R.I.P. Taylor Hawkins

This is a shocking and incredibly sad loss.  I think Taylor, aside from being the beloved frenetic drummer he was, was universally lauded for being a 'good dude'.  He left behind a wife, 3 kids and a legion of fans.

The above card was part of a 5 card mini-set that was suggested by a follower of this page and based on an ad the Foo Fighters did ahead of Super Bowl LIII.  I'm still in awe that that same person was able to not only get all 5 cards signed for me, but also gave a set to each member of FF, for which I'm told each member got a kick out of them.  None of the 5 cards will ever leave my personal collection.  I am, like most are, bummed about Taylor so this card is really bitter sweet now.

Emma Watson, Just For Fun

I came upon a the above picture of Emma Watson in a bright red (my favorite color) floral lace dress and it gave me an idea for a the card you see above.  This is an original autograph card design of mine.  I title the files I've done in this style as "slim autograph cards".  Typically they're clean with a little stylizing and plenty of white space to make an autograph pop.  This one turned out the way I pictured it in my head so I was pretty pleased with the end result.

To the best of my knowledge Emma Watson doesn't do much signing, but if she ever does do a private signing or something and it isn't a budget breaker I'll have a card ready to go.

Tracy Morgan

Back in October of 2021 the hilarious Tracy Morgan went on Jimmy Kimmel Live to promote his television show The Last O.G.  He came out for his segment inexplicably dressed in a full Superman get-up.  His reasoning?  Tracy said he was tired of Superman being white, and that his rendition was "black, with a gut".

To me Tracy Morgan is one of those comedians that is funny simply by his voice and mannerisms.  His Brian Fellows SNL skits are some of my favorites of all-time.

1978 Topps Superman

I thought it'd be fun to make a mock Tracy Morgan Superman card in the style of the 1978 Superman set by Topps.  Instead of framing it like on of the base cards I went with the sticker design.  I always liked the look of the stickers that were typically part of Topps' non-sport sets back then.  My goal was to replicate the 'perfectly imperfect' look of those stickers, of most note is the die-cut not quite lining up.  I thought that would give a  more authentic feel.  It's worth pointing out that this, like my Leia sticker, is not an actual peelable sticker, it's just made to look like one.

The reverse sides of the 1978 Superman stickers were blank white backs.  I decided it would be better to instead have this Tracy Morgan faux sticker card look like part of a puzzle back which Topps started doing a few years later.

Canseco's Dome Run

Jose Canseco is one of the more notable names from an incredibly star-studded era in major league baseball.  Jose put up monster numbers on the field as well as was the center of a decent amount of controversy over the years off of the field.

One of Jose's most memorable moments was equal parts bizarre and inexplicable.   On May 26, 1993 in a game where the Texas Rangers were in Cleveland to take on the Indians.  Indians infielder Carlos Martinez hit a fly ball to the warning track in right field, which looked like it was going be a routine out for Canseco.  That's not exactly what happened though.  Somehow Canseco lost the ball and it ended up plunking him in the head and bouncing over the wall for a homerun.  It's one of the damndest things you'll ever see.

Typically my cards have a tinge of humor to them so making this moment into a custom card only made sense to me.  The only question was how was it to look?  I've been wanting to use the T206 tobacco card again ever since making the smoking Dave Parker card.  I thought it'd be fun to throw this card into that particular template.

Zehra Güneş

Zehra Güneş is a Turkish volleyball standout.  One of her pictures came up as I was scrolling through the Instagram discovery page.  I 'liked' it and with the way IG works her pics are in heavy rotation on that page now.  I decided that it was a sign that the 2021 Turkish League MVP should get her own custom trading card.

This card is done in the style of the 1992-93 Upper Deck McDonald's basketball set. 

Truly Humbling

I started making my own custom trading cards back in 2015 just for my own kicks.  I just thought it was a fun project for my free time and creative edification.  Once I found that I could create passable physical cards it began to snowball.  When I say that, I mean I got hooked on creating cards for myself that, as a lifelong trading card collector, I always wished had existed in one form or another.  I started posting them online for anyone who might wanna get nostalgic feel-goods from my nerd shit.  I never thought there would be any kind of following or that my cards would somehow be a brand for gen-Xers like myself who weren't so keen on being grown-ups 100% of the time.

Although I'm still making my cards primarily for me, I do GREATLY appreciate whenever anyone takes enough of a liking to them to want to collect these cards.  Sincere as one can be I'm truly honored whenever anyone gets excited about getting copies of these cards.  It's never once been lost on me or taken for granted.

There's a gentleman in New York, also a creative type, that owns a number of my little 2.5" x 3.5" pop-culture creations.  He and I did a virtual fist-bump many years ago to my Fast Times set.  I love Fast Times at Ridgemont High, it's one of the movies I cite as being tied for first place in my list of favorites.  And, I've made more than a couple Fast Times cards throughout the years.

I got a message from him that he was submitting my cards in his work's newsletter under a section about 'most prized possessions' .  Obviously I was floored and very touched by the gesture.  He forwarded me the screen shot and was okay with me sharing it here which is what I'm doing now as it means a lot to me to hear that something I do makes others happy.  Even though I really am uncomfortable with any extra attention, it's always great to get affirmation that you're putting some positive out to the world even if it is something as silly as vintage inspired custom trading cards.

Avril Lavigne

This card came as a request from one of my best friends.  He doesn't even collect, he's just been a fan of Avril's for as long as I can remember.  Avril is a little topical at the moment having just released her seventh studio album.

The design is of course a 1989 Upper Deck baseball inspired design mixed with Avril's bubblegum punk rock aesthetic.  

Cara Delevingne

After spending so much time doing the 40 card Idle Hands set I've mainly been making single cards that are made in hopes of a through-the-mail autographs.  Mainly horror movie autograph cards. 

Every once in awhile though I'll run across a photo and take a screen-shot it for future card making.  That was the case with this card.  The photo is of English model Cara Delevingne donning a football helmet and jersey from a DKNY photoshoot for their 2014 Spring / Summer collection.

I was originally going to use an Upper Deck football inspired design.  UD is kind of my go to when it comes to female athlete cards (or models dressed as athletes).  The reason being is the photography on a gloss white stock is what Upper Deck was all about when they came out and changed the game in 1989.  I decided not to go with an Upper Deck inspired design just to switch things up a bit, but I did do this card on the same white gloss stock that I would have used for a UD inspired card.

I chose the 1989 Topps football inspired template.  I went this route due to the designs largely unobstructed photo area.  I thought it had just enough of a generic sports card look to make this card make sense.  I chose the color combination from Bo Jackson's card in this set because, well, Bo Jackson, c'mon.

Instead of recreating the '89 Topps football back I freestyled a back that I thought had more of an Upper Deck look for a true hybrid style of the two sports card titans.