Mary Vogel Lozinak April 21 at 12:56pm
Work with a large piece of heavy paper, I used water color paper because I had it but you should use anything that's heavy because it will warp a lot otherwise. Even a piece of poster paper from the dollar store works.
I sketched the bird with pencil then went around it and drew shapes for the color, like a circle on the head and circles for the different outlines of color.
I got a couple of old Country Living Magazines, doesn't matter what you use, junk mail works!
I tore the paper, you can cut it but I like the random edges of the paper. Practice ripping by holding the paper in your left hand and tear toward your body with your right hand, then do one with tearing away from your body You'll notice that one way gives you a white edge and the other way gives you color to the edge. Then you can decide which edge you want to show, sometimes the white edge works and others the color is better when you're filling an area of solid color.
I went through the magazines and pulled out all the pages with color on them and made some haphazard stacks on the table around me.
I used rubber cement to do this BUT the smell gives me a headache and it's messy, plus the finished product may be tacky-it took over a month for this to loose the tacky before I could frame it. The best is Elmer's glue poured in a bucket and use a disposable foam brush. Brush some on the paper, attach your pieces, then with the brush put a thin layer of glue over each paper, making sure it's all covered. You can use the brush to push out any wrinkles too. If you get wrinkles while it's drying just run your finger over to push them out. If you get an air pocket that won't push out, pierce it with a pin and push it down. I used pieces that were about 1 to 2 inches diameter because this is a huge piece-it's a full sheet of paper and I wanted to do it in a day.
Fashion magazines have great colors!! Cheaper paper works better because you can really smooth it out.
If your hands get really gunked up wash them, it's worth the time because you aren't spending half of the day removing stuck paper from yourself.
Remember if you want something to pop to put your lightest color next to your darkest color- like around an eye make sure you use a bright white and you can put some tiny cuts of black,blues,purples or deep browns right up against the white. Some things you may want to outline too. Put your picture on the floor and walk away from it often to see if you're getting the color variations and toning that you want. You can't see it if you're on top of it for a long time.
When you're done let it dry completely. Then take a brush and coat the entire picture with a thin layer of white glue. This will protect it and pick up any loose edges you may have missed. Don't hang it in direct sunlight as the sun will bleach your reds right out of the picture. Magazine ink isn't colorfast.
Have fun!! If you have any questions, just hollar! Send me a picture of your finished piece. I love to see what other people are working on.
xoxox Mary
I sketched the bird with pencil then went around it and drew shapes for the color, like a circle on the head and circles for the different outlines of color.
I got a couple of old Country Living Magazines, doesn't matter what you use, junk mail works!
I tore the paper, you can cut it but I like the random edges of the paper. Practice ripping by holding the paper in your left hand and tear toward your body with your right hand, then do one with tearing away from your body You'll notice that one way gives you a white edge and the other way gives you color to the edge. Then you can decide which edge you want to show, sometimes the white edge works and others the color is better when you're filling an area of solid color.
I went through the magazines and pulled out all the pages with color on them and made some haphazard stacks on the table around me.
I used rubber cement to do this BUT the smell gives me a headache and it's messy, plus the finished product may be tacky-it took over a month for this to loose the tacky before I could frame it. The best is Elmer's glue poured in a bucket and use a disposable foam brush. Brush some on the paper, attach your pieces, then with the brush put a thin layer of glue over each paper, making sure it's all covered. You can use the brush to push out any wrinkles too. If you get wrinkles while it's drying just run your finger over to push them out. If you get an air pocket that won't push out, pierce it with a pin and push it down. I used pieces that were about 1 to 2 inches diameter because this is a huge piece-it's a full sheet of paper and I wanted to do it in a day.
Fashion magazines have great colors!! Cheaper paper works better because you can really smooth it out.
If your hands get really gunked up wash them, it's worth the time because you aren't spending half of the day removing stuck paper from yourself.
Remember if you want something to pop to put your lightest color next to your darkest color- like around an eye make sure you use a bright white and you can put some tiny cuts of black,blues,purples or deep browns right up against the white. Some things you may want to outline too. Put your picture on the floor and walk away from it often to see if you're getting the color variations and toning that you want. You can't see it if you're on top of it for a long time.
When you're done let it dry completely. Then take a brush and coat the entire picture with a thin layer of white glue. This will protect it and pick up any loose edges you may have missed. Don't hang it in direct sunlight as the sun will bleach your reds right out of the picture. Magazine ink isn't colorfast.
Have fun!! If you have any questions, just hollar! Send me a picture of your finished piece. I love to see what other people are working on.
xoxox Mary
