Rita Flores
Inspired Collage
Batgirl
BY RITA FLORES
Artist
New Jersey, USA
One of my favorite iPad apps right now is “Inkpad”. I like to use my “Inkpad” drawings as the jumping-off point of the paintings, adding elements such as words from “WordFoto” and textures using “Pic Grunger”. I make several versions of the same picture and then use “SketchBook Pro” to create layers and erase unwanted areas.
I created the BatGirl image using the “Inkpad” app. Since I have no experience with computer graphics and vector-based drawing I taught myself the app through trial and error and without any preconceived notions. I wanted to give the drawings a more handmade look of paper cutouts or collages. I saved the image to my camera roll.
I opened the image from the previous step in the app “Pic Grunger” to give an aged look and some character. I didn’t worry that there was grunge in all areas of the image, since I knew it would be used selectively as a separate layer. I saved this to my camera roll.
I opened my original “Inkpad” image in the app “WordFoto” and created two variations using two different fonts, saving both to my camera roll.
This app allows you to import a photo from your camera roll and then define the text that makes up every area of the image, with variations.
To finish the piece, I brought the four variations into “SketchBook Pro” as separate layers. The bottom layer is the original “Inkpad” drawing at 100 percent opacity. The next layer is the first “WordFoto” variation and I’ve erased 80 percent of it, revealing the bottom layer. Next comes the second “WordFoto” variation with different areas erased to reveal and highlight different words. The fourth layer is the “Pic Grunger” image at 100 percent, but with half of the image erased. The top layer is a duplicate of Layer 4 at 26 percent opacity and with different erasures.
BY RITA FLORES
Artist
New Jersey, USA
Rita Flores takes old photos and scraps of her past to create unique collages that are both personal and compelling. Here she reveals her working methods.
Original Photo.
The photo was inspired by the earlier work of Cindy Sherman, where she created fake film stills and magazines from the late 1960s. I used these self-portraits as studies for acrylic paintings and collages that I made in the 1990s. Now, I use them as elements to collage and for inspiration.
Over the last several months I have been setting up my art studio in our house. It’s turned into a sort of artistic “archeological dig” as I’ve been going through some of my old paintings, drawings, and collage-able elements.
I use the Pencil filter in “Photogene” to modify the black-and-white photo into what looks like a rough pencil drawing. Save it to the camera roll.
I open the pencil version in “Brushes”, and paint selected elements using a wide brush with low opacity.
Original lotteria card, photographed with my iPhone and then modified in “Photogene”, also using the Pencil filter.
First, using the app “Layers”, I import the lotteria card graphic as the bottom layer. Next, I import the “Brushes” painting of the figure, and use the eraser tool at full transparency to erase the back wall of the picture so that the lotteria card graphic shows through. Then, I place the text from the book on the top layer and use the eraser tool at varying degrees of transparency to create the look of a top layer being ripped or peeled away to finish the piece.
