Experiment with textures and materials to create unique, layered compositions in collage art.
#Collage
sour temple
Prompt: "photograph of a collage. photograph of a pond. ink drawing of a frog. collage. mixed media. green ink stroke lines with cel shading. torn paper. splash of brown wash." This example, made with the Dall-E 2.0 experimental model (similar to Bing) shows what happens when you mention more than one type of art style or medium. It is difficult to control the color of specific objects when there are multiple subjects, but an overall color theme can be suggested. A three-dimensional effect can be suggested by references to physical media such as paper (but in this case the image is flat overall) contrasting with flat cues such as "cel shading".
sour temple
Getting a 3-D effect can be difficult with a collage if there are art cues that inherently give a flat effect. Here I am trying to use physical media cues that suggest texture. "photograph of a collage. torn magazine clippings. a rose nearby. scrapbook. acrylic impasto splash." (v2-exp model, similar to Bing) Impasto is the process or technique of laying on paint or pigment thickly so that it stands out from a surface.
lavish ridge
Achieving a collage-like effect can be tricky, so I enlisted the help of GPT-4. I wrote: I'd like to take black and white newspaper clippings combined with vintage and recycled paper to generate a photo of a collage that depicts an abstract portrait of someone. The colors I'd like to use include hues of green and blue in different tones with splashes of neon pink and pale yellow. From there, the plugin output these.
This first round was nice, but a bit too basic for my liking. I then advised to add more detail and vibrancy, adding that I'd like to place the subject in an environment.
The image was still a bit meh so I gave instructions to add peonies and Victorian-era clothing to the mix. Here's where my final prompt ended up:
"An abstract full-body portrait collage, densely layered with large, ripped pieces of black and white newspaper clippings and vintage recycled paper. The subject is adorned with Victorian-era clothing and surrounded by vibrant peonies. The collage is filled with a burst of vibrant colors, adding a sense of energy and life to the portrait."
I then hopped over to the v2 Experimental model, to see its outputs, where I found that the eyes in some of the outputs were getting creepy. I solved this by adding "Her eyes are closed" inside the middle of the prompt. Here are my favorites from the mix.
minor tartan
Collages can be such a fun way to create themed homages. In this case I'm creating a sort of photomontage/moodboard hybrid.
Here's my base prompt for DALL·E v2exp & Bing Image Creator: 📝 "top-down photography of a detailed collage featuring: "
💡 Tip: if it keeps trying to give you photo grid collages, add ", messy tabletop" to the end of your prompt.
Image 1: (base prompt) + "a single golden ring, a mountain, a scrap of green burlap, rope, ivy leaf, fantasy map, tabletop"
Image 2: + " blue heart-shaped pendant, an ocean liner blueprint, an antique dance card, a champagne flute, a scrap of beaded lace, a starlit seascape, sheet music"
Image 3: + "a red apple, red tartan swatch, silver bracelet, hand-written poetry, polaroids of a forest, pressed flowers, messy tabletop"
Image 4: + "a photo of a starry night sky, a church, a piece of navy blue fabric with yellow dots, absinthe spoon, swirling clouds, messy tabletop"
When dealing with multiple objects like this, you're really relying on the randomness of DALL·E to put things in the right places and it might take a couple of tries to get something you like. I got lucky and these images were each from the first set I generated with each prompt using Bing Image Creator.
sour temple
Getting a multi-layered effect can be tricky, so this grumpy cat reflects my mood trying to work out a solution to the collage challenge. This prompt uses torn and crumpled paper to give a 3D effect. I wanted color variety and found that "artists palette" worked for that. Prompt: "artists palette framing a photograph of a grumpy cat. the photo is pasted on crumpled paper. collage. assemblage. torn paper. artists palette." This used the DALL-E 2.0 exp model. Here is a comparison of the 2,0 base model and the exp model (similar to Bing).
minor tartan
Collage is primarily a 2D art, and the 3D equivalent is called Assemblage; the creation of an object or shape through the arrangement of smaller separate objects. DALL·E 2 can create these, though your results may vary, and I think they're pretty fun to play with.
📝 "top-down photography of a delicate assemblage in the shape of a [simple shape], formed from [small things], [surface/tabletop]"
🎨 "top-down photography of a delicate assemblage in the shape of a nautical compass star, formed from pieces of old maps, bottle glass, seashells, and rope fragments, aged wooden tabletop" generated with DALL·E 2 & Bing Image Creator.
sour temple
Collage and assemblage are used in advertising art to show a range of products in an artistic manner. Next time you are in a clothing store, look more closely at the dressed mannequins and accessories! A store display artist gave a lot of thought on creating an assemblage of products that will motivate you to fork over some cash. These samples were made with the DALL-E 2.0 base model using the following prompts: 1) "Things Organized Neatly. a summer clothing collection for men. beachwear. whimsical assemblage of clothing shaped like a man. photograph of a clothing store display collage. mannequin." and 2) "Things Organized Neatly. summer. a summer clothing collection for men. beachwear. whimsical assemblage."
mellow hollow
One simple way to accurately replicate realistic collage style is to primarily describe the collage style and materials in detail, and the subject secondarily. This image, created with v2.Exp, used the prompt “A thick mixed media collage made of layers of various materials, papers, newspapers, and fabrics. A collage of a dinosaur in the jungle. Ferns and tropical leaves.”
soft sail
After experimenting with bunch of different mediums with the dalle model similar to Bing, I found that the most effective way for me to simulate the collage effect was by initiating the prompt with "assemblage of..."/"mixed media of"/"a composition of".
Another observation: the use of randomization and synonyms of randomness, such as 'assembling randomly', 'randomized', and 'bunch of', also proved effective in the sense of giving "artsy" collage vibe. Words that strengthened the final image: 'multi-layered' 'scraps', 'found objects', 'items', and 'fabric' clippings, photographs, magazine cut-outs, book pages, sheet music, letters, postcards, tickets, handmade paper.
If you're trying to mimic the style(e.g. palette-wise, materials-wise) of a certain artist who is famous for their work in this particular art genre, a simple and basic approach would be to mention their name at the end of the prompt. E.g. Sir Eduardo Paolozzi, you could end your prompt with "...Sir Eduardo Paolozzi style./in the style of Sir Eduardo Paolozzi." P.S. In this case, we are making sure that there's enough data about the artist. If I want to just mimic the collages from certain period, I'd choose the most popular artist of that period.
"composition of dancing dinosaurs, made by random objects, disks, scrappings, clippings, fabrics, mixed materials, sir eduardo paolozzi style"
