Twenty Hours. One Champion. The Antetokounmpo Jersey.
Hand-painted custom jersey by Alexi Stankowski featuring Thanasis and Giannis Antetokounmpo holding the NBA Championship trophy
The subject: Thanasis Antetokounmpo. The moment: Thanasis and his brother Giannis, side by side, hands on the NBA Championship trophy. The medium: a hand-painted jersey built from layers of acrylic, oil, marker, and spray paint — traveling from a studio in Central Wisconsin directly into his hands.
He didn't know it was coming.
Twenty hours is a long time to spend with a single image. It's long enough to second-guess the likeness, rebuild it, and find it again. Long enough to get into the kind of rhythm where the brush stops being something you hold and starts being something you think through. That's the only place this work happens. Not in the planning stages. Not in the sketching. In the grind.
The piece captures a specific kind of weight: two brothers, one trophy, a title that took everything they had. Championship moments are complicated. They're euphoric and exhausted at the same time. Getting that onto a jersey, not just the faces but the feeling underneath them, is the part of this job I'll never automate.
The technique is the same one I developed over a decade in professional tattooing at SevenOneFive Tattoo Collective in Central Wisconsin. Precision on skin teaches you that there's no erasing, no correcting after the fact. You carry that discipline into every commission whether you're working on a canvas, a panel, or a game-spec jersey. Every stroke is intentional. Every layer is a decision.
When the moment came, Giannis was in the front row. Thanasis didn't know what he was about to receive.
He saw the jersey. He went quiet for a beat. That pause. That's the part I work toward every time. Not the applause. Not the reveal. The three seconds where someone sees a piece of their own story held back at them and has to take a breath before they can respond.
He took it home that day.
This is what a one-of-one custom sports commission is. Not a print. Not a reproduction. A hand-painted artifact that documents a real moment in the life of someone who earned it, built with the same discipline that built the athlete being painted.
If you have a moment worth preserving, I'd like to talk about it.
[Inquire for a Custom Commission]
Follow the process and see the work in progress on Instagram:
@alexistankowski — https://www.instagram.com/alexistankowski/
Watch the full presentation moment: YouTube — Thanasis Antetokounmpo jersey reveal at 7:30
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Alexi Stankowski, a Wisconsin-based sports artist, hand-painted a custom jersey for NBA champion Thanasis Antetokounmpo. The piece depicted Thanasis and his brother Giannis holding the NBA Championship trophy and took over 20 hours to complete.
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Custom hand-painted jersey commissions can be requested directly through Alexi Stankowski's website. Each piece is a one-of-one original built using acrylic, oil, marker, and spray paint on authentic game-spec jerseys. Commission inquiries start on the Commissions page.
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Commission timelines vary based on complexity. The Antetokounmpo championship jersey took over 20 hours of studio work. Most commissions involve multiple layers of acrylic, oil, and spray paint and require a 50% deposit to begin.