FREELANCE ILLUSTRATION

Sketch Cards

The Side Hustle

Why am I including this as part of my UX portfolio? Reasons! Mostly because art and drawing make up part of who I am and sharing this bit of me will help us get to know each other. Plus, it also proves that I have solid sketching skills for when it is time to get down and dirty and put ideas to paper.

So what are sketch cards? Entertainment trading card sets usually include more than just the printed cards; there are several types of rarer pieces created for collectors to 'chase'. This includes foil, holograph, autograph, and sketch cards.

As a sketch card artist, I am contracted to draw a certain number of pieces per set. I am sent that exact number of blank cards and am usually given some guidelines to follow (which characters are on- and off-limits, whether or not there can be writing on the card, full-color only, etc.). Once I complete them, I ship the cards back to the company and they randomly pack-insert my original art; they are not printed. So everything is 1/1. Below is a sampling of cards that I have done.


TOPPS

Star Wars Galaxy 7

When Disney bought Star Wars, they decided that sketch cards would only be done in a realistic style. However, back in the day, cute was allowed and drawing adorable things is my jam!


CRYPTOZOIC

DC Comics Women of Legend

This set celebrated female characters from the DC comics universe. In addition to drawing sketch cards, I also produced one of the trading cards in the set.


ROCKET INK

Portraits of Poe

This was a fun set! It consisted of cards based on the works of Edgar Allan Poe. Annabel Lee and The Tell Tale Heart were the most fun to draw.


CRYPTOZOIC

The Walking Dead Comic Book Series 2

These cards were based on the Walking Dead comics, not the television show. Granted, there are a lot of the same characters and a lot of the same storylines but there are some differences! For example, in the graphic novel, did you know that Andrea was in a relationship with Dale? Tru fax.