New Swap Group

I recently joined a new ATC (Artist Trading Card) swap group on Facebook. I dropped out of the ones I used to belong to early this year. I even archived groups that I personally set up for swapping. There were a number of reasons for this.

First, although the groups had lots of members, it was the same few that were participating in the swaps every time. Don’t get me wrong, I love the art I received from them and they inspired me to expand my horizons. But I wanted to ‘meet’ new artists and swap with them.

Secondly, there was a lot of negativity in some of the groups that I found annoying, and unnecessary. We’re all adults here, let’s play nice. The art I/you create might not be something you/I like and that’s okay. But please don’t trash people for it. Constructive criticism is good and helpful but downright nastiness is demeaning and disheartening, especially for beginners. We all started somewhere and everyone needs to keep that in mind when critiquing the work of others.

Sometimes, I look back at the cards I made 10 years ago and cringe (see below). They were so simplistic and crude compared to what I create now. My art has evolved over the years as I expanded my knowledge, experimented with new materials and techniques, and practiced my craft. I also watched LOTS of YouTube tutorials and learned from other artists that I had the privilege of interacting with.

I’m really enjoying this new group so far and look forward to trading ATCs with many different artists. The six cards pictured at the top of this post are the first ones that I made to trade and they were spoken for quickly. And there is nothing better after those difficult days than receiving a constant stream of happy mail! It’s time to make some more this weekend to post next week. Let the fun continue.