For my 9th Sustained Investigation, I decided to make a tribute piece of Tom Brady and his seventh ring won during the 2021 Super Bowl.

First, I created this "word art" type with the ESPN font highlighting Brady's top moments of this season inside each letter in the word "BRADY". I did this by creating writing "Brady" out with the text box tool then creating each image within a letter by outlining the letter, then placing a layer mask on the image. I repeated this process, and added a "7" with the brush tool in the middle of the design resembling his 7 Super Bowls.

These were the photos used in this process.

Next, I used these two images to serve as my upper portion of the background. I cut off the lower portion of the beach picture/sign to where the main focus would be the billboard. Additionally, I added palm trees on both the left and right side of the page using the quick selection tool in order to remove unwanted white space. Next, I added a layer of red to give it more of a buccaneers theme. I lowered the red layer to a opacity of 35% so every piece of the background could be easily seen. 

Next, I continued my top background with fireworks, which helps to add detail. No edits were necessary, besides slightly adjusting the size of the object. 

Next, I added a few detail oriented features. I needed to fill the space in the bottom, without taking too much of the viewers eye away from the center piece. I decided to create a text box that would accomplish this, and decreased the opacity to 15%. Additionally, I added a light gray layer behind the "Brady" layers along with a red brush of splatter paint to make the piece look more like a "Celebration".

Lastly, I added these two images, one the current TB logo, and the ship being a retro alternative lower. I placed these images on the bottom corners, matching in size, and adding a filtered overlay on each image. 

This is my finished piece.