ATCs Ones I'm not going to trade

White Spider ATC by Phillip Hoyle 2017

When I go to the Artist Trading Card workshop this week, I am not taking this card. I'll call it my no-trade card. I've made lots of spiders to trade this October. In fact, most of the 45 cards I'm taking this week are spiders. But when I finished this card, I decided to keep it.

Most of my spiders are black, their bodies treated with a craft product, Glossy Accents (available in craft stores near you). The clear acrylic creates a 3-D look. The spiders look like they're ready to crawl off the page onto your hand. That's kind of Halloween creepy to me. they are fun to drw on a variety of backgrounds.

Last month I tore out a bunch of ads from magazines to treat variously for making ATC college grounds for cards I was approaching without a real plan. Among them ws a man's black pinstripe suit. Last week while looking at it I decided to cut it into triangles to fit together. It was fun to create and looked nice to me. With spiders on my brain I decided to imagine it as a web of sorts and draw a white spider on it. My research has discovered spiders in an amazing array of colors. I liked this one so much I decided to keep it for myself.

Halloween ATCs by Phillip Hoyle 2017

Among other cards I made in the past week, ghosts came back into the picture and other new spiders. So I will trade "Giant Ghost House" and "The Three Creeps." 

And I look forward to the costumed neighbors who next week will be begging at our door for treats. Perhaps their costumes will inspire new Halloween art for next fall. Have fun. I'm planning to do so. Oh, take time to make an ATC or two and find someone to trade with.

I save a few cards, at least one a month, to enter into the Artist Trading Cards display at the Denver County Fair Art Show.