Are Custom Cards the Future?

As someone who A) has created many cards of my own, and B) greatly enjoys the work of my fellow indie artists and makers, I am taking a detour from my usual focus and instead turning my attention to the future: specifically, the future of custom cards.

The inspiration for this article came from this recent post by Charles Mandel of Helmar Brewing.

The post echoes a sentiment on the Helmar website, which reads: “I believe that quality original art (coupled with a well-known brand) has great potential growth within our hobby. Collectors are increasingly less interested in the mass produced items and more appreciative of the innovative art and products of those who are devoted to the game for its own sake. I join those who think that this type of handmade, quality item will be of supreme interest to future collectors.”

Provided you’re not a stickler for math, I’m going to say that I 100% agree and 50% disagree with these opinions. 

Where I Agree

I absolutely agree that most of the independently produced cards and “card art” out there today runs laps around Topps, Panini, and the like when it comes to creativity, effort, and—yes, this is totally a thing!—love. Take this 1969 Topps-style Helmar Jim Gilliam decal, for example. What’s not to like? (By the way, these decals really stick, as the Helmar Tommy Davis on my laptop can attest.)

Furthermore, we have precedent in the Hobby for the future collectability of independently produced offerings. Cards from TCMA, Bob Laughlin, and Bob Parker are just some examples of cards from five decades ago that many of today’s collectors still seek out. While the prices on some put them squarely in the “novelty card” category, the Laughlin Negro Leagues sets from 1974 and 1978 now reside among the most expensive cards of the decade.

Where I Disagree

While I hope to be wrong, I think the custom and art card space may ultimately suffer from “too much of a good thing.” Where five years ago I might have listed fewer than a dozen makers with some level of brand recognition (e.g., Gummy Arts, When Topps Had Balls, Helmar), today that number may be north of a hundred. Collectors love choice, but they also hate complexity.

If we fast forward ourselves to the year 2074 or even 2044, I worry the world of 2024 customs will look complicated, crowded, and even crazy to collectors of the future. True, they might search “2020s custom Shohei Ohtani card” on a future eBay, but what happens if and when over a thousand different results come up, and at least a hundred of them are very, very cool?

Even where the artistry or craftspersonship of a 2024 card should stand on its own, I can easily see it being overshadowed by whatever comes next, particularly given that the tools and methods available to independent makers will only grow over time. For example, I’m super proud of this “Heavy J Studios” Bo Jackson card, but might the Bo card art of the future embed video, sound effects, and true confetti explosions?

Survival of the Fittest?

Ultimately, I do believe the indie cards of today can stake out a place in the Hobby of tomorrow, but I’m bearish on the number of brands and artists that will actually make it there. Ultimately, I think these five drivers will play the greatest role in determining which contemporaries remain collectible 20 or even 50 years into the future.

• Quality: This driver likely speaks for itself. Very little that isn’t already great today will be relevant tomorrow.

• Collectibility: Here I’m referring to the ease in which collectors will know what’s out there and how to collect it. For example, Gummy Arts does a new series each year and includes checklists with his product. The Pop Fly Pop Shop similarly has very well defined series and easy-to-find checklists. Makers like Helmar and Sporting Life are a little more diverse in terms of their overall offerings, but their websites help collectors keep track of what’s out there.

• Third-Party Validation: While some collectors are happy to trust their own eyes, many collectors need to know that a particular maker is “legit” in the eyes of trusted sources. Among other things, this has led some makers to showcase “slabbed” offerings, highlight strong resales, and partner with more recognizable artists. From my perspective, all of this adds to current buzz, but I believe the future is even stronger for brands like Gummy Arts, Pop Fly Pop Shop, and Baseball Card Vandals that have items on permanent display at the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Ditto Chuck Styles, who now has a US postage stamp!

• Necessity: When Bob Laughlin produced his first Negro Leagues cards in 1974, they provided about the only way the typical collector could land a baseball card of Josh Gibson, Cool Papa Bell, or Buck Leonard. In other words, they filled a need, however niche at the time. With so many cards produced today (e.g., more than 1300 different Shohei Ohtani cards this year alone!), what would the collector of the future possibly need us indies for? On this front, I love the work When Topps Had Balls has done to create dedicated rookie cards, career cappers, and do-overs that address the holes and eyesores of the Topps corpus. On my end, I’ve been able to create custom sets for the families of NFL Barrier Breakers Kenny Washington and Woody Strode, two players Topps and company have avoided like the plague.

• Context: This is probably the murkiest of my five drivers, but what I’m looking for here is a story behind (or accompanying) the work. One artist that stands out in this regard is Matthew Lee Rosen, whose pieces are almost always imbued with and informed by Hobby history. Ditto for Scott Hodges and Lauren Taylor, two artists whose gripping personal stories are impossible to disentangle from their work. Chuck Styles has a great origin story as well. 

As always, I’m interested to hear from other Hobbyists on this topic. Do you see today’s customs having a healthy future in the Hobby? And are there criteria you’d add to my own list for what factors will make the biggest difference in staying power? Tag @hobbynewsdaily on social media and let us know what you think.