Drawing inspiration from passion

Vince Chang, founder of Conscious Basketball, later explains that he came across Lian's work on Pinterest and that to him, what separated Lian from the others was that he was a multifaceted creator. He also had "the illustration skills and the ability to develop in-depth concepts", and his background in animation allowed his work to cross over into different mediums, from still to motion.

Lian happily accepted the offer, seeing it as a boost to morale. "To be honest, I was on the brink of giving up on the idea of doing basketball illustrations," says Lian, who goes by the handle "Boblian1206" on Instagram.

The group also shared social media marketing strategies that helped him get the ball rolling.

Lian began visualizing everyday stories from the league, and adding memes to them. His narrative approach quickly won him a growing number of enthusiasts, including former NBA superstar Dwyane Wade.

"Dope." This was the comment Wade once left on a comic strip about the 2019-20 season's MVP race between LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo. The dialogue-free episode ends with the victorious Greek Freak (Antetokounmpo's nickname) watching James running after a goat, which represents a sports acronym that stands for the "Greatest of All-Time".

Through experiments like this, Lian developed a humorous and varied style and managed to overcome cultural barriers with his paintbrush.

"Sports itself is a universal language. And drawing is my medium. You can easily resonate with your audience if the content and creativity are there," he says.

As his name became more familiar in the global basketball community, more commissions started coming Lian's way. A few months after receiving that fateful message from Conscious Basketball, Lian quit his job and started making basketball-themed artwork full time.

Today, the freelancer has over 210,000 followers on Instagram and Sina Weibo, and regularly creates illustrated and animated content for professional sports teams, brands and media agencies.

Jin Tianyu, social media director of NBA China, says that he thinks highly of the cartoonist. "We see great value in Lian's art," Jin says. "His remarkable imagination has grabbed the spotlight in the basketball world. It is only logical that we reached out to partner with him."

One of the illustrations Lian produced for NBA China is the huge piece that has been decorating a wall at the company's new office in Beijing since 2021. Featuring 75 well-known NBA players, the drawing has won the hearts of many pundits and fans.

"This is amazing. I looked at it for 10 minutes," wrote one Instagram user with a handle "scjunglist" after seeing it online.