Artist Trading Cards - First 5

Katniss & the Hanging Tree

This week I received 2 envelopes full of precut ATCs  in the mail from a friend.  ATC stands for artist trading card.  They are around 3.5" x 2.5" which is about the size of a baseball trading card.  There are various groups of people who make them and trade them with each other.  The one pictured above was my first one.  I had just finished reading The Hunger Games trilogy and needed to release some of what I was feeling.  This little piece of paper helped me to do just that.  I just started doodling with a size 005 black pen, and this is what it turned into.

Wisps of Summer

Then I moved onto this card.  This is a slight variation of an image that I drew ages ago, one that I want to make a tattoo out of.  I've been tweaking the image in my head for several years.

Wings of Fire

Then I broke out the watercolor paper and paints and did some experimenting.  I haven't done any watercolor painting for 5 years, so it was nice to do a mini refresher.  I let my 4 year old sprinkle salt on the wet paint.  He loved watching what it did to the painting.  While painting, he told me that I am a good artist because I am a good painter.  So sweet (especially since I was just painting a plain background).  Then when I was drawing the picture below he said that I am a good artist because I'm a good drawer.  Melts my heart.

Starfish Glory

After the paint had dried, I cut 2 of the 3 pages that I painted into 3.5" x 2.5" cards and drew on them with a size 01 pen.  I really like the gradation of color from the watercolor paints.  It really adds to the image.

Sending Messages to Space

I started doing a certain type of doodling with black ink in high school (maybe even earlier than that).  It has slowly evolved from just swirls to having more of a nature feel to it.  Its all very organic and not planned out.  Sometimes I'll have something in mind and see if I can keep with that theme, but I still let the image develop and grow the way that it wants to.

It feels good to be doodling again.  It reminds me that I am more than just a crafter.  It reminds me that, like my son said, I am an artist.