Keivo Brings Global Basketball to the Meta-court With ‘Ballies’
Teaming up with Blocsport.one, the award-winning artist discusses his basketball-themed PFP project.
Klemen “Keivo” Vodopivec is a Slovenian illustrator and graphic artist with hoop dreams. Though he balled as a youth, Vodopivec was forced to abandon his goal of playing professional basketball when diagnosed with a heart condition — so he turned to his other childhood talent, drawing, to establish a career. Now, with the help of NFTs, he is able to combine both of his passions in an upcoming profile picture (PFP) project created with Swiss sports tech company Blocsport.one, titled “Ballies.” The collection will feature 9,999 unique basketball-playing alien characters generated from over 170 hand-drawn traits — and has already garnered support from professional players across the globe, including ambassadors such as Basketball Hall of Fame inductee Dino Rađa and Olimpia Milano’s Kyle Hines. The otherworldly ballers will hit the marketplace on April 6, only at Crypto.com/NFT.
Growing up in a small Slovenian village on the border of Croatia, as a child, Vodopivec was first inspired to draw by watching cartoons on whatever Croatian channels his TV picked up. Describing himself as a quiet, shy kid, he began playing basketball at a local club with his cousin in the nearby town of Krško at 10 years old — an experience which had a profound affect on the young introvert. Though he found confidence in sport, his dream of playing for the NBA would soon be dashed.
Only about a year later, at age 11, Vodopivec collapsed in church — losing consciousness for six hours and spending three weeks in the hospital. He was later diagnosed with Long QT syndrome, a heart rhythm disorder that can cause a fast, chaotic heartbeat and potentially lead to fainting, seizures and even sudden death. He was told he would never play sports again. Benched for the following three years, and barred from any strenuous physical activity, Vodopivec watched cartoons and lost himself in his art. “I actually played through drawing,” he laughed.
Though he would defy expectations and eventually go on to play basketball recreationally again, in high school and beyond, his hopes of going pro had already subsided. Ironically, it was a basketball teammate who introduced Vodopivec to graphic art. Studying design in college, he began posting daily basketball-related illustrations on his art-focused Instagram in his senior year — and has since been recruited for many sports-related creative projects, working as a full-time freelance graphic artist. Crypto.com NFT spoke with the “Ballies” cofounder about his creative evolution, his relationship with the sport and his entrance into the “Meta-court.”
Read the Q&A with Keivo below and visit the “Ballies” drop page for more information.
How did you get the name Keivo? What does it mean?
The name Keivo is really nothing special. It’s a variation of the first letter of my name — Klemen — and [the] first two letters of my surname, Vodopivec: KVO. But if you pronounce the letter K and add the VO, you get Keivo. I think it has a nice ring to it, something similar to Quavo the rapper [laughs].
What was your upbringing like?
I am from a small village. It has around 40 houses. I come from a Christian upbringing, with the motto, “Don’t do unto others what you don’t want others to do unto you.”
My childhood was a pretty basic and generally happy childhood. I am the oldest of three sons, the youngest being 17 years younger than me. My parents always had average jobs and [neither believed] — or better [yet] knew — that [a] career as an artist or creative can be a thing, and can be secure, so it took me a long time to gain [the] confidence that my passion for art can actually put bread on [the] table.
Because my village is located very close to the Croatian border, I was very lucky that our TV was able to connect to some Croatian channels — one of them being Nova TV, which had a lot of cartoons that inspired my first drawings when I was very little and had an impact on me until this day. Some of them are “Batman,” “Superman,” “Pokémon” and “Digimon.”
I was a quiet, shy and introverted kid. I had my group of friends I was comfortable with, but I was never the loud, very outgoing one. If my younger brother was the one driving motorbikes with my dad, I preferred staying inside and playing with my own drawn characters. My favorite [way to] play was [to draw] my own superheroes or monsters — giving them powers and characteristics, and playing with them.
How did you get into basketball?
I got introduced to basketball through my cousin, who started playing two years before me. I actually always wanted to play football [i.e. soccer] before, but we started shooting hoops in our backyard more and more. I got hooked and went to my first basketball practice when I was 10.
Was basketball popular and accessible in Slovenia, growing up?
At that time, we had a couple of Slovenian players playing in the NBA. For example, Rašo Nesterović, Primož Brezec, Boštjan Nachbar and Beno Udrih, to name a few. There were a lot of small local clubs all around Slovenia, but the nearest club was in Krško — so we drove 30 minutes to the basketball practice there. My parents waited there for me and my brother for one and a half hours to finish our practice, and then we drove back home. It was definitely not convenient for them to have their afternoons dictated by our practice, but I am very grateful to them for that.
Basketball equipment was harder to get, though. My first pair of basketball shoes was actually a used silver-red pair of Adidas from my cousin. I would never rock them now, but back then they meant the world to me. He gave them to me after he outgrew them.
Who were some of your favorite teams and players, as a kid?
Growing up, everyone I knew wanted to be like Mike — but I wanted to be like Allen Iverson. He was different from what the NBA was used to back then. At that time, we got cable and I would watch MTV every day — and became a big hip-hop fan — so Allen Iverson [and] his tattoos, hairstyle and flashy game was [like] hip-hop on the basketball court [to] me. But my favorite team back then was actually the Boston Celtics. I don’t really know why, I guess I just liked the green color of their jerseys [laughs].
I understand you had ambitions to go pro…
Like every other kid, I used to dream about playing in the NBA one day. But after roughly one year of playing basketball, I got diagnosed with heart disease — so I had to stop every physical activity. I didn’t play basketball, nor could I take part in physical education in school, for the next three years — and almost went crazy. Before going to high school, I convinced my parents to let me play basketball again — but I missed the most important years, so basketball became more of a recreational thing from that point on. My biggest basketball achievements were scoring 45 points in a youth game and winning the recreational 3x3 national championship. I actually played [with] the Slovenian third and fourth division until last year, just to be active and hang out with friends — so not much of a real basketball career [laughs].
Can you tell us more about your heart condition and how it affected your career?
When I was 11, I collapsed in church and lost consciousness for the next six hours. I remember going out of church to get some fresh air and the next thing I remember was a glimpse of being carried to the hospital. I spent the next three weeks in [the] hospital. It was really scary for an 11-year-old kid, because my dreams were shattered and [the] doctors told me I could never play any sports in my life again. Later that year, the doctors discovered I had Long QT syndrome — a heart rhythm condition that causes fast, chaotic heartbeats. These rapid heartbeats might trigger you to suddenly faint. Some people with the condition have seizures. In some severe cases, LQTS can also cause sudden death — but fortunately, the worst that happened to me was having a concussion.
At [that] time, I developed a routine where I would [be thankful] for the day I got to spend with the people I love and hope for another day tomorrow — and with every new day, I had nothing else to do than watch cartoons and draw in my free time.
I never had any problems again. And now, looking back at that period, I feel kind of thankful — because this disease pushed me [onto] the path I’m walking on today.
How so? Please elaborate.
As mentioned, I have been drawing since I was a kid — but then the heart condition really made me “seated.” I spent my free time as a kid in front of the TV, watching my favorite cartoons and drawing. I actually played through drawing. I would draw different scenes of how the characters fight, so I didn’t need toys [laughs]. After I got back to playing basketball, I didn’t have much time for drawing — but I would still draw funny characters during classes. I also spent a lot of time creating comic-like headlines in my school notes.
At the end of high school, my former teammate introduced me to graphic design and the possibility of [it] being my career… I went to study graphic and interactive communications at the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Engineering in Ljubljana, where I first opened Adobe Creative Suite.
When did you realize you wanted to be a professional artist?
In my last year of college, I started posting one basketball illustration a day on my Instagram. When I saw how many people sent me DMs, wanting me to create some custom illustrations for them or their clients, it gave me the confidence to pursue it as a career. As you can see on my art page, I mainly focus on sports art.
After four months of doing that, I got my first job as an illustrator [for] the Lithuanian basketball club Vytautas in the summer when LaMelo and LiAngelo Ball went to play there. I also got the opportunity to create some commitment art for high school basketball players deciding what college they [were] going to attend. I then worked with some American agencies, STN Digital being one of them, where I would create custom illustrations for their clients. That’s when I realized I could be a freelance illustrator and I went for it.
Would you consider yourself self-taught?
I’m self-taught, yes. I tried to combine what I knew from drawing as a kid and combine it with the software we used in college to find the best mix [of styles]. I developed my own style and tried to improve from one illustration to the next. Fortunately, we have YouTube — where we can find a lot of useful tutorials, and this definitely made it easier.
What do you consider “good” art?
It’s hard to say what good art looks like. This is very subjective. Every artwork is its own story and it really depends on each individual person who is looking at the artwork. They are the ones who decide if the art is good. In my opinion, I try to focus on the message that each artwork holds. In reality, art is trying to tell us a story, an idea [or] a concept. I try to figure out what that message is — and if I like the message, there’s almost no way I don’t like the art.
What were some of your favorite design projects?
Before I worked as a freelance illustrator and graphic designer, I had the opportunity to work with STN Digital and my favorite project with them was creating art for Sunday Night Football. Every week, I would create two illustrations, in case team A or team B [won]. We did this for the whole regular season and playoffs. It was really fun working with the guys and girls over there.
Another fun project I was part of was for EuroLeague. They created a YouTube series called “EuroLeague Breakdown,” and they needed some illustrations for intros.
But the project I hold dearest to my heart was actually creating a t-shirt illustration of Goran Dragić and Luka Dončić, which was worn by more than 2,000 Slovenian fans in Miami — when the Miami Heat played against the Dallas Mavericks in 2019.
How did you get into NFTs? What attracted you to the space?
I was actually introduced to NFTs through one of my best friends. He was investing in crypto and learned about NFTs. I got a message from him saying I should try to sell my art as NFTs and I did some research to find what the hype is about.
A month later, me and my girlfriend competed in a 24-hour creative competition called Cannes Young Lions, the biggest creative festival in the world. We managed to win the competition with a concept that used NFTs and I thought to myself, “Maybe I should give this a try?”
What was the inspiration for “Ballies?”
A mix of different things inspired “Ballies,” really. Growing up, I collected “Pokémon” and “Yu-Gi-Oh!” cards, and played basketball — and doing that, you end up playing “NBA 2K.” My initial idea was to have basketball-themed cards you are able to play with.
At that time, I was working at the [Basketball Federation of Slovenia] and I got introduced to Klemen Gradišar and Tomasz Krzystek, the guys from Blocsport.one. We tried to create some Slovenian national team NFT collectibles. The project didn’t happen in the end, but we stayed in touch. I pitched them the idea and they were willing to help me bring it to life. After some brainstorming with the team, we came to the [conclusion] that bringing these basketball characters to life and playing an actual basketball game with them would be a huge thing.
How did you connect with the ambassadors for “Ballies?”
As a freelance illustrator, and then working at the Basketball Federation, I have been in contact with various basketball players — and with the help of Klemen Gradišar, we managed to bring a few on board.
We talked to a lot of guys before starting this project — but in the end, we wanted ambassadors who believe in the project and would be part of the team for the long run. We also wanted to mix and match them — some international, some European, some well-known [and] some upcoming — giving diversity to the team. What connects them is also big heart and simply being great dudes.
Browse Keivo and Blocsport.one’s “Ballies” collection.
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Editor’s Note (Oct. 10, 2022): an earlier version of this article was originally published on March 31, 2022 and has since been edited and/or updated.
