Ben's Artwork Thread
 

I'd like to first off thank all of the Net54 members that have taken the time to check out and comment on the artwork I've been posting. Moving forward, I will be posting my completed pieces to this thread.

Here are all of the completed pieces that I've posted so far plus a couple of new ones. The '51 Bowman Mantle is a collaborative piece that I worked on with a friend who also creates this kind of art. I did the face and he did the rest. I've been working on some team logos recently as well. The White Sox logo pictured below is made entirely from White Sox players' cards.

Stay tuned for more! I'm currently brewing up a Cal Ripken Jr. made from Cal Ripken Jr. cards!

Super Cool...
 

Good luck... amazing talent!

i dig the impressionistic qualities of the mantle.

That 51 Bowman Mantle is spectacular.

amazing
 

Amazing Work!!

Yes, I like them a lot. I like how you use different patterns and 'textures.'

You should have Sportcollectorsdaily.com do an article on your work, if they haven't already

Thanks! Anything made from cut up stuff is going to have a lot of texture. I love that about this kind of art! I reached out to Sportscollectorsdaily.com. We'll see if they respond. I appreciate the suggestion!

Ben

Very nice!! Great job. I didn't realize anyone besides Tim Carroll was doing this type of artwork.

Can I assume the Mantles are all made up of Mickey's cards? ;)

Very nice and very cool artwork.

Thank you. I haven't been at it for very long. Last year I picked up my card collection from my parents' house after my dad threatened to throw everything away. They were all junk-era cards, but I got back into the hobby and saw Tim Carroll's work while doing online research. I thought it was so cool that I wanted to try it, plus it was a good way to put all of the junk commons to use. Turns out it's a lot of fun!

Ha, I've actually thought about doing one from reprints, but even that would bear high material costs...

Well, you're very good at it. Keep up the great work!

Really nice work!

I think you should do a t206 with real t206’s!!

Go ahead and send me 1,000 T206s and I'm on it ;)

You could probably get a thousand reprints for 10 bucks? :)

.

If you can find me that deal I'll make a piece from them for sure!

There are quite a few thousand plus card lots available. I think if you are patient and try hard enough you might get close to that price.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fro...acat=0&_sop=16


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Thanks Ben
 

Thanks again Ben, "Sweetness" is all matted and ready for signings!!!

Looks amazing

Awesome stuff, Ben....

I especially love the "stained glass" background effect on the Gurley and Mantle pieces. Just beautiful!

Ripken
 

Here is a newly-completed piece - It is based on an early 1980s post card and it is made entirely from Cal Ripken Jr. baseball cards. This one is 14" x 20" which is a bit smaller than most of my other work

A couple new ones
 

Here are a couple new pieces: A 20" x 30" 1951 Bowman Roy Campanella and a 16" x 16" cubs logo that I made during my road trip to the National

I like the worn corners and Brett is a nice touch.

Newly finished commission
 

I just finished up a crazy and somewhat controversial commission: A 30" x 21" 1956 Topps Mickey Mantle, made entirely from 1956 Topps baseball cards. While it was hard to feel good about cutting up vintage cards, I can rest assured knowing that these cards will still be enjoyed, just in a different form.

Brilliant, Ben...

That is truly amazing work. Your attention to detail is incredible. I especially love the 3 dimensional elements and depth perception of those fans in the bleachers.

Just a great representation of that classic card!

nice job ben on the mantle!

I'd love love love to see one of a t206 made from cut up t206's!!!!!!!

Thank you Mark. The background was a challenge, especially with a limited selection of materials. I had to make it a little greener than it is in the actual card, but it seems to work!

Thank you! I don’t foresee myself cutting up any actual T206s anytime soon, but I’m considering a T206 made from T206 reprints...

Tony Perez
 

I just finished a very challenging project and I wanted to share! It is a 20" x 28" 1966 Topps Tony Perez, made from cut up baseball cards. There are a lot of different colors in this one. Here are some of the cards I used:

'84, '85, '87, '89, and '94 Topps
'87, '88, and '90 Donruss
'90 Topps Traded
'90 Upper Deck
'92 Pinnacle
'91 Bowman

And a few more...

Thanks for looking!

A true masterpiece, Ben....

And though I might be biased, must say it's the coolest example of cut-card artwork I've ever seen... not to mention my new Avatar!

Amazing.

Rob M

Excellent colors man. The details are really tight too, like the pinstripes. The trophy and glove look great.

Thanks guys. Mark - This is definitely my favorite piece that I've created to date!

While things have certainly been generally difficult lately, on a positive note I have had more time to devote to my artistic endeavors. Here is a newly finished piece: A custom commission of Keith Comstock taking a line drive to the groin, made from cut baseball cards. Hopefully this brings some comic relief during a tough time.

That is great.

Very cool, Ben... love the modern abstract background on that one.

I collect vintage, so had to research the history of that card. Very funny story and one of a kind card!

Can't wait to see more!

Very cool ben. Great work. For being relatively obscure, Keith Comstock has made quite the name for himself with this card and his topps error card. Furthermore, he kinda looks like “the tiger king” here- #legend.

lol

Yaz Please
 

Here's another one in the books. 20" x 28", made from cut up baseball cards. The Yaz rookie is one of my favorite cards and it is very well-suited for this type of art!

Awesome!!

Best one yet! That is awesome, great job!

Amazing as always, Ben... That's a stunner!

Thanks guys! I have some more exciting stuff in the works. Stay tuned...

I was walking on West Pearl the other day and did a double-take when I saw your Bowman Mantle on display. Later saw your T206 Wagner when heading the other direction. I had no idea you were Boulder-based. Incredible work! Keep it up!

Ha! small world. PM me after things return to normal if you'd like to meet up for a beer and talk baseball cards!

Here's a recently finished piece - a 1955 Koufax, 30" x 21", made from cut up baseball cards. The Koufax rookie is a very colorful card, and here are some of the sets that provided the colors:

Yellows: '90 Topps Traded, '89 Donruss and '89 Fleer checklists
Blues: '88 Donruss, '89 Score Rookie and Traded
Red: '89 Topps Traded
Greens: '82 Topps,'91 Bowman
Grays: '89 Bowman, '87 Topps, '91 Conlon
White: '87 and '88 Donruss

How did you do the signature!?

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I used thin pieces cut from cards like this one with black in the background

Incredible Koufax and replication of his sig!!

Amazing that you can do that with a scissors. :eek:

I am completely mesmerized by the quality of that signature. I am an English teacher, maybe that has something to do with it, or maybe it's thinking certain ballplayers couldn't do with a pen that you have accomplished with scissors. It appears seamless without closer inspection.

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Thanks. Signatures are certainly a little bit tricky, and I've found that the content behind them is a major factor in their difficulty. It's much easier to build one if the area behind it is a solid color.

Here are a couple new ones that I recently finished. The Henderson rookie was one of the toughest projects I've worked on to date!

Amazing stuff. Thank you. One of these days, I need to buy one.

Both just phenomenal...

Great stuff as always, Ben!

Small world
 

I’m in Denver, have room for a third at that table? I’ve admired your work for years Ben!

Amazing work, Ben!

Absolutely! I enjoy meeting fellow local collectors! My PMs are open

Kobe
 

Kobe will always be remembered as one of the best athletes from his sport, and his untimely death was tragic. I am honored to make a personal contribution to the preservation of his legacy: A 20" x 28" version of his rookie card, made from cut up basketball cards! This was by far the most complicated and time consuming piece I've ever built...

Fantastic, Ben...

Incredible detail and realism. How long did this one take to complete?

Oh man, this one was tough. It took about twice as long as most of my others, so... 150+ hours?

Larry Doby
 

Here's another - A 23" x 28" 1949 Bowman Larry Doby, made from cut baseball cards (including a LOT of 1987 Donruss)

Nice but it looks like that Kobe has been trimmed on the left side.

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Here's an interesting project that I just finished - a 20" x 28" version of the Topps Project 2020 Mike Trout by Ermsy Erms, made from cut up baseball cards. When I was asked if I could build this piece, I reached out to Ermsy on social media because I did not want to proceed without his approval. He gave me the thumbs up, and this is the final result!

Wow, Ben, that's insanely real looking for cut up baseball cards. Well done man.

Thank you sir, the original card is all solid colors with no gradients, so it was easer to get it right. But with all that detail it was still very time-consuming

WaJo
 

I just finished a fun and challenging project, and this one actually fits the pre-war theme of the forum! It measures 21" x 28" and is made entirely from cut up baseball cards.

When I started this project, I wasn't entirely sure what to use for the red background as none of my "go-to" sets seemed to quite match. Luckily, I was browsing eBay listings one evening and I stumbled across an unexpected solution: 1983 Donruss Action All-Stars! Not only do these cards offer a suitable red color on the backs, but they are also jumbo-sized, so the red areas are relatively large. Despite having this size advantage, I still used nearly three complete 60-card sets to fill in the massive red background of this piece.

Here are some other sets that were useful for the build:

1992 Pinnacle, 1989 Bowman, 1991 Bowman, 1987 Topps, 2019 Topps, and various late '80s/early '90s Donruss (specifically 1991 series II for the large light green area)

Happy Holidays!

Man of Steal
 

I recently started working a full-time engineering job which is great for my card budget but means I have less time for art. However, I'm still putting in hours where I can, and I recently finished this very challenging commission (20" x 29", cut up baseball cards). That crowd was no joke...

Great work Ben, especially like the Johnson.

Wow! That is f'n great!

Here are a couple closeups of the Rickey

Those are awesome!!