The Art of Neon Black Tiger

The Art of Neon Black Tiger

By Scott Bolohan

What’s your background in art and baseball?

I am excited my work looks like I have a “background with art.” (Laughs nervously). I was always the person that would look at modern art and say “Oh, I could do that.” Quickly rushing home and realizing it is much harder than I thought to make a “pink circle on a white canvas” feel like fine art and look good. I have zero background in this type of art. I’ve always admired artists that could create these surreal images and draw me into the scene. This whole art venture is brand new. I’ve only been creating these pieces since October 2021, so not very long. I’ve learned a lot in this short period of time. One of the great things about art is seeing how an artist grows and develops over time.

Baseball, on the other hand, is something I’ve loved since I was a kid. Played baseball growing up, collected cards, was the “cool” kid in elementary school that stayed after school for sports card clubs and went to tons of baseball games. That love for the game and the history of the game is certainly a massive influence on me.

What is your day job?

I am a full-time freelance videographer and photographer here in Portland. Freelancing is wonderful because each project is always different and unique. Like I mentioned, I don’t have any formal background or experience in art but do feel I have an artistic eye. I think that has helped me in fine-tuning my skills. Art is just another avenue to stretch and strengthen my creative muscles.

So your art is different than most baseball art. In the nicest way possible, what the hell are these?

That is the perfect response to my work. When I first started creating these pieces, if I wasn’t getting the “I don’t get it??” response I felt like I wasn’t executing my vision properly. Granted, now I enjoy that these pieces have grown on people and folks do seem to understand what I am trying to create. I started by calling them Demon Doodles but felt “demon” was a little too harsh for what I was doing, so quickly moved to Neon Terror. That seems to sum up what I create. Bright neon colors that are just a tad terrifying. Something suitable for kids and adults.

I want my work to stand out and be different from most of the baseball, or sports in general, art that is out there. So much of it is the same thing or what I think of as “lazy Photoshop” work. I know my work will not speak to everyone but I do take pride in how much work actually goes into each piece. Granted that might be due to how slow I am at drawing and coloring. I want it to jump out and have a very distant look. If you are scrolling through a bunch of card art, I want folks to know which ones Neon Black Tiger created.

What’s the inspiration?

My main inspiration for trying my hand at this “art thing” was Topps’ Project 2020 and the current Project 70 series. It was so rad seeing all these different artists from different backgrounds with their own unique take on classic Topps cards or better yet, totally reimagining things. That really was the catalyst for me to pursue this adventure.

Why baseball?

Like I mentioned before, growing up playing baseball and collecting baseball cards, and then really looking at what Topps was doing with Project 2020 and Project 70, it just seemed like the natural first step. I loved the idea of taking a classic Topps card and putting my twist on it. At first, I thought I would only do Topps cards but I quickly ventured into all types of cards. I’ve started doing other sports as well. Those have been more action portraits of athletes. A few MLS players, MLB, NBA and college players. That has been fun to begin broadening my range of subject matters.

How do you pick the players?

I really want to have a wide mix of players that I feature. Don’t want to just jump on the “big names” but expose people to players they’ve never heard of or maybe forgot about. I also try to search for cards and images that have the right look that lends itself to my style. Headshots with mouths open generally work better as a base layer for what I am doing.

What’s your process for creating them?

I use Sketchbook on an iPad Pro to create these. I start by finding a nice high-resolution image of the card I want to work with. I bring that into Sketchbook and start doodling on top of the card. I don’t trace and then paint bucket the rest. I sketch and draw directly on the card. I realize it is all digital but I love the idea that under my doodle is the original card. I also like the hand drawing approach because there are slight imperfections in each piece like there would be in a true painting.

Who are some artists you admire?

There are several artists that I really respect and have been inspired by. 

When Project 2020 launched I was initially drawn to the work of Blake Jamieson. His art was great but I really loved his approach to building a community around the art and artists that were part of the project. 

The other Project 2020 artist that was very polarizing was Keith Shore. He is an artist that I think you either love or hate. I feel like that will be the same for my work. Folks will either get it or not, and I am ok with that. I want to create work that invokes some type of reaction. Shore’s work certainly did that.

A non-Topps artist that I am drawn to is Optimus Volts. His work is outstanding. His hand-painted Dia Delos Muertos style cards really stand out and he has such a distinct look and feel.

But, my biggest inspiration is current Topps Project 70 artist, Alex Pardee. His work is so rad! I love it! Pardee really pushes the boundaries of reimagining baseball cards. He calls his work Brightmares, which is the perfect description for his work. When I started my Neon Terror pieces I would say they were the lost love child of Pardee and Shore.

Those are just a few of the artists I dig but there are so many. The card art community is full of amazingly talented people just expressing themselves through their form of art.

What is next for you?

I am currently selling prints of all of my work and just released a super limited Neon Terror Supers set, which calls back to the 1970s Topps Super cards. Rounded edges with just a great image on the front. These are a very limited hand-numbered run. 

Hopefully by the time people are reading this, I have finally worked things out with a printer for my first official series of cards. I plan to go the Topps route and release single cards at a time with a limited purchase window. I am also working with some of the players featured to have signed versions and other chase cards available for each drop. I think that is what makes a series like this so fun to collect. Not only getting the limited edition artwork but also a chance at a special variant or autograph. 

I have a lot of fun ideas planned. It is just a matter of logistics to get all the moving parts organized and make it easy for people to jump into this crazy journey. I am also working on making my work available as NFTs but that is a whole other world.

This Darryl Strawberry Twin Bill version is available as a limited release card. Email neonblacktiger@gmail.com to order.

Neon Black Tiger is a Portland, OR-based digital artist. You can find him on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter at @NeonBlackTiger and all over the world wide web at www.NeonBlackTiger.com.