Thursday 28 May 2009

Of tiny things: ATCs, ACEOs, Moos, twinchies, inchies and other small creations

One of my favourite things to do is look at other's people artwork, especially mixed media. I find it fascinating how with things most of us would consider trash these artists can create beautiful pieces.

And my predilection is no doubt tiny art. I don't know how it started but for some years now there has been a fad among online artists (mixed-media, fibre, drawers, painters, you name it!) to create in an ever decreasing size.

Two of the first were ATCs and ACEOs, Artist Trading Cards and Art Card Edition and Original respectively. They are both the size of a normal trading card (2.5" x 3.5"), only difference being that ATCs are made to be traded and ACEOs are to be sold.

I tried my hand at ATC a while back (about 3 years ago), but I was just too busy with university to actually make an effort. But I've always tried to check blogs and forums to see what artists were creating.

Not that long ago I heard of inchies, small 1"x1" artworks. The truth is I didn't really pay attention to them, until this week, that is. I was searching old forum and blog posts looking for tips and techniques in card making and came across inchies once again. Being bored (and not wanting to prepare my lessons for the following day), I started reading and looking at inchies, and just feel in love.

So, I immediately had to try my hand at it. I've only made four so far, not a lot, but I have about 100 cut and all ready to be made. I got a bit carried away and started a series.
The only thing I don't enjoy about inchies is photographing them. Not even my macro setting (which is amazing) will photograph them nicely.

On my quest to find more information about these inchies and eye-candy I came across twinchies, same concept as inches only 2" x 2". They give quite a lot larger area to work (four times an inchie), but are still small enough to be finished in a blink.

I haven't tried them yet, but are definitely on my 'to do' list.

When I thought my discoveries for the week were done, I noticed people making Moos. A lot of people have heard from Moo, a popular online printing service, especially famous for their half-sized business cards. Now, apparently artists have borrowed the idea and are making Moos, small pieces of art in a 28mm x 70mm format.

I love Moos as small bookmarks, they are pretty much the perfect size for pocket edition books, diaries, and planners. Again I haven't tried those yet, but I most probably will.

Another extremely common thing to see in a small size are tags. They are popping up all over the place, most are used as embellishments for cards or scrapbooking or as gift cards, but I think they deserve to be considered and admired by themselves.

And let's not forget small or mini cards. Usually considered small when they are of about an A7 or smaller size.

I've recently finished a few A8 cards for father's day, that will go on Zibbet as soon as their technical problems are solved, and found that these are extremely fun to make. They do take a bit of a shorter time than larger cards, but not that much. I think the main thing about making cards is its design, and that will take as long as it decides to take, no matter the size.

I'm really loving this downsize in art, I think it brings art to normal non-artist types (much like me), and if you were to buy them, you can actually own an original for what a cheap lunch would cost.

1 comment:

  1. Thanks for your comment on my blog. Amazing the work you do in such a small surface. I have wanted to make ACEOs but haven't gotten to it. The little inchies look cute though.

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