Creative Inspiration: Modes of Medium
August 5, 2016
We are always enthralled by all of the different creative roads that our artists take to create their stunning works of art. Whether it be collage, watercolor, pen and ink, gouache, or acrylic, each method of expression is unique and imperative to molding the artists’ vision. It’s always fascinating to us how many mediums can go into one piece of art for a lot of our artists. See below for the different types of artistic methods that some of our artists use to create, and how a few raw materials can come together to create magic.
Collage: a piece of art made by sticking various different materials such as photographs and pieces of paper or fabric onto a backing.
“Paper cut-out might be my favorite. I love the texture and simplicity of collage. Cut-outs force me to design simple and rely more on basic shapes to communicate.” —Christian Robinson
“Lately I like working with collage, inks and pencils.” —Blanca Gómez
Gouache: a method of painting using opaque pigments ground in water and thickened with a glue-like substance.
“I’m in love with gouache. I like using lots of different opacity layers when illustrating and think gouache lends itself so nicely to that. I work digitally most of the time but like to incorporate some traditional paint layers in the beginning of my process. Because gouache can be such a tricky medium the results can be a lot more organic, fun and unexpected.” —Josie Portillo
“When I pick ‘just a few’ colors for a ‘limited’ palette. HAHA” —Becca Stadtlander
Watercolor: artists’ paint made with a water-soluble binder such as gum arabic, and thinned with water rather than oil, giving a transparent color.
“Drawing, painting, and illustrating would be what I am most invested in. My drawing practice in particular which I consider different my from my illustration practice though they over lap in a big way. Other mediums weave their way into my practice. I grew up doing so much crafting that it feel natural to jump between mediums and do a range of things. I also grew up in a ‘do it yourself’ family. I have very talented parents and between the two of them and their different skills, they could make almost anything. If I went to the mall as a kid with my mom and liked something she’d say ‘We can make that’ and that went for a lot of things in our house. So when I see things I like or have an idea for clothing, jewellery, ceramics that I want in my wardrobe, kitchen, life it is my instinct to try and make it myself. Those avenues then bleed into my 2d work and vice versa.” —Sarah Burwash
“Most of my works are done by watercolours. I enjoy them the most, though I also draw a little with ink and do collage.” —Anna Emilia Laitinen
“I love watercolour, I love using it wrong; painting with scrubby, dried out brushes, loading on too much paint, making textural work out of a medium meant for washes. I’m also very very fond of a straightforward pencil. The simplicity of it is so satisfying.” —Lizzy Stewart
Pen and pencil: denoting a drawing or sketch that is done using a pen or a pencil.
“Pencil and paper, I don’t think I’ll ever get over the satisfaction of making a picture appear on blank paper. It still feels like magic. My other favorite as I mentioned is silkscreening, with it’s flexibility and bold blocky colors.” —James Gulliver Hancock
“I sketch in pencil (2B, usually), artwork using a brush with black drawing ink, and colour in photoshop. I love a bit of silkscreen printing too, but I rarely make time for that anymore, sadly.” —Nicholas John Frith