1955 Topps is an interesting set. The cards are all sideways, one of very few sets ever to do that. The card also features two pictures and a signature. The one picture is typically a close up and the second is a full body shot. Most of the full body pictures were the typical baseball card poses, a pitcher having just thrown, a batter in his backswing, etc. They are all poses of some sort. The solid color background is a gradient and were usually red, green or yellow. The pictures on the card were usually painted looking. I don’t think I achieved the “painted” look and I think that is the most difficult part of re-creating these early cards.
A Hair Off Square custom cards
A Hair Off Square
A Hair Off Square 
Pretty good job – one of my all time favorite set designs. Probably the last set I ever bought several packs of was the 2004 Topps Heritage for this reason, and it was also one of my favorites for autographs.
The only reasons I haven’t done a ’55 design yet is because of (a) the painted look you allude to, which I haven’t been able to reproduce properly, and (b) I did the ’60 design recently, which, quenched my thirst for sideways old-style cards for a while.