The following blog post is sponsored by GraphicStock.com. Scroll down to learn about how you can win a one-year subscription to 250,000 downloadable images!
Get Inspired With Background Images
Oh, the blank sheet of paper. It can be so intimidating to begin a mixed-media project when all you have is a white sheet in front of you. Sometimes I like to slap on acrylic or watercolor paint as a background, just to have some color to get me started.
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It can also be helpful to have a full background image on which to create, such as this one below from GraphicStock.com. It’s titled “Grungy Room with Silver Frames and Victorian Wallpaper” and it has my gears turning, thinking of things I can draw within each frame.
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| “Pin” these cool frames on Pinterest. |
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Spice Up Your Collages
This brings me to the second way I suggest using the stock images: collage. This example of vintage frames with ladies’ silhouettes would be fun to cut out and add to a feminine collage, for example. These are all great elements that can be the foundation of a creative project ready to go.
But that’s just a small sample of the fun things you can find on GraphicStock.com. They have more than 250,000 graphics that are at your fingertips, all neatly organized into groups such as Backgrounds, Design Elements, and Nature & Wildlife.
Now is the perfect time to try these techniques because GraphicStock is offering 7 Free Days of Downloads to Cloth Paper Scissors readers (set yourself a calendar reminder to cancel at the end if you don’t want to continue; if you choose to continue the subscription you’ll be automatically enrolled in their monthly membership for $49/month after the trial ends). With so many graphics to choose from, you likely won’t want the 7 free days of downloads to end.
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Unleash Your Creativity
With just a few simple steps, you can really flex your creative muscles. For example, use one of the frames and insert a photo of your loved ones like this (above).
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It can be even as simple as printing out the templates and using them as invitations, holiday cards, and more. Check out these pretty cameo silhouettes. Use the outlines as templates and cut them to make gorgeous earring display cards!
So tell us, how would you use these downloads in your art? Browse them here (fair warning: you will be inspired!) As a way of saying thank you, we’ll choose FIVE random winners to receive a free one-year subscription to GraphicStock.com!
Happy browsing,
Contest rules: void where prohibited. Winners will be chosen Monday, December 1, 2014.