72 ideas
Checked October 2026

Art Trading Cards Ideas

One artist trading card idea per press, with how to turn the card and what to use.

Show all 72

Three ridges in one color, each layer a shade darker toward the frontSideways, one color in three strengths. No pen and no detail: the overlapping edges do the work.

Next step More landscapes to shrink down Tiny subjects for a small card

All 72 ideas

A series of nine 12

Nine birds on one wire that runs through every card Sideways, pen only. Rule the wire at the same height on all nine so it joins up when they sit in a row.
Nine chairs as a series, from a stool to a throne Upright, pen only. One chair per card, all standing on the same floor line.
Nine doors for a series, no two the same shape Upright, pen and two colors. One door fills each card. Leave out the wall: the card's edge is the frame.
Nine fish that grow from a minnow on card one to a giant on card nine Sideways, pen and one color. The last fish no longer fits: only its eye and mouth are on the card.
Nine hats in a set, each with a hint of who wears it Upright, pen and one color. The hat fills the card; show the wearer with one detail under the brim.
Nine keys, each cut for a door you invented Upright, pen only. One key per card, bow at the top. Vary the teeth and leave the background bare.

Show all 72 ideas (66 more)

A series of nine, continued

Nine lit windows of one apartment block, a card per window Upright, pen and one color. Draw only what shows inside the frame: a lamp, a cat, a plant. No bricks.
Nine moons, each hanging in a different color of night Upright, pen and one color per card. The same circle in the same spot nine times; only the sky changes.
Nine skies for nine cards: dawn, noon, storm, dusk and five more Sideways, two or three colors, no pen. The horizon sits low and nothing stands on it.
Nine teacups, each seen from a little higher up Upright, pen and one color. The rim goes from a flat line on the first card to a full circle on the last.
One garden hose looping through all nine cards of a set Upright, pen and two colors. Lay the block out first so the hose leaves and enters at matching spots.
One tree drawn across nine cards laid three by three Upright, pen and two colors. Lay the cards as a block, draw over the joins, then separate them to swap.

Tiny portraits and creatures 12

A beetle as large as the card allows, feet touching the edges Upright, pen and one color. Draw the shell's center line first. Leave out any ground or shadow.
A cat cropped so close that only its nose, mouth and whisker roots fit Upright, pen and one color. Leave out the ears, the eyes and everything else beyond the muzzle.
A goldfish and three bubbles, the card itself as the tank Upright, pen and one color. The card's edges are the glass. One fish, three bubbles, no table.
A hedgehog curled in a ball, spines right out to the card's edges Upright, pen only. A round of short strokes pointing outward, a nose and one eye. Leave out the ground.
A made-up creature with a lettered name plate across the bottom of the card Upright, pen and two colors. One simple body shape, big eyes, and a made-up name in capitals.
A moth with both wings open, patterned like tree bark Sideways, pen only. Mirror the left wing on the right. Short broken lines make the bark.
A portrait cropped to one eye and its eyebrow Sideways, pencil or pen. Leave out the rest of the face; the lashes and the highlight carry it.
A self-portrait as a face card, mirrored top and bottom Upright, pen and two colors. Draw the top half, turn the card around and draw it again.
A side-on head in solid black against a patterned ground Upright, black pen and one color. Fill the profile flat; put all the detail in the pattern behind.
An owl reduced to two rings, a beak and a few feather ticks Upright, pen and one color. Two big rings, a small beak between, feather marks only around the eyes.
Half a face on the left edge, as if peeking onto the card Upright, pen and one color. One eye, half a nose, half a smile. The rest of the card stays bare.
Your pet's portrait with its name on a ribbon underneath Upright, pen and two colors. Head and shoulders only; the ribbon takes the bottom quarter.

Miniature landscapes 12

A canyon seen from the rim: two cliff walls and a river thread far below Upright, pen and one color. The walls take the sides of the card. Leave out every plant and boulder.
A country road shrinking to a dot at the top of an upright card Upright, pen only. Two lines meet at the top; short dashes down the middle shrink as they climb.
A frozen lake card: one skater's loops scratched across bare paper Sideways, pen only. A shoreline along the top, then looping lines. Leave out the skater.
A hilltop village stacked up the card, roofs only Upright, pen and one color. Overlapping roof shapes climb to one tower. Leave out doors and windows.
A lighthouse standing the full height of an upright card Upright, pen and one color. The tower runs from bottom to top; leave out the sea beyond one wave line.
A low horizon, one tree and a great deal of sky Upright, pen and one color. The horizon sits a third of the way up. Leave out clouds and birds.
A night city of dark blocks with lit windows as dots Sideways, dark pen and one bright color. Leave out the window frames: one dot is one window.
A sunflower field reduced to dots on stems Sideways, pen and one color. Big dots in front, pinpricks at the back, and no petals drawn at all.
A tiny harbor: three masts, a sea wall and their reflections Sideways, pen and one color. Masts are single lines and reflections the same lines, wobbled. Leave out the rigging.
One long low island across a sideways card Sideways, pen and two colors. The island is a thin dark strip with water below and sky above, both flat.
Rain on a pond drawn as rings and slanted strokes only Sideways, pen only. No banks and no reeds. Bigger rings sit lower on the card.
Three ridges in one color, each layer a shade darker toward the front Sideways, one color in three strengths. No pen and no detail: the overlapping edges do the work.

Pattern and texture 12

A brick wall with one brick missing and something behind it Sideways, pen and one color. At this size, skip the mortar shading and draw only the joints.
A card full of raindrops, each with its own highlight Upright, pen and one color. Leave a small bare patch near the top of every drop.
A card-sized maze with a start in one corner and an end in the other Sideways, pen only. Draw the true path first as a faint line, wall it in, then add dead ends.
A corduroy of close ridges with one worn patch Upright, pen and one color. Rule close upright lines in pairs; break them up inside one small oval.
A sheet of bubble shapes, big ones crowding small ones to the edges Upright, pen and one color. Draw the largest circles first and fit smaller ones into every gap.
A spiral of dots growing from pinhead to pea Upright, pen only. Start in the middle with the smallest dot and enlarge each one slightly.
Cracked dry mud as dark lines over a pale wash Upright, pen and one color. Draw big plates first and split a few of them with finer cracks.
Half circles overlapping corner to corner, like fish scales, in two colors Upright, pen and two colors. Rows of half circles, each row shifted half a scale along.
Plaid built from three broad bands and three fine lines each way Upright, two colors. Lay the broad bands down the card first, then across; the crossings come out darker.
Roof tiles in rows, with one tile slipped out of line Upright, pen and one color. Rows of U shapes, each row shifted half a tile. Color only the slipped one.
Stripes that swell and narrow as they cross the card Upright, pen only. Draw wavy lines top to bottom, then fill every other gap.
Tree rings filling the card, the heart of the trunk off in one corner Upright, pen only. Start with a small wobbly loop near a corner; each ring follows the one inside it.

Methods that suit the size 12

A card painted black first, then drawn on with a white pen Upright, black paint and a white pen. Line only, no filling in: a moth, a comet or a row of teeth.
A diluted ink wash, darkest at the top, with bare pen trunks over it Upright, diluted ink and a pen. Let the wash dry fully. Leave out branches and leaves.
A magazine scrap cut to card size and drawn into with marker Upright, a printed page and a marker. Choose a patch of texture, not a face, and outline shapes you see in it.
A pen drawing tinted with three colored pencils and no more Upright, a pen and three pencils. Ink the lines first. Color only the subject and leave the ground bare.
A punched hole as the sun, with colored paper behind Upright, a hole punch and a scrap. Punch first, draw the scene around the hole, glue the scrap on the back.
A real leaf used as a stencil with color dabbed around it Upright, a leaf and a sponge. Hold the leaf flat, dab outward over its edge, and lift it straight up.
A swatch card of every pencil in your box Upright, colored pencils. Small rectangles in rows, each shaded from heavy to light.
A tape border peeled away at the end for a clean frame Upright, low-tack tape and any paint. Tape all four edges, paint over them, and peel when dry.
Paint dabbed through a scrap of lace or net for an instant pattern Upright, a sponge and one color. Hold the scrap flat on the card, dab over it and lift it straight up.
Rubbings of a key, a comb and a button, lined up like specimens Upright, crayon and thin paper. Rub each object through the paper, then glue the strip to the card.
Three torn scraps overlapped into a mountain card, white edges showing Sideways, scrap paper and glue. Tear, never cut: the rough white edge reads as mist at this size.
Wax crayon lines that show through a watercolor wash Upright, a pale crayon and one color. Press hard with the crayon; the wash slides off the wax.

Backs and swaps 12

A chain card: draw half, trade it, and the next person finishes Upright, pen only. Stop at the middle of the card and write both names on the back.
A series number on the back, written like 3 of 9 Back, pen only. Put it in the same corner each time so a set can be put in order.
A small mark of your own in one corner of the back Back, pen only. Initials inside a simple shape, small enough to draw the same way every time.
A swap theme: a pocket object drawn too big to fit the card Upright, pencil. A coin, a button, a paper clip: draw it so large that two edges cut it off.
A swap theme: everyone draws their own front door Upright, any medium. Agree on the theme and the day; every person brings one card for each trader.
A swap theme: one color only, a different one per person Upright, one color and white. Draw lots for the colors so no two people share one.
A swap theme: the thing I collect Upright, pen and two colors. One object from your collection, with its name on the back.
A swap theme: the view from where you are sitting Sideways, pen and one color. Everyone draws at the same table, so no two cards match.
A swap theme: your initials turned into an animal Upright, pen and one color. The letters stay readable; add legs, a tail and a face.
The back of the card: title, name, date and place Back, pen only. Four short lines in the same order on every card you make.
The materials on the back as a row of tiny pictures Back, pen only. A pencil, a brush, a glue stick: draw only what the front really used.
One line on the back to whoever receives the card Back, pen only. Say what you were looking at or thinking about when you drew the front.

How this list was compiled: Original list written for Draw This Next on 2026-10-02: 72 ideas for artist trading cards in six groups of 12 (a series of nine, tiny portraits and creatures, miniature landscapes, pattern and texture, methods that suit the size, and backs and swaps), with an Easy mark on 30. Each hint opens with which way the card is turned (upright, sideways or its back) and what to use; many then say what to leave out or how a set joins. Read on 2026-10-02 in the English Wikipedia article Artist trading cards (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artist_trading_cards, text under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license): the cards measure 2.5 inches by 3.5, the format of modern trading cards and playing cards; each is a one-off or a short run by its maker, signed and dated on the back; they are exchanged, and selling or buying them contradicts the initial idea; all techniques are allowed. No card game is named and no card is drawn in the layout of one. Licence: own work

How it works

Artist trading cards are 2.5 inches by 3.5, the size of a playing card, and are made to be swapped, not sold. Many of these 72 ideas are one subject cropped close, with a note on what to leave out.

Read the full guide

A series of nine

The cards are made singly or in small series. A series of nine has sets that lay three by three: nine doors with no two the same shape, one tree drawn across all nine, one garden hose looping through the set. Draw over the joins before the cards are separated.

Backs and swaps

By custom a card is signed and dated on the back. Backs and swaps lists what else to put there and themes for a group trade, such as everyone draws their own front door.

Pick one subject and crop it. A whole scene shrunk to this size turns to specks.
Cut a few blank cards from heavy paper before you start, so a series is ready to carry on.

Questions and answers

What size is an artist trading card?

2.5 by 3.5 inches, the same format as modern trading cards and playing cards. Any medium is allowed; the size is the one fixed thing.

What do you put on the back of an art trading card?

Your signature and the date, by the custom of the cards. Backs and swaps adds a title, the place, a series number written like 3 of 9, and one line to whoever receives the card.

What are easy ideas for art trading cards?

Easy holds the ones with one shape or one move: overlapping half circles like fish scales, a hedgehog curled in a ball, a tape border peeled away at the end for a clean frame.

Can you sell artist trading cards?

The cards were started as a project outside the art market: people meet and exchange them face to face, and selling or buying them goes against that idea. That is the custom, not a rule this page sets.