Collage Art, Step by Step

 This week - over on Facebook - in the group

Zentangle All Around

the Journal It! prompt was collage art!

It took me stealing moments here and there all week,

but I finally finished.

And I am really happy with it!

Let me walk you through how I made this page.

 Collage art can mean a lot of things.

Think mixed media on steroids.

For this particular prompt, I asked the members to

use paper sources.

Magazines are great for collaging!

I used a Coldwater Creek catalog, a TOMS catalog,

and a fashion magazine.

I flipped through and picked out elements 

I might like  to put together. 

I specifically looked for clothes

that could go together - but from different sources.

Feet and shoes came from another source.

The two arms came from different pages in the

same catalog. 

I shifted all my pages around and started cutting

out the pieces I wanted to keep.

 I took the shirt and placed it under several faces -

trying to find the right 'fit.'

I just wasn't finding anything that made me smile.

 I liked most of these pieces and really,

really liked those flowers!

 I kept looking for faces and heads that could

go with that shirt - then I saw this face on 

the bottom. You know - the one with her

head lopped off.

And I thought . . . . flowers!

 So I put them together for a look-see . . . 

 . . . and boom! I had my head!

I trimmed up the sides of the flowers, lined

the edges up with the sides of the head and

glued the pieces together with a tape runner.

I realized right away that my girl was going to be too tall for the page I intended to glue her to.

So, I pulled out a taller journal and made a watercolor

background with my Fireworks! ink sprays. 

Dried it right up with a heat gun and I was ready to

proceed with the glueing. 

 Here's a close up of that head.

Isn't it pretty?

 One of the elements I found that I really liked

is this little white goose. 

In collage work, the pieces don't have to be

true to life.

So I paired that huge head up with the little

shirt I picked out, stuck the pants legs

and feet and boots underneath

and glued that whole piece together.

What a pain! 

I didn't think about it before hand,

but it would have been a lot easier to tape run

if I had mounted the whole thing on a piece

of cardstock first.

(And why, oh why does autocorrect INSIST on

changing "cardstock" to yardstick every single time I type it????)

 I tucked the other little arm in under the

side of the shirt - this would have been easier

on cardstock also.

Then I stepped back and enjoyed my little girl.

But.

She didn't seem grounded. 

All she needed was a hot air balloon in her hand.

So I added some lines and started my tangle

All Boxed Up.

(Zentangle All Around requires some tangling

in everything we post in the group.)

 Here is All Boxed Up prior to shading.

 At this point, I totally got into the zone

and forgot all about photos. Sorry.

What I did was this:

* I added shading to All Boxed Up with 

Dina Wakley's Scribble Sticks. 

* I stamped some black circles onto the page using old medicine bottles and a black StayzOn ink pad.

* In a couple of those circles I added the tangle kuke.

* I used stencils to add some numbers and some insects.

(Please don't tell me butterflies and dragonflies aren't insects. 

They are, aren't they?)

* I added color to the insects with dabbers and stamping ink. 

* Decorated them with Spica pens from Sakura.

* I used Ranger Texture Paste and some stencils

to add bricks to the top and fish to the side of the page. 

* And I glued a cute little Bijou snail to the bottom.

(My tribute to the official Zentangle® mascot Bijou.)

 Here is a close up of the tangling I started on the face

and flowers. 

I used a Sharpie fine liner, a white gel pen, a gold gel pen and just had fun. 

 Next I looked for ways to enhance the page.

I used that same gold gel pen for details on the

shirt and pants.

I used Color Box Chalk ink pads and dabbers to add

color to the fish. 

 I got a great deal on Liquid Pearls on Joggles recently, so I pulled several colors out and made cute little dots of color here and there all over the page. 

 Can you see all the liquid pearl dots everywhere?

 And still I wanted to do more. 

So I outlined and tangled those fish!

Probably ruined a copic multiliner doing it

but that's alright. I used one that was old anyway.

 I pulled out a Graphic 1 micron and started adding dots to draw attention to certain areas.

A green Spica pen went on those lips and I did not like it, so I made the eyes green to balance it out.

Let's see, what have I missed?

I added some basic blox texture to those

bricks behind her head. 

I added water bubbles around the fish

and some Spica color to those kukes. 

And I used a stencil and stamp pad to add

some circle textures to three areas of the page. 

I felt this still needed a little finish work,

so I added black circles around those stenciled

circles areas. 

I really think I love it now!

But I reserve the right to change my mind -

at any given time -

to go back and add more!

Collage It!

So much fun!

If you are interested, why don't you join

us on Facebook at

Zentangle All Around ?

Knock on the door and I'll let you in!