From Photos to Art Nouveau – Doodling on Photos
One of my favorite styles, art nouveau, thrives from natural forms. So, when I am walking in the garden, I see art nouveau everywhere. I often have a camera in my hand, and I snap photos while admiring the flowers.
When checking photos after one of those walks, this snapshot of martagon’s flower buds caught my eye. It almost shouted art nouveau to me. Its shape reminded me of the Mackintosh lamp shades seen in Scotland a month ago.
Art Nouveau Martagon
I printed the photo on Canon matte photo paper. Simply using markers and gel pens, I doodled streamlined shapes to move the martagon to the era of renewal and decorative beauty.
In the original photo, the direction of the elements was downwards. I wanted to change the composition so that it would be upwards. The upward direction would refer to the spiritual renewal, a centric theme in art nouveau. I doodled several upward shapes like the flower seen in the upper right corner.
The colors of the plant were also a source of inspiration. I wanted to keep the narrow range of colors seen in the stem but also brighten the muted tones with splashes of bright green and pink.
Drawing on a photo was such a fun process that I will do it again. One idea would be to create art nouveau portraits. Art Nouveau style doodles would look great on portrait photos too. Actually, like in the best days of art nouveau, anything can be “beautified”!
Doodling on Photos
This was not the first time I used the technique of drawing on the photo.
In 2010, I combined doodles and a photo. This page was also very easy to do:
1) doodle with pens on the background paper
2) attach a photo and then doodle on the photo.
More projects with doodling on prints
These posts also combine printed images and doodling:
>> Subconscious Goals
>> Creating Wood
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Subconscious Goals
Here’s an illustration that came out without any pre-planning. I just added a layer after another and in the end was surprised about the animals, and the scene. What was I thinking about?
Creating Subconscious Art
First I created the background paper in Photoshop. I duplicated my old sticker designs there!
After printing the background I made some random spots with alcohol inks and random lines with white correction pen. Then I added a lot of details with markers and gel pens.
Yes, a lot of details.
Finally, I constructed the main elements from decorated papers. Then it came: the horse on the pedestal and the dogs. The horse tells a story for the dogs, and the dogs are captivated by listening to it. When finished, I realized that I want to be that white horse! I want to develop skills to tell visual stories. I want to learn how to create images which not only appeal to the eye but the mind as well.
Isn’t it a wonderful thing that with creativity we can reveal our subconscious goals!
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Doodled Lace Patterns
I am constantly inspired by surface patterns and textures. From a pile of doodled papers I found lace like doodling on unbleached printing paper. I decided to decorate it by adding white on some of the details and empty areas. It was a quick card: just adding the white and cutting it to the proper size. I pretty liked it so I made another card using the same concept but with different background paper. So, here are instructions to create these fun lace cards!
Doodled Lace on Paper
You can create an interesting effect of color changes in the background by painting the background paper with watercolors. Pick a thin black pen for doodles. I love making doilies that look like they are on the top of another. Draw the doily on the top first. Group your doodles and leave some empty areas around the groups.
Add White to the Background
I used Copic Opaque White in a jar for bigger areas and Uniball Signo pen for smaller areas. A white color pencil was used too. White acrylic paint does the job too.
You can easily make georgeus and unique projects with this technique!
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Increase Your Creativity
People often say to me that they have very little creativity. They describe how difficult it is for them to let go when crafting or making art. I assume that everybody have blocks in their creativity. I struggle with them too. But here’s how I managed to get rid of many obstacles and enjoy creating.
First, speed up! Create faster. You will get into uncomfortable, unbalanced state where the voices in your head say: “Slow down! You need to think first! Don’t do that! NO!” And then it’s easy, you just do the exact opposite: increase your speed, stop thinking what color you choose, implement all the wildest ideas (like mess up the areas which begin to look ok). Replace your NO with YES! You can do anything!
Stop drawing lines that do not intersect! Put the elements on the top of each other. Get rid of the clear shapes. If you work fast enough you will stop comparing your work with others. You will have your unique thing going on. The truth is that somewhere under the surface is your own style, your own creativity, your own spirit.
Just a while ago I read an article about visual culture now and after 25 years. An expert was interviewed. He said that it will be proven that all the images are equal. It hit me: even if there are great masters in art, great talents, in the end all the images are equal in the general perspective. And even more important: in the personal perspective the most important images are created by ourselves. Only our creative mind can reveal all the wonderful things that are hidden behind the no’s and dont’s.
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