1000 Artist Trading Cards: Innovative and Inspired Mixed Media ATCs

by Patricia Chatham Bolton

ATCs are all the rage!Making artist trading cards (ATCs) is a hugely popular activity for artists. Originally a paper/collage-based art form, ATCs have caught on with crafters working in a range of mediums and are now just as popular among fabric and mixed-media artists. ATCs are mini art works, the size of a playing card, often created as limited editions. The back of each card contains the artist's name and contact information. The idea behind the cards is to make them and then give, trade, or share them with others. This collection inspires with 1,000 original cards in a beautiful pageant of color, composition, and creative use of materials. The book also includes a special section devoted to explaining what ATCs are, how to get started, and includes some exciting technique information. Curated by Patricia Bolton, founder and editor-in-chief of two of the most exciting creative magazines on the newsstands, the book meets the Quarry Books mission of offering artistic and challenging new ideas to traditional paper artists, scrapbookers, mixed-media artists, and quilters by merging paper, fabric, and surface embellishment through experimentation and discovery.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Crafts

318 pages, Library Binding

First published April 1, 2007

About the author

See also Pokey Bolton

Reviews

[Robyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book to get ideas for collage and artist trading cards (ATC's). However I was amazed at how many cards that were not "all that" made it into this collection. Many of the cards upon these pages I would not be happy to receive in an ATC swap. However, many more were amazing little pieces of art.

[Vesna · Rating 5 out of 5]

My ATCs were published in this book. There's not much to read, but it's a nice eye candy.

[Pamela Hatch · Rating 3 out of 5]

QUILTING ARTS MAGAZINE sent out a reader challenge for Artist Trading Cards (ATCs) and got over 800 responses which help to make up the examples in this book.

An Artist Trading Care is 2.5" x 3.5" that is similar to a business card. Art on the front and the contact information on the back. But some have art on both sides.

The card can be made out of any media/materials. There are two Artist Trading Cards in the front with the instructions on how they were made. The rest of the book are samples arranged by artist with numbers assigned to each. My favorites are 0591-0610

Pair this title with ARTIST TRADING CARD WORKSHOP by Bernie Berlin which offers more instruction on how to create these cards.

[JV Austen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book a little more but it was missing one really important thing for me (who is new to the concept of artist trading cards) - what does the backside of these cards look like? Does it contain artist information? If not, aren't they just mini-artwork and not trading cards? Do I have the concept wrong. And, I was reading this on my Kindle app on my PC (large screen to see detail) and the pages got off. So read this as a real book. Overall though, it is a pretty book with lots of interesting ideas. Also, it is confusing that the exact same card would appear under 2 or 3 names - it didn't happen a lot, but??????

[Debbie · Rating 2 out of 5]

After reading 1000 Artist Journal pages I was excited about reading this volume, Unfortunately it didn’t meet my expectations.

The art seemed rather redundant, not representative of many different styles.

[frogfairie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 1/2 stars

[Lain · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am a huge devotee of creating and collecting ATCs and was really looking forward to this book. I was more than a little disappointed. The cards included weren't among the most amazing or innovative I've seen, and there were no instructions as to how to create them. You'd be better off cruising around the internet and saving your money for art supplies.

[Vee · Rating 4 out of 5]

AWesome pics and full of colorful inspiration for trading cards. I will never look at these cards the same, great contributors :)

[Joy Houglum · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great "look at the pictures" book!
There are a few instructions... but mostly, a LOT of amazing inspiration to be creative...

[Phyllis Burstein, DePaul Art Education · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good book to show students a variety of artist trading cards. They can also see how artists approach the series. There are several good sources on line that have good examples, too.

[Linda - (PinkTofu) · Rating 4 out of 5]

inspiring!!! brilliant

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full of wonderful inspiration and ideas!

[Elusive.Mystery · Rating 1 out of 5]

Despite the abundance of imagery, nothing particular caught my attention in this book.

[Cheryl Turtlemoon-turtlemoontarot · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great for ideas, but most of the atcs seem to be fabric or sewn in some way, i was looking for stamping etc. good inspirations though!

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book and I'm actually in it, so is my Mom. What fun. What great inspiration.

[Sandra · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not what I thought it was, had some good ideas. Most were not what I was looking for.