Digital Collage for Beginners

Each collage is improvised, the whole point is to not overthink it. When I find myself in a creative slump, throwing together a quick collage can help get me out of that headspace.

I like to plan, but sometimes that can be a hindrance to creativity. Always going in with an idea of the end product before even checking what´s available to you is your first mistake. Remember you´re not supposed to be thinking, you´re making it all up as you go and whatever you end up with is okay.

It all starts with a main image or an over arching theme.

My friend Aoife came to visit me a couple of months ago and I wanted to document her visit with a collage. That gave me some limitations to work within. I sometimes feel overwhelmed by choice so having some rough guideline helps me get past that first hurdle of getting started. I started with the image of the pile of tvs that were part of the STEINA exhibition at the National Gallery of Reykjavik. That was my starting point.

The second collage you see was inspired by my friend Ferg, or more what he said "I was briefly here"- we were both working as english teachers in Poland in late 2022, moving from city to city each week and starting fresh with a new batch of student each time. We were only briefly anywhere during this period. The line stuck with me, and since Ferg was to one who said it, I made him my main focus in the collage.

Once my first image is chosen, or I have a vague theme in mind, I look to my resources.....

• My phone camera roll

• My ipad camera roll

• My Pinterest feed

One rule I stand by is I don´t look anything up. If it´s on my Pinterest feed- great I can use it, but if not, no searching or googling allowed. It´s like digital foraging. Your brain will try to latch onto a vision, but at this stage we´re still just playing around with ideas, nothing is decided yet. Sometimes I´ll change my mind halfway through and the focus of the collage will shift and that´s fine. The thought I always return to is "if it doesn´t feel right, change it, and keep going". You´re done whenever you feel content with what you have. Some collages as a result might be quite minimal with only a handful of images used. Whilst others can wind up being wildly intricate. Once a collage is done I like to leave it alone. It served its purpose and fixating too much on getting it just right takes away from why I started it in the first place. If you find yourself itching to make changes, maybe it´s a sign that you should start a new collage, and see where that one takes you