CARMEL, Ind. — A Carmel artist is staying connected to his passion through his canvas.
"I don't know how I really do it, it just comes to me," said 26-year-old Cody Shelton.
Six, sometimes seven days a week, you can find Shelton busy working in his garage in Carmel.
"My senior year of college, I happened to take a painting class and I kinda fell into it and then set up a studio in my apartment in college and never stopped from there," he said.
Shelton, who grew up playing and loving sports, now uses a paintbrush to make the game come to life.
"The first piece I did for an athlete was for Demetrius Jackson in South Bend, he played for Notre Dame," Shelton said.
Since then, his bristles have been busy. From Kobe Bryant to Giannis Antetokounmpo, to his two favorite pieces he's ever painted for a client - a canvas of Tom Brady and the famous Michigan "Fab Five."
"That total project took about five months," Shelton said. "The color combos and everything on that, that's probably my best work to date for sure."
Shelton has done a couple of Indianapolis Colts players, too. Most recently, running back Jonathan Taylor.
"So this is a picture I saw of Jonathan Taylor and it really spoke to me. This is last year against the Jaguars and I kinda wanted to make it a simpler style and with the paint I wanted to make it look like it was rippling off of him, the way he was running," Shelton said.
Sometimes he even collaborates with the athletes. Colts cornerback Kenny Moore II and Carolina Panthers safety Jeremy Chinn, a Fishers High School graduate, have taken the brush into their own hands.
"Decent artists?" asked 13Sports reporter Taylor Tannebaum.
"Decent artists, yeah," Shelton laughed.
Cody Shelton artwork
Shelton takes a lot of pride in his work. Each piece is personal for him.
"I put everything I have into them. I just want them to look at that piece and look at it forever and say, 'Wow he really did his thing on this piece,'" he said.
Working from his small studio in Carmel, Shelton has big dreams.
"I want to be known as world's best sports artist and have high-end artwork and push all these pieces out to athletes and sports fans all over the world," he said.
One stroke, one piece at a time.