Artist trading cards
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Artist Trading Cards are individual art miniatures which pass hand to hand. Some sources have credited M. Vänçi Stirnemann, who began trading sessions in Zurich, Switzerland, in 1997, as popularizing ATCs in the modern era, although modern ATC's can be traced back to portrait miniatures and to a kind of business card popular with Impressionistic era artists.[1]
Artists have produced miniatures for trade or self-promotion in many eras and places, and the current trend is thus part of this larger context. Historically there were few standard rules or guidelines to art trading cards, and many variances in sizes can be seen in older cards. The standardization in size of baseball cards is credited with creating the standardization in size for art cards. Today the only rule for these cards is their 2.5 by 3.5 inch size, same as baseball cards and collectible card games. There are, however, certain conventions usually observed by those who make and trade these cards, such as the expectation that they be traded, not sold, and that they be created as unique works or small limited editions of prints. Artists generally sign and date the back, and may also include a title and contact information. The face-to-face trading session is considered an integral part of the concept, although many people find each other via the internet and trade by mail.
Artist Trading Cards are typically made on a base of card stock. However, ATCs have been created on metal, stiffened fabric, plastic, clay, glass, balsa wood, leather, embroidery canvas, acetate, heavy watercolor paper, and many other materials. The art on the cards can be done in any media: textile arts, pencil, watercolor, acrylic, oil, collage, scratch board, mixed media, assemblage, digital art, calligraphy, beadwork, rubber stamps, carved soft block stamps, pen and ink, colored pencil, airbrush, pastels, and many others - anything artists use.
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[edit] Outside the Box ATCs
The only standard requirement for an ATC is that its height and width measurements be 2.5" x 3.5", either vertical (portrait) or horizontal (landscape) orientation. The sky is the limit for every other aspect of the art.
The size 2.5" x 3.5" is exactly one half the size of 5" x 7", a common size for photography and illustration. This choice means that artists focusing on artwork that is to have a final size that is 5" x 7" can easily scale down their works to exactly 1/2 size in photo manipulation software to create ATCs or the basis of a printed ATC that can later be modified with other methods such painting or inking over the base image.
In the world of ATCs, there is no thickness limit, either, but people customarily make them thin enough to fit inside the standard card collector pockets, sleeves or sheets.
Some people are sticklers about archival qualities, but art does not necessarily have to be "forever" so many people use whatever materials fit their artistic needs.
[edit] Art card, editions and originals
An offshoot of Artist Trading Cards are the "art card, editions and originals" (ACEO). ACEOs originated when some artists began to create cards to sell, in addition to trading among themselves. The selling of these cards is a sore point with some ATC enthusiasts; but, of course, the provision that cards should not be sold is not an enforceable one. Trading cards in other areas such as sports have also been traded and sold. The practice is meant to explore the temporal miniature in art, to augment the income, increase visibility, circulate small works more widely, as well as increase their patronage.
