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Post by Heather Ryerson

Sam Falconer’s fantastic illustrations reflect science and the human experience through digital, collage, and hand-painted textures. His clever scenes provoke philosophical thought while quickly getting to the heart of a story. His editorial illustrations regularly feature in top publications such as The Guardian, The Washington Post, and New Scientist magazine.

Check out more illustrations on his portfolio website.

Michelle Thompson graduated from the Royal College of Art in 1996. Her techniques include mark-making and photography. She also combines traditional collage with digital technology, often working with found materials. She has worked internationally most notably collaborating with Vaughan Oliver. Michelle Thompson’s clients include Royal Mail, BBC and the Guardian amongst many.

You can see more of her work on her website or her facebook page.

I had a lot of deadlines lately, so I haven't been able to show many sketches of late. I'm also busy writing, which doesn't make for pretty pictures either. Sorry :) Here's my little dog friend as a consolation prize.

Small detail of a work in progress.

• Used costume jewelry: pins, beads, chains.
• Old jigsaw puzzles--doesn't matter if pieces are missing. All the better if they are.
• Vintage postcards, travel brochures.
• Vintage greeting cards.
• Vintage theater programs and tickets.
• Stamps. International, used, pretty, weird . . .
• Buttons, laces, and fabric trims. Preferably used.
• Old books in bad condition (so I can tear them up with a clear conscience).
• Vintage menus, paper placemats.
• Doilies, both fabric and paper (good for making imprints and texture in paint).
• Wallpaper scraps.
• Really bad condition wall-art prints and posters (again for tearing up).

• Illustrate a fairy tale. It helps to choose a story you truly love, but if, on the other hand, you feel that "Sleeping Beauty" or "Little Red Riding Hood" have been over-done, or are too iconic, try choosing an unfamiliar tale, one from a culture foreign to your own, or one you've made up!
• Collage your current goals. Magazines are a great way to find your initial pictures, but don't overlook the hidden gems you might discover in junk mail, retail catalogs, or business brochures.
• Last night's dream. Although it can be fun to reproduce the objects and scenes from a dream, I personally find it more evocative to paint the mood of my dreams. Fortunately, I have always dreamed in color, but even if you're a person who dreams in black-and-white, you can still explore what you think the colors of your dream would be if they appeared on paper.
• A still life of five random objects. Don't think--just gather items without judging or evaluating their artistic worth. Your job is to arrange the items in such a way that they take on a whole new life and meaning. Aim for, "Wow! I never thought of that before!"
• Copy an Old Masters painting in pencil. Don't be overwhelmed if the painting you've chosen to copy is too big, too detailed, or just plain old "too good." Instead, play with line work, blocking out the composition, or a portion of the picture, e.g., a section of drapery, the trees in the background, the hands in a portrait.
• Cut up or tear a reproduction or photocopy of an Old Masters painting and turn it into a collage. Pay special attention to the colors and themes of any materials or ephemera you add to your composition. Try some startling contrasts or harmonious blending. 
• Your hand holding an object. Sometimes when I'm really stuck for subject matter I'll simply draw my hand and wrist. To make the exercise more lively, I've started adding objects to the mix: my pen, a toy, a cup of tea. Often these drawings can be the equivalent of a complete, but much-less complicated, self-portrait.
• Draw or paint a landscape with only two colors. Limiting yourself to a two-color palette can be a fun and inspiring choice. Will you use complementary colors (say, red and green), warm vs. cool colors, or two shades from the same range, for instance a light violet paired with a darker purple? It's interesting to note how the colors you pick can often speak more loudly than an entire rainbow of color.
• Collage with black-and-white photos. Make photocopies or prints of vintage photographs, whether from your own family or those found in used bookstores or thrift stores. Tell a visual story; then add writing or calligraphy to embellish the composition. Alternatively, you can use the pieces to make a strong and surreal abstract.
• Cut shapes out of various colors of construction paper. Then arrange them into interesting designs you either glue to paper and paint over, or use as a reference to copy and turn into a separate, and original, piece.
• Draw to music. Never fails. Whether you're doodling or painting a masterpiece worthy of gallery space, listening to music while you work is a great way to loosen up and fully express yourself.
• Read a poem. Then paint your feelings, or illustrate your favorite line(s).

• Write a structured poem such as a sonnet, pantoum, or ghazal. Base the poem on last night's dream.
• Cut three pictures with a similar theme or subject from a magazine. For example, 3 pictures featuring purple. Or three pictures of dogs, or children, recipes, etc.
• Collage a three-page character bio--for either an existing character or a new one.
• Play with watercolor brushstrokes: random colors, patterns, feelings.
• Sketch one item only, e.g. a cup, an apple, a toy--using a single medium.
• Write three pages of dialogue.
• Place an artist's mannikin in a fresh pose every day. Record the poses in a single sketchbook used only for this purpose.
• A quick sketch of where you are right now. Try a different color of pencil or ink for each day.
• Write a stacked journal entry in three colors of ink.
• Clay: make a small pinch pot, egg cup, votive, bead, dipping bowl, soap dish, or incense holder.
• Three pages of flash fiction.
• Mini-collage on a piece of junk mail.
• Set a timer and create a new Polyvore set or Pinterest Board in twenty minutes or less.

Enter the world of Hugo Barros, an artist from Lisbon, Portugal working with collage. Manipulating elements by hand, he creates dense compositions without the use of post processing tools like Photoshop. Although the subject matter varies from piece to piece, there are reoccurring themes in his work. Serene landscapes are often juxtaposed against cosmic imagery in a surreal explosion of color that feels apocalyptic in nature. The end result is mesmerizing and always worth a second look.

Hugo’s creations are available at Saatchi and similar work can be found in their collage section.

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Also worth viewing…
Contemporary Collage Book
Stone and Spear
Jelle Martens

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copyright 1998 Emily Smith Pearce

Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays! Happy New Year!

Thanks for following along with my making, doing, and exploring this year. I hope you’re having a cozy and relaxing time with loved ones now.

Today, my kids are making the nativity set from madebyjoel. It’s a paper print-out that you can color and put together. Fun times.

I made this mixed-media collage as a card about 15 years ago. Thought it was time it saw the light of day again. Hope you enjoy, and I’ll see you in the new year.

“Mommy,” asked Rilla, “how do illustrators make books?”

She knows how the writing part happens, or at least the part of it that involves someone stalking down the hall into the kitchen, muttering, staring abstractedly into the open fridge, oblivious to questions, and then disappearing back behind a closed door in a room with books piled all over the place. She wants to know about the important part, the pictures.

I start to answer with words, as is my way, but I think better of it and, on a hunch, Google “Eric Carle interview video.” As I hoped, treasure awaited us at the other end of the search button.

ThingsI didn’t know: that Bill Martin Jr (author of Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?) couldn’t read until he was twenty! And he wrote the rhythm of his stories first, then put in the words? Astonishing.

Eric Carle speaks of his own struggles in school under a strict disciplinarian teacher. “Back then, they didn’t recognize whether you were learning disabled or whatever. But I’m sure I was.”

And all the while we’re watching him make a bear in collage. I love how he cuts out circles for the bear’s eyes and turns them into ears.

There are many more videos of Mr. Carle at work. Rilla liked this one about her favorite book, The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse.

Afterward, we found this nice video for an easy Eric Carle-style collage butterfly project.

If you’re feeling more ambitious, this collage preying mantis is pretty splendid!

Maggie Steele tells her own story in the novel, Maggie Vaults Over the Moon. An award-winning poet and creative writing teacher says Maggie deserves an “A” for her inspiring, first-person read. “Maggie hums along like a well-oiled, wonderfully written machine,” writes … Continue reading →

1. I can focus. For one month, nothing else is quite as important as the work I've chosen to concentrate on. This doesn't mean I abandon my other writing and art projects; they just don't take center stage for a few weeks.
2. I don't have to think too hard about the month's structure or schedule--usually someone else has decided for me what the month will entail. A good example is my current decision to go with screenwriting this month. I saw a notice for a Facebook group planning to write screenplays in May. It sounded too good to pass up.
3. Even allowing for spontaneity, like finding this FB screenplay group only a couple of days ago, I can still plan out my year in advance. Working with a calendar helps to accomplish my yearly goals.
4. And I do get A LOT accomplished!
5. Signing up for a month of writing is the perfect reason to say "no" to potentially time-wasting activities and energy drains.
6. Month-size chunks of creativity make big projects do-able.
7. They are also great motivators (e.g. "Just five more days until I don't have to work on this horrible manuscript ever again . . .")
8. It's a good excuse to give yourself a special present or reward when the month is finished (no cheating allowed!).
9. You can use the month to complete a single project . . .
10. Or you can  take several months for the different aspects and stages of a longer project, e.g., a month for a first draft, a month for extra research, a month for editing, etc.
11. If you stick to a month-by-month plan, you will actually get where you want to go!
12. And you'll never wake up in the morning wondering what on earth you will tackle or write about that day.

• Gessoing art journal pages or full-size paper or canvases. (Admittedly not the most exciting item on my list, but getting it done ahead of time is a huge step forward.)
• Adding some color to the gesso--or simply using color on its own, perhaps mixed with a clear acrylic medium for texture and durability--is a great way to step up the excitement factor.
• As is experimenting with brushstrokes: swirls, linear patterned grids, stippled dots.
• Or doodling into wet gesso with a stick or the end of a paintbrush. A dry sponge or any other kind of imprint-making object is effective too.
• Abstract collage: old newspapers, junk mail, decorative art papers--tear them up, paste them down, paint over with either a thin coat of gesso or a clear acrylic medium.
• Sprinkle sand or seeds, confetti or even dirt into the damp medium for a super textural effect.
• If you want to go beyond an abstract design, try drawing or painting a background of a more structured surface such as stone, brick, or wood. Or practice painting or drawing drapery of different kinds of fabric: seersucker, silk, cotton, terry cloth.

• Without referring to any physical references such as a photograph or actual person, start by choosing a name at random, any name: Bunny McPherson; Lucky Holmes; Wendell Marlow. This is your new character. Now write about his or her early life: where have they come from?
• The ancestors--who are they? What's their story?
• Write about your character's childhood through the POV of a best friend--or a worst enemy.
• Write about the various settings in which you could place this person: e.g., home, work, vacation/travel spot.
• Write about a severe emotional trauma this person experienced as a child.
• What's this person's biggest secret?
• Place this character in a setting: restaurant, bus, city sidewalk, farmyard. Now envision the other people in the background: what are they doing? Who are they? How does your character interact with this background? Could any of them become secondary characters in a longer work?