Collecting and using a digital palette

Collecting and creating with a digital palette.

Contents

Introduction

Collecting a digital palette

Examples from artists

Using the digital palette

What else? ideas to go further digitally

What else? ideas to go further using art materials

Visual elements and vocabulary

And finally

References

Introduction

This book contains some tips and ideas about collecting colours, patterns and textures digitally to make a virtual palette that can then be used to make digital collages. Once you've learned how to use technology apps and tools to do this there is huge potential for you and your learners to use it creatively when making art in the real and digital worlds.

Closely observing the world around to find visually interesting areas to photograph can encourage us to slow down and observe with care and intensity. On the next few pages are some tips and ideas for trying this out. We're used to taking many snapshots with mobile devices so working in a completely different way can be quite a challenge at first.

Collecting a digital palette

The camera on a mobile device (phone or tablet) can be used to take close up photos which can then be used as a digital palette.

Demonstrating how to look, evaluate and select before capturing the image can be useful when beginning or even practising with a card viewfinder.

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Taking the photos

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Demonstrate going close up and zooming in to the chosen area (as on the left) rather than taking a general view (as on the right).

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Edit photos, cropping them to focus on the colour, texture or pattern and eliminating irrelevant and distracting parts.

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You might have a go using a card viewfinder first.

You might limit the number of photos pupils take so that they slow down and evaluate what they are looking at and collecting.

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Working collaboratively
There is scope to work together at this stage of the process. This could be based around colour, pattern or any other themes or elements.

Individuals or pairs can be given one colour to look for and capture so that collectively there is wide range of images for everyone to use.

All the images can be made available through addition to a shared folder.

Alternatively 'air drop' can be used to swap images around between ipads.

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It can be useful to have a look at the work of others who have been collecting and making digital collages. Below are some ideas for finding examples from schools. On the following pages there are two artists and their work to use for inspiration.

Examples from artists

Finding examples:
Look up #texturehuntergatherer on Twitter or Instagram.
There are lots of examples of collections of colours, patterns and textures to look at and be inspired by.

Finding examples
You can find examples made by children and adults in different locations: natural and urban environments. You can also find examples focused on colours, patterns, themes and places.

Artist and BigDraw Ambassador Liz Atkin takes photos of colours and textures she encounters and shares them using #texturehuntergatherer

These digital collages are works of art in themselves.

Liz Atkin

Texturehuntergatherer by Liz Atkin

Photographer and artist Phil Barnett also collects patterns from nature, arranging them in grids. The examples on the left are from tree bark.

At the link below you can read more about how he connects these to the Chinese idea of "Li": the patterns in nature that are forming and re-forming around us.

(Microcosmic) Li - Patterns in Nature

Phil Barnett

Any photo collage maker can be used to arrange and create with the digital palette. PicCollage is a free app available on most devices and there is an EDU version as well as other free photo collage tools such as Adobe Spark which is available online as well. Photo collages can also be made in PowerPoint (Microsoft) and Keynote (Apple).

Using your digital palette to make art

PicCollage

‎PicCollage EDU Collage Maker

Make Social Graphics, Short Videos, and Web Pages To Stand Out—In Minutes | Adobe Spark

If you are making a grid layout close the gaps between the photos and move the photos around until the layout is just right.

Build up more complex grids by making multiple photocollages and putting them together.

Here's a video demonstration using the PicCollage app.