kellyangard.com » art technique

Technique Tuesday: Stylish Silhouettes

kellya — Wed, 14 Dec 2005 01:14:00 +0000

Looking for a simple yet stylish holiday card design? Layer customized silhouette clip art images either by hand or digitally for a cool and unique greeting card that won’t take hours to create! The photo card above features a hand-cut deer image from patterned paper…while the card below was created with mirrored images layered in Photoshop.

There’s still time to get your custom-designed card printed…online card services like Cards Direct and Shutterfly offer a number of convenient options. For a truly unique holiday photo card, PhotoWorks has a number of truly unique designs that I couldn’t resist ordering!!!

This concept speaks to collage and mixed media art…I’ve posted step-by-step instructions for creating a layered silhouette collage from clip art on my other blog, Creative Collage.

Technique Tuesday: Adventures in Pen & Ink

kellya — Wed, 07 Dec 2005 02:07:00 +0000

“Efflorescent”
My latest fascination and experimentation with image-illustration, i.e., a mix of collage and illustration techniques, speaks to my sense of free-style art and love of bold designs like the piece I created above…a graphic 70′s inspired layering of illustration and paper art. As a self-taught artist, most of what I do and create is simply by trial and error (and many trash cans full of ugly!), however, when it came to illustration techniques, I soon realized that I desperately needed to learn some basic illustration/pen and ink techniques.

So this week’s “Technique Tuesday” is a little different from previous weeks, because I want to share a fabulous resource for anyone who is interested in learning some indispensible — and very do-able — illustration techniques!

“The Technical Pen” by Gary Simmons is one of those rare technique books that is worth more than what I paid for it. The book teaches basic pen strokes and demonstrates how lines, dots and patterns can be combined to create volume, texture, value and color. Besides the fact that the book is full of beautiful pen and ink illustrations, Gary does a great job simplifying the techniques and providing a number of different illustration styles.

Gary includes “The Monk” image outline (above right) as an exercise sheet to practice combinations of the 30 basic pen strokes he teaches in the fourth chapter. My first attempt at “The Monk” (above left) included six different pen strokes.

Basic Pen Strokes used in “The Monk”
top row: continuous lines, clusters of hatched lines, crosshatched lines; bottom row: symmetrical weave pattern, merging and radiating lines and pointillism dots.

Technique Tuesday: Gel Medium Imprint

kellya — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 03:55:00 +0000

“Chicago”, scrapbook art from my book Creative Collage for Scrapbooks

Imprint your style with a decorative textured design, using a foam stamp and acrylic gel medium. The technique is simple, yet it produces an intriguing texture that begs to be touched. Keep in mind that gel medium dries clear, allowing the foundation it is applied on to show through. If you’d prefer an opaque imprint, either mix the gel medium with acrylic paint before applying it or use acrylic molding paste instead. Below is a close-up of the gel medium imprint technique in the collage above:

Gel Medium Imprint
supplies:
- acrylic gel medium
- palette knife
- foam stamp
- cardstock
- metallic rub-ons

1. Spread a thick layer of acrylic gel medium on cardstock with palette knife; press foam stamp into wet gel medium with a fair amount of pressure. Let stamp sit in gel medium for about 30 seconds before removing; set aside to dry.
2. After gel medium has dried, apply metallic rub-on colorant using fingertips.

Try this technique with other textured items that will leave an interesting imprint like mesh, large decorative buttons, metal charms, etc.

Technique Tuesday: Watercolor Crayon Wash

kellya — Wed, 23 Nov 2005 06:58:00 +0000

Paint yourself a quick watercolor background in minutes using one of my favorite colorants: Watercolor (or Water soluble) Crayons by Lyra. If you’re not familiar with watercolor crayons, you have been missing out! Watercolor crayons are highly pigmented crayons which dissolve and blend easily when brushed with water. Follow the steps below and you’ll be creating beautiful blended backgrounds in minutes!

step 1. color on watercolor paper with crayons; layer colors as desired.
step 2. dip paintbrush in water; brush over colors and blend
step 3. add more water to dissolve crayon lines; blend until desired look is achieved.

I really like this colorant because of it’s flexibility; the amount of wash is determined by the amount of water applied to the color. Look for watercolor crayons at art stores or online for better pricing.

Technique Tuesday: Custom Stencil Designs

kellya — Wed, 16 Nov 2005 06:19:00 +0000

The art of reinventing and recycling requires us to look at things with new eyes. One form of art that has returned with a new look is stencil art…from edgy urban designs to artistic ornamental flourishes, stencil art is fun and easy to integrate into mixed media designs. Creating your own custom stencil design doesn’t require expensive tools or fine craftsmanship. To begin, look for simple images or designs that don’t have alot of detail or too many thin lines to cut around. Art Deco and Art Nouveau images are good choices because of their thick, defining design lines as are graphic geometric designs. Print or copy the image onto a good cardstock that will withstand cutting with an X-acto Knife…and you’re ready to go!

Custom Stencil Designs
supplies:
- clip art image printed/copied on cardstock
- X-acto knive with new blade
- cutting mat
- repositionable adhesive spray (found at craft/art store)
- acrylic paint
- stippling paintbrush or cosmetic sponge (I use triangle shaped sponges found at drugstore)

Step 1. Print/copy image on cardstock.
Step 2. Using X-acto knife, carefully cut out black areas. Slice small detailed areas first; hold stencil firmly with free hand.
Step 3. Spray back of stencil with repositionable adhesive; mount on surface to be stenciled. Dab stipple brush or flat sponge in paint; pounce on paper towel to remove most of the paint. Lightly pounce brush or sponge up and down over stencil. If paint is applied too thick, it will seep under the stencil, blurring the lines; use a paper towel to blot any area with thick paint.
Step 4. Set aside to dry. Distress with sandpaper to achieve desired affect.

If you’d like to incorporate some edgy urban designs into your art, take a look at Stencil Archive, Stencil Revolution and Joystick where you’ll find galleries of street art inspiration and even some funky downloadable images. Make a statement…and then make sure to post a link of your art for all to see!

Technique Tuesday! Altered Photo + Tinted Overlay

kellya — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 22:53:00 +0000

Now that things are somewhat back to “normal” in my life, I’m bringing back Technique Tuesdays! For those of you who aren’t familiar with my Technique Tuesday, you’re probably wondering what I’m talking about. Well, Technique Tuesday is a weekly posting of an artistic or craft technique that is accompanied by steps that explain how to create the technique.
The fun part is, you never know what you’ll find on Technique Tuesday because the techniques vary depending upon whatever I’ve been experimenting with…could be a gorgeous colorant technique, a way to add intriguing texture, a cool altered photo technique…so many possibilities! Whatever it is, have fun with it…experiment and play…and let me know how it works (or doesn’t work) for you. Post a link in the comments to a piece of art you’ve created using the technique…I’d love to see it!

Altered Photo + Tinted Overlay
I love altering photos and finding ways to turn leftover photos into unique artistic snapshots. This easy technique works best on light photos, and can be done on digital or processed photos.

supplies:
- fine or medium grade sandpaper
- transparency or acetate
- alcohol inks (Adirondak or Pinata)
- rubbing alcohol in a spritzer bottle
- small paintbrush
- stapler

1. Using a fine or medium grade sandpaper, sand photo in all directions until desired distressed effect is achieved. If you’re working on a digital photo, make sure photo is completely dry before sanding.
2. Drip a few drops of alcohol inks (in two or three colors; I used blue and yellow) about 1/2″ apart on one side of transparency.
3. Spritz ink spots with rubbing alcohol.
4. Gently blend ink colors into one another with the paintbrush; blend edges of color spots together where different colors meet; see photo steps.
5. Spritz once again with rubbing alcohol and set aside to dry.
6. Place tinted transparency, ink side down over distressed photo. Staple transparency in place and trim unevenly.

Experiment with different colored inks, printed transparencies and partially sanded photos…whatever you do, just have fun! And remember to post a link to whatever you’ve created…