You might recall a previous article called Staying Productive. This is a similar article but thinking specifically about beginning collage artists.
The Best Place to Start is at the Beginning
If you are planning to be or are a collagist take a little time to set things up the right way to allow you to work indefinitely and uninterruptedly. As an artist you need to shape your environment to allow you to work at any moment that there is the opportunity. If you live in a rented property that is too small then move to a larger place that has spare rooms or a garage that will give you the needed room to work. The extra living space is usually cheaper that renting a separate location for a studio. I like thinking of my living space as a studio with a bed in it rather than a living space with a studio in it.
Organize Your Tools and Supplies
Take your fun seriously and dedicate enough time, space and resources to allow you to thrive while following your interest. Invest in yourself. Take the time and effort to do the preparatory work that is needed to work smoothly and efficiently and without undue frustration. Figure out the tools you might need and gather as many supplies as possible that will allow you to work at any moment. It is frustrating to have an idea on your mind and ready to work but you don’t have all of your tools and supplies readily at hand or they are scattered all over the place and you have to constantly be hunting around for this or that thing you need to continue. You can eliminate a lot of these problems by anticipating and organizing ahead of time what you are likely to need and have things ready in a conveniently located spot, preferably next to your collage table.
Set Up a Permanent Workspace
If you don’t already, figure out how to set up as large of a worktable as possible on which to make collages. Storage of collage paper materials is always a problem. Consider using stackable clear plastic bins to organize your materials by type so that you can pull out one bin at a time to work from. Find out-of-the-way places to stack your bins like a closet or under the bed or under your worktable, etc. Since the collage artist is a paper collector who’s collections might include books, magazines, posters, antique papers, notes, letters, etc. storage space can gradually become a problem. Things accumulate.
Organize an Artwork Storage System
Once you make your art you are going to need a way to keep it organized and keep it from becoming damaged. One way to do this is to make work in standard sizes that fit into clear cellophane self-sealing bags and let them accumulate in a clear storage bin. The more organized you are the better you will like it. Think of your art making in terms of a lifelong, ongoing project that never ends. Without purposeful organization it is easy to become overwhelmed in a deluge of self inflicted chaos.
Develop an Inventory Procedure
The best logic is chronologic. When you have completed a work, note the date on the back so you can later organize your works in the order you made them. Then it is good to put an inventory number. I usually do not put an inventory number on a work until I have photographed and numbered it in sequence with previously inventoried works in a digital folder where I keep all of the images of the artworks. How you come up with your numbering system is up to you but I would recommend keeping your scheme as simple and logical and expandable as possible.
Once you have done that I would recommend keeping an open document where you can add the works as you make them to your own digital catalogue raisonné. You are the only witness to everything you have done and what you were thinking at the time so keep contemporaneous notes. You will thank yourself later for doing it.
Determine and Prepare Your Operating Method
Sit down and figure out how you are going to make your collages. Will they be on panels, mounted on paper, small or large, etcetera and so forth? For an artist it is often a good approach to make these determinations ahead of time so that you can collect together your supports and have them ready for use at any moment. Are you going to typically tear your paper, cut with exacto knives or scissors? What kind of adhesive are you going to use? What sort of papers are you planning to use? Once you know these things you can start setting up all of the elements and build up a store of elements to draw from so that you are always ready to start and continue without interruption. This helps to eliminate frustration and let’s you freely follow your creative impulses when they hit you.
When you are working as a collage artist, think in terms of series or suites of works that pursue a particular type of image or explore a certain kind of materials or color schemes.
Design Resistance Out of Your Process
Don’t leave a possible obstacle in your way when you decide to make your collage art. The best way to avoid resistance is to have a collage working on your collage table. When I am finished with a collage and ready to stop for the day, I will often make sure I have the next collage ready to start and will usually place a few loose pieces of material on the surface to give me a suggestion of what to start on the next time I am able to work.
Strategize Failure Out of Your Process
Think about your art making as an experimental process. By doing this you are approaching your art making as an adventure rather than a battle that might be lost. I rarely work out a composition ahead of time. I might lay out all of the parts to make sure I have enough material to finish the collage but once I know that, I start someplace and commit by gluing down each piece as I go along. An artist can often get hung up with indecision. Committing to your decisions one piece at a time allows you to move forward step by step instead of trying to anticipate the finish line. If you later decide you got it wrong this will force you to learn from your mistakes and in the future anticipate the sequence like, for instance, setting up the background first and then work your way to the front.
It is always good to have an idea about what kind of image that you want to make before you start but try experimenting. Start with no idea at all and just let a few collages develop on their own to see what happens. You might be surprised at the results and this helps for developing intuition.
Set Goals and Quotas
Another trick is to set up some goals and quotas for yourself. For instance, try to make a collage every day with the goal of making 300 collages a year. At first it might seem impossible but if you hold yourself to that commitment you will figure it out. If you make very complex collages that take a week or two to complete then figure out how to have a set of smaller faster moving, more spontaneous collages to accomplish as you work on the more complex works. Think of it as a riddle or a puzzle to solve. The committed, ongoing effort with an eye toward a goal is what is important.