Curtain Up on Magazine Makeovers...

I've discovered another fun and creative outlet using magazine images- mostly fashion magazines which are inexpensive and easy to find at our library used book shop. My interest began with some of the many images created by artist Alisa Burke. You can see a short video of her methods here on her YouTube channel. I was very intrigued so I enrolled her in mini-course Magazine Makeover to learn more. It's a simple concept of "adding to" appealing images cut from magazines like the one above. Acrylic paint, paint pens, and pens are the readily available tools. The lyrics from "Everything's Coming Up Roses" popped to mind when I started working on this image.

Doodles and drawings done in black Sharpie markers and white Signo Uniball pen added pizzazz to this romantic image. It's very relaxing to sit with pen in hand and just let the patterns flow. The images are glued to cardstock to give them stability. And in a few cases, I added clear gesso over the image to take the paint better.

Originally appearing in shades of gray and black, I added lines, marks, and flower doodles with a white pen. It's basically a matter of filling the space with pattern. Once I was done with several of the images, it dawned on me to take before and after photos to record the changes. So that was a lesson learned! 

It's not ALL black and white however. Bold splashes of bright colors create the background here. And it's easy to paint out elements that distract from the focal point. I'll add more to this one eventually. Alisa Burke keeps her images in a journal, but I've been working with them as loose pages so far. Eventually I hope to bind them together.

The images are just the right place to add journaling as well, and it becomes part of the pattern. I'm a note-taker while reading non-fiction books, and I thought magazine makeover pages would be a good place to record some of the ideas I want to remember.

Any white space or built-in lines are a good spot to add journaling. I happened to find a similar advertisement using the same model and elements to give you an idea of a "before".

I was glad to find this because I liked using the lines for writing. Now I have another one to work on.

If you watch Alisa's video linked above, you'll see that she is way more adventurous than I've been so far. She alters the models faces and features, paints over their hair and uses lots more patterns. I'm sure I'll get there eventually, but in the meantime, I'm enjoying using my pens and paints in this new way.

It's also fun to prepare the images for altering. A piece of direct mail included some gorgeous photographs of architectural details and furnishings. I flipped the brilliant chandelier upside down and used it as a backdrop for the sunglass model. I like it as it is, but will definitely be adding to it eventually. I have a nice stack of images and collages just waiting for my creative makeover.

This is another one of them. Again, it's pretty as it is, I think. The night sky, the elegant woman on the sofa- but it's ready for something more.If you'd like to see more of these fun images, visit fellow blogger Lynette Collis at All of Me blog- she's got some beauties there along with a link to her face journal of altered images. She took Alisa's class as well. This is a great way to re-purpose magazine images. I look at them differently now, and some of them are just too pretty to throw away!