ARTIST SPOTLIGHT JOSH TROUT

No, Josh Trout is no relation to Mike Trout.

But he has painted the three-time American League MVP.

Josh grew up in Nebraska, interested in art and always working to get better. He knew he could draw... he just didn’t know if it would lead to anything.

“My junior high art teacher, Mrs. Kinloch, took notice of my talent and instilled the passion for sports art while encouraging me and pushing me to become better,” Josh says. “Now I get inspiration from all the artists in the sketch card community and the sports artists I follow and talk wih. Even with my realism style, I am inspired by a wide range of artistic styles, methods and subject matters.”

It also didn’t hurt that his mother had enrolled him in art classes as a young student, and he took school art classes through high school. Eventually, Trout attended college at a graphic design/illustration school in Omaha.

Then, he says, he put much of his painting aside for 15 years while he honed his graphic design skills.

By 2015, he was back in the sports art game. If his name sounds familiar, he has done sketch card work for Topps and for Viceroy Card Company the past two years.

“[In 2018], I was contacted by Viceroy Card Company and asked to take part in their Space 2 set,” Trout says. “If that wasn’t exciting enough for someone so new to the scene, I got an e-mail from Topps asking me to take part in their 2019 Museum Collection. I was floored . . . thankful . . . honored. I then joined on for the 2019 Topps Gallery set and I’ve finished work on 2020 Museum Collection and Topps Gallery. And I’m set to continue in 2021.”