Before I was ever even finished with the designs, I got my sample pack from the dude in the US and started trying to come up with ideas of how the special inserts could look. That’s what you see above

Before I was ever even finished with the designs, I got my sample pack from the dude in the US and started trying to come up with ideas of how the special inserts could look. That’s what you see above (and swipe).    
    
I was ready to start creating cards. IMO, base cards are always base cards. My cousins and I used to have an inside joke about pulling a Nate Snell card back in the 86/87 baseball Topps set and how exciting it was to get. Just a base card. Not that they’re not cool or anything, but there are duds within base sets all the time...it’s what makes it a complete set. I didn’t want to spend too much time building out the base cards as I figured most people would be interested in the special inserts...there would definitely be Kobe fans who don’t give a damn about the special inserts but I also just wanted to provide a complete history for people who actually want the complete set of shoes/cards.    
    
I found a graphic artist halfway across the world through some posts I kept seeing - I reached out to him and he created vector illustrations of most of the shoes and built out the base set cards. Another for the Mamba cards. I basically said to them ‘this is what I want - can you make it happen?’ Through much back and forth, we got it done.     
    
For the final two inserts - a free version of Photoshop (GIMP) and it did prove to be problematic, especially when it came time to hand the files over to the manufacturer. I watched a bunch of YT videos and taught myself how to create images and edit others. Keep in mind - I taught myself photoshop through this process, so the art is bad but it’s not terrible. It’s an acquired taste. And keep in mind - this was a labor of love more than anything. The amount of effort I put into these inserts was quite significant.     
    
Once all of my designs were done, I circled back around to my friend in China and he helped me get a good rate. I asked him to take ownership of the ‘special effects’ on the cards and he didn’t disappoint...they look freakin awesome...I can’t wait to show them to y’all...or...better yet...I can’t wait til y’all get some in your hands.