Gabriel Diogo on football, memory, and the warm colours of Brazil's backyards

Gabriel Diogo was born and raised on São Paulo's east side, which is Corinthians territory through and through. That's a Brazilian football club, if you didn't know. It's something very dear to him and his local community.

So when Nike commissioned the illustrator to create posters paying homage to his beloved team, he felt on top of the world. "It was a dream come true," he says. "Corinthians represents so much in my life. It's part of my DNA and identity. So it felt like I was creating something that belonged to my own story. It's impossible to separate one from the other."

This didn't happen overnight. Gabriel trained in graphic and digital design at the Istituto Europeo di Design, graduating in 2017, but he'd already been working in the industry since 2013. Even though he'd gone down this route, his creative spark was fading. "The things I was doing no longer excited me," he says. "I felt a lack of purpose – trapped in something I didn't enjoy." And so in 2019, he took a chance on the thing he loved the most but hadn't yet had the room to develop: illustration. He's drawn every single day since and has never been happier.

That joy pours into his work, which celebrates the full visual culture of Brazilian football. The terrace flags and sticker albums, the gloriously retro kits of OLD SCHOOL F.C. So much of it starts with a shirt – o manto sagrado, the "sacred mantle", as Brazilian fans call it.

"As a Brazilian, I know that football is a sociological phenomenon, intrinsic to the identity of the Brazilian people," he tells Creative Boom. "I like to say that the game itself – 22 people running after a ball – is just the tip of the iceberg. Football represents personal relationships, life stories and family memories. The flags waving in the stands, the fathers and children going to the stadium together, the players who became deities, the richness of the kit designs, which carry enormous importance, like a sacred mantle – all of it is hugely inspiring."

Then there's the warmth. All of his illustrations feel sun-baked and handmade. The rich tones and rough, dry-brushed textures make his art feel alive. It's as though they've been painted on the side of a dusty old building – the warmth of the sun still felt through the concrete. "Brazil is a warm country. The sun beats down on backyards, and those colours are part of the collective imagination of my people," he explains. "I want people to look at a piece and feel part of the scene, not just spectators."

Alongside his big commissions – Nike, Itaú, ASICS, and illustrations for Nacione Branding's World Cup typeface, UsMeCa – is his personal project, Série Cotidiano, a love letter to everyday Brazilian life. "It's a synthesis of the memories I've carried with me since I first became aware of life," he says. "The message won't necessarily be clear, but it will be understood differently by each individual. I think that's what makes people connect with it so deeply – everyone brings their own experiences to it."

It's perhaps why Gabriel's characters have tiny, faceless heads. So we can imagine ourselves in every artwork. Lounging in our homes. Getting ready to head to the next football match. Maybe just cooling off at the end of a long day, playing guitar with a beer.

His work depicts a charming life. But none of this came easily. "Everything is harder for people who live on the outskirts," he says, candidly. A free technical course at secondary school got him started. A government loan got him through his degree (one he's still paying off, nearly a decade later). "The hardest part isn't reaching the big clients... It's managing to keep doing things you love and believe in despite the difficulties."

So what's his advice to other kids from his neighbourhood who dream of drawing for a living? "Don't give up when the bad thoughts creep in. Things won't always seem like they're working out, but they are. Keep studying, keep improving, and believe in your work. Value your effort. Your work is also your identity, and no dream is too far away."