A Journey Called Collage

Week 4: April 11, 2007

Having a Bit of Fun
Preparation For the Next Step

The Process

I have indeed had a lot of fun! This kind of collage is my favorite kind! It is, though fun, very time intensive...the time is spent searching and searching for the right images which will work together and create an illusion of reality in light of the fact that they are surreal! I get most of my images from stockxchange, a free stock photos site. I also have Art Explosion, a collection of CDs with some photos free of copyright for use. These photos are not of very high resolution, but can be upsized bit by bit in Photoshop before there is a noticeable loss in image integrity.

The Collages:

Inspiration came quickly this time! But, the searches were very time consuming, not to mention the images I gathered and didn't even use. However, they are tucked away, in folders, ready to be used in future projects.

The Process:

In all of these collages, mask editing is the process of choice...when editing the mask, any error can be quickly recovered by just switching from painting with black into the mask, to painting with white. Next, Blending Modes work so well to blend parts needing shadows or reflections, along with opacity.

Masking in Painter is not so easy as it is in Photoshop. I found that after working long and hard at editing a mask in Painter, if I then scaled the masked item, I lost all the masking work! I tried to stick to Painter, but did run back to Photoshop for a few of the more intricate objects!

I have enjoyed doing montage/collage for a while now and have done some( another rendition of Cat Girl) for Challenges. You can see them here.

Faces

Fakery

Cat Girl

Clicking the image of the collage will open it in a larger view.

Reflections on a Table

Clicking the image of the collage will open it in a larger view.

In the above collage, I used a selection, pasted flowers into it to disguise the wine bottle, did not feel it appropriate to have a wine bottle on the same table with the children!

Who is the Star??

Clicking the image of the collage will open it in a larger view.