drawanyway.com

The way I see it, there are two broad ways of approaching collage: you can use unidentifiable coloured bits of paper to make up your image, or you can use figures, shapes and objects from photographs, rearranged to make a new picture. The former might be more pleasing, ultimately, but the latter is quick, quick, quick, and that’s what Draw Anyway artists like.

It’s also the method that was favoured by the Surrealists, who famously explored the juxtaposition of unrelated objects in order to produce dream-like scenarios. And it’s a good approach for the time-pressed; it takes only minutes, and the effect is often striking. That’s also its downfall, too, though: after the initial ‘wow!’, the viewer might think, ‘but that’s all.’

In any case, such images are often effective for poster design (that quick ‘wow’ is all you need to get someone’s attention) or fun, throwaway birthday cards. Witness how I threw together an incisive (heh) comment on obesity above in mere minutes.

One easy approach is to put together objects of divergent size - so, for example, small figures walking across large things: say, shoes, animals, whatever. It’s also useful to pick out models who are in mid-action (as they so often are) - like the woman above, who was originally holding a baby. Substituting one object for another can have comic or striking effects.

The great thing about this sort of collage is that it’s very easy to cut out all your pieces and try them out in different configurations. For novice artists, that is a very good way of finding out about composition - which shapes look good where, and with which other shapes?

It is going to be interesting to see if I can think of another ten ways of saying this daily and not annoying people by the 14th, but if you haven’t already done so, a vote for Draw Anyway in the Brighton and Hove Web Awards would be much appreciated. Thanks!