Digital Art with Gelli Arts® By Joanna Grant

Hi
everyone! Joanna Grant here. Here’s a really simple project
for you. We’re going to use up some of
those gel prints we don’t really like and combine them with a bit of technology
to make fabulous digital collage art with Gelli Arts®. 

Here’s what
we’ll be using today:

• Gelli Arts® Gel Printing Plate – any sizes
• Acrylic paints
• Assorted gel prints, including scraps
• Glue stick
• Color photocopies of gel prints
• Access to a scanner
• Digital clip art (optional) 

In our first
step below, you’ll see a color photocopy of one of my gel prints. I had scanned the original gel print into JPG
format and then printed it out at the local Staples store on 8.5 x 11″ paper. The print is okay, but not that
interesting. Let’s see how we can jazz
it up a bit.

 

I’ve collected
some scraps of other gel prints and included some coffee filter gel prints I made, but didn’t know what to do with.

Using a glue
stick, I adhered some torn scraps of gel prints onto the photocopy,
strategically placing the scraps where I thought they were needed most. These are typically the areas you think are
muddy or kind of blah.

When the glue
was dry, I took the piece to my scanner and scanned it, creating a new JPG file
of the modified photocopy.  Here’s the
color print of that altered photocopy.

Next, I took
my Xs and Os stencil and some pink paint and added some more interest to the
altered gel print. You can do this step
with your gel plate or just by stenciling on to the print. When the paint dried, it was back to the
scanner to create another JPG file of the newest version of the gel print.

Now I have a
really interesting background that I can use for all kinds of projects. I could glue the newest version of the color
photocopy into my art journal for a background. I could also do this with the original, but I find that working with color
photocopies when using an art journal is easier because the copies are not as
bulky as the originals. Also, paints and
other projects seem to go over the photocopy quite easily.

I also love to
use these altered gel prints (the photocopies) for gift wrap of small presents
and for bows!

But, what I
ultimately decided to do was to use the newest version of the gel print
photocopy as a backdrop onto which to add yet another JPG image; this one of
Frida Kahlo (courtesy of andyskinnercrafts.com).  

For this step, I used Microsoft Publisher,
opening up a blank document and simply adding the JPG of the gel print and then
adding the JPG of Frida on top of it, resizing the Frida image and moving her
around on the background until I found a pleasing layout. Easy peasy! I then printed the finished Frida gel print as a color photocopy.

This is the
process I also use when I get a gel print to a point where I really love it and
don’t want to mess it up by adding more layers. By scanning the gel print and creating a JPG image and then printing a
color photocopy of it, I can print as many copies as I like and experiment with
adding more gel printing over top of the new “original.” That way, I always have the true “original”
to go back to AND having the added bonus of not as many layers of paint to deal with. This matters if you are
using your gel prints for collage, as I always do. And, ultimately, you get great depth to your
gel prints with this process.

I hope this
lesson has opened up your mind to the incredible possibilities there are in
incorporating technology with our gel printing fun. 

Happy printing,
everyone!  Here are a couple more photos
of other gel prints treated to this same technique.  The possibilities truly are endless!

Be sure to tag your Gelli Arts® + digital art prints with #GelliArts and #GelliArtsInspiration !

-Joanna Grant

 

 

 

And now… get 20% off anything on www.gelliarts.com with the code:

DIGITALART