Dirk Nowitzki

NBA Champion, league MVP, one of the all-time greats.  Dirk won my support over the years because by all accounts that I've seen or read he's a down-to-earth and humble guy.  Gotta root for that.  So this particular card is one I'm very proud to have in my collection.

I've wanted to use this design for forever, it's just that nothing really made sense to me with that wood grain outside of a baseball card.

The card is from Dirk's annual Heroes celebrity baseball game which he's been hosting since 2001 befitting charity.  While not '80s nostalgia I thought the '87 design would work nicely and give me a chance to finally the wood grained design.  I've used it since, but the Dirk card was the first one.

Waarrrriorrssss ...

I don't remember at exactly what age I first saw The Warriors, but I do know that I knew instantly that it was the type of movie I dug.  I'm definitely a 'cult classic' movie guy.

These cards were some of the earlier customs I did.  I was telling a guy I worked with about my custom cards that I'd started making and he suggested doing one of the Baseball Furies, and it was kind of a "duh" moment.  Of course that would make a kick ass baseball card.  They're done in the style of the 1979 Topps to coincide with the movie's release.  It was a good template for me to recreate at the time because it was not all that complicated.

I was super excited to get Mr. Hewitt's card back in short time.  But, why stop at the Furies?  Here's a look at my other through the mail successes from this set so far.

I actually got a chance to meet James Remar at the 2017 Motor City Comic-Con.  He was really kind to me and even threw in an additional signed "Ajax" picture because he liked my card.

Thomas G. Waites has an acting school in New York and is super kind and appreciative of his fan.

For director Walter Hill's card I used the movie's poster.  I've expressed my affection for vintage poster art in previous posts and The Warriors movie poster is right up there with the best for me.

This is what I got back from Terry Michos -- who is now a newscaster in Wappingers Falls, New York.  Now I'm not really one to try and put someone "on blast", but I just found this to be pretty lame.  So, he can completely fill up a Post-It with his fee schedule but can't simply sign his name to a card for my personal collection even when supplied the Sharpie, a self-addressed stamped envelope and a free card for himself?  Not to mention he wants ...$40?  The Warriors is really the only acting role of note for Mr. Michos. I think think he could have done better than this for a fan.

Before too long I want to revisit these cards and add more from the movie's other gangs.

The Wraith

I got a message a direct message from an Instagram friend, @creature1031, asking me if I had done cards from The Wraith (1986) yet. I told him that not only had I not done any, but I've never even heard of the movie, to which he recommended I go on Netflix and check it out.  So, I did just that.

Within the first couple of minutes of watching The Wraith I knew that "yes" I was going to make some cards.  Then, I started to feel embarrassed for myself having not known of this movie until now.  I even contemplated turning in my '80s kid card but figured I could atone by making some cool trading cards.

1986 Donruss

This movie is so cool. You've got a cast that features names like Charlie Sheen, Randy Quaid, and Clint Howard.  You've got a soundtrack with names like Mötley Crüe, Robert Palmer, Billy Idol, and Ozzy Ozbourne.  Add a smoking hot Sherilyn Fenn, a totally '80s-fied story and some really cool cars to get a movie that I literally love and have watched 4 times since -- some of it was for "trading card research", so save the complete loser accusations, even if it might be the case ... maybe.

For the template it was an easy choice, a 1986 Donruss inspired design. There's no way to build this choice up other than to say that it fits perfectly. In my opinion it fits better with these cards than it does the baseball cards. I could even imagine a similar design on the trim on the inside of the Turbo Interceptor.

I found making cards for this set like potato chips.  This is my largest set to date.  The only reason I stopped at 17 was lack of images to use.

Sara Underwood

I was forwarded the image you see in this card with a request for a custom baseball card.

This one was fun.  I finally got around to using the very distinguishable 1987 Topps baseball design. The 1987 Topps hold a very special place with me as they were the first wax I ever busted open.

There was a challenge in that Sara is not wearing a specific team jersey so there was no logical logo to put in the designated logo circle in the upper left.  I improvised and used some good ol' clip art. I'm very fond of how that part came out.  I did color coordinate the name plate to the jersey just as the name plates were color coded to the team colors.

Coach Klein

Here's my Coach Klein card from The Water Boy.  This is a movie that came out in 1998, and as far as card design goes, that's way out of my wheel house.  Instead I chose to go with the 1984 Topps football design.  One, because I wanted a design that called for a logo so I could utilize the SCLSU Mad Dogs logo, and secondly I already had the template created from using it to make Revenge Of The Nerds cards.

Here's my autographed copy.  I'd love to make more cards from this movie but as of now it seems as if Henry Winkler is is the only reliable TTM signer.

Bubba Newman

This card marks my first artist collaboration.  Kristian from kcdesignz.com contacted me with some cool suggestions for cards.  One of them was for a Bubba Newman card from the 1980 TV movie The Comeback Kid.  This was a movie I'd never heard of before.  I YouTube'd it and began watching. Within maybe 5 seconds I knew this was a card I'd be making.  I ended up watching the whole movie and now have my eye out for a VHS copy to add the the library.

The image I most wanted to use for the card was the one on the VHS slip cover.  Problem was there was a lot of other stuff that I'd have to remove before it was card ready.  I simply mentioned this to Kristin and before I knew it he e-mailed me a masterfully edited picture. The guy is quite the pixel wrangler, and that saved me a ton of time.

1980 Topps

For the card I went with the 1980 Topps baseball design.  This was a first for this template, although it had been on my radar for some time, it was just that nothing from 1980 quite piqued my interest enough.

I used a San Diego Padres card for the card's colors as the fictional minor league San Jose Stallions shared their uniform colors.

Regretfully this is another card I have no chance of getting signed.  I love John Ritter.  When I was a kid I didn't get all the double entendre humor that was Three's Company.  I was just a dumb kid.  It wasn't until I watched reruns later in life that I realized how brilliant of a comedian John Ritter really was.

Actually, I don't want to say 'no' chance ... I'm going to try my luck wit Ritter's co-star, Susan Dey, also pictured on the card.

Also, I enlisted Kristian's skills a second time for some help on a preexisting card. I'll be updating that post and this one soon with our results.

GPK's Tangerine

One of my great loves from childhood is Garbage Pail Kids cards.  There was a point in time where life was measured .25 at a time; going to the party store and geeking out when a new series hit the counter.  Even today, looking through old Garbage Pail Kids transports me back to spreading my cards out on my bedroom floor and admiring the artwork or trying to complete the puzzle on the card backs.

I've been wanting to somehow make a Garbage Pail inspired custom card.  But, nothing seemed to make sense with the design.  I mean, I like to think my cards a 50% vintage design and 50% pop culture. They blend equal parts.  GPK's on the other hand I just thought it always be Garbage Pail top heavy. Plus, GPK's are illustrations and I wasn't about to try and paint a picture, ya know?

Then, it hit me.  A GPK style card from the 1987 movie. Man, did I love the ... cards.

For the first in what is sure to be a series of cards I chose Katie Barberi's character, Tangerine.

I found a picture that works as a horizontal card.  I chose to mask some of the Garbage Pail logo with Tangerine's hair as opposed to dropping it in front of her.  I made the Garbage Pail logo like the one seen on the movie poster.  It's not a sticker but I thought it'd cool touch to add the famous "peel here" arrow and a faux sticker die cut.  I think it turned out gross, which is Garbage Pail for great.

UPDATE: Katie Barberi shared this on her official Instagram and Twitter

UPDATE #2:: TTM success!