antler folk atc's

one of my greatest pleasures these days is hosting atc swaps on www.illustratedatcs.com and www.atcsforall.com (the 1st site is juried, the 2nd site is not). part of the fun is coming up with interesting themes that i'd like to collect. my recent obsession has been with antlered folks. you know, people with antlers. of course i know they don't really exist, but they look so awesome in art. and the cool thing is, it's easy to make antlered folk whether you are a hand drawn artist or a mixed media collage artist (like me). it's accessible.

just find some antler images online, print them out (and in my case color them), and add them to the person of your choice. antlers make anyone look striking.

what was really fun for me in make these particular cards was i also played with my other 2 obsessions: spray paint, and cool color combos--in this case yellow, aqua, and pink. to me, they mix a look of ancient times, when fairies existed, with a more modern look.

as always, i've added bits of intriguing text to further the sense of story. text is a common denominator with the majority of my art. here it is added in the background--finnish text, and then an english word or phrase. i really love how these turned out. what are some of your fave techniques?

lazy days

it's memorial day and i am at home with the kitties preparing to head into the studio. i have many projects afoot from swaps on iATC's to a moleskine journal on AFA. i am hosting 3 swaps on iATC's: monochromatic 4x4 PAT (pick-a-theme), altered photo ATC's, and antler people ATC's. all of them need work done but they aren't due until july at the earliest. the moleskine for AFA is what needs immediate attention but i must admit to being stuck. the theme is ' the enchanted garden of oddities and delights'. basically a scene of oddness. previous entries include a zombie carnival and flowers with eyeballs. needless to say i am intimidated. but it's time to get this show on the road because i have been holding on to this book for far too long!

in other news, i have finished my swap cards for the blind drawing swap on AFA. the rules: with your eyes closed draw a face, then with your eyes open take that face, whatever it looks like, and create a character. i had fun doing these, even more fun was thinki9ng up the story behind each character. my fave is the sister mary catherine. which one is your favorite. leave a comment and let me know!

ATC Progression

wow, over a month without a post. i am a baaaaaaaaad blogger. the holidays got away with me what with all those gift swaps to complete. i did end up scoring some rather wonderful art!

on www.illustratedatcs.com a thread was started about how ones art can and will progress through years of making atc's. folks were posting cards from the beginning of their atc career until now. i thought i'd do the same.



i've only been making atc's since early in 2008, but this is a good 2 years worth of progress. i've definitely started playing more with layers, therefore more depth in later pieces!

what were your 1st atc's like? did you have any idea what you were doing? do they make you cringe now?

and what are they like now? how do you feel about the progress you have made?

i dare ya'll to post in your blogs your atc progressions. please comment with a link if you do!

Underloved ATC of the DAY

i made this card as part of the november monthly match up at iATC's. the idea is you sign up each month to be randomly paired up with one other person for whom you make an ATC based on themes they prefer. this card is a nick bantock inspired collaged with a bird for my partner fyrelyter. she has animals, with birds as a preference, as one of the themes she collects.

collage-a-thon

iATC's is having it's first collage-a-thon this weekend! what's that you ask? an entire weekend spent collaging and trading ATC's. it starts at 5PM (in your time zone) on friday and ends at 11:59PM (again, your time zone) on sunday. collage and trade to your hearts content. i made these 2 cards friday evening. 'kick' has bee traded to verterok., but 'in vain' is still available!