ARTIST TRADING CARDS

WHAT IS AN ATC?

What are Artist Trading Cards? It seems everyone wants to know. Some of you may also wonder … What does it have to do with decorative painting? And then, of course … What’s the point?

Well, an ATC is a miniature piece of original artwork done on a 2-1/2-inch x 3-1/2-inch (64mm x 89mm) card. The artist can then choose to keep or trade their cards with those of others. The point? Well, we’ll explain that as we go along. If you just want to get started right away, here's a quick link to an ARTIST TRADING CARD WORKSHOP

Hold up! Did someone just say original art? You mean no pattern or instructions? A lot of decorative painters hyperventilate at the thought of doing their own thing. If this sounds like you, you could be missing out on some tremendous fun, with very little expense.

Let’s start with a brief history of

Artist Trading Cards.

A century later, art cards were favored in Europe for advertising purposes.

OK, OK, moving right along … so now it’s the early 1900’s. Baseball is in full swing :o). Kids start collecting the baseball cards that come with their packs of gum. In the 1960’s, the cards were standardized to a size of 2-1/2” x 3-1/2” (64mm x 89mm), which is still in effect today.

Although these cards were mass-produced, collectors were and continue to be crazy for them. Kids of all ages trade or buy and sell cards at trade shows, exhibitions and on the Internet. It’s amazing what some folks will do to get a Babe Ruth card! The same goes for hockey cards … actually all sports cards!

Now picture the excitement of this trading frenzy. Then plant the idea that creative people could trade little bits of art among themselves. And that’s just what happened in 1997.

The Zurich artist, m. vanci stirnemann initiated a project with exactly this in mind. Inspired by hockey trading cards, he created and exhibited 1200 cards (the size of sports cards) and then encouraged people to trade their own cards for his.

The whole movement of trading art cards has since spread like wildfire. Add the Internet, and the Artist Trading Card idea has now touched the far reaches of the world. Imagine trading your artwork with someone you’ll probably never meet from places you may never see. There’s no critiquing, no judgement … just art for its own sake. Yeah, now that’s pretty exciting!

So, there you have it, the condensed history of Artist Trading Cards. Neat, huh?

For a step by step demonstration to get you started, have a look at our mini lesson; kind of a simple, virtual artist trading cards workshop.

And we're still putting information together for you so you can learn how to trade ATCs.

In the meantime...

We’ve already touched on part of the why of ATCs. But there’s more. Trading cards is easy to do; they are very portable and very affordable for the artist to make. You don’t need art classes or drawing lessons. You can paint them using watercolors, oils or acrylics. You can use photography … or if you like to sew, you can make fabric ATCs! You can collage or decoupage, rubber stamp and stencil. Use wax crayons, colored pencils or pen and ink.

You get to create a mini canvas in your own way and with your own style, using whatever media or combination you like. You get to play. And when you’re done with it, you can choose to trade your art for someone else’s … maybe even trade with a decorative painter (Big Brush) you really admire!

The best part is there are NO RULES, except for the size, that is. That’s it. No rules. Just art for art’s sake.

Whether they’re called Pocket Art, Miniature Art or Art in Your Pocket, Artist Trading Cards are fun to have, fun to create and are here to stay!

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