BASEHOR, Kan. — Caitlyn Snelling fell into her sports artist profession by accident. With no prior training, she just wanted to find artwork she actually liked for her Chiefs fan cave renovation. With no luck, she picked up a colored pencil and did it herself.

Chiefs fan turned sports artist captures emotional moments with colored pencils

“I just draw what I see,” Snelling said.

Snelling uses colored pencils to bring each drawing into its moment, capturing the essence of Kansas City Chiefs players and memorable plays.

STEVE SILVESTRI/KSHB Caitlyn Snelling, Sports Artist

“It’s really those moments that like the cracked helmet, the Super Bowl celebrations, the how Super Bowl with like, just big moments, big players, things that are just memorable,” Snelling said.

But it doesn’t have to just be memorable for her to spend hours, days, even months to draw something. There is something all of her pictures have in common — from Chris Jones to Andy Reid to Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift: emotion.

“I’m looking for that feeling, and it’s not even a feeling of the person on the page. It’s the feeling that the fan had when they were watching it,” Snelling said. “I want that moment where it was just like heartbreaking or exciting, or just a really strong emotion that when you look at it, you can go back to that moment and just feel exactly what you felt then.”

It takes a lot of work and detail to make each drawing look as real as possible. She has the autographs that show player appreciation and has even worked with the Kansas City Chiefs organization before on special projects, like a 2021 home opener poster featuring former head coach Marty Schottenheimer.

Snelling’s latest creation is her biggest yet: a lifesize drawing of Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce.

“This piece is something I created myself. It’s not a real moment but it is a real moment. They do this all the time. This is one of the things that Mahomes and Kelce do, that hitting helmets together and yelling and after a big play. And I didn’t have a photo of that moment that I loved, that I was looking through. I look through probably 1000s of photos before each drawing, so I just pick bits and pieces of what I like and make something that gives you that feeling,” Snelling said.

The feeling Snelling gets when watching and drawing her team through the good and the bad, through the hours of meticulous detail — passion.

“I love it. I love the team. I love the people on the team. I love the personalities, and also like what they do for our community. I just, I’m one of those Chiefs fans, where I don’t like to invite a lot of people over to watch the game, because I get really into it and scare people. But it’s, it’s just a passion, and I really, I really enjoy it,” said Snelling.

Something to make you appreciate the detail it takes for Snelling to draw that precisely — she said there is no “Chiefs red” colored pencil. She is layering yellow, neon pink, and different reds on top to make it look as real as possible.