ATC Fun

 

My first experience with Artist Trading Cards or “ATCs” was in a drawing class in college. We students were interested in learning illustration and were fortunate to have a professor who knew the industry and was willing to teach us for two terms. (J.B. is a wonderful artist and you should see her work at Jessica Burke Artist.) Our class was introduced to ATCs by each being assigned a couple of alphabet letters. 

 

Class project. I left image small out of respect for the other artists' rights.

 


I had “F” and “H”


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Artist Trading cards are 2.5” x 3.5” the same as sports trading cards which is very cool because I can buy plastic notebook pages with pockets just the right size. The cards can be just about any media and are traded mostly among artists. When sold, they are referred to as ACEOs (Art Card Editions and Originals).


I put them away (somewhere...) and didn't think much more about ATCs until recently when I saw monthly exchanges hosted on Facebook by Grumbacher – Official Fanpage. Every month is a different subject and I thought I might someday participate. Then... when the subject was “Iconic Toys,” I knew I just had to join in. Anyone following my blog will know that I like to use dolls and toys as my subjects. (See New Toys)



I made my ATC by drawing one of my troll dolls with Prismacolor pencils. I am not sure what kind of paper it was on because I had gotten scraps from my flat-file drawers and cut to the right size. (It was probably Rives BFK because that is my favourite printmaking paper.)


I lovingly mounted it on black card-stock with folded tape corners so that no adhesive touched the card. I then mailed it in and waited...


 

 

 

 

 

 

The results were posted on the Facebook site a few days ago. There were 13 submissions to the 37th ATC exchange and they were all great. There were even two other troll doll images.


 

 

 

 

Every exchange, Grumbacher people select their favourites among the cards and I was so excited to see that I WON!! A friend asked what I won... I don't know and I don't care. Bragging rights is enough for me!


Now all I have to do is wait for a card to be sent to me for the exchange part. I am looking forward to seeing which one I get. Of course I will share about it.


I also look forward to locating the ones I did in college. They are in my artwork drawers... somewhere...


 

 

 

 

Of course I am making more ATC/ACEOs. Will blog about it soon...

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