Henry Has
Mixed media art was an effort to exceed the limits of traditional art. Drawing media like charcoal, gouache, oil, acrylics were mixed on the canvas. Artists Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali, and Marcel Duchamp added objects unusual for art. Mixed media art was more interesting, even shocking, because of the materials and the message.
Mixed media can provoke multiple responses. Connections are made with found objects such as rocks, shells, antique details, faded photos, detached parts, wood shavings, scrap metal, crumpled paper, disposed road signs, thread, wax, dried leaves, etc. These may be combined with more than one type of drawing or paint material.
If digital art is beginning to look the same to you, but you don’t have the resources to do live projects, you may want to try digital mixed media. The challenge is how to add realistic depth and texture. You can use bitmap or raster programs like Adobe Photoshop, or Paint.net. And vector graphics applications such as Adobe Illustrator, CorelDRAW, Flash, Inkscape, Sketchup.
Analog sketching, drawing, painting can also be combined with digital enhancing for mixed media projects. If using an all-digital platform, mixed media can be produced with photos and scanned objects. These can be combined with digital painting, drawing, 3D, vectors and fractal methods.
The selection of free tutorials below show some basics for digital mixed media art:
Indian Dream, mixed media collage tutorial by Archan Nair
Mixed media poster tutorial by Niranth M
Mixed media tutorial by Adam Smith
Mixed Media Wine Label, tutorial by Joshua Anthony O’Meara
Fiery Mixed Media tutorial
Fashion Week Fantasy, mixed media collage tutorial by Vasare Nar
Mixed media blending tutorial by Eszter Baranyi
Mixed media collage tutorial by Ainsley Bevis
Mixed media illustration tutorial by Andreas Preis
Mixed media portrait tutorial by Jenny Le
“The Donor Trail” mixed media tutorial by Simon Brader
Mixed media tutorial by Edmar Cisneros
Mixed media tutorial by Ahmad Elabbar
Mixed media composition in adobetutorialz
Mixed media art tutorial by Phil Dunne
The rich context of mixed media art fascinates in the recent book, The Pulse of Mixed Media: Secrets and Passions of 100 Artists Revealed, by Seth Apter. Mixed media delivers experiences, stories, fears, joys, sense of fun, surprising combinations, experiments, observations, journeys and discoveries. Often we are turned off by mixed media when it looks confusing or pretentious without concept or message. But when done right, digital mixed media can be a powerful visual experience that is unique, yet universal.
