Layers Upon Layers: Mixed Media Art

Creating a digital mixed media collage

by Cyndi on May 1st, 2007

Welcome to Technique Tuesday!

Today we’re going to look at the mixed media techniques used to create the digital collage, Stone Lily.

This digital collage was made with steps very similar to a technique that I shared before. Previously, though, most of my work was done using either the overlay or the hardlight blending mode of Photoshop. Each digital collage presents its own unique set of challenges, and this time I found that using the multiply mode and adding an embossed layer was just what was needed. As I explained before, you’ll have to just take these steps and tweak them for each new piece that you work with.

1. Create background paper, using one of the crinkled tissue techniques. Scan the finished paper at 300 dpi.
2. Open your collage image and make sure that it is also 300 dpi. Choose a color from this image with the color picker tool, and use it to colorize the background paper.
3. Drag and drop your image on top of the background paper. Change the blending mode to multiply, and tweak the colors and levels as needed. Consider lowering the saturation if the colors are too bright.
4. Merge the two layers into a new one at the top of the Photoshop layers stack. Copy this layer and create an overlay embossed layer. I kept the embossing up at 70% opacity in order to really emphasize the wrinkled rock-like texture.

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POSTED IN: Collage, Digital Art, Mixed Media, Paper, Photography, Technique Tuesday, Tutorials & Techniques