
An Art Card or Artists Trading Card is an original or print piece of fine art that measures 3.5 x 2.5 which is the size of a standard baseball card. Art cards have been around for a century or so longer than baseball cards and were designed for trading between artists. These little gems are hugely collectible. They are also known as ACEO although ACEO's are designed to be sold not traded. This site is designed to tell you all you need to know about art cards and ACEO. Please post a comment.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
David Castro Art Cards Published at ARTCARDIST

Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Art Cardist Published in Online Gallery: Meet Brenda Thour

Brenda Thour states that she is a wildlife & landscape artist. She says "I have sold work throughout the United States and Canada. I work in mostly oil, but I also use acrylic and watercolor. I have been painting since 1999, when I finally followed my heart and bought a few painting supplies. Picking up a paint brush was like turning a corner in my life. I have studied under and have taken private lessons from award winning artists. Painting is a passion for me and I immerse myself in each piece I work on. Learning more with each new piece, for art is a never ending learning journey. To take a blank canvas and create a work of art depicting God's beautiful handiwork is amazingly rewarding. Since I started painting, I have more of an appreciation of the beauty all around us. My passion is in painting wildlife and landscapes. I now look at nature differently, I view places and subjects as a possible composition. I notice the uniqueness of simple things, such as a fence post, or a tree stump. I give God all the glory for all he has done in my life."
Brenda's work is magical and will capture the hearts of viewers. She incorporates a feeling of joy and wonderment into her work. Her new gallery posting can be viewed at www.ARTCARDIST.com
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Teenage Artists Published In Online Gallery
What Sarah has to say about herself and art cards: "People have always asked me where I learned to draw or if I could teach them, but what I have is an innate ability to just draw or sculpt anything that's in my head, well except for the REALLY crazy dreams I have, those stay in my head. I've always been into art, since before I can remember. Officially, I wanted to be a Bird when I grew up, but I always new I was an artist."
"My mom tells a story where when I was a baby, less than two years old, she would sit me in her lap and draw pictures for me. she used to interact with me like that ALOT. but she's not a fantastic artist or anything. she would just draw the same cat, dog and mouse over and over, but one would have different ears, a different face or tail, etc.
One day I asked her to draw me a 'REAL mouse' and she explained it was the best she could do, so I suppose she set me up with some paints and paper and I got to work. she says when I called her over to see my work, she was shocked and a little afraid, because hse had no idea babies could paint so well. sure enough, it was a REAL mouse, hunched over like mice do. My mother explained it WAS beautiful."
"I takes me about an hour to create my zodiac ATC cards. Frankly, I don't know what makes me so fast and yet so good. I'm sorry, it's the only thing I can brag about. On the other hand, it's good to not get TOO over-confident and really push yourself to improve and NEVER stop with 'well, it's pretty good, I'll just turn this in like it is,' because nothing is EVER really perfect. I love making the custom Etsy ACEO cards."
How Sarah Started With Art Cards:
"I was in a little sort of privately-own art supply shop where they have every art supply under the sun, I mean EVERYTHING and I was getting new supplies for the beginning semester of my first real college art class when I saw a packs of blank ATC cards at the counter in a big display. I've always loved cards ever since the poke'mon and Digimon phenomena (digimon came FIRST!!) and I bought one of every kind of card pack they had except acrylic, since I don't have any acrylic paints. (the very same cards are in the advertisements on this site last I checked)."
"I took the art cards home, completely stoked and after thinking about what I should do, I made a couple. I wasn't into Esty yet, so I didn't think much of selling them, I just wanted to TRADE and was really excited. sadly, I never found a decent organization to trade through and I didn't have the will to make, like, 20 cards for a BIG trade. When I was fully into Etsy and my shop, I came up with the idea of making ATC cards to go along with the stuffed animals and plushies I was making, and with ONE lady, it was a huge hit! I also make 'Zodiac Pals' custom birthday cards where I combine someone's Greek Zodiac character with their Chinese Zodiac character, and that's been a huge hit! I love making them in my illustration-style, though I can do LOADS of styles!"
Sarah became an Artcardist on August 26, 2009.
Friday, July 10, 2009
Tom Rios- Art Cards Published in a New Gallery

Tom Rios has been making art on and off for about 35 years. He started in the early 70s in San Francisco. Attended the Academy of Art College for several years which taught him the basics in art and gave him the opportunity to explore different styles and techniques.
Since that time, Tom has experimented in many types of arts from woodcarving to painting to paper-cuts and recently into making art cards.
Tom liked the idea of the art card because of the size limitations. The challenge of creating small works of art within the boundaries of the cards size. How much information can you put in and still make it work? Tom said "I think that’s the fun of creating these little gems." Tom became an "artcardist" in June 2009. Find out what exactly an "artcardist" is at www.artcardist.com
View more of my artists card work at www.artcardist.com
Tuesday, May 19, 2009

An artists trading card, also called an ACEO or art card is an original piece of artwork or print that is only the size of a baseball card. This 2.5 x 3.5 format is the standard for fine art cards. The artists cards are meant to be traded of course!
The problem was that only artists were trading cards in order to study each others work. Finally an artist realized that the general public would also like to trade these cards and they were made to be traded among the masses. Artist trading cards are traded at shows and through the mail.
They are originals, small editions and, most importantly, self-produced. Anybody can produce them. The idea is that you trade them with other people. Trading is usually done with other fine art card producers. Trading can be done in person or at trading sessions. It's not about money: participants in trading sessions and editions should not be charged any money. The experience of trading is the reward. There are monthly TRADING SESSIONS at different places.
If you have a favorite artists or genre, you could be lucky enough to own an original piece of artwork or two or three! Art cards should have the name of the artist and other relevant information on the back of the card. These pieces, although small, are meant to be shown. Collectors frame them or display them in trading card binders.
The difference between an art card and an ACEO is that while art cards are intended to be traded only ACEO's are produced for selling. Ebay has a large collection of art cards to choose from and artists also auction their work online. These small works of art are done in many media.
- Watercolor
- Oil
- Acrylic
- Colored Pencil
- Pastels
- Pen and Ink
and in many genres
- Collage
- Abstract
- Surrealism
- Impressionism
- Expressionism
- Realism
This art is extremely collectable and fun. Every imaginable subject is covered. Fine Art Cards are a great hobby. Check out my website www.artcardist.com or visit my other fine arts cards blogs http://www.thehistoryofartiststradingcards.blogspot.com/