What Are ACEOs and ATCs? Part 1

Jump to Part 2

One of my original collage ACEOs that sold on Ebay in 2011 

  Yes, you do need to be creating ACEOs and or ATCs. I've been posting my ACEOs and their auctions on this blog for a good long while, but this underground movement still suffers from obscurity within the circles I call my community. I've already started to address what ACEOs are in a previous post back in September of 2011, but this series of posts will dive deeper.

What's the difference between an ATC or an ACEO if both are art pieces on 2.5" x 3.5" cards?

TWO KINDS OF ART CARDS:
  ATC (Art Trading cards)- These cards are the exact size of baseball cards (2.5" x 3.5") as are ACEOs, but as far as I can tell ATCs are the back-bone of the movement. There is a large dedicated base of artists all over the world that trade their original art cards (it's important that these cards usually be original pieces and not prints) by mail or within trading events. Trading is the key word here, and you can find many ATC trading groups in Yahoo groups. If you are serious about this art format I would also recommend joining ATCsForAll.com.

ATC by Amy S. Turner

  To the left is an exceptional example of an ATC by one of my favorite artists currently trading Amy S. Turner. Amy trades in a juried group comprised of illustrators and graphic artists called IllustratedATCs.com. Artists within the ATC realm range from self taught folk artists to professional illustrators. ATCs are fun to trade and collect because it's original artwork from a vast array of artists. Every trade is a fun surprise.

ACEO by Juan Cruz

ACEO (Artist Cards Editions And Originals)- Again, these cards are 2.5" x 3.5" cards- the same as ATCs, but this sector of the movement focuses on the selling of art cards both originals and prints. Both ATCs and ACEOs start out as the same or similar items in size, but sales is what differentiates the two. You may sell your ACEOs in any market you want, but Ebay is a well known place for artists to sell their art cards. Try this right now- open a new tab in your browser, go to ebay.com, type ACEO in the search bar and see how many results come up. There are a lot of ACEOs and a lot of artists selling them aren't there? If you want to sell and or trade on another site I would recommend ArtCardsWanted.com.
  The ACEO to the right was drawn by illustrator Juan Cruz. When I go to art shows I meet many people who have a desire to buy original artwork, but they are not able to spend large sums of money for the work. If that is you, I encourage you to search for ACEO artists that you like. The original pieces and prints are much more affordable with auctions usually starting under $10. You get the satisfaction of owning original artwork and since they are exactly the size of a baseball card they are easy to collect in plastic card sheets or plastic top-loaders.

In the next episode: Why should every artist create ATCs and or ACEOs?

Jump to Part 2 now