College Cuber makes $8,000 mosaics of sports stars from cubes
Dylan Sadiq, known as “The College Cuber” charges $8,000 for his mosaics made of cubes. Pro teams including the NBA’s Detroit Pistons have purchased the artwork.
Courtesy: Dylan Sadiq | The College Cuber
It started with a portrait of his favorite basketball player, Luka Doncic. Then came fellow NBA star Damian Lillard. International soccer clubs like Manchester United and FC Barcelona took notice. A Major League Baseball team reached out, as did the National Football League.
Before he knew it, Dylan Sadiq was inundated with requests for his mosaics consisting of cubes (as in Rubik’s Cubes, but copycats). Sadiq, 21, is a student at Rutgers University, where he’s now known as the College Cuber.
Sadiq charges $8,000, and can make a cube portrait in under four hours. After getting traction on social media platforms and retweets on Twitter, teams including the NFL’s Tennessee Titans, National Hockey League’s New Jersey Devils and Major League Soccer’s Philadelphia Union and New York Red Bulls sought Sadiq’s work.
“This is not what I expected,” Sadiq told CNBC this week. While he was speaking, a new mosaic he created of Patrick Mahomes, the star quarterback of the Kansas City Chiefs, was going viral.
Covid ruined everything
Sadiq is currently in his final semester at Rutgers and plans to graduate with a degree in biomedical engineering. But he doesn’t envision pursuing a career in the field.
His interests changed during the pandemic, as virtual schooling failed to keep him engaged.
“When I was in person, I was grinding and studying,” he said. “I was getting immersed in my education. But since we’ve been online, it’s nowhere near the same, and it’s sad. I feel like I didn’t learn much. If you put me in a situation to make an impact, I don’t even know how I can help.”
With no opportunities for in-person internships or hands-on experience in school, Sadiq took a detour. He combined his social media accounts and his interest in engineering to master the Rubik’s Cube.
Dylan Sadiq, known as “The College Cuber” charges $8,000 for his mosaics made of cubes.
Courtesy: Dylan Sadiq | The College Cuber
Sadiq likes to tell the story of how his brother, Brandon, challenged him at age 10 to solve the cube. His reward was Activision Blizzard’s Call of Duty video game. Sadiq said it took him a week to complete the task.
In February 2021, Sadiq practiced solving cubes so he could get faster. Then he turned his newfound skill into an avenue for art creation.
Sadiq purchased $1,000 worth of cubes and figured out how to assemble 560 pieces to create a mosaic of Doncic, the Dallas Mavericks’ all-NBA guard. He posted it on Instagram in April, and the Mavericks noticed, sharing it with team’s followers. That sparked another mosaic of Lillard with similar results from the Portland Trail Blazers.
“I’m not sure Luka Doncic ever saw the mosaic,” Sadiq said. “And Mark Cuban, I’m not sure he saw it either,” he added.
Cuban, the owner of the Mavericks, told CNBC that he didn’t see it.
While Sadiq…
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