creating them so fast and moving on to the next one, it wasn’t until I was done that I could sit back and look at them all together and really enjoy each one. I would see one I had done earlier and be like, ‘Oh, yeah, I forgot I made that one.”
The playoffs may still be a ways away, but culture building is alive and well this season—and a little slip of the evidence can be neatly tucked in your pocket.
“I would love to come see a game in person if Canada will let me in,” Garner says. “Can we start a hashtag to make it happen or something?”
Sure. The guy who designed the dang things should at least get a pair.
#Tix4Conrad could do the trick.
