Masterclass: Mixed Media Collage with Paintover Cutout

Written by Shelli Heinemann
This article originally appeared in ArtTrader Magazine, Winter 2008 Issue 1

When I’m reading, a particular image will often catch my eye and set my creative mind ablaze with roiling thoughts: “I want to make something with that!” I’m a huge fan of mixed-media collage, and often turn to those techniques as a way to incorporate found imagery into my mail art.

In the very simplest of terms, collage begins with “found” items (images or otherwise) that are attached in layers to something else. Technically, jamming a sticker onto a piece of paper would qualify the end product as collage although the sticker collage is a particularly unsophisticated example.

In my own collage work, I admit I’m far less driven to jam manufactured stickers onto paper than to create my own unique elements. Yet, in the interests of time and efficiency, I don’t necessarily want to re-draw found images freehand, since my purpose in collage is to cut them out and stick them elsewhere – not to create a painted or illustrated, hand-drawn work of entirely original art. There must be a better way! And indeed, there is a better way: paintovers. Paintovers are a terrific way to get from image A to artwork B, using traditional collage methods in the process.

Paintovers are a technique in which a found image is quite literally used as the background or “paper” onto which penciled, inked, or painted treatments are then applied. Paintovers can be awkward and clumsy if done without care. But with the right tools, mindset, and determination to create something unique from something found, they can also be a terrific way to preserve and utilize the very best of a found image while eliminating the detritus. A paintover technique leaves the bulk of the creative process to you, but gives you a grand foundation from which to begin. Perfect! Additionally, for those challenged by rendering faces, paintovers can also be a wonderful way to introduce portraiture into collage work where it otherwise might not exist.

I’ve taken the paintover concept one step further in my work by creating finished paintover images for use as cutouts, which I adhere, as collage elements, in my mixed media work.

One last ethical note: I think we’d all agree that it is important to describe one’s work with integrity. When you explain your creative process, be sure to call a spade a spade – or, in this case, to reference your paintovers as a paintover, and not as completely original works of hand-drawn art. Give credit where credit is due, when and where appropriate. In life and art, that’s only fair.

MATERIALS

• Image of your choice
• Computer, scanner, photo editing program, printer
• Heavyweight, matte presentation paper
• Acrylic paint
• Paintbrush, wide
• Hard pencil (I used 4H)
• Colored pencils
• Chalks
• White gel pen
• Patterned papers
• Tacky Glue
• Stamping inks
• Rub N Buff in Antique Gold
• Exacto-knife, very sharp
• Ephemera for your image
• Heat gun (optional, to speed drying time)

STEP 1 – Choose a central image

The very first step in creating a compelling paintover is to find images and elements that inspire you! I usually begin my collage work with a single image that has, for one reason or another, grabbed my attention and motivated me to create something around and about it. After I’ve settled on that first central image, I gather concepts and materials to complement it — either before I begin, or as the piece unfolds before my eyes. Women and children and pretty things with lots of color and pattern are appealing subjects for me, so fashion magazines, topical coffee table books, and catalogs work well as resources. But you might find inspiration elsewhere — in books about cats, trees, or vehicles; in an outdoors/backpacking publication; or from your own original photographs. Whatever works!

If the image you’ve chosen is the correct size for reworking, you can simply tear it from its binding, cut it to size, and paint over it as is. However, in most cases, your chosen image won’t be ready to re-work. Or it might be the right size, but printed on slick paper that has no “tooth” and won’t accept paint or pencil well. And I certainly can’t recommend painting over glossy photo paper. In those cases, where as is just won’t work, do what I do: scan your chosen image, then crop and resize it to fit the size you’ll be working in, whether ATC, chunky book, journal page, or stretched canvas. For this particular collage piece, I found an image in a magazine and decided to create an ATC with it. I imagined the main character not as a swan-necked brunette in a Gothic/romantic setting with partner, but instead as a fresh, flaxen-haired blonde with curls, standing alone, soothed by a breeze, surrounded by delicate colors and flowers, with an old-fashioned, vintage feel. Refreshing and light!

STEP 2 – Ready your image for use

My original image was first scanned, cropped, and sized to 2.5 x 3.5 inches – ATC size. I’d already settled on figure placement and composition by this point, and based my cropping around those considerations. This was the only “digital” step in my process so adjustments to brightness, contrast, and sharpness were made at this stage. I chose to desaturate my image, removing all color, which I think makes a more pliable, neutral foundation for paintover work. Note that there was no need to digitally isolate the main character from her surroundings, or to erase or re-work backgrounds. Since this was to be a collage piece, I’d literally cut her free using scissors, in a later step.

I recommend printing your image onto paper you know will hold “wet” fairy well. Some cardstocks hold up nicely, but my hands-down favorite paper for paintover work is a high quality, heavyweight, premium matte presentation paper. It has just the right thickness and texture for this process.

STEP 3 – Colorwash your image

To achieve a great, toothy foundation for your paintover, quickly brush a thinned acrylic wash over your chosen image with a wide brush. It’s soooo important to a smooth finish that you prepare your wash carefully (mix paint and water to translucency — and please, no lumps!) Work quickly and stroke vertically. Let the first wash dry; if you think you need more coverage, add a second. The idea here is to obscure your original image with light, transparent washes of paint, so that only the hint of an outline remains from which you can build out your new, re-envisioned image. I used white for my wash, but you could use a bolder color, still keeping it transparent, for an entirely different effect.

STEP 4 – Pencil a light outline and begin shading

If you’ve completed Step 3 successfully, you’ll note that it’s fairly difficult to locate the outlines of your original image. That’s a good thing, as it gives you plenty of room to reinvent your image to suit your whims and imaginings. Alter features, add elements, and re-shape silhouettes to your heart’s desire.

In my case, I wanted to retain the graceful, overall silhouette and proportions of my original photograph, so I outlined my character’s facial features lightly using a hard pencil (4H), altering them only slightly (extending an eyebrow, reshaping the lips.) I knew I’d be adding piecework hair later, so rather than penciling in “hair,” I drew a rounded curve to represent her back skull. I’d have to cover that back skull shape in my piecework later on, giving my main character’s head the proper anatomical shape. Trust me on this: it’s easy for things to get distorted later on if there’s no established outline to follow.

Some light shading was added at this stage, blended with my pinky finger.

You can also use pen and ink for this stage, but of course it will create an entirely different effect.

STEP 5 – Strengthen your outline and add color

Strengthening your outline and adding color is the last step before cutting your image free from its original backing, so it’s important to thicken the perimeter outline at this stage by using your hard pencil. This thickening ensures that when you cut, you will not be cutting into the features of your image, creating distortion, but instead will be cutting into the outer edge of that thickened outline, leaving the interior of that outline, and your image’s features along with it, intact.

Using colored pencils in various shades, I added color to my image. Work slowly and carefully, as it is nearly impossible to erase errors completely from the wash background you’ve painted.

I used chalks and a Q-tip to create a soft blush, and used a white gel pen (blotted) for highlights.

STEP 6 – Snip your image free, creating your paintover cutout

Using tiny, pointed, sharp scissors, and working slowly (I didn’t want to ruin all my hard work,) I cut my image free from its background. Here, I’ve shown the cutout scanned against black paper.

 

STEP 7 – Select a background

I found a really pretty patterned paper in my paper stash to use as my background. It had the right feel for the piece I had envisioned. Here’s how it looked, cut down to ATC size and adhered to a stiffer ATC-blank backing (I like my cards to be thick and layered).

 

STEP 8 – Alter your background

While the paper I chose had the right “feel,” it was too crisp and vibrant for the soft, vintage tone I was seeking for my piece. So, using various stamping inks and Rub-N-Buff wax metallic paste, I layered transparent white and gold colors onto the paper until I achieved a just-right finish. Baby wipes and paper towels are useful for this work; I often use either, or both, to move ink and paint around on my paper for a smeary, casual effect.

STEP 9 – Customize cutout and attach to background

I had a wonderful piece of vintage ecru lace in my fabric drawer and thought it would make a beautiful, dimensional outfit for my collage figure, in addition to introducing “mixed media” elements to the piece. So, using my finger, I rubbed Tacky Glue onto the cutout in a “V-neck shirt” shape, then laid down two strips of lace to cover it, pressing hard to adhere, and trimming excess. I then adhered my cutout to the background paper I had prepared in Step 8.

 

 

STEP 10 – Add piecework hair

One of my favorite things to do in collage portraits – and a signature technique of mine – is to add paper-pieced hair to my figures. I do this really haphazardly, snipping shapes wildly from patterned paper scraps I have lying about, without much thought to whether or how they’ll fit the work at hand.

For this collage, I found a yellow toile paper in my stash and cut long, wavy, thin strips from it, laying the finished bits side by side. I “tried on” various strips of paper around the head and selected those that fit each area best for use, keeping in mind that hair in front of the ears would, in real life, be closer to me (the viewer) than hair that was emerging from the far side of my figure’s head. This spatial understanding helped direct the order in which I laid down the layers of strips; I wanted to ensure that the “closest” hair would be on top and the “farthest” hair would be underneath.

Using a dab of Tacky Glue and my fingers as applicators, I spread glue on each strip and adhered them to the card. I kept an Exacto-knife with a brand-new blade close at hand, and immediately after adhering a given strip, cut away the portion near the face using light pressure, to maintain the hairline.

STEP 11 – Finishing steps

Once the pieced hair had dried, it was time to add a little shading to the hair for even more dimension, and I did so using a colored pencil slightly darker in tone than the paper itself. My figure also needed some further accessorizing, I thought, so I added a tiny stud earring with gold gel pen, and a punched flower for her hair, edged in pencil and ink, and accented with a Swarovski crystal center. Last, I used five vintage brass bead caps, pounded flat into florets, to accent the neckline of her lace top.

Et voila! My finished mixed-media paintover collage card, just as I envisioned it… pretty and relaxed, with a decidedly soft, vintage feel. I called it “Fresh”, because I think it is.

Additional ATCs created with the Paintover Cutout technique by Shelli Heinemann.

Diva Luscious

Green Gothic

Geisha