With the Angels now out and the Yankees champs of the American League, the only thing left is a battle with the Phillies for the World Series crown.

 

I came of with this idea that since the Phillies clinched in five games, and rain pushed the ALCS back a day, that the Phillies were lurking in the shadows ready for whomever it would be - either the Yankees or the Angels.  Mark Teixeira is always a good guy to go to for expressions, and I fitted him perfectly into this “back alley” scene, triumphant yet still guarded over Vlad Guerrero.

 

The cartoon does have a bit of a spooky aura, doesn’t it?  I tried using gradients for the shadows on the bricks (which were a reuse of the pattern I created some time ago), but couldn’t get what I wanted - darker down the alley.  So I just had a layer of “darkness over the bricks, and another layer for the alley to create the dark look.

 

Oh, and the ALCS logo?  It’s hand painted on there; I traced an official logo, but I wanted sot of a graffiti look to the logo as it’s on brick.  The other graffiti messages were added last.