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The original Concept
and pencil rough for the character on cards 410a Scratching Pole PAUL and 410b
Clawed CLAUDE came from artist John Pound and later sold to James Warhola to complete.

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Pictured below are artist Tom Bunk’s unpublished
Display Box artwork that was created for the OS9
set and also tested for the OS10 set. The artwork was completed before the new
model sheets came into affect but was pulled from either GPK release. The OS9
box characters still have the CPK look depicted in a very violent last scenario
in response to the lawsuit outcome. The OS10 design was eventually changed slightly
due to the new artwork guidelines; oval eyes, three fingers, et cetera. The cards
later released in the UK and internationally post lawsuit were translated from
The Garbage Gang title; the new logo can be found on the backs of the OS9 cards
and the dealer ad poster. Below are two different sketch designs, one with a Cabbage
Patch Kids’ head being chopped off with two OS10 box artwork color concepts and
the other without the CPK head being scissored along with the final artwork.

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In October of 2005, the Topps Vault auctioned
off two unpublished Acetate Cards intended for the
OS10 set through eBay. The first card was a name change for characters 385a PHIL
‘Er Up and 385b Chuckin’ CHARLIE whose nomeclature was changed from 385b LUKE
Puke; this name had already been used in the OS5 set for card 170b LUKE Puke.
The second piece was drawn and painted by John Pound for card 408a Hole In JUAN
and 408b LOUIE Kablooey; but much like the OS16 unpublished Tom Bunk gun piece,
it was pulled at the last minute for the sensitive topic of suicide and replaced
with cards 408a Lickin’ LEON and 408b Rat-Sucker RANDALL. The card for 408a Hole
In JUAN was finally released in the Abrams 2012 Garbage Pail Kids book detailing
the original series artwork for the first five GPK sets as bonus card 1 of 4.

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Artist and writer Jay Lynch Completed the
gags for the reverse card Comic Backs artwork, finishing
the color roughs and the final art; Gary Whitney assisted with working on the
final artwork. The comic title now contains the The Garbage Gang® registered
trademark symbol, much like the Garbage Pail Kids logo for the OS1 set, but the
retail ad poster still retains the The Garbage Gang™ trademark symbol.

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For the OS10 set, artist Bill
Wray, who later went on to do incredible work with Ren and Stimpy, was
asked to draw a GPK by Art Spiegelman. “I was heavily art directed so it’s
hard to tell if the piece was touched up or not. I can tell that it’s my painting,
one of the giveaways it’s mine is how the color is kind of normal, Topps wanted
garish color.”—Bill Wray. Besides the one GPK piece that was created
and published for cards 403a HUNTER Punter and 403b Fractured FRANCIS, another
rough sketch was turned in several times but never used which was the idea of
a body builder’s arm with the Kid’s head as a bicep muscle. Because Art was so
busy, he was unable to art direct Bill, so no other work was completed or commissioned.
More information on this piece can be found within the ‘ART GALLERY‘
page.

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Artist Bob Fingerman,
from the Queens NYC area, was also tested out for the card-front artwork during
this period, “I really wish I could
remember what limited contributions I made to the early GPK cards. I tried out
for the front, but my painting skills weren’t up to snuff at that point. I’m talking
1987 or 88. I’m almost certain I did some of the backs.” Fingerman did indeed
paint a GPK-like tribute for Cracked Magazine showcasing their mascot as
a janitor in the process of sweeping his own banner-style GPK card. Fingerman
(https://www.bobfingerman.com/) would go on to work on the IDW GPK Hollywood deluxe
cover in 2015 for the Methane MAX character.

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There are several Unpublished
Garbage Pail Kids paintings from 1987 that were intended for the OS10 set, by
artist John Pound, who completed a Kid in a wheelchair ‘jumping’ off of a diving
board, by artist James Warhola, who completed two pieces—a kid being branded
& a brick being tossed through a stained glass window, and by artist Tom Bunk,
who finished work on a Kid in an oven. All artwork pulled from the release for
various reasons and remain unpublished; larger images could not be located for
printing for later bonus card releases.

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The following Tom Bunk Color
Roughs were finished in 1987 and were intended for the OS10 set or a later
release. A Kid being baked in an oven—the final artwork can be seen above
where arms and hands with cooking mitts were added, a baby Kid kangaroo in its
mother’s pouch, and a Kid using his long tongue to run snot down to water the
flowers. In July of 2015, Topps released their 30th Anniversary set that contained
a ‘Cutting Room Floor’ subset with two of the images for the kangaroo-kid and
snot-slide concepts re-envisioned and painted by artist Tom Bunk; as cards 3a
Green JEAN and 3b Runny RON and cards 4a Jokester JOEY and 4b PETER Pouch.

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GPK Flowcharts
were created for the later Garbage Pail Kids sets which showed the art director
how the progress of the new set was going.
It displayed what each artist was working on, which concept piece and the stage
in which the painting had been completed.
Oftentimes, concept pieces were denied and the department tried to work them into
later sets. A list of additional concept pieces was found at the bottom of the
flowchart in case pieces could not be used. The OS10 set contained the following
ideas which either replaced any denied concept pieces within the set, were saved
for a later release or never saw the light of day: buzzsaw (reworked for OS13),
VCR (OS15), dental flossing, head out of butt – boxer (OS14), pencils through
eyes, as a sneaker (OS15), bag of GG with UPC, tape dispenser (OS11), roach motel,
trash can kid, jester cutting off foot in guillotine – laughs, bagpipe (OS15),
head in subway door (ANS4), maneating fish (Trash Can Trolls), wind up – key in
eye, wrung out kid – like towel (OS11).