Try out collage

using simple and basic shape to express your idea

Collage as a way of thinking

hello Everyone, May is here. I have been busy working on my two new books( will be released next year) , but still leaves a bit ME TIME to continue to explore. This month, I have a great fun to experiment with collage. I see it not only as a way of “drawing” and putting up an illustration piece, but also a slightly different way of thinking comparing with other medium that directly drawing your element on the paper.

Here are two pieces I use the technique of collage to create. This is actually for one of my original picture book idea: One day, an old lion made a huge sneeze and he sneezed his voice out of his throat, the story start from here, his voice is wandering around and takes a long time to get back, only to find that the old lion is too old and never open his eyes again. the old lion’s voice start his journey to find a new host, on his way he start to reflect. it is a story about self identification and “finding your own voice”

I made this first scene many many times, using variety of mediums.

Although it is the same lion, the same scene. when using collage to make illustration, you have to deconposit your character to the most simple shapes. and try out the look during the process. when drawing with pen, watercolor or digitally in photoshop, it is always planned ahead. so I think the most interesting thing I find out when using collage: it can train your way of thinking to see through those complicated contours and lines. just to extract the most basic shape from anything and then adding a bit details on top of it.

Sharing my process

step one

the first step for you to try out collage, of course, it is to prepare your materials. I collect different textured papers. But I also create my paper specifically for the scene I am going to draw. I used rollers to roll my paint on a gell, and then transfer it to white paper. comparing to using the brushes, I feel the texture is richer this way.

step two

using scissor to cut the basic shape. some people might using a knife to cut delicate shapes on cutting board, however, I like the little roughness and inaccuracy often brings some nice surprise

step three

lay out everything on the paper and have fun with it. play with those different shapes until it reaches to the best result.

here is the final artwork with some digital tweek.

hope you enjoy this month’s post !