Some years ago I was really into making artist trading cards. I even got around into exchanging one or two cards. But then I got bored with it, as it often happens to me, and I moved on into making other stuff.
Lately the idea became appealing again, I saw some really cool ATC(s) and started to wonder how nice would it be to exchange cards with artists leaving far away. So I re-opened my old account on http://www.atcsforall.com/ and started working on some new atc(s) for my gallery on the website. This is still the most approachable site for exchanging atc(s) internationally and online, there aren't a lot of options out there, it's something very niche. I know there are also some facebook groups, but the variety is not as good as in this website.
There's lot of good reasons to invest some time into making ATCs:
(1) Testing different techniques - artist trading cards are great for testing art supplies you're not familiar with, specially because if doesn't go well, you didn't waste a lot of paper.
(2) Testing ideas for larger paintings/drawings - very similar to the first one, you can treat the artist trading card almost as a thumbnail for future works.
(3) Making an ATC is less intimidating and more manageable than making larger works, it's something you can probably fit into your daily routine.
(4) Exchanging ATCs with other artists - For me there is a deep pleasure in knowing that I have a piece of art produced by someone miles away. And if you collect a lot of artist trading cards, this point ties in perfectly with the next one....
(5) Several ATCs put together actually make for very nice wall decoration. There are several options when it comes to framing, you can put them together or separately.
I guess there's also an argument to be made that you can sell these cards (actually these are usually referred to as aceos) and put your "name" out there through this, but honestly I think this goes very much against the idea of "artist trading cards". Specially if you read a bit more about whom and how they were created.
Hope this was usefull and thanks for stopping by!
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