Artist Trading Cards: Small works of art that are easy to make & fun to exchange.
For an ArTCHIX Studio swap
Artist Trading Cards are 2.5” x 3.5” – the size of baseball trading cards. They can be made in portrait or landscape orientation, paper or fabric. There's one rule about Artist Trading Cards, they are made to be traded - not sold! For selling Artist Trading Cards, a special term was created: Art Card, Editions and Originals (ACEOs). Learn more about Artist Trading Cards on Wikipedia.
The most common reaction I've heard about ATCs:
“They are so small, aren't they hard to make?”
Once you try making an artist trading card, you'll probably love the small size. The 2.5” x 3.5” compact area makes this an easy-to-complete project. If you are not used to creating on such a small surface, it may be an adjustment. But once you make a few, I believe you'll see creating them is simple, fun & fast to do! I find it easy create extras as it takes hardly any time at all. ATCs have been a popular item for exchanging in art swaps!
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The ATCs shared below were made from one large sheet of fabric paper. This is a technique where plain fabric is painted and collaged with paper. Artist trading cards are cut from the large sheet, then rubber stamping, photos & embellishments are added to each individual card. A metallic silver marker finishes the edges! To learn more about fabric paper, view this post.
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ATCs have been described as "Art miniatures created as a means for sharing a passion for art with others."
This ATC was created from an old photo
A thin layer of a paper napkin was used for the background.
