How to start collaging
If you’ve been following me on Instagram, then you’ll know just how much I looooooove collage!! It’s how I plan my murals, it’s how I unwind, it’s how I get my ideas out there and have a play.
If you’re like me and find it hard to be one of those artists that draws these amazing intricate drawings and spends hours on one drawing, then collage is the one for you!
I always felt bad that I didn’t really enjoy drawing that much and found it to be such a chore, so I never thought of myself as a real artist. But then on a trip to Australia, I came across Bunnings Warehouse. It’s this massive DIY store that sells everything and they have a great paint section where you can find colour charts for you to decide what colour you want your walls to be.
They have a wall dedicated to colour charts that are the perfect size for collaging in all the colours you could want! So like any good thrifty person, I pretended to need lots of colour charts for planning my home decor…… shoved them in my pockets and left! They are free of course, but you still feel bad for taking a whole pile of them when you know that you won’t be using them for the reasons they want you to!
So let’s delve into the world of collage and see if you can be converted!!
How to get started?
It can be daunting knowing where to start. So get some tunes on, listen to a podcast, have a cup of tea, do what ever you need to do to get you in a relaxed mood.
I find that giving myself set tasks really helps and gives me boundaries to create, so here are my favourite tasks that I use for myself and at my classes:
Cut out a bunch of shapes
It can be a great starting point to cut out a whole load of shapes from different papers and of different sizes, then just stick them down without giving it much thought. It starts to free you up and lets you start thinking about how you can approach your next collages. It’s like scribbling but with paper,
Use one shape as the main focus of your collage
Choose a shape you’d like to use, I always use a circle because it’s my favourite shape. They don’t have to be perfect, just cut them out roughly. If you make your shape the main focus of the collage, it gives you a starting point and takes out the stress of having a blank page.
From there, you can add other shapes that take your fancy, or just keep adding more and more of your fave shape in varying sizes and colours.
Repetition
Use the same shapes for all your collages eg. if you’re making 4 collages, cut out 4 circles, 4 triangles, 4 squares and 4 semi circles and use each shape on one collage. Place them in different parts of your collage and see how different they can look. See how 4 simple shapes can create such different collages! This is something I use in my daily collage practice because it helps me understand how shapes work together and the different compositions that can work.
Timed collages
It can really help to set yourself a time limit. If you’re a perfectionist this will drive you nuts, but trust me, it really helps!! It doesn’t give you time to stew over your collage and wonder whether you should change the direction of the rectangle… just go for it! Start off with 5 minutes and then you can start extending the time.
Materials
Using different materials can often spark ideas. Use what ever you have at home like newspapers, magazines or wrapping paper you have lying around. I also like to use washi tapes, which are colourful masking tapes that make it so easy to put ideas down. Stickers are also a brilliant way to get your ideas down and you don’t need any glue. Perfect for collaging with little ones and it takes the hassle out of cutting out!
See what you can create!
I hope that these ideas get you in the mood to collage and help you on your path to becoming a collage master.
If you are in need of some extra help and ideas, then why not get a collage pack sent straight to your door? It’s full of helpful tasks and packed full of papers and stickers to get you creating at home.
Have fun!!