Photoshop Elements: 1-2-3 Black-and-White Collage

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Adobe® Photoshop® Elements 6

April 30, 2008

You've seen this trendy collage technique in TV commercials, clothing designs and print ads.

Make a black-and-white collage using a grayscale background, black-and-white clip art, and a splash of color. Blending modes and layers pull this look together.

For this lesson, we are using a custom polka dot pattern, and butterfly and floral clip art.

See the Resources section below for ideas and patterns.

Before You Begin

Before you begin your collage, do the following:

  1. Gather and download any patterns or clip art that you want to use.
  2. Convert any colored clip art to black and white.
  3. Use the Preset Manager to load the patterns you want to use.

To convert a colored image to black and white:

  1. From the Enhance menu, select Convert to Black and White. The following window is displayed.

  2. From the style list on the left, select a style for the conversion.
  3. Use the sliders on the right to adjust the intensity of the conversion. Tip: For this project, retain the darker grays and blacks and display less pure white space.
  4. Click OK.

Create the Collage

To create a black-and-white collage:

  1. Open the clip art images you want to use in the collage.

  2. Create a new image to use for the collage:

    1. From the File menu, select New, and then select Blank File.
    2. In the New dialog box, enter the desired dimensions of your collage and fill the background layer with white.
    3. Click OK.

  3. Add the background layer. For the background, select a uniform pattern such as grey polka dots, a trellis with parallel lines, or an old map with latitude and longitude lines. Your background pattern should be interesting but unobtrusive. Choose a pattern that will complement and not distract from the clip art objects you have chosen.

    • If using a pattern, select the Paint Bucket tool; check the Pattern checkbox on the options bar; and select the pattern from the drop-down list. Click anywhere in the background layer to fill the layer with the pattern..
    • If using an image such as a map, copy and paste the map into the background layer.

  4. Add clip art layers:

    1. Copy and paste each clipart object onto its own layer above the background. Placing each clip art object on its own layer enables you to move and resize each object separately from the others.
    2. Use the Free Transform tool (Ctrl+T) to resize and reshape each clip art object as desired.
    3. Use the Move tool (V) to place the clip art objects on the collage.
  5. For each clip art layer, change the Blending Mode to Multiply. In the Multiply mode, it appears as if the white portions of the clip art have become transparent, allowing the design below to show through.

  6. Add color layers:

    1. Add a new blank layer below a clip art object. In the Layers palette, select the object's layer, then press Ctrl and click the New Layer icon to create a new layer below the selected layer.
    2. Select the foreground color for the color layer.
    3. On the new blank layer, add a splash of color behind the clip art object. Use the Brush tool to loosely paint around the edges of the clip art object.
    4. Optionally, if you want to move the colored background and object as one unit, link the two layers. In the Layers palette, press Ctrl+Click to select the layers you want to link. Then, click the Link icon (small chain link) to link the layers.

    5. Repeat until all clip art objects have a colored background. The Layers palette may look like this:

Resources

You can download many very interesting free and inexpensive images to use in your collages. The sources for the images in this collage are described below:

Download the Dark gray polka dot pattern, free for personal use.
Free clipart from Dover Publications online. Sign up for their mailing list to receive free clipart weekly. Download samples from their Clip Art books as well.
Maps from the Library of Congress Map Collections where you can find many public domain images and images you can use for personal projects.

Tips

Here are a few ways to add to your collage:

  • Experiment with different patterns for backgrounds, such as the map background shown below.
  • Use different types of brushes and blend layers of color together to get interesting color effects.

Here is another example of the black-and-white collage:

For permission to use an article or resource for educational or non-profit purposes, please contact me at karenb@alibony.com. Commercial use is not permitted.

Updated on November 9, 2009