Cardart without borders

As a creative-type card collector, I've longed to get into the #cardart scene that popped up during the pandemic. I've whipped up tons of customs over the years, but "making cards" without relying on photoshop and a printer is a whole 'nother ballgame. Took a while, but I think I've found my niche with border art. I take cool (but cheap) cards with plain borders and fill them it, either as "full bleed" imagining a larger image, or as a "mashup" inspired by a different design, by just drawing on them freehand. I gave a sneak peek in my previous post with some early attempts, but this post is more of an official "opening" of my would-be gallery. Check it out...

Rickey's 1989 Topps Traded is one of his best-looking cards and quickly popped to mind when this idea first hit me.

Fun to use some imagination filling in the catcher with his hand up Boggs' butt.

Now we're into the mashups. 1985 Donruss is one of my favorite designs to vandalize cards with, as seen last post.

The Topps/Donruss 1988 mashup is another go-to of mine. These make my brain go "Wait, what?" for a millisecond when I look at them (which I like). If I'm distracted, I turn them over expecting to see the standard Donruss back, lol.

Some of my early efforts with Upper Deck cards, including unsolicited collaborations with Vernon Wells, Sr.

This series making Bo Jackson's 1988 Topps card even bluer might be my favorite so far. You can bet I'll be doing more of these.

I even classed it up with a special stamp. Every card I draw on is finalized by having the back stamped, signed, and dated with the year. I don't bother to "number" them because I want to be free to repeat myself if I want to, but I suppose technically speaking they're all "1/1" since I couldn't repeat my freehand drawing exactly, even if I tried.

Still unemployed after getting laid off earlier this year, I would love to work this artsy endeavor into a side-hustle that could help subsidize my hobby purchases at the minimum, or ideally even create a little stream of household income and help me squeak by without getting another dreaded real job for the time being. I'm hoping that these, along with my other cardboard creations such as the creamy 1991 Fleer mods, will find a market for "homemade parallels" or whatever you wanna call this style of cardart. After not seeing much interest on Etsy, I updated my eBay account to let me start selling on there again for the first time in years and have slowly started putting together a few listings.

You can check out my stuff on eBay at https://www.ebay.com/usr/breakdowncards

I'm hoping to add new stuff weekly, if not daily, until I've got a decent selection available. And I'd love to work out off-eBay deals for this stuff, too, so feel free to get in touch regarding a trade, purchase, or commission-request and we can hammer out a deal. (I'll likely add a cardart section to my Trade Bait Page soon.)

I've got a lot of ideas cookin' up that I'm excited about-- border art and beyond-- so expect more stuff from me over the next while. Hopefully you don't hate it! :)