Introduction

If you are considering redecorating your home and have a small budget you may want to try creating your own works of arts. You can use a variety of inexpensive techniques to create original pieces of art, or replicate a favorite piece of art that you have seen in a magazine, book, or in a gallery. All you will need for the art projects featured in this articles will be pencils, poster board, foam board, a scanner, a printer, photographs, magazines, books, brochures, paint, paint brushes, color pencils, crayons, camera, photo imaging software, chalk, glue, and any other art supplies that you have on hand.

Photo-montage Project

One of the easiest pieces of art that you can design to accent your new room's decor is a photo-montage. For this project you will need to gather photographs that you have taken over the years, have access to a scanner, have access to a photo imaging software package like Photo Shop, have a color printer (although black and white is fine too), glue, and poster board or foam board.

Your first step is to determine what kind of montage you want to make. Take a look at your room and think of a theme that will tie all of the elements of the room together. If the photo montage will be hanging in your family room you may want to create a montage of family moments, a montage of your children's photographs, or a family vacation photo-montage. What you would want to avoid when creating a montage for a family room would be a montage of serious or overly formal themed photographs. Make it fun.

After deciding what kind of montage you want to create, your next step is to sort through your family photos and select photographs that will work with the type of montage that you will be making. You should also select a color pallet that will compliment your decor. You can buy poster board and foam board in a variety of colors, and if you don't find a color that you like you can always spray paint the board and let it dry before you start arranging your prints on it. You can find a rainbow of spray paint colors for only a couple of dollars a can, so this decorative alteration is affordable. After finding the poster board or foam board of your choice, you can then start to arrange the photographs on the poster board* or foam board* to see what kind of layout you will want to use. Don't glue anything down at this point.

*The use of poster board or foam board is up to you. If you will be using actual photographs instead of photocopies then I would recommend that you use foam board, because it is sturdier. However, if you will be making photocopies of your photographs then the poster board should be fine. The price difference between poster board and foam board can be anywhere from $3 to $5, so price may be the deciding factor. If this is a project for kids to do, poster board should be fine.

Your next decision will be to use the actual photos in your collection, or to make photocopies. If you have doubles of your family pictures then you can use the second set of prints for your collage, or if you have digital photographs you can print out the photos that you want to use. If you don't have a digital camera, or if you don't have double prints available, you can also scan your original photographs into your computer and print out copies to use in your photo-montage. While scanning and printing may take more time than the other available options, it does allow you to alter the size, shape, and content of the photographs, which will allow you to customize your montage even more.

Once your usable prints are ready, and you know how you want to layout your montage you can start gluing your photos to your board. A glue stick, rubber cement, or spray adhesive will work best for this type of project as they won't curl your paper, or leave ripple marks on your prints. As you progress through the gluing stage, every now and then step back and examine how the montage is coming together. This look from a distance will help you to gage how others will be seeing it when it is hanging on your wall, and you will be able to better determine if it seems balanced and well coordinated.

After all of your prints have been secured allow your photo-montage to dry at least overnight. Even though the glue might dry faster than this, with several layers of prints it will take longer for the glue to really cure and set. The next day check for any loose prints or corners that need to be re-secured. It is important to make sure that all the outside edges of your montage are secured. This will reduce the chances that a print will be damaged or pried loose because of moving, drafts, or breezes. When you are sure that the montage has dried you are then ready to display your piece of art. If you have the money available you can mount and frame your art, however, if framing is not in your art budget you can use double-sided tape, push pins, or thumb tacks to hang your photo-montage.

Creating Your Own Hand Tinted Black and White Photos

One of the most popular current trends in photo-art is the hand tinted black and white photograph. The process of coloring black and white photos by hand has been done since the early days of photography, but interest in this process has recently been renewed most likely due to the ease of tinting photographs using computer technology. Now, instead of having to use an airbrush or a photo-marker to tint black and white photographs, a person only has to upload a photograph into their photo-imaging software and press a few buttons to get beautiful results. For this project you will need photograph(s), camera*, computer, photo-imaging software, a color printer, a scanner, frame*, board*, mat*.

*These items are optional. If you would like to frame your hand tinted photograph after you print it out, and you have a small mounting and framing budget, shop around for a ready-made frame that comes with a mat. Wal-mart sells 11X14" frames that come with a mat for only $5. To ensure that your photo will show through the opening in the mat, make sure that you size your photo to the size of the opening in the mat.

Your first step is to either take a photo of the subject you want to display, or to find a pre-existing photo that you want to tint. You can take photos from your family album of your grandparent's wedding that is already in black and white, or you can use a contemporary color photo and filter it in your photo imaging software and make it black and white. If you have a camera and willing subjects, you can even stage a photo to reflect the bygone eras of old. Use props, costumes, and a little creative hairstyling to transform your kids into models from the 19th century. For backgrounds you can simply hang a white sheet on your wall, and place antique furniture in front of it. Allow the sheet to drape across the floor where your models will be standing to ensure your composition flows naturally without interruptions from your carpet or flooring.

After staging your set and posing your models you can take either a 35mm film photograph of the scene, or you can use a digital camera to photograph the scene. Your decision here will be based on how large of a final image you will be making, and what technology that is available to you. If you have a digital camera then you will want to make sure that the image produced will be clear enough to blow up to an 8X10 or size that you have decided on. For a good quality 8X10 enlargement you will need a digital camera that is at least a 3.0 to a 3.5 mega-pixel camera. Anything lower than this will produce a grainy 8X10 enlargement. If you will be using a 35mm film camera you can either ask for your photos to come on a CD when you get your film developed, or you can scan your prints into your computer using a flat bed scanner or a photo-scanner.

After your image has been uploaded to your computer, you can then use your imaging software to change it to a black and white photograph and then use the software's tinting tools to hand color your photograph. If you are not familiar with your photo imaging software you may need to run through the available tutorials and practice using the tools before you attempt to print out the final product on photo paper. What will be the most difficult skill to master is learning how to use the mouse as your paintbrush. This will take some time, as will learning what digital tinting tool you will need to use to create different effects.

Once you have mastered these skills you can tint your photo. I would recommend starting with light color first, such as skin and eyes, and then color the darker elements in your photo such as shadows and clothes. I make this recommendation because light colors can be covered by darker colors if you happen to paint outside the lines, but light colors can't cover dark colors.

Once you have your tinted photograph looking the way that you want, save it. Use a file name that will be easy to find. Most photo imaging software will either provide you with a default file name like "Untitiled1," or they will assign a default number to the file when you first click on the save button. You should change this default name to something that describes what the photograph contains. For example you could name a file tintedKyle1, if the photograph is of your son named Kyle and it is the first in a series of photographs.

After saving, print out a test photo on plain paper to test its size and positioning on the printout against your frame and mat set. If the photo image is not lined up with the opening in your mat than you will need to adjust the paper's margins under the print, page setup menus on your screen. Keep making adjustments until you photo is lined up with the opening in your mat. When everything looks good print out your hand tinted photo on good photography paper. You can choose glossy or matte photo paper depending on the effect that you want to create. Photo paper tends to run a little bit larger than 8X10 so you may need to shave down the sides a tiny bit to fit the paper into your frame. Once framed you will have an original piece of art to hang on your wall or to give as a very special gift.

Portrait Project – Tracing Exercise

One type of artwork that has always been in high demand is the hand drawn portrait. People who are not particularly talented in the arts often wish that they would be able to draw like the masters. While your hand drawn portraits may not produce images that look 100% like the subject, there are several ways that an unskilled or inexperienced person can create a beautiful portrait. For this project you will need paper, poster board, pencils, eraser, T-square or yardstick, ruler, photograph, scanner.

One of the first techniques to creating a realistic portrait is to trace the image from a photograph. This is cheating, you may say, but if it is for your home and personal use that doesn't matter. In fact, tracing is a great way to familiarize yourself with the pencil strokes needed to be a freehand artist, and it will also help you to familiarize yourself with the curvatures and structures of the human form. Your first step in the tracing project is to find a photograph of the subject that you want to draw. I don't recommend tracing directly from a photograph as this will leave pressure marks on the photo's surface. Instead make a photocopy of the image that you want to trace. If you have photo-imaging software you may also want to delete the background of the photograph to make tracing easier.

Once you have your photocopy or printout of your subject in hand, your next step is to tape down the print to a drawing board, a piece of cardboard, or even to your tabletop. This will prevent the image from slipping out of place while you are trying to trace it. Your next step is to tape the upper side of your blank sheet of paper to the board so that the blank paper lies directly over the secured print. This again is intended to reduce slippage and to maintain alignment throughout the tracing project.

Once set up, make sure that you have plenty of light, sharp pencils, and erasers available. Start the tracing process, pressing lightly as you reproduce the major outlines of your selected print. Refer to the original print by gently lifting the top page and revealing the original print. This is a similar process to what animators do when they are animating a sequence. After you have all the major lines documented on your blank paper you may need to remove the traced page from the board so you can work on the fine details. Fine details are more difficult to trace because they don't show through the paper as easily as the major outlines of the figure do. To draw the fine details and shade your portrait you will use your traced outlines as guides to locate where the details should be placed. Use your ruler to measure distances between reference points and detail locations.

After you have completed your drawing allow it to breathe overnight before sealing it with a fixative. I recommend this step because pencil lead smears easily and your artwork could be damaged if someone touches the drawing, or even if other papers are placed on top of it. Smudges, smears, and stains are all elements that could damage your hard work so take the extra precautions to ensure that your art is preserved.

Creating a Portrait Using Matrixing

Once you have mastered the tracing techniques and feel that you are ready to try creating a portrait without tracing, there is another technique that many artists used called matrixing. For this project you will need paper, drawing board (any flat surface will work if a board is not available), poster board, masking tape, ruler, T-square, yardstick, erasers, pencils, pencil sharpener, and a photocopy of a photograph.

Your first step is to find a photograph of your subject and make a photocopy of this image. You need to make a photocopy of the image because you will be marking on it. Once you have your print copy you will need to secure it to a larger piece of paper with an adhesive that does not cover the printed portion of the copy. Double-sided tape, spray adhesive, glue stick, or rubber cement will all work. Once secured to the larger piece of paper you will need to layout a grid on top of the photo print using your ruler. The smaller the grid the easier it will be to reproduce on a larger scale. If you are new to drawing select a smaller grid size such as .25"X.25" squares, or even .5"X.5" squares. However, if you have a good eye and hand for drawing, than a 1 inch square scale should be fine.

After drawing your grid on your print you will need to number each row and column that has been created in the margins. You can use letters or numbers, or even a combination of these two things. Just make sure that they are easy to read. After numbering and lettering your print grid your next step is to set up your poster board for the enlargement of the print.

First you will need to cut your poster board to the size that is appropriate for your enlargement. When you are determining how big your poster board should be you will need to measure your original print and multiply its dimensions by how much you want to enlarge it by. For example, if your original print is 8X10 and you want to make it 3 times as big your poster board dimensions would be 8" multiplied by 3 = 24"+2" for margin (1" on each side). For the height dimension of 10" multiply it by 3 to get 30"+2" for the margin (again 1" on both sides). By leaving a 1" boarder you will be able to tape down the poster board without damaging the drawing surface of your artwork. After figuring out your dimensions, in this example 26"X32", measure and cut your poster board to this size.

Once cut you will want to tape down the poster board to a drawing board. I recommend a drawing board because you are able to rotate it, and angle the board while drawing which makes it more comfortable, especially if you are working on a large surface. After securing the poster board to the drawing board you will want to lay out a light grid on your poster board. I stress "light grid" here because you will need to be able to erase the grid as you progress so that it doesn't show up in your final project. Mechanical pencils are great for this type of layout as their lines are fine and easier to erase. Use your T-square to make sure that your grid is plumb and square.

To determine how big your grid squares should be you will need to take the enlargement factor, 3 in our example, and multiply it by the size of the squares used on the original print grid, 1" in our example. So the grid for the example enlargement would be 1" multiplied by 3, or 3" squares. After laying out your grid on your poster board you will need to number and/or letter your rows and columns to match those on your original print grid.

Once your drawing area has been prepared, you get to start drawing. The matrixing process is simple. Just recreate what is in each square of the original print inside the corresponding grid square on your poster board. You may be thinking why is this easier then trying to draw the whole image without a grid? The answer is that by reducing the viewable areas in a grid your mind is only seeing shapes and not figures. It is easier to draw and reproduce shapes than it is images. Also by having the grid you know where lines should meet, where shading should go, and where lines and curves should be placed within a smaller space. This will help you to recreate what is in your original print perfectly, or at least close to perfect.

As you complete squares in your grid you can start to erase your grid lines. When all of your grid squares have been completed and the grid has been completely erased, you may need to go back and make slight adjustments to shading and details especially in areas that may have been accidentally erased or smudged when you were removing the grid lines. Clean up smudges, smears, and grid lines that remain. Once you are satisfied with your drawing you can spray it with a fixative and let it dry over night. (Make sure that you keep the poster board secured to the drawing board while you spray the fixative and let it dry. This will help minimize rippling and curling.) Once dry you can carefully remove the masking tape from the border, and your masterpiece is ready for framing and displaying.