Want to explore the dynamic mixing of art and imagination? Collage is an accessible gateway for everyone to creative compositions. In a nutshell, collage art is an arrangement of elements (paper, wood, fabric, feathers, leaves, and other found objects) pasted down with an adhesive, glue, paint, and other media onto a structure of wood, paper, or canvas. This page is populated with a variety tutorials and inspiration for the beginner collage artist. Resources for additional collage inspiration is also included for your future exploration.
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Tear, Glue, and Paint Mixed Media Masterpieces
These tutorials by Chris Dunmire provides a loose framework for how to begin a mixed media project starting with magazine collage, adding in embellishments or found objects, and then applying additional media.
Creative Collage Combinations
A continuation of the above 'Tear, Glue, and Paint' series and applying foundation techniques to other types of canvases and experimenting with unique textures and effects.
Collage Cubies: A Collossial Play on 2D Collage Art
Chris Dunmire's fun 'outside the box' play on traditional two-dimensional collage art. This creative paper-model 3D sculpture project includes a downloadable cubie template and step-by-step tutorial for cubie collage. Don't just collage it — cube it!
Q: I love doing collage, but I find my sources of material limited...magazines, calendars, etc. I want to make my collages classier. Where do I go for free or moderately-priced material? Thanks! —Kay
A: The sky's the limit! Anything you can glue or paint down is fair game. Pick up any book about collage and it will list dozens of ideas and resource suggestions, including recycled materials, paper, wood, plastic, photos, tickets, and just about any ephemeral items you can imagine.
Most mainstream craft stores cater to collage artists and scrapbookers by providing an extensive inventory of interesting papers and embellishments sold in sheets, pads, and packs. Other great low-cost resources include bargain bins at fabric stores (remnant materials are awesome) and garage sale, thrift stores, resale shops, and Goodwill.
Quickie Collage Workshop
By Molly J. Anderson-Childers
Want to make a collage, but not sure how to start?
Making Your First SoulCollage® Card
By Anne Marie Bennett
SoulCollage® is a unique blend of spiritual practice and the fun of collage. See the application of this soul-searching collage style in the inspiring series Inner Voices of Creativity SoulCollage card meditation series.
Collage Prompt: Mentor Mania
By Angi Sullins
Who has asked the questions that sent your soul searching? Create a collage expressing your creative and spiritual mentors.
Collage and Visual Journaling
By Kristi Kovalishyn
Ideas and tips for getting started with visual journaling.
Creativity & Collage for Self-Discovery
By Shelly Klammer
A series of articles discussing creativity, intuitive (spontaneous) collage, and collage art for self-discovery.
Creative Play Cards Project
By Violette
Boost your collage creativity making these fun tiny cards.
Autumn Season Tree Collage
By Chris Dunmire
Combining the organic with the material, design a dynamic fall season work of art.
Creating Your Dream Collage
By Emelisa Mudle
Explore and express your wants, needs, and desires through passion mapping pictures and words from magazines.
Intuitive Collage
By Shelley Klammer
Anyone can touch into their deeper feelings, insights and desires through spontaneous collage.
Anne Marie Bennett's KaleidoSoul
A virtual playground of activities, ideas, community, and resources and support for SoulCollage™ artists worldwide, both new and experienced run by Anne Marie Benett, author of the Inner Voices of Creativity and Collaging with Cancer SoulCollage® series on Creativity Portal. SoulCollage® is a unique blend of spiritual practice and the fun of collage that integrates intuition and imagination.
Seena Frost's Soul Collage
Author of SoulCollage Evolving: An Intuitive Collage Process for Self-Discovery and Community Seena B. Frost's "SoulCollage® is a process through which you contact your intuition and create an incredible deck of cards which have deep personal meaning and which will help you with life's questions." Site is a repository of the Soul Collage process with information on the principles of Soul Collage and an inspirational gallery of art submitted by users.
Nita Leland's Collage
Author of New Creative Collage Techniques: How to Make Original Art Using Paper, Color and Texture, Nita Leland's Web site features an inspiring collage gallery
and several collage project ideas: magazine collage, working with rice paper, and nature collage.
Karen's Whimsy
Offers articles and instruction on creating altered books with lots of photographs and design details. There is also a section called Play, with ideas for creating decorative papers for art projects. Collage work is also on display and there are articles written for various publications such as Artella, e-Artella, The Gleaner, and the ISABA (International Society of Altered Book Artists) journal.
Ann Baldwin's Art Studio
A creative site featuring "Galleries of abstract paintings in encaustic and mixed media, collages on canvas and wood, how-to articles on painting techniques, and how to market art."
National Art Gallery: Collage Machine and Other Interactive Art Fun
Create your own collage art online with this creative and fun app. Other interactive art features include PaintBox, 3-D Twirler, Mobile Maker, Cubits, and PixelFace.
International Museum of Collage, Assemblage, and
Construction
Dedicated to the collection, study and exhibition of collage, assemblage, construction, montage, photo-montage, digital collage, and other constructive arts. Features collage and assemblage galleries and exhibitions. Intriguing and humorous works from found objects, digital collage, and collage poetry.
Making Sense of Marcel Duchamp
Duchamp's legacy includes the insight that art can be about ideas instead of objects, a revolutionary notion that would resonate with later generations of artists.
Sculpture and Collage Lessons for K-12
Fun and simple sculpture and collage techniques and projects. Includes using art tape to create three dimensional sculpture, constructing three-dimensional structures from two-dimensional paper, bean mosaics, fabric assemblage, media collage, pebble and paper art.
Did you know that the famous trumpet-playing Louis Armstrong was also a paper-cutting collage artist? It's true! The book, The Wonderful World and Art of Louis Armstrong
by Steven Brower and Hilton Als says:
"He had a voice like a cat's tongue, scratchy and warm as the music he made with his trumpet. And, surprisingly, Satchmo — that is, the fabulous Louis Armstrong — had a way with yet another instrument: a pair of scissors. Between sets, he snipped words and images from ads and greeting cards, letters, telegraphs, and photos of friends and fans, then pasted them into jazzy, colorful collages."
Indeed, Mr. Armstrong was snipping, cutting, and pasting collage elements together to create collagy works of art in between his performances. The Amazon blurb ntoes the book "is a biography in the form of an art book. It tells the story of Armstrong's life through his writings, scrapbooks, and artworks, many of which have never been published before. Armstrong was the single greatest creative artist in the history of jazz and the American popular song." Celebrate this jazzy discovery by creating your own pieces of collage art today!
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Artist Spotlight
Jurgita ("Gita") Mekyte is a professional artist specializing in paper collage art greeting cards. Her Web, GitaDesigns.com features extensive collage work which will inspire you. She began dabbling in paper collage art years ago because of its inherent unpredictability. Unlike scissor-cut edges with controlled straight lines, torn media produces a unique, and sometimes most unusual angle or edge. This element coupled with Jurgita's personal blend of creativity results in interesting, beautiful, and often whimsical pieces of art.
"I like paper. She says. "I like its texture, color, and fiber. I like to tear paper, cut it in pieces, and arrange it into different shapes of various objects: flowers, cats, dogs, horses, butterflies, Santa Claus, Valentine Hearts, Easter eggs and other designs."
"I began making paper collages several years ago, but my passion for paper and drawing began before I entered primary school. I still have some of the artwork I did back in kindergarten.
"After I created my collages, I used the pieces to design unique greeting cards that are now available through my Web site. My favorite collage size is 5" x 7" (for greeting cards) but I can create larger sized collages upon request.
"The collage making process is like playing game. When I begin, I don't have a complete idea of
the object I want to create. I don't usually make roughs or sketches. I just play with paper. But intuitively I know what I do. How a sharp line of cut paper goes with unpredictable edge of torn paper, and how colors complement each other. I like keep my compositions simple — not overcrowded with a lot of details. My inspiration comes mostly from nature and music, or from the feedback I receive from people who like my art."