Making, collecting and selling ACEO paintings

ACEO paintings are a special art format which is defined by its size. These miniature works are only 2.5 X 3.5 inches. This incidentally, and not by accident, is the size of the ubiquitous Trading Cards beloved by kids of all ages and sizes. This means that there are many products available for storing and displaying the art work, from simple plastic wallets to A4 loose leaf pages with multiple pockets, and whole display books. The miniature aceo art works can of course be framed for display either singly or as multiples.





Collectors often come up with their own devices or simply use a favourite box ( of the right size of course) and I have even heard of them being used as dolls' house art.

It is a format that started back in 1996, and soon grew into a very popular collectible area. A search on Ebay.com for ACEO can bring up 3-4000 items (rather less in the UK as you might imagine being a much smaller market, but we are getting there) with aceo's available in so many different media it soon becomes confusing. Watercolor, oil, acrylic, pencil, collage, photographic images, computer generated images..... the list goes on.

ACEO's are a really inexpensive and fun way of starting your own original art collection.

When searching in art and painting categories on Ebay, you will most likely encounter the term ACEO. This stands for Art Cards Editions and Originals. They are the same size as baseball cards, except they are minature pieces of art. All of them have the same measurements: 2.5" x 3.5".
Artists first began using these cards centuries ago in Europe. Some wealthy patrons would pay artists to paint miniature pocket-sized paintings that they could carry on their person. It was not uncommon for men to carry these miniatures of their mistresses. Artists also would trade these miniature paintings with other artists to share their techniques and also as barter for goods that they might need from various merchants who could not afford to buy their larger paintings.
In 1999, some fellow introduced this art form on the internet and it became a movement known as ATC or Artist Trading Cards. Artists from all over the world began swapping artwork. ATCs also became very popular in art books and magazines, and contests and meets were set up around the globe. ATCs were also quite popular on eBay.
In 2004, an eBay artist known as Bone Diva (Lisa Luree) decided that she wanted to sell her ATCs, but since ATCs were designed for trading this idea was not well-received by earlier ATC artists. Bone Diva began a separate group of artists and they came up with the ACEO moniker. Today you can find over 3,000 artists on eBay registered in the various groups dealing with ACEOs.
These miniatures do not require large amounts of wall space as they can be kept in trading card albums. Thus, they do not have to match your couch. They can be matted and framed, however, and hung on the walls. You will find abstracts, realism, impressionism, surrealism, collages, fabric cards, oils, watercolors, pastels, acrylics....all the same ingredients that you will find in larger works.
The popularity of the ACEO/ATC movement today is continuing to grow rapidly. This art is generally more affordable than larger formats, although some ACEOs have sold for $400 & $500.

Collecting and Trading ACEO Cards.
ACEO stands for "Art Cards, Editions and Originals". These cards are a spin off of ATC which stands for 'Artist Trading Cards'. Both ACEO and ATC have the same size requirements. Each are 2 and one half by 3 and one half inches (64 x 89 mm).
ATC: Artist Trading Cards
ATC is a new art form which began formally in September of 1996. Swiss artist M. Vanci Stirnemann is credited with the creation of the ATC art form concept. This art is not limited by medium, you can use pencil, watercolor, acrylic, oil, collage, scratch board, mixed combination, pretty much anything a creative mind can think up! These can also be produced as original, limited editions, or as a series.
The ideal behind ATCs was to exchange art without involving either the art world or money. Artists trade their cards via email as well as face-to-face trading sessions. These cards are to be traded, never bought or sold.
ACEO: Art Cards, Editions and Originals
ACEOs were founded when some artists began to create cards specifically to sell on eBay as well as to trade among themselves. ACEO having been founded on eBay continues to supplement many of eBay artists by drawing new buyers to their work.
ACEO share the same size requirements as ATC as well as the same "anything goes" attitude when it comes to creativity and mediums. ACEO differs from ATC in that they are produced especially to sell and attract new people to the artists work. This selling of the cards in ACEO is a bit of a sore spot for ATC purists.

The last two paragraphs have been lifted from work on the web. I have not included references as yet due to time constraints. I will replace this text with my own original work asap... please bear with me and my apologies to the writers