Wednesday, December 18, 2013

5 Tips to Integrate Your Collage

Sometimes collage just looks like smaller paper (or other material) glued to a larger surface. But there are many ways in which to alter your collage elements to make the piece a more cohesive and seamless whole.


Five tips to integrate collage elements...

Splatter: Mix acrylic paint with a small amount of water and add random splatters by either flicking a paint brush or rubbing the bristles of a tooth brush. Hint: remove some of the excess paint on your brush by first splattering onto a random surface. This way you will end up with subtle splatter and not big blotches on your artwork.


Dry Brush: Apply a small amount of white gesso onto your brush and randomly dry brush over the elements on your collage. Be "purposely random" so that you do not end up with gesso lines. Hint: mix the gesso with your choice of color of acrylic paint if you would prefer to add an extra layer of color rather than white.


Connection: Connect all the disparate pieces of the collage with either hand drawn marks (lines, dots, dashes, etc) or very thin strips of paper. Hint: use very light marks and/or colors that match the background so that the connections are more subtle.


Edging: Chose collage fragments that have jagged, curved or torn edges rather than linear edges. Hint: if you do end up with many hard edges in your "finished" collage, soften the look by adding small pieces of torn paper, shreds of fabric, stitching, or random marks to the edges of the collage fragments.


Color: Create a glaze by mixing fluid acrylic paint and acrylic glazing liquid. Brush over the entire surface of the collage. Hint: quickly wipe off random sections of the glazing layer with a paper towel or rag to add more visual interest to the collage.

29 comments:

barbara macaskill said...

Thank you for the tips! I will be putting them to good use!

Sue Marrazzo Fine Art said...

Love these tips!
I am a collage/mixed media artist and instructor...I am always looking for new inspiration.
Thanks for sharing these ( :
Please look at my ART Blog: www.suemarrazzo.blogspot.com
Thanks!

Claudine said...

These tips are great, thanks for sharing them!!!

Patti Sokol said...

Love your easy to understand tips!

Bill said...

Your stencils have lots of interesting marks to use on a collage to tie elements together. I just started one, and am looking forward to using one of your stencils for the first time as well as these other great tips.

Erin in Morro Bay said...

Great tips Seth! And beautiful examples.
Erin

trish quilty said...

love these collages and the tips. Thank you.

Roberta Warshaw said...

What a well timed post for me Seth. I am getting back into collage now after a bit of a hiatus. These tips will help me re-engage.

Teresa Abajo said...

Awesome tips!

john said...

These are handy to have in the tool box. :-)

Raylee said...

thanks seth, will try all of these!

Pat said...

I'm bookmaking this one. Thank you.

ArtPropelled said...

Thanks Seth. I'm dabbling in collage in my journal so will keep these tips in mind.

Sharon W. said...


Are those panels shown in their entirety, or are they parts of larger pieces. What are their dimensions? Sistine chapel reduced, or pinhead enlarged? Fascinating and most helpful!

Anne Marie - Toronto said...

Thanks for the tips, Seth! I'll be sure to take them out and play with them in the future.

elle said...

I'm writing these down, Seth. Thanks

Unknown said...

Great tips! I love dry brushing!

Nan G said...

Thanks Seth. I'll give these a try.

Carol said...

These are such great tips! Thank you for sharing. Now wish I could carve out some time during this busy season to use them!

Jo Murray said...

All excellent tips...thanks Seth

Brian Kasstle said...

Seth these tips and especially the examples are amazing! Wonderful.

Veronica Stewart Art said...

Thanks for these..I'm partial to lines and dots.

Gaby Bee said...

Thanks for your tips, Seth! I am always looking for new inspiration.

Merry Christmas to you; may the New Year keep you safe, healthy, and creating more art so I can continually be inspired.

Hugs,
Gaby

froebelsternchen said...

thank you Seth - GREAT TIPS!
Enjoy the season and have a very Happy 2014.
xoxoxo

Susi

Anonymous said...

Excellent tips. I am a big fan of the acrylic glaze technique.

Hastypearl said...

Wow! Look at the response you raised! I had someone tell me recently, that they were afraid of collage. Why are we so committed to perfection, right! Collage is about fun, play, experimenting, and then, when any of your techniques are employed, the ugly duckling can turn into a swan! Great conscice, tutorial...again! Thanks Seth for your teacher heart :) Laura..oh, and Have a wonderful Holiday Season !

Parabolic Muse said...

Thanks for this, Seth! my collages have been looking kind of stale and random. I love the gesso tip. And I'm going to try several of these ideas. I really like all the pieces here.

Debrina said...

Nicely summed up, Seth! I would add that baby wipes are a great way to subtly "remove" and/or "blend" the surface treatments too. Also a REALLY good way of keeping your hands clean!!
Hope you had a very Merry Xmas my friend. Here's to 2014!

Lynn said...

Thank you for these fabulous tips! I will definitely use them.