How to 'upcycle' old magazines and discover eye-catching abstract compositions

As an artist, I tend to look at the world with my 'artist goggles' on. I pay attention to colour, line, shapes, pattern, texture, and tonal contrast in everything that I see. This is especially important when I am looking for inspiration for my next painting.You can learn to spot abstract designs literally EVERYWHERE. 

One great source of inspiration is preloved magazines – a wealth of amazing abstract compositions just waiting to be created. With a little time and effort, you can 'upcycle' what's on the pages and take advantage of this ready-made resource to power your next masterpiece. 

This tutorial will show you how to use your artist eye while flipping through magazine pages to spot abstract compositions that will help your art spring to life when you transfer your ideas to the canvas. Let's take a look.

Supplies you will need:

• A few old magazines (interior design magazines are ideal). 

• A smartphone's camera "viewfinder" (or digital camera).

• That's it!

FILLING THE FRAME

The first step is to grab your smartphone. Now, open your camera app and you will see a viewfinder on the phone's screen. What is a viewfinder? It is simply the camera's frame that you will use to restrict the visual field. The viewfinder will help us find and perhaps further crop and alter appealing abstract compositions.

The next step is to flip through your magazines and notice what images grab your attention. The idea is to find interesting shapes and forms within SMALL SECTIONS of the image before you. It's not about copying the whole image – after all, that's someone else's creativity! It's about using a small section of the image as a STARTING POINT and using this to establish a solid understructure (good bones) for your eventual abstract design.

Now, using the viewfinder on your phone, frame and capture small parts of this image that appeal to your eye. You might be surprised at how many design ideas or mini compositions you can get from just one image! Feel free to play with cropping and scaling in order for your abstract compositions to feel balanced and just right.

The images that tend to catch my eye are often high contrast photos with tones that range from the darkest of darks to the lightest of lights – tonal contrast can be such a powerful tool when creating abstract compositions. These kinds of images 'pack a punch' when it comes to visual impact, grabbing the viewer's attention. I am also drawn to images with lots of organic shapes, patterns and textures.

AN EXAMPLE

After flipping through a few interior design magazines, I found this striking black and white advertisement for IKEA, taken from a Home Beautiful Magazine. As you can see, there is so much going on in this image that could lend itself to an abundance of abstract compositions! I initially found 12 little mini compositions that could easily be used as a starting point for a larger abstract understructure. It just goes to show how many gems we can find when we start to look through magazines with artist eyes!

From here, I picked a 'shortlist' of four designs that I believed had the best potential for an abstract composition. Notice how I chose to rotate each image from its original orientation. Also note the division of space, shapes, lines, patterns and textures that make up these designs... so much potential for an interesting abstract painting!

I literally have hundreds of ideas that come from magazines saved to my computer. I encourage you to do the same! Get flipping through your old magazines, and see what amazing abstract compositions you can find!

THE NEXT STEP

There are so many apps available for smartphones that allow you to play with distorting your images further. If you find an image that you love, but feel like it needs a little more 'oomph', try downloading one of these apps and see what kind of distortions are on offer. The app I used here was 'Waterlogue', which gave a very granulated, watercolour look and feel. Have fun with your explorations!

From the original sets above, I chose 12 to apply the 'watercolour' effect, seen below.

From the 12, I chose 2 designs that I intend to use as inspiration for larger abstracts in the studio one day soon. My mind is already swirling with techniques and a colour palette that I would like to play with!

IDEAS ARE EVERYWHERE

When you are looking for inspiration, be open to new ideas as you never know what might inspire you next. All you need is something to get you started when you feel stuck for inspiration and old magazines (or simply anything printed, including newspapers, wrapping paper or greeting cards) are a great place to start if you are feeling intimidated by a blank canvas!

It's as simple as that – a quick and easy way to find abstract compositions for your next abstract painting. So get flipping through your old magazines the next time you sit down with a cuppa, and see what you can find. Ideas are waiting just around the corner, or on the next page!

I hope that this article has helped you appreciate the power of your artist's eye. If so, please share it with your friends and family who are interested in art. Until next time, have fun painting!

Sharon Blair xxx