A Toronto artist is sharing his detailed process behind the making of his hard-to-miss FIFA World Cup 2026 host city poster.
Dave Murray is a sports and politics illustrator known for his characters inspired by cubism and futurism. His art was featured in the Major League Baseball World Series last year and the 2022 Tim Hortons NHL Heritage Classic.
On Mar. 28, the City of Toronto unveiled Murray’s World Cup poster at the Toronto Archives after it was selected from 550 artists because of its representation of the city’s shoreline, the grid pattern, city street layout, and a soccer ball over downtown to mark the location of Toronto Stadium, aka BMO Field.
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Despite being protective of his artistic techniques, Murray decided to post his process behind creating the popular poster.
“People like looking behind the curtain. Also, doing this offers content and value and could inspire them to work on their own work. AI is creeping up everywhere and it’s important to document these things to see it’s made by a human,” he told Now Toronto on Monday.
Murray posted a detailed thread on X showing every step of creating the poster.
Process! Every illustration I work with starts with a collection of scribbles and notes. Very quick lines to start my brain thinking about composition, and the motion I want to bring into the piece. These are very loose, and probably only decipherable to myself. pic.twitter.com/vWbA4s0R6u
— Dave Murray (@dave__murray) March 29, 2025
“Every illustration I work with starts with a collection of scribbles and notes,” Murray commented, showing a picture of quickly sketched lines that depict a direction of motion.
Then, Murray shared a more developed sketch with a grid showing the soccer player’s body along with the cubist style he was aiming for.
Murray says his initial interest in art deco, cubism, futurism, poster artists, and even his favourite news comic Calvin Hobbes has led to his unique illustration creations throughout his decade-long career so far.
“I remember in one of the comics Calvin was in a Cubist world and got into an argument with his parents but saw both sides. For me, [cubist art] is a clever way to represent both sides of the argument. It’s a language I’ve taught myself to speak,” he said.
After the final sketch, Murray builds the image in Illustrator like a puzzle and adds shading in Photoshop.
Murray also shared a timelapse of him creating the entire poster from start to finish on Instagram.
As for how he feels about the largest soccer tournament in the world recognizing his work, Murray is excited the world of sports is opening up to creativity after relying on photography for so long.
“I’m artsy, but never had a window into sports. This opens up the experience of sports,” Murray said.
On Apr. 10, Murray is hosting his own exhibition at Cry Baby Gallery to depict the intersection of sports, arts, illustration, and physical works. It’s free to attend and is open to the public at 9 p.m.
