The Basics of Collage Art

Collage artists take many different approaches to this form of art. It all depends on what you're collaging, if you're going for a theme or if you're using several forms of media (to name a few). We're keeping this basic, so let's focus on these few things first:

1: What are you collaging?
If you're just starting out, it's suggested that you start small. Examples of starting small are creating collages on ATCs, bookmarks, tags, or small pieces of paper or canvas. Create many of these small pieces until you feel comfortable with this art form. You might feel too limited during your experiments to settle on one theme for your work, so it might be a good idea to keep things random at this point.

2: Are you working with a theme?
Even though I just mentioned that you might feel too limited by a theme, you might have a specific project in mind that requires a theme. If this is a case, try sketching out your ideas (When I say sketching, that doesn't necessarily mean drawing. It could be note taking, also.) first so you'll have an understanding of what you need for supplies and other materials.

3: Are you using several forms of media?
Planning this out can be tricky because, most often, artists like to let this process "happen" as the work progresses. There are some things you can consider when working with several forms of media for the first time. Practice on several small scale pieces first, experimenting with colors and how adding elements change the piece. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because it's very easy to layer over them when using more than one form of media.

When asking yourself these basic questions, keep in mind there's no right or wrong answer. The ultimate choices are yours. When I first started collaging, I was so afraid I'd make mistakes that my pieces often turned out looking like a scrapbook page lay out. While I liked the finished pieces, I was disappointed with myself for not breaking free from the "it has to be perfect" constraints. Participating in mail art swaps, looking at blogs and checking books out of the library helped me along a great deal through this process.

I listed the resources that really inspired me at the end of this article.

This list, honestly, could continue on for quite a few pages. I also received quite a bit of inspiration participating in mail art project hosted through http://www.nervousness.org and http://www.1001journals.com. Both sites require registration before participating in any of the projects and before starting your own. There are also a considerable amount of Yahoo! Groups, but I've yet to experiment with any of them.