Soooo QUICK & EASY!!! Mixed Media Collage Backgrounds with WASHI TAPE!!

Mixed media collage backgrounds with washi tape are SUPER EASY to create and are a QUICK way to add patterns and colors to your mixed media art journal. Today’s video is another FULL LENGTH project, so if you love collage mixed media art & mixed media tutorials - this is for YOU! 

I don't know about how you've been holding up, but election week here in the States was enough to kinda put me over the edge! When my kids were asking for a couple of new school supplies on Wednesday, I JUMPED at the chance to get out of the house and steer clear of the news. 

I happened to find a lovely little display of washi tape while I waited on my kids to grab the supplies they needed.  These four, along with a package of matching highlighters hopped into my cart, and were just what I needed to get out of my funk. 

You'll see my retail therapy art supplies sitting on top of a new sketchbook (yes, I'm sketchbook / art journal OBSESSED!!). This one is by Ohuhu and is for alcohol markers (PERFECT for my Whimsical Women of the World Portrait series)!! 

In this pic you can kinda see it's adorable square shape. I'm a bit of a sucker for a square shaped journal ;) 

After I sat down, I headed to Pinterest to find a reference. What was I in the mood to draw??

I knew I wanted something light, nothing stressful- just FUN like these neon colors in my supplies!

Look at what I found from Ashline Art. Isn't this hilarious?!! 

She basically looks like EXACTLY how I feel this week.

FED UP ... with  Cornoa, waiting for the election to end, and 2020 in general!! 

And what do I do when I'm feeling a little grumpy and angsty?! I head to my studio to re-center myself...

The bright colors in my washi tapes were exactly what I needed to pull me out of the dumps! 

How can you NOT be happy looking at these colors and the cute little polka dots?! 

Collaging art journal backgrounds with washi tape is one of the EASIEST collage techniques I know, and is a GREAT WAY to get you ready to EXPRESS yourself!! 

If you follow me, you know I'm in love with drawing faces and painting mixed media portraits! So one of my favorite washi tape uses to share with students who don't know how to use washi tape, is to just throw it down on the page to kind of frame whatever I want to feature in the foreground of my art journal page. 

Sometimes I don't even know what I'm gonna put in the foreground, but the washi tape is enough to get my creative juices flowing! 

As you'll see in today's video, even if I'm drawing a cartoon type character, I ALWAYS sketch in my face drawing guidelines. They're SO important. I don't ever create a face without them. 

Students always ask me about drawing expressions and how to draw wrinkles. My advice is SUPER SIMPLE. Just draw them in!! 

Take a look at my face sketch below. You can see my face drawing guidelines, the facial features, and the expression lines I observed in my reference photo. I didn't make these up. I just tried to copy what I saw in the reference, and transferred it to my drawing.  If expression lines and wrinkles are part of a face, I simply sketch them in! 

I love the look of outlines in my work so typically will grab a fineliner or sharpie to do this kind. Today I was in the mood to use my favorite uniball signo pen, so that's what I used. I tested it on a piece of scrap paper first to make sure there wasn't any bleed with the copics. If this is something you're worried about- you can do a similar test, or just outline at the end. AND... you can TOTALLY skip the outlines!

​It's your art, so DO WHAT YOU LOVE!! 

The paper in my new marker pad sketchbook is a lot like bristol paper. I quickly discover the cutesy highlighters I thought I would use in this piece DO NOT work well with my paper and actually eat away at it, so I bring in my copics. 
Remember, if you don't have copic markers (I know they cost a fortune!!!), use whatever alcohol markers you have. There are tons of great copic alternatives on the market today. I've reviewed quite a few of them and actually just ordered a new brand to test out for you that I haven't tried yet.

For sure, the ParKoo Markers are worth a try at just 37 cents/ each!!

Here is a recent Par Koo alcohol markers review video I did in case you're interested. 

For my shading, I kept things simple and just followed what I saw in the reference because I liked what the artist had done. It was especially helpful to see how the shading was handled for the puffed cheeks. 

Oh this girl is too ridiculous and funny to me!!

You have to jump over to today's mixed media tutorial so you can draw along with me! 

For the eyelashes, I pulled out my secret weapon! If you missed my how to draw eyelashes video with a Pentel Pocket brush - be sure to check that out if you have questions about drawing eyelashes.

I added a few more details to her hair, a little more shading on the face with gray, a couple of expression lines around her pouty lips and decided to run my highlighter through the background- gently since the paper didn't like my highlighters (but I liked the neon orange!). 

I HOPE this project puts a smile on your face. 

We're gonna get through this ya know. All of it. Corona, the election, after the election. The sun never stops rising. 

You can count on me to be back with another video to distract you, hopefully put a smile on your face and get you immersed in something creative so you can escape from what's bugging you! 

​Thanks for hanging out with me today!! HAPPY WEEKEND!! See ya next week...