By Sosi Sengal, Staff Reporter

After sustaining an injury, senior Henry Melrose found a different way to keep himself involved in sports by creating commitment graphics for his teammates and other athletes around the area.

Melrose has been playing baseball for Conestoga since his freshman year. During his junior year, he suffered an injury that took him out of baseball. To stay engaged in the recruitment process that he was supposed to take part in that year, Melrose turned his focus to creating commitment graphics. Creating these graphics has also become a way for him to make money through commissions, as his injury forced him to quit his previous job.

“I started making commitment edits for my peers around me after an injury took me out of baseball,” Melrose said.

Melrose uses Instagram to reach out to athletes, communicate and post his graphics. He takes the opinions and style preferences of the athlete into account and includes the details they would like to see incorporated. Apart from taking in the athlete’s preferences, he also uses his own stylistic approaches and choices.

“I pretty much just use my imagination,” Melrose said. “After getting the information I need from the athlete about their preferences, I find a picture of the school and/or a background of nature that the school represents.”

To create the graphics, Melrose uses Photoshop and Lightroom. Each edit is a multistep process that takes time and precision to complete. The entire process takes him around 2-4 hours as he incorporates different aspects of the school and athlete into each graphic.

“I add any logos and text such as sponsoring brand, school logo, my watermark, their name and signature, and the school’s name,” Melrose said. “I then bring it to Lightroom where I add visual effects to add emphasis.”

Senior Cooper Evers, Melrose’s first-ever client, commented on the process of getting a graphic created for his commitment.

“He sent me different options, and after looking over, I found the perfect one,” Evers said. “I was extremely happy with the results and got plenty of compliments.”

Balancing the responsibilities of being both a student and a recovering athlete, Melrose creates graphics as a way to use his downtime effectively and focus on being productive while recovering from his injury.

“I make sure all of my schoolwork is completed before working on edits, and I make sure to let the person know ahead of time so we’re on the same page, along with any deadlines they have for the edit,” Melrose said. “I consider working on them as my downtime, rather than scrolling through Instagram.”

Sosi Sengal can be reached at [email protected].