I have always been stuck between a desire to make visual art, and a lack of talent. It was only until last year I discovered the life-changing magic of collage. It’s a fun, therapeutic craft that doesn’t require a lot of work or materials (unless you want it to… ah, the beauty of choice). At first, I only made them for myself in my diary. I decided to make a vision board—it’s a nice reminder of why I work so hard, and it’s a testament to my work-hard-play-hard mentality. I had so much fun curating a collage from my own interests, that I’ve started giving them away as gifts to friends. It’s a personal, fun gift that lasts a long time, has sentimental value, and doesn’t cost very much to make.
I recommend getting a group of friends together, and having a collage night! For this article, I had a collage night with my friends and noticed the added benefit of us inspiring each other and all bringing different materials that we were able to share and trade.
I recommend getting images from a multitude of sources, both on and off the internet. Searching words and putting “aesthetic” after them often brings up pretty images and can help inspire a theme if you’re in search of one. Printing images from Pinterest/Tumblr/Unsplashy can be helpful. Even if you don’t own a color printer, places like Staples will print in color for less than 25 cents. If you’re on a tight budget, fitting multiple images on to a printed page, or printing one or two larger/more specific images you want to be the “centerpiece” can put you on track for a great collage! Scanning books at your library can also provide for unique centerpieces, and book text makes a great background!
Like I said, a variety of materials is what will make the collage interesting so besides printing, some places to look are: magazines, books from thrift shops, your own photos, stickers, postcards, catalogs and paint swatches (free at Lowes, Home Depot, etc), glitter glue, and your own drawings can make for great materials! Now that you’ve got a theme in mind and materials that reflect it, let’s get started!
At the bare minimum you need:
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A piece of paper for the background
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Glue or tape
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Images
How to begin your collage:
1) Cut out all the main images. And arrange them on your background paper, I usually don’t glue anything down until I’m completely done, which can sometimes take days. Whatever style your going for, is how you should make your decision of what to glue or not to glue.
2) Look for smaller images you can glue down in order to enhance and compliment the main images. I really like nature, so I usually use flowers or clouds for this step, but you can cut shapes into an image and use them to decorate! Don’t be afraid to use words either! You can print your favorite poem, cut a buzzword out of a magazine, or just make a ransom note type message with all the letters you find. Rearrange and add parts until you’re satisfied. Don’t feel the need to finish it in one sitting, take a picture of the arrangement you like so you’re able to replicate it if you want to take a break.
Above: For Ashley’ Bohnaker’s (Lang) collage, she chose to glue images down as soon as she cut them out.
Above: Jesse Ludington’s (Lang) collage is a good example of two “core” printed images and then decorated with stickers and buzzwords.
3) Glue them down! I usually start by gluing the ones on the top layer to the layer below it, and so on so that the ones on the top layer isn’t moved when the bottom lawyers are being glued down.
4) Now it’s time to decorate! I don’t typically use glitter or stickers, but that’s the beauty of the collage, everyone’s style is different!
I hope these tips have helped you begin your journey of collage. If you would like to submit your collages that were inspired by this article, please send it to new-school@hercampus.com and we will feature your work on our Instagram!