Custom Pokemon Trading Card Game Playmats

Nestly: STORY TIME.

SO. I play competitive Pokemon TCG (Trading Card Game) It's a buttload of fun and I have met so many friends doing it.

In doing so, I noticed lots of people use playmats, and many of them are custom. SO, I decided that I was going to buy a blank mat and make my own.

I actually won my blank white playmat at the Regional championships by entering an art contest, (figure that!) And I began finally working on my design for it WHILE at the national championships (biggest and awesomeist tournament in the world!) in Indianapolis this past year.

I worked on the mat (That's the first one in this picture, if you haven't figured it out by now) between each round I played in. Lots of fun! Did terrible in the tournament, but you don't wanna hear 'bout that, lol.

So anyway, I started getting a lot of requests for these fun little playamts, so I've been doing them sparingly for the past few months. Lots of fun!

Only problem is they are, and I quote, "EXTREMELY expensive, and time consuming to make". Not to mention challenging. No erasing. No sketching. Mess up bad enough and WASTE lots of money! Yup. Challenge.

They are made with, you guessed it! Copic sketch markers. Unfortunately, the mats are more absorbent than paper obviously, so it sucks up a lot of the marker and you run out real fast. Run out of a $7-$10 marker. Yeeaah. Not to mention the mat itself is at least $10 retail value. And 10 hours of work ain't cheap either.

My POINT is, these little buggers are the most non-profitable commission I've ever done.
But I love doing them.
People just love them, and I love seeing people use them!

So that's my story. xD I hope you enjoyed!

The first one is my own personal mat. Got my Jirachi, Pixie, and some of my other favorite Pokemon.
The second was a mat I just made on a whim and was looking to sell, but then I got weak and just decided to give it to a fellow player as a birthday present.
The third was MADE specifically for a friend's birthday.
The last one is the only design that was not created by me. It was commissioned from me by another fellow player, and that damn Suicune sucked up TWICE the amount of markers than the others! AUGH!
But I love how it came out and hope he enjoys it.

I have like 3 more mats to start working on now, so wish me luck!! Hahaha.

(And thanks for reading, if you really did read all that. xD)