The Complete Guide to Altered Imagery
Karen Michel

For those of us who are mucking about with mixed media/collage, there are a plethora of books out there. Many of them focus on using turn-of-the-century ephemera and photographs. While these are both lovely and inspiring, after awhile all the examples in them start to look awfully similar.

That’s why I was so pleased to find Karen Michel’s book, The Complete Guide to Altered Imagery. The cover art alone announces “fresh approaches to collage work inside!” The featured techniques are accessible to a newbie artist like me, but would also add to an experienced artist’s cache of ideas. Most of the techniques apply to altering photographs and Michel’s starts us out with bleach, stickers, crayons and gel pens. While the supplies might be basic the results are sophisticated and stunning.

Michel’s section on working with scanners and using digital imaging programs has lots of tips and suggestions. You could scan in one photo and try each of her techniques in turn to see the different affects. This would rapidly expand your editing “tool kit” without a lot of slogging through program tutorials or manuals. There’s also sections on altering Polaroid’s (Polaroid cameras can be easily found at thrift stores these days); basic linoleum and rubber block print making; and incorporating found object and altered images into each other to form a finished piece.

Order The Complete Guide to Altered Imagery now and get inspired, because next month I’ll be launching the First Friday Creative Challenge — a series of little assignments to help jump start our inner artists! (The book won’t be required for the First Friday Challenge, but it will help!)

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 8th, 2007 at 3:40 am and is filed under Fact, art books.



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