PORTSMOUTH — It wasn’t her passion for the New England Patriots — or the NFL in general, for that matter — that brought Karyn Jimenez-Elliott to Gillette Stadium over the weekend.

“The funny thing is, I know nothing about football,” the Common Fence Point resident admitted as she rode with her family — husband, Brandon Elliott, and son, Greyson — to Foxborough to make the 1 p.m. kickoff against the Los Angeles Chargers on Saturday.

What brought her to Gillette, actually, was her exceptional talent in illustration and design.

A freelance designer who’s been an associate professor of graphic design at Johnson & Wales University since 2007, Karyn received the rare honor of creating the game day poster for the Patriots/Chargers game. While her family didn’t get to witness much of a contest — the Patriots were trounced, 40-7 — her poster featuring running back Rhamondre Stevenson proved to be one of the highlights of her 20-plus years in the design industry.

But how did someone who’s not a football fan even get such a prestigious gig? 

Turns out social media is good for some things, as Karina Santos, the digital design manager for the New England Patriots, found Karyn on Linkedin. The Patriots were looking for local artists to design limited-edition posters for all the home game matchups this season. Was she interested?

“You had to live in New England; that was one of the first stipulations,” said Karyn, who readily agreed.

Because the NFL wasn’t producing the posters, the Patriots’ name or logo could not be used — only New England vs. Los Angeles, she said. Each poster, however, highlights a Patriots player, whom the artist has a hand in choosing.

“We were given basically about three to four weeks to do the design and we had to choose three players out of a list,” Karyn said. “I asked my husband who he would choose, and then I looked at all the players. I personally love drawing texture. The minute I saw Rhamondre, I knew I wanted to draw him. I absolutely love his hair.”

Santos then shared a library of Stevenson photos to use as reference. “She had to approve which photo and then I had to submit a sketch,” she said. 

Neither Santos or anyone else in the Patriots organization gave her pointers on techniques she should use for the poster.

“They chose me because they liked my illustration style,” she said. “They want every artist to do their own style. I submitted only one sketch and they loved it. The only thing they asked me to add was a lightning bolt to give the Chargers a little more prominence.” (The Los Angeles team uses a lightning bolt in its logo.)

Visit to Gillette Stadium

The Patriots made 275 prints of Karyn’s poster, then asked her to come to Foxborough to sign all of them. She brought her mom and to her surprise, the day turned out to be a mini-reunion of sorts.

“The coolest part for me is that one of my former students, Ryan Paul, who graduated in 2009 or 2010, was working for the Kraft Foundation,” said Karyn. While she didn’t know much about football, she was well aware of the Kraft Foundation’s philanthropic efforts to promote equity and social justice issues, youth leadership, quality healthcare, and more. Karyn got to surprise Paul and get a picture with him. 

Paul wasn’t the only former student of Karyn’s who’s part of the story. One of her design students from 2009 or 2010, Sandra Ristau, designed the game day poster for the Oct. 6 Miami Dolphins matchup.

“She’s crazy talented. Her illustration was awesome,” Karyn said.

The uniquely numbered posters are available in the pro shop and online for $30. “I don’t get any of that,” she said. “They gave me three tickets to the game today, and $1,000 for doing it — plus the first 10 prints of the posters.”