A Difference You Can See Through: Peeking 2013 Elite Football’s Laser-Cut “Portraits”

Are you ready to see the likes of Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Aaron Rodgers and Adrian Peterson in a whole new light? Or through a whole new light? If so, then Panini America’s 2013 Elite Football, due out everywhere next Wednesday, has a nifty new insert set for you. After a few solid months of research and development, the intricately laser-cut Portraits insert is ready to present 20 of your favorite NFL stars as you’ve never seen them.

The concept picks up where last year’s Elite Prime Numbers insert left off (and in case you’ve forgotten about that gem, here’s a sweet production-line video to refresh your memory), with a computer-programmed laser burning surgically precise patterns into each card to create a hole-filled spitting image of the featured player. Base Portraits cards will fall once every other box or so; Gold versions are much tougher.

If you thought last year’s Prime Numbers cards were cool (and I certainly did), you’ll find the upcoming Portraits to be nothing less than Louvre-worthy, laser-burned works of art. Immediately below, we offer a complete gallery of every card in the Portraits set, an insert that Panini America Prepress folks Tom Baker and Stephen Knight worked extensively with outside vendors on to perfect.

The gallery includes a few pics of the cards in normal light, and quite a few more atop a light table to show detail. We’ve also provided images comparing some early rejected versions of the technology compared to their finished products. After the gallery, stick around for a quick six-second video preview.

Enjoy the preview and stay tuned to The Knight’s Lance on Monday for a comprehensive Quality Control Gallery showcasing 2013 Elite Football.

Now, to the video:

[wpvideo LEXwSwVl]