Gen's Artcard FAQ
This is just so I can have a resource to point people to for my artcards. I'm getting a lot of questions about them and I thought I'd just sum up everything in one place.
ATC, ACEO, Whahuh?
"ATC" stands for "Artist Trading card", ACEO is "Art Cards, Editions and Originals". I think a lot of it started when companies that made trading card packs for various fandoms started offering originals stuck away in some of the packs like special bonus cards. People started gathering to trade them, and then artists started taking commissions for custom cards. From there the interest grew as people enjoyed having a means of collecting original artwork that was relatively inexpensive and quickly produced.
What's the basic size/shape of an art card?
The ones I work with are 2.5 x 3.5 inches, the exact size of a baseball card. Some people purchase precut cards (Strathmore has a line of them, for example) and some people will cut their own. You can usually get blanks cheaply if you know where to look. For example, a lot of people who do mat cutting for a living will offer art card sized blanks from their spare matboard. I've gotten some really nice black core card blanks on Etsy that way.
So it's original art on a baseball card?
Pretty much.
What medium can you use?
They make cards for all sorts of mediums. I've seen ATC sized scratchboard and clayboard, plus ATC watercolor paper, smooth and textured bristol, illustration board, and even canvas. The brand I use personally is textured paper that is extremely thick (almost three millimeters!) but they make different blanks for different needs. In a pinch, consider just buying a huge chunk of paper at your local art supply store and see if they'll custom cut it for you. Remember 2.5 x 3.5 inches.
So you can put just about anything you want on them depending on the type you buy.
Where can I buy supplies?
I see card blanks at just about every art supply store these days. Strathmore has a pretty impressive variety including packaging envelopes and frames.
One cool thing about ATCs is that since the cards are the same size as baseball cards, you can buy packaging and framing supplies for them to house your own stuff. I purchased protective baggies and cases for the cards via a baseball card supply store, and bought frames for cheap on eBay.
What's the point?
The market tastes change and people more and more seem to want small and cheap. A full sized original takes me several hours while I can make a detailed card in less than an hour easily. And since they're inexpensive, folks often enjoy buying more than one at a time, or commission custom ones. I have one customer who has over fifteen cards from me.
Where do I sell them?
Etsy, storenvy, or just link to images and try paypal. You'd be surprised.
ATC, ACEO, Whahuh?
"ATC" stands for "Artist Trading card", ACEO is "Art Cards, Editions and Originals". I think a lot of it started when companies that made trading card packs for various fandoms started offering originals stuck away in some of the packs like special bonus cards. People started gathering to trade them, and then artists started taking commissions for custom cards. From there the interest grew as people enjoyed having a means of collecting original artwork that was relatively inexpensive and quickly produced.
What's the basic size/shape of an art card?
The ones I work with are 2.5 x 3.5 inches, the exact size of a baseball card. Some people purchase precut cards (Strathmore has a line of them, for example) and some people will cut their own. You can usually get blanks cheaply if you know where to look. For example, a lot of people who do mat cutting for a living will offer art card sized blanks from their spare matboard. I've gotten some really nice black core card blanks on Etsy that way.
So it's original art on a baseball card?
Pretty much.
What medium can you use?
They make cards for all sorts of mediums. I've seen ATC sized scratchboard and clayboard, plus ATC watercolor paper, smooth and textured bristol, illustration board, and even canvas. The brand I use personally is textured paper that is extremely thick (almost three millimeters!) but they make different blanks for different needs. In a pinch, consider just buying a huge chunk of paper at your local art supply store and see if they'll custom cut it for you. Remember 2.5 x 3.5 inches.
So you can put just about anything you want on them depending on the type you buy.
Where can I buy supplies?
I see card blanks at just about every art supply store these days. Strathmore has a pretty impressive variety including packaging envelopes and frames.
One cool thing about ATCs is that since the cards are the same size as baseball cards, you can buy packaging and framing supplies for them to house your own stuff. I purchased protective baggies and cases for the cards via a baseball card supply store, and bought frames for cheap on eBay.
What's the point?
The market tastes change and people more and more seem to want small and cheap. A full sized original takes me several hours while I can make a detailed card in less than an hour easily. And since they're inexpensive, folks often enjoy buying more than one at a time, or commission custom ones. I have one customer who has over fifteen cards from me.
Where do I sell them?
Etsy, storenvy, or just link to images and try paypal. You'd be surprised.