Explore Your Visual Style: Create A Still Life Identity Collage

1. Introduction: There is something about the way the light dances around objects. I think it gives them a different sense of life and interest. Capturing these moments with the camera is exciting for me because I know that, I may never see that exact same, quite the same again. Hi, my name is Miranda Sims, and I'm a designer and educator from Melbourne, Australia. In today's class, I'm going to help you develop your design style by learning about and applying the elements of a still life as a conceptual tool to visualize your own aesthetic and creative identity as layers. This identity will be explored through exercises in abstract art, applied imagination, and self-reflection to create a still life identity collage, our goals for today's class will be to style a still life scene, help you to develop your own visual style using a range of techniques that I enjoy using in my own practice, mark-making and collaging, and digital composition to create your own still-life identity collage. Grab a notepad or a sketch book and a pen, because we're going to have a lot of fun and also a nice relax. Let's get started. 2. Class Project Introduction : There are three main lessons that you'll work through that will help you to create your own identity collage by the end of this class, and that will be your project. I have created two final collages to show you how I work across different mediums. The first one is digital, using a combination of Procreate on my iPad and Affinity Designer. The second one is all paper-based using my high pigment inks. Yes, that's right. I will make a big artwork and cut it up. It's so much fun, trust me. You'll have a completely different perspective once you're done. I have also thrown in five of my tips for working across different mediums or media. You don't have to choose and stick to the one method. Who knew? You'll build elements, motives, colors, and imagery that will best kept your style, at this moment in time in a visual and tactile manner. Now one thing I want you to remember is that we're working through a process together, and your final collage will be created all by you. Don't try and picture the end result. What are you going to need to get started on your class project? I would like you to download the worksheets that I've provided for you and if you can, you might find it useful to print those sheets so that you can fill them out as we work through the exercises. The first exercise you'll start recording some of your influences. There's a worksheet that will definitely help you do that. Other materials, you can grab any sort or sketchbook or notepad. It absolutely doesn't matter. You can use recycled papers that you have around the home, whatever you have that's available. There's no need to rush out and buy any additional equipment. Just use what you have around you. You need something to write and draw with. Pens, pencils, felt markers, paint pens, oil pastels or crayons might be fun. You can use paint if you like. You know I like using the high pigment inks, and you might want to experiment with something else like charcoal. It really doesn't matter and it's entirely up to you. Also, a camera or a phone camera to document your work as you go and to share with me at the end. Digital tools, if you like, you can use an iPad or a tablet with a drawing application. I wouldn't recommend a phone screen because it would be too small for what we're wanting to do, but definitely keep it handy to record your work as I said, and take photographs of any other inspiration as we work through the exercises. I love creating collages especially for workshops and other learning contexts to communicate ideas and concepts quickly in a visual and engaging way. I've chosen a collage format for your project as I think it's a fantastic way for you to build a cohesive and consistent style. I'm also pretty sure you walk away from this class with a clear sense of your visual aesthetic style, fine tuned as a toolkit you can continue to draw on and involve in whatever you choose to work on next. I've produced these videos so that you can pause to create as you go, and take as much time as you need. I hope you find just as much joy from the process as you will see in your finished work, and by the end, maybe be able to describe in a sentence or a few words your visual style. 3. The Elements of a Still Life: You might already be familiar with still life as one of the principal art genres, particularly in painting and photography. This distinct style of painting started to appear in Italy around the 16th century, and later blossomed in Holland during the 17th century. This was when the Dutch masters of the Golden Age emerged, with the likes of Rembrandt van Rijn, Johannes Vermeer, and Frans Hals. A still life helps us view the every day from a different perspective. Capture a memory, a sentiment, heal, confront the limits of time. To do so, we need to have courage and joy. This would have to be one of my favorite subject types, and has captured the imagination of people for centuries. Despite, however, being considered along with landscapes as ordinary and unsophisticated, because of the lack of living subjects. Still life has also been a neutral base as a teaching tool for observation, perspective, light, tone, texture, and to allow for formal experimentation. I love still life for the endless ways a scene can be interpreted and represented using different mediums in each generation. You get to decide which elements you would like to refine, explore color palettes, bend details, leave bits out. It's your perspective and energy. Characteristically, a still life image deals with inanimate objects, so things that don't move or are dead. In a still life, there will be man-made or natural objects that you see in your everyday life, and visually captures a connection to material pleasures. You might see cut flowers, something to eat, like a loaf of bread, some fruit, fish, coffee, or even some wine, and deliberate placement of beautiful or interesting looking vessels. When I develop a still life scene, there are six elements I always try to express. First, I think it helps if you have the desire to capture an ordinary moment. Could you think now about times when you grab your phone quickly to take a photo? What is it that's got your interests? What are you trying to capture? Of course, I do this when I see my children doing something cute, amazing, cheeky or obscure. But many times, I'm looking at objects and light interacting, and patterns I see in nature. More commonly, there will always be something to eat, because I love to paint citrus fruit, and I always want to be able to enjoy a good loaf of bread. The next element is something from nature, that is not living. For me, this will always be cut flowers or stems of leaves that they're just as attractive. Twigs can have a place representing deciduous plants that let the winter light back into our homes. You don't need to go out and buy cut flowers. Simply use what you have around you, and herbs can be just as delightful. My arrangements feature rosemary as I have it growing in abundance, and lemon leaves because they look and smell amazing. The objects you select to observe will form some sense of perspective. It needn't be a formal or realistic depiction either. It's your eye and your imagination. Will it be two or three-dimensional? Will your scene be captured from a spontaneous lived in arrangement? Meaning you haven't styled the objects in any way. Or could you perfect a scene that is styled but looks like an everyday moment? Consider how you can use layers, what's in the foreground, middle and then background. Finally, where will you draw your light source from? You could observe your space at different times of the day, and how the objects in your home change from day to night. The room at the back of my house has the most incredible light that streams in from about 2 o'clock in the afternoon until dusk. The light in autumn is particularly magical and nothing beats a Devonshire tea, that's scones, jam, and cream, on a sunny but chilly afternoon in Victoria. Are you feeling hungry yet? Before we finish this lesson, I would like to highlight some key styling elements for you to consider. Think about hierarchy. I like to place taller objects towards the back of the scene and layer slightly smaller objects towards the front. Not too strict either. Play with it a bit. Another fun approach would be to capture a more modern day still life as the ever so popular flat lay. Why don't you give it a try? To recap, in this lesson, we have briefly touched on the history of still life. You might enjoy though researching more about the style afterwards. We have also looked at the key elements of a still life that I like to follow, considered how we might observe some objects in different spaces and capture those ordinary moments, and also how the light interacts with each of them and what time of day. Finally, we have uncovered some basic style elements you could apply when looking for or styling your own still life scene. All of these will help us draw from our everyday observations in our first exercise. 4. Don’t Be Me, Be You!: Tell me this. If you didn't have a label that's associated to your profession or what you do on a day-to-day basis in your life, in your family, and/or your relationships, who are you? One of my earliest memories of creating art was in my nan's studio in a bungalow at the back of her house. She would actually let me create as much as I wanted and would put up crisscrossing string from the ceiling so I could exhibit my work at the end of a sleepover to proudly show my parents. I can also vividly remember my still life drawings at the age of eight in art class, using markers and oil pastels. Matisse provided a lot of inspiration for endless cut paper sessions too, with very clear color palette of Kinder Squares in blue, magenta, red, and of course, pastel pink. Now I would like to ask you to think about your own creative influences. I don't want you to feel that this is an exercise in comparison either. As societies designed now so that we can access so much content and each other all the time, for the most part, I think this is an amazing visual culture and has given me so many opportunities to connect and learn like we're doing right now. However, there are times, especially when you're starting a new project or thinking about an idea, or just looking for some inspiration, you can do that straight away on your mobile phone, which can be great. But sometimes it can send you into a spiral of comparison and lost sense of time, making you feel almost paralyzed by seeing all the other great things people are doing, and wonder, where will your mark fit? I want you to think about the patterns you have for enjoyment right now. What sparks your curiosity and lifts your mood? Could you lean into your passions and interests to help you develop your subject matter in your creative work? For me, I love still life and flowers and Swedish cloaks. I love coffee, and the simple act of buying a nice loaf of bread on the weekend is really enjoyable for me. Finding what inspires you and gives you energy consistently and not feel overwhelmed or threatened to develop a style that you have to stick with is essential, I think, to help you develop your own visual aesthetic that is more natural, and don't forget, it should be fun. What would happen if you created something you like and says a little something special about you that isn't looking for any external sense of perfection and validation. You're not looking to anyone to say, yeah, that looks great. What if you were just creating something just for you. I'll bet anyone else looking at that work will think it is more special if it does actually say something about you, you're communicating what's true to you, yourself, and that is your visual story. 5. Exercise 1: Everyday Observations: We're going to ease into the first exercise. Looking at everyday objects that are around you in your home, and try to use your imagination and develop your critical eye to see these in a new way. If you can beforehand, take some time in nature, looking into the distance and studying the natural occurring patterns on leaves, for example, is really great to reset and just clear your mind. When you're back in the home, look at some of those everyday objects and see how the Sun or other lights interact with their surfaces. How about some fruit? I want you to gather a small collection of inanimate objects that are around you right now in your home. You can pause the video and go and do that. Have you got some objects around you? It could be four or five or just a simple vase with some clippings that doesn't have to be overly stylized. Could you take some impressions of what you see now? It doesn't have to be photo realistic. You could do a photograph, a quick sketch, or some line work in your sketchbook or an iPad. It doesn't matter what it is. Photographs again, can be such an easy way to document what is around you. Then you can decide later what you'll keep and what you'll leave out when you redevelop that scene again using your chosen medium. Study the shape and texture of the objects and think about how they relate to each other. To recap, we're observing the everyday, ordinary objects that are around you in your home. They don't have to be even special. They might be just functional objects like a spoon, or a plate, or a cup, your favorite coffee cup, for example. Look at the color, look at the texture, the shape, and form. 6. 5 Tips for Working Across Different Media: Let's take a short break now to chat about how to work across different mediums. I'd like to share with you five tips that I have to help you along the way. Taking some time to lean into experimentation and explore observations of your own view and the world and of others is a really great process to develop this. Tip number 1, play with different mediums. I like to sketch in Procreate on my iPad, to play with color pellets and structure and quick patterns. But for more polished and flexibility later on, I develop finished works in Affinity Designer and Affinity Publisher, to draw in vector graphics. This means that all my creations can be exported to any size, large or small, and be put on any surface. The use of lines in my work, no matter the medium, it's important to me. It's fluid and deliberate, and no matter the artwork I create, there always seems to be this element expressed. But when I have an idea, I typically don't sketch it out first, I write about it in short paragraphs or as lists. Tip number 2, ponder your muse. What do I mean by muse? What are you inspired by? What's around you that always gives you joy? My number 1 inspiration is nature. I do love reading as well though, so there's a lot that goes into me observing my natural surroundings and taking time to read and research what is interesting to me, My main muse, however, really comes from the more ordinary experiences in the home. It's a very popular and accessible subject matter, as you know, but somehow a beautiful sketch or painting of a basket of laundry or a collection of random trinkets, a vase of flowers, looks completely different. I like to move my artworks around regularly in my home and create still-life vignettes with green clippings from my garden. Tip number 3, study your movements. I decided to look at my high pigment ink painting style and paint marker drawings closely, and study the movement of the brush, the width of each stroke, and the taper of the brush mainly. I then went into one of my favorite apps, you're seeing here on the screen again, Affinity Designer, but this time instead of my desktop computer, I'm using it on my iPad. I love that the two pieces of software can work across my different devices. I developed a digital impression of my painted line work and finally found the right balance that feels like my style across these two different platforms. Tip number 4, evolve what's unique to you. It's safe to say that I've enjoyed creating things with paper and paint since I was a kid, but as an adult, it's hard to feel like you need a signature style. There's so much pressure now with all this content available to us to stand out and do something different. But finding your style sometimes is a completely different process and it's very personal. I decided that I wouldn't be trying to put myself in a box and identify with that question. What do you do? Answer with a very concrete response. It was frustrating doing formal study at times, having to annotate all my thinking process and how I'm developing my ideas, but now as an educator, I understand a lot more why that was needing to happen, so that a clear judgment of my capacity and research and exploration is there and can be reviewed and documented and be accessible against a clear criteria. I understand that now as a formal process, but it was actually really good training to be able to articulate my ideas and not cringe looking through old visual diaries and sketchbooks with all my written annotations. That was what I was thinking and feeling at the time, it felt true to me. Then maybe I've progressed a little bit differently along the way and I don't have those same ideas, but it's all there, it's history, it's documented, and I think in the end it actually has helped me evolve what I see as my style now. Finally, tip number 5. Let's weave your style across different media. I'm not saying you have to, but it's an opportunity to turn to what's around you that you might like to document and take some time to be mindful in a focused activity that is creative and hopefully gives you some joy. "There's no pressure to turn these pieces into something other than what they are, an expression of your view at a particular time in your life and in the moment." When you work through the exercises in this class, give yourself time to experiment with different styles and media. By this, I mean considering different ways to produce your work visually. Will it be digital or paper, a combination of both, will you print it, ill you film it? I would love to see your developmental process on our discussion board. I can't wait to see what you work on. Let's move on to the next exercise. 7. Exercise 2: Your Eye, Your Imagination : Our second exercise of this class will be to flex the imagination in three separate visual tasks. The first task will be to create a large-scale painting. You could use any medium you like. However, I suggest some paint or fluid inks to allow you to experiment with some movement. I want you to feel relaxed, and not pressured about a certain end result. In fact, I would prefer you don't try to have an end goal in mind other than to fill the page. You'll be able to find worksheets for each of these tasks under the project section of this class that you can download, and print, and take notes, or just simply use as a reference. Once you've finished your life-scale image, keep it somewhere safe because we will come back to it later in the class. Oh, and you need some scissors. Now, back to my favorite mediums. I adore these high pigment artists inks by Melbourne based company called Art Spectrum. They are incredible for any skill level because they have unlimited mixing capacity, meaning you will never find a murky or muddy color in your paint pallet. Also, these videos, snippets of me creating that larger, high contrasting floral print, which I will show you how I'm going to use later in our collage have been speed up just a little bit so you don't fall asleep. In case you're wondering, I don't always paint this fast. The other thing is, these inks do dry quite fast, and behave like watercolor, but that's the intensity of all the colors, and the layering capacity that I enjoy the most. Sometimes I have no choice but to let the color, and the fluidity of the inks decide my visual direction. You can see here too that I've decided to come in later to fill the background color, does go against my formal training, but I like the white uneven bordering I can achieve around each motive. It's a bit more unexpected, and gives it a slight cut outlook already. When you hear certain songs, do you find yourself picturing a scene? Or does it remind you of something or someone? I can visualize the scene like it's from a film when I hear some songs, and can be quite vivid. Does that ever happen to you? Or is it just me? This next task is really fun. I'm going to get me to select a song, and one medium to create a completely new image without any text. I want you to find a comfortable space, and listen to the track once. You don't have to close your eyes, but you might find it helps you focus your attention. The key here is that you're applying your imagination to create something new without overthinking it, and without having a plan. Be playful, experiment what colors you're seeing in your mind? What are you picturing? That is your new scene, that is your new piece of work. A few years ago I went through this stage where I'd wake up, and I'd see different color combinations in my head, so different color palettes, if you will. I started using app on my phone to try, and capture some of these color palettes quickly. I didn't just want to select the colors, I actually wanted to create an image so I could see the Minus, and see them quickly come to life. I just do blobs or dots of big splotchy circles and layer them. They started to look a bit like abstract florals, and I really loved that. I built on this, and started to play with different patterns, and different color combinations. This actually became an exercise that I would almost do daily to experiment with different color palettes that I'm thinking about for other projects. It turned into a really nice mindful activity of me exploring color, and pattern with no, say, pressure in mind about the placement of the color. If it didn't work, I could just undo it. The idea was it was really rapid prototyping of these different color combinations. I also find it really relaxing, and exciting to see these colors. I wanted to show you quickly just how I do this now using Procreate on my iPad. There's really no set method that I'm applying other than exploring the colors one-by-one in layers. Sometimes I don't always like the color choices, so I just undo it, and that's okay. It doesn't matter. I don't have to save it even, but I do end up using them sometimes, and it does allow you to be a bit more playful with experimenting with free flowing patterns, and just getting a nice combination of colors across the screen. In this lesson, I've introduced you to some of the free flowing mediums I like to use to explore mark-making and color, through applied imagination exercises. Now, I'd like you to pause the class to go and complete the three exercises from this lesson, starting with the abstract painting exercise. Then visualize a song, and finishing up with some fun color, and pattern in the blobs exercise. There's a worksheet for each exercise under the project description. Take as much time as you need, and when you're ready, we're going to compile some of these techniques for our final still life identity collage coming up in the next lesson. If you would like to post some of your developments along the way in the class discussion board, I would love to see what you're working on. When you're finished, come on back, and continue with the next lesson and I'll see you soon. 8. Have Fun with Collage: Now we're going to have some fun in the final lesson for this class by bringing all the collaging elements together to create your final artwork. In this lesson, we'll look at different collaging elements and ways to create your collage. I will share with you a digital example and the cut paper one too that I've created for this project. You only need to make one collage but if you feel like doing more, that's great. I have used a combination of line drawings, sketches, rotting, and my floral blobs, if you will, to build my digital collage. When you are assembling your collage, I want you to start with an anchor. What do I mean by that? This will be a large element like the dark circle you see here in my digital project, that blue one there. This is the first item you will place in your artwork, whether it's digital or paper based. It doesn't have to be central to the overall composition, your final layout. It will ground all the other elements you add in overlapping and considered layers, just like we talked about in the still life arrangement exercise. In my cut paper example, from the paintings I worked on earlier in the class using high pigment inks, I've applied the same composition techniques to build this example. I started with the larger circle element again and just traced my shape from a small plate and I'm just using a simple glue stick to arrange the final pieces of paper. I also I didn't spend a lot of time thinking before I cut my papers, I promise. I looked at the lines and colors that I liked seeing together. Don't worry about any waste, because you can use the leftovers to build linear elements like stems and leaves, for example, and in other projects too, I always keep all the off cuts. I'm wondering now too if you're starting to see in my examples the motifs and the elements and inspiration that I draw on in my own visual design work. Are you seeing that identity come through? I hope you can. I like to strip back fine details or busy elements and textures from objects so that I can really focus on the form and my chosen color palette. I find the simplicity of line work as a start and a limited color palette energizing and really makes me express and interpret the external environment to me in new and exciting ways. I wanted to show you that you can approach this project in many different ways and hope you start to notice the stylistic elements that I've employed across different mediums now too. Those motifs like the floral blobs and citrus and vases and other vessels, and of course, the color that I use in my own visual design work continues to strip back some of the finer details or busy elements and textures from objects that I see because I like to start with the form and color to inform my work as I go forward, and that's the main focus. I like the simplicity of line work and a limited color palette. I find that really energizing and it makes me interpret my external environment in new ways. As you're manipulating all the different collaging elements for your final work, consider that layer that goes on top of your anchor first, and then all the other elements that will dance around those two or three main central features. Now they might not necessarily be central to your paper or your Canvas, as I said earlier, but there will be some deliberate balance. Will you draw the eye to the right-hand corner first and then they work their way up around the left side of the paper and then to the top-left corner and then back to the center? How do you want to have your final visual identity viewed? Let's recap on what we've covered in our final lesson together. I really hope now you're starting to think and work in layers. As you build your composition, you're looking for that anchor, that central focus that will bring all the other final elements together to form your very own visual identity collage. 9. Last Thoughts & Thanks: Congratulations, you did it. It has been an absolute joy to put this class together for you. I really hope it was able to give you the opportunity to relax and take some creative time out. Let me know what you enjoyed the most in the discussion boards about the process. Don't forget to share your work on the project gallery because I'd love to see what you created, even your developmental paces too. I think one of the joys of living is being able to see the beauty in the every day and the mundane. It forms a process that slows our minds, offers some time to reflect and appreciate what is around us in the simplest form. I can't wait to see your creative process come through this project. I'd love to chat to you on the discussion boards. I thank you so much for being here with me and I'm really looking forward to meeting you on the discussion boards. Thank you and see you again soon.