Collage Adventure
Collage is a fun cut and paste art activity with endless possibilities. You can rearrange pieces of coloured or painted paper of different shapes and sizes to create all sorts of picture compositions.
What you need:
Tools
- brushes
- pencil, coloured pens
- scissors
- 2 containers of water to wash
- kitchen towels for sticky fingers
- bone folder / plastic card (like an old credit or mrt card)
Let's get started!
Materials
- White Glue / Starch
- Coloured Paper > (or make your own colour painted papers)
- Paints (acrylic)
- Thick Paper Sheet for Base or Cardboard (Cereal boxes are great)
STEPS
THEME
For this creative journey we will have a guided theme of a nature landscape. But feel free to go on your own adventure and see where your torn papers lead you.
Painted Paper
4 colours (eg. blue, green, yellow and brown)
Painted paper has a nice texture to it, so use varied strokes as you're painting the sheets with colour.
- Blue watery wavey lines
- Bright Yellow solid areas
- Mix of Green colour hues
For the ground I used brown paper but you can paint earthy patches for more texture too...
Let the paper dry :)
Get your base cardboard ready.
A square of about 16-20 cm.
Tear it up
Shapes and Edges
- Tear Strips - vary wider & smaller shapes in scale with you base cardboard. The jagged edges of torn paper is an interesting feature so don't worry if they are not straight ;P
- Cut Geo Shapes : 2 green flat semi circle hills or triangle mountains if you like!
Puzzle it out
Composition
Feel free to follow this pattern or make up your own composition!
Play around with the arrangement of shapes and see what fits.
Keep placing the pieces in different positions to find a landscape that inspires you.
Mix it up
& see what sticks - looks good :)- Toss it like a salad - Randomise
- Space it out
- Line it up
- Match colours for contrast
* To help as a focal point I used the 2 curved green shapes for hills and built the area around that.
Paste it down
with glue
Just lift of pieces and dot glue in center to stick them down in place first.
(in case you want to move or overlap layers)
When it looks right go ahead and apply more glue to paste down the whole piece.
Some tricky bits
- Dot with pencil to mark a corner if you need to remember where it should go before moving pieces.
- Use the end tip of your brush to lift up edges to overlap
- Have some waste paper to lay down a piece and brush the glue on the back of the shape so glue is evenly spread and other areas don't get sticky.
- Use a plastic card to press down and smooth out any air bubbles.
* Overlap edges to create interest.
Tidy up
Fill up and tear away
- Look for any missing pieces or areas that break up the flow
- Fill up the gaps with matching coloured paper torn to size
- Fold over and tear the edges to fit sides
* I like the jagged edges on paper so instead of using scissors to cut straight edges just fold over to make a crease to tear.
Final Touches
Presentation & Embellishments
Sometimes you just need to add a bit of extra colour or marks to finish the piece. There are many ways you can enhance your final artwork...
- Smooth Edges, if you prefer mount it in a frame
- Presentation Frames & Colours can highlight the art piece, float it on a background
- Line drawing overlay
Draw some lines or add some accents or embellishments to top it off
* Digital tools are a great way to try out different ideas until you find the right combination.
Enjoy your adventures in collage!
Would be great to see what you made!
Please share and tag your creations on instagram with #ankcollage
@artsnkraf
If you enjoyed this tutorial and would like to support the artist ;)
Sometimes its more fun to make stuff together or if you need a bit of motivation or a personal art guide
for more explorations and techniques
> Drop by for a workshop in Singapore
Geometric Abstract Blue Green Yellow
— painted paper mache collage
Green Restoration
— rice paper collage
Black Circle Brown
— ink painted abstract collage
Black White Peach
— acrylic mixed media collage
Pink Brown Orange
— acrylic painted abstract collage
Other References & Inspiration
Here are some links where you can read more about the possibilities and different techniques of collage art.
The story of collage in art history where it was used in art movements like Cubism (Picasso ) and Dadaism ( Hannah Hoch photo montages ) .
My favourites who use more blocks of colour in abstract form are:
Abstract Expressionists:
In Illustration :