Crash Davis

Here's my custom "Crash" Davis.  As a explained in the Larry Hockett post when I decided to make cards from the movie Bull Durham I did not know Topps had already made these as an insert for their 2016 Topps Archives set.

All-in-all I have to say I prefer my card to theirs.  I like the photo I found.  To me it makes it look more like an actual baseball card.  And, as I stated in the other post, I like it saying Bulls rather than Bull Durham.  Again, because it makes it look more authentic.

2016 Topps Archives

I don't think Kevin Costner necessarily does a lot of signing through the mail, but I did have a temporary address for a play he was doing at the end of summer in Connecticut that came through for me.  I would say that this has to be one my biggest TTM successes to date.

C'mon Meat, Throw Me That Weak-Ass Shit!

Henry Rowengartner

I wanted to post this one to coincide with the Chicago Cubs thrilling World Series win, but I got bogged down with other stuff.  Better late than never.

Nine times out of ten when I make a card of a movie character I try to use a card design from the year of the movie's release.  Rookie of the Year came out in 1993.  I really feel no nostalgic kinship to any baseball card set after 1990, so it just wouldn't excite me to reproduce a 1993 baseball card design for this card.  So, I went with a design I've been wanting to use for awhile, the 1988 Donruss baseball set. Now, as a kid I was not particularly fond of these cards.  Don't get me wrong, if I was at a corner store that didn't have Topps, I would settle for Donruss.  I guess I just didn't "get" the design. I mean I still don't, actually.  Are those like some sort of Mario Bros. pipes?  I seriously don't know. Plus, there was no managers in the set.  No Sparky Anderson. For some reason 8 year old me saw the guy in charge of the Tigers' players as somewhat of a larger-than-life figure.  Third, I was a mark for Topps' All-Star Rookie trophy (it always made me look at Matt Nokes like a super hero champion of baseball), so Donruss' Rated Rookie logo suffered by comparison to me.  Strike four, I couldn't have cared less about putting together the Warren Spahn puzzle from the perforated puzzle cards.  But I will freely admit that the Diamond King subset was pretty dope.

I now have a great appreciation for this set and it's weird red and blue tubes.  If for no other reason than nostalgia.  In 1988 I would have traded oxygen and food for baseball cards.

Design wise it was not too particularly challenging, but I love the way this came out.  Of course I had to add the "Rated Rookie" graphic for this card as it would be near criminal not to for a movie called Rookie of the Year.

As for the movie, it's a fun enough watch.  Interestingly the star of the movie, Thomas Ian Nicholas, and I are the same age.  So, between this and his role in the American Pie franchise, his movies followed the coming of age timeline of my own life.  Fingers crossed on getting this one back and signed from him.

UPDATE: Got this signed at the 2017 Motor City Comic Con

I Ain't Got Time To Bleed!

Some really cool movies came out in 1987, but Predator may be the coolest.  Former MN Governor Jesse "The Body" Ventura is 1B to future "Governator" Arnold Swarzenegger's 1A when it comes to badassery in this movie.  Arny gets the A designation because he manager ice that "ugly motherfucker" of an alien Predator, but, other than that, they're neck-and-neck in my opinion.

This card is designed after the 1987 Topps football set.  I originally set out to model it after the baseball set from '87 but that damn wood grain gave my no formal photoshop training ass fits.  In retrospect I'm glad it did because I love the way this template looks.  Usually I try to get a close match to the original card's font, but in this case I went with the movie's font and I like the way that came together.  In the space designated for "Topps All Pro" I decided to give "Blain" credit for being a "sexual tyrannosaurus".  Then, I could not have asked for a more fitting photo with a fresh explosion in the background and Sergeant Blain Cooper pressing forward wielding his M134 Minigun with a cheek full of sexual tyrannosaurus fuel.

Rowdy Ronda Rousey

With the announcement that Ronda Rousey will be fighting to regain her title at UFC 207 I thought it'd be the perfect time to show my Ronda custom.

For this one I used the 1985 Topps Rambo: First Blood Part II trading cards.  I'm a HUGE Sly fan, so I've always loved this card set.  I've still got some of my original Rambo cards.  They look like I've been carrying them around in my back pocket since 1985.

I saw the barbed wire on the border and thought it would go well with a UFC cage theme.  I masked out the middle and put probably my favorite Ronda image as the main picture.  Then, recreated the yellow action burst in the lower left as a vector.  I spent a ton of time masking out the smaller Ronda image to go inside of it, as I usually do, stressing out over single pixels. I was really happy how this one came out.  Now all that's left is for 'Rowdy' Rousey kicks some ass on December 30th!

For a comparison

UPDATE: (07/31/17) Got this in the mail today.

Your Karate's A Joke!

I love The Karate Kid 1-3, and probably in that order.  Although, I may have seen 3 the most due to how much it came on cable in the early '90s.  While it's not as good of a story as the original, or has the scenery of the first sequel, it does have it's moments.  Mike Barnes, Terry Silver, and Sensei Kreese make for a formidable antagonist triple threat, and then throw in "Snake" for a good 'just want to punch that guy in the face' factor.

Two things that always bothered me about the movie.  For one, it's the only one where Daniel San doesn't exactly "get the girl".  And secondly, if you follow the timeline I believe it would put Daniel LaRusso over the age of 18, so obviously no longer able to compete in the All Valley Under 18 Karate Tournament.

The card is inspired by the 1989 Topps Baseball set - the year the movie was released.  I didn't really use any mask layers, I just rebuilt the card with vectors and found a script style font that was passable.  The extra "Karate's Bad Boy" sash in the upper left is an additional customization inspired by the 1988 Topps nameplate. I wanted to add that Bad Boy tag line in some way to the card and that's what I came up with. Plus, I think it's the perfect image for that.

I'm really happy about the way this one came out and hoping for a TTM success from Sean Kanan.

For a comparison

Also see: You Keep For Your Collection, I Know You Like It

Alexandra Daddario

This card utilizes the iconic 1977 Topps Star Wars design for Alexandra Daddario's character "Blake" in 2015's San Andreas. I saw this movie over my buddy's house.  He has the whole 3-D projection surround sound thing going on.  The ultimate way to watch a natural disaster movie, and 3-D Alex was a nice treat as well.

For the card there wasn't a whole lot to do.  Most of the time spent was masking out the yellow action burst thing.  Then I got a hold of a Star Wars-esque font and viola! I like Star Wars, but I wouldn't consider myself a "Star Wars geek".  But, I do love the Topps Star Wars card set.  So vintage, and instantly recognizable.

This card went out awhile back and I've got my fingers crossed for a TTM success on it.

Magnum P.I.

Here's another with the 1985 Topps Baseball design.  Again, when I first started making customs I used this template almost exclusively.  Although Donruss did put out a Magnum P.I. set in 1983, I wanted to make a card teasing Thomas Magnum as a baseball player since he's always wearing the Tigers hat while doing his Hawaii P.I. work... while driving a Ferrari.  What a gig.