Old Widow in Collage

I originally did this collage for an illustration for The FairyTale Alphabet Book, Fairy Tales and Folk Tales from Around the world.  But afterwards, I decided that she would make a nice fine art piece so she needed to be finished.

Step 1.

I always start by finding some nice photo references.  This one I found as a royalty-free photo on Morgue Files.  

Step 2.

I always sketch in the illustration in pencil on medium weight paper.  In this case, the paper is 80-pound cover stock 18" x 22".  Once I have the pencil drawing the way I want it I can begin gathering collage paper.

Step 3.

I gather colored paper from old magazines, old wall calendars, outdated catalogs, circulars that come in the mail and sometimes political flyers.  The paper has to be a nice weight and semi-glossy.  That eliminates a lot of the large magazines common today which are using thin flimsy paper for their interior pages.  However, I find even those magazines have nice glossy covers that work well.  I cut and tear these papers and sort them according to value and hue.

Step 4.

Using rubber cement to keep the papers from buckling when dry, I glue the papers to my drawing.  The hard part is finding just the right value for the shadows and highlights.  I usually use only cut paper for the face because that white fringy torn edge distracts from the facial features.

Step 5.

After the main subject, I create an appropriate background in collage.  I find torn paper for the background works well because the white fringy torn edge doesn't matter as much on the background.

Now it is ready to hang and display.  You should try it.  It really is a lot of fun even if it is time-consuming.  I think it incorporates my love of puzzles as well as painting.