Featured custom card: 1989 Upper Deck Addison Russell

Shortstop Addison Russell was drafted in 2012 by the Oakland Athletics and in his first professional season in 2013 - reached AAA for a cup of coffee after spending much of the minor league season in A-ball in the California League.

I downloaded a 1989 Upper Deck template posted on Sportscollectors.net, the one I used to create a Michael Roth card - I found an A's logo online and an image of Russell I liked, so I could slap things together.

I added a version with the 'Star Rookie' logo - as a 'late edit' to reflect the idea that there is some anticipation to see what this guy can do in the Major Leagues in the near future.

Unlike the Roth card, I put the Russell customs together on Photoshop - after I had found out in a SCN message board post, that there was a version of the image editing program available online for free.

Featured custom card: 1989 Upper Deck Michael Roth High Number

Michael Roth was a do-everything pitcher in college and was a 9th round pick by the Angels in 2012 - it still maybe the case where his pro career might not last relatively long, but he's already reached the Major Leagues this past season and who knows what can happen when a guy is just 23.

To create the card, I downloaded a 1989 Upper Deck template posted on Sportscollectors.net, where all I needed to do was play with the image, name, team logo and position in a photo editor like Photoshop - I'm not so proficient with photo editors and all I have is GIMP, so I thought it was still kind of hard to figure out how to drop a photo in, how to add my own text and find a suitable logo until I started playing with things to conjure up this custom card of Roth.

Ryan Braun - 2011 National League MVP busted for failed PED test

I liked Ryan Braun as much as I did any superstar in the MLB - sucks he apparently tested positive for PEDs, but now I'll have one less reason to collect his cards for practical purposes and it's off the Brauny bandwagon for me.

A quick apology and a probably 'one and only' presser regarding whatever he did or didn't do that set off his positive test - maybe the most likely course of action for Braun and the Milwaukee Brewers.

The worst thing would be to deny and challenge - he was entrenched as the Brewers 'face of the franchise' and he is still has a 'lifetime' contract with the organization.

If Braun lets it be and owns up to his supposed mistake, the 'white knights' of the media will have no choice but to bury his story - he can be back playing without much scrutiny after his 50-game suspension is over.

Featured custom card: 1997 Fleer Ultra football Specialists insert Adrian Gonzalez

I wanted to try something a little different and used an insert card from another sport [football] to create a custom baseball card of San Diego Padres first baseman Adrian Gonzalez - I think the actual inserts correspond with colors from a particular NFL team.

I like the cards because they are die-cuts - a file folder graphic used on the original inserts with a faux paper clip going through the image used for the cards.

I'll have to go do some 'research' to see what if there was a 'theme' to the Specialists inserts - though I assume it was another run of the mill insert set.

Featured custom card: 1989 Topps K-Mart Dream Team Maria Sharapova

Forget Joe Mauer, forget Albert Pujols, forget Vladdy Guerrero - if I was starting a 'Dream Team' right now, tennis star Maria Sharapova would be at the top of my list.

I like the 1989 Topps K-Mart Dream Team because the pink background on the stripe where her name is implies a more a feminine quality to the card - the cards sort of have a tacky look to them with a 'Dream Team' heading and the K-Mart logo.

Still, it isn't exactly a mainstream card - which makes it sort of unique for the purpose of generating this fantasy rendition.

Featured custom card: 1981 Topps Alex Avila update

Here is an update to an image I just put together - the font on player's name was off on the original rendition and I wanted to create a more faithful manipulation, so the card looks a little bit more authentic.

Featured custom card: 1990 Score McDonald's Brett Wallace

Brett Wallace is a slick hitting, particularly rotund prospect - who was recently traded from the Oakland Athletics to the Toronto Blue Jays for outfielder Michael Taylor.

Wallace was the key piece acquired from the St. Louis Cardinals in the Matt Holliday trade last July - but apparently Oakland's front office conceded Wallace was a guy who realistically has no shot at sticking at third base and was a future first baseman/designated hitter type.

However, it seems like a make or break year for Oakland first baseman Daric Barton to stick in the Major Leagues next year - with top prospect Chris Carter coming up from the minor leagues sooner than later.

I like the 1990 Score McDonald's because it is an oddball card - right now, I'm just trying to get the ball rolling and generate different 'make believe' trading cards of various players, so I can sharpen my skills.

Featured custom card: 1981 Topps Alex Avila #455

Alex Avila had a pretty good debut season in the Major Leagues in 2009 - though it remains to be seen if he replicate his success, when given the opportunity to stick for a full season.

I don't particularly like the 1981 Topps design, but wanted to see if I create a 'card' of Avila - using a the graphics of a nearly 30-year old card release.

Featured custom card: 2010 Upper Deck 'Tribute to 90' Buster Posey #1

I've been dabbling with the idea of creating my own custom [or tribute] cards and while I'm a total newb, I hope to learn and gain some expertise - just to come up with unique images of trading cards, I'd never pull out of packs or find as singles anywhere, because they exist only in fantasy.

I didn't know how to really make these fantasy cards, though reading a tutorial on making your own baseball cards - inspired me to mess around on Photoshop and see what I can whip up on the fly.

I wanted create a Buster Posey card since he is probably going to be one of the top rookies in 2010, but he came up too late to have a 2009 MLBPA Rookie logo card produced - it is still a mystery, how any of the 2010 UD cards are going to look, especially if it is only licensed by the Players Association and not Major League Baseball.

For me, the most interesting aspect of custom/tribute cards is the ability to manipulate an original trading card design - it blew my mind to think custom/tribute cards using certain trading card designs were created by scratch.

With the most basic custom/tribute cards, all I really had to do was find an image/scan of a trading card - and change certain qualities on the original card, through an image editing program like Photoshop.

I can remove an original image on a trading card, but still retain the basic graphics as a template to layer onto a suitable image - before I do anything else, I have to make sure the image is proportional and not stretched.

It is kind of fun trying to cobble up something together - I'm not going to get every single thing right, but creating custom/tribute cards seems more fun than maybe simply consuming, purchasing, buying, picking up new cards.

The Posey 'card' is designed with the idea UD creates an insert set of 2010 rookies with the 1990 design and old school Star Rookie logo as a tribute [maybe as a potential 'Fat Pack' insert] - Posey's potential would definitely land him the No. 1 spot for 2010, if UD still had its Star Rookie subset after all these years.

Places of note -

Goose Joak

Custom Card Blog

Creating a Custom Retro Card