Novelties

“Mark Newgarden worked from 1983–1993 at Topps, a Brooklyn company that produced trading cards and novelty items. The Garbage Pail Kids has its roots in an idea Newgarden had for another series of trading cards called Wacky Packages, which parodied popular consumer products. His sketch for Garbage Pail Kids, a parody of the popular Cabbage Patch Kids dolls for children, became the basis for an entire series of cards, which quickly became infamous. The gleefully grotesque Garbage Pail Kids debuted in 1985. These collectible stickers (which were packaged with a piece of chewing gum) were enormously popular with children, but were criticized by authority figures and were banned in many schools. Concepts for Garbage Pail Kids were developed by Newgarden, Art Spiegelman and others who would produce rough concept sketches for each card. Finished artwork was painted by John Pound, Thomas Bunk and James Warhola.”
– Bill Kartalopoulos, Formula Bula 7, Paris

After a decade at Topps, Mark Newgarden continued to create and develop novelties, toys, premiums and promotions for a variety of clients including Burger King, Pepsi Cola, Pee-wee Herman, Packard Bell and The Latrobe Brewing Company.