afootballreport:

‘He is like a Playstation player.’ – Arsène Wenger, 2010

Life is impossible to perfectly recreate, and football, restricted by reality, is the same. Video games are simply a reduced reflection of that on which they are based, and can never compete with the real thing – but that’s only obvious. There is only so much that current technology can achieve in taking life and art to the same level. There are only so many fingers on two hands, and only so many buttons and triggers that can be pushed at once. There are only so many different combinations resulting in only so many movements on the screen. A virtual Lionel Messi is good, but he has his limits.

The Messi that scored 91 goals in 2012 , that has won the Ballon d’Or for a fourth time, seemingly has no such limits. Wenger was wrong to compare him to the artificial imitation. The real Messi is far better.

We’re delighted to be working with Matheus, the man behind 8-bit Football, as we head into 2013. Words by Max Grieve.

A morning like any other, by Dan Leydon

After Messi picked up his fourth consecutive Ballon D’Or, I thought AFR’s audience would appreciate the humour of my take on where he keeps the trophies themselves. I wanted to communicate how unaffected by personal trophies he is. After some deliberation I came to the conclusion that the best way to do this was to show him integrating the pieces into his everyday life. In a way, this boring mundane task also humanises him.

In reference to the artwork itself, I’ve wanted to do comics that communicate without using speech. Hopefully they are that bit more immersive than my regular work. I know it’s asking a lot to immerse someone in an illustrated world in just five panels but I have to start somewhere!

We’re delighted to feature Dan’s work on AFR. Find him on: Twitter / Tumblr / Etsy.