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ACEOs and ATCs

For those of you who haven't heard of them, ATCs are Art Trading Cards, and ACEOs (Art Cards Editions and Originals) are the for-sale version. Both are 2.5"x3.5", the perfect size for those trading card jackets available anywhere that sells Magic the Gathering, baseball cards, or any other collectible card.

They're small, they're quick, and I'm positive they have the potential to be very popular with at least the teen and twenty-something furry crowd.

I've seen a few ATCs pop up with a handful of anthro artists as trades between them, but so far I haven't noticed any other than myself who are producing them for sale.

A quick link to more info about ATCs and ACEOs: Art-Cards.org

What do you guys think about buying, trading, and creating ATCs and ACEOs?

I really like the idea of them- in fact, I've been thinking about making some and trying to sell some originals this summer, and possibly taking traditional medium commissions for them. I don't know if I will yet, but it's something I'm interested in trying ;)

BTW, what is a good pricing range for ACEO originals and/or commishes?

It depends upon what medium/style it's done in. I am pricing my original realism ones at $30-$50 on the table, or $50 for commission. The minimalist is $30 on commission. Knotwork is $70 on commission. At those prices, they work out to be roughly $10/hour since the realism colored pencil pieces are taking me 3-6 hours each.

The prints are an entirely different issue. I am making 10 limited edition giclee prints of each card, and at the table I was charging $10-$15, corresponding to whether the original was $30 or $50. Most people didn't know what they were, so I only sold a handful. No one who looked at them balked at the prices. If I was to do ACEOs in larger print runs, or non-giclee, I would charge less for them.

The print service through ArtSpots would probably work well for making limited prints, if you were willing to submit the graphic with multiple images laid out for larger paper and then cut the individual cards once you received the prints.

Finding paper and canvas in that size format was the greatest challenge. I found a couple excellent suppliers through eBay, and I can send you their direction if you are interested. Another option is to buy a pad of paper you want to use for ACEOs and then take it somewhere with a die-cutter to be cut to exact size. None of the art stores I found sold paper or canvas in that size.

I call 'em sketch cards and I have done a ton.

Mostly fan art, but some original work :)

Amara Fox said: I call 'em sketch cards and I have done a ton.

Mostly fan art, but some original work :)

Sweet! I've been having a lot of fun drawing them, so I'm trying to propagate the meme. :D

All my ACEOs have been made to sell. I sold all of mine on eBay until I realized I wasn't getting back what I put into them. I haven't done one since my Starmane lion I sold here on ArtSpots.

I do love drawing them and they are a great way to play with new ideas, compostions, materials, and marketing.

I use a cheap paper cutter to cut down bristol, stonehenge, or canson to size.

Sidney Eileen said: It depends upon what medium/style it's done in. I am pricing my original realism ones at $30-$50 on the table, or $50 for commission. The minimalist is $30 on commission. Knotwork is $70 on commission. At those prices, they work out to be roughly $10/hour since the realism colored pencil pieces are taking me 3-6 hours each.

The prints are an entirely different issue. I am making 10 limited edition giclee prints of each card, and at the table I was charging $10-$15, corresponding to whether the original was $30 or $50. Most people didn't know what they were, so I only sold a handful. No one who looked at them balked at the prices. If I was to do ACEOs in larger print runs, or non-giclee, I would charge less for them.

*whistles* wow, they can really go for quite a bit, huh? Since I'm much closer to being an amateur than a professional at this point in time, I'll be keeping my prices down, but at least now I know around what to charge if I do end up a professional :D

Vantid, were you selling anthro ACEOs, or animal ACEOs? I've just started trying to sell on eBay, but I'm not even attempting with any of my anthro cards yet. I've also been advised that it is very important to get involved with at least one of the ACEO groups, since most of the buyers are in them and prefer to buy from other people who are active in the eBay community stuff.

Kyrahlynn said:

Sidney Eileen said: It depends upon what medium/style it's done in. I am pricing my original realism ones at $30-$50 on the table, or $50 for commission. The minimalist is $30 on commission. Knotwork is $70 on commission. At those prices, they work out to be roughly $10/hour since the realism colored pencil pieces are taking me 3-6 hours each.

The prints are an entirely different issue. I am making 10 limited edition giclee prints of each card, and at the table I was charging $10-$15, corresponding to whether the original was $30 or $50. Most people didn't know what they were, so I only sold a handful. No one who looked at them balked at the prices. If I was to do ACEOs in larger print runs, or non-giclee, I would charge less for them.

*whistles* wow, they can really go for quite a bit, huh? Since I'm much closer to being an amateur than a professional at this point in time, I'll be keeping my prices down, but at least now I know around what to charge if I do end up a professional :D

Honestly, the prices on the originals should be roughly comparable to con badge prices, since the work involved is going to be about equivalent for any given style. In my case, I am charging identical prices for con badges and ACEOs on commission. For the prints I am aiming for 1/3 to 1/2 the price of the original since they are limited edition giclees. Even though I might be able to sell a few more if I charged less, I feel it is far more important to get my time and effort out of each piece. However, I am starting my eBay auctions with a lower price than I was charging at the con ($5.95 + $1 shipping).

I'm a bit of a stickler when it comes to pricing my art, so I received very few commissions so far. If you are curious about my entire philosophy on pricing art, I wrote an article and posted it on dA. http://news.deviantart.com/article/38074/ A reasonable starting price for your art might be different from mine.

I sold anthro cards only so far as the animals have grins on their faces. And I never joined a club. Well, I joined but was never once active.

If you would like, I can let you know how it goes for me, and whether or not I have any luck selling anthro when I try that.

I'd be interested to know! I can't say I draw anthros a whole lot, most of my art are four footed critters with a humanized expression around the edges, but I'm still curious. :3

Like Vantid I almost always sell any ACEO's I've done. I have ACEO prints for sale as well for much much cheaper. I think the most I've had an ACEO go for was $70 but that was on auction. I usually price them at 40-45 though. I like to make them "for fun" so if they sell that's great, but if not its not a huge loss to me as it would be if it were a larger piece.

Well, Vantid, I gave up with eBay. Things have gotten a bit scarce for many of the established artists, so it's damn near impossible for a newbie to sell anything. I have one friend who has managed to break in successfully since last November, but he has far more time to spend networking there than I do. After a handful more failed auctions, I decided that I wasn't going to give eBay any more of my nickels and dimes.

Amusingly enough, though, I have managed to sell one of my ACEOs on FurBuy. The red fox eyes sold there on the second posting.

Oh no! Im sorry to hear that. Like I said, I haven't been selling since summer, so I am out of the loop. I was never popular, but I did realize that some trends are the money bringers...well, one. Cats. Cats with sings, especially. Corvids seem to do fairly well, and personally, my wolves with wings did well.