Introduction

This photomanipulation feature is designed to show off ways to challenge yourself and possibly help you through times with artist’s block. I hope this feature can show you one way or other to put more spice into your photo-manipulations!

Collaborations

One of the things you can do to spice up your manips is to try and do a collaboration with someone else.

1. Ask stock & resources artists, photographers or traditional artists for exclusive resources

You may choose to collaborate with a stock artist, photographer or even a traditional artist for example who can provide you with exclusive resources (in the last case, try to think about exclusive canvas textures and the like). That way you can get to work with special stock or resources that you couldn’t have produced on your own. Just don’t be shy to ask! If you ask nicely, all they can do in the end is say “no” and that’s not the end of the world, now is it?

2. Ask a fellow photo-manipulator or mixed media artist

Or you can try to hook up with another photo-manipulator (or mixed media artist or… – one of you starts a piece, then sends over the source file and the other finishes it. You could also do more rounds and maybe post the progress as if you were doing a duel. Anything you like basically will do – the effect it will have is that you get the chance to see how other people work and if you have agreed on a theme before starting the collab, you might be surprised at how different from your own interpretation or execution the one your partner comes up with can be. You could even ask someone whose art is quite different from yours. This might provide unique experiences but also will need a little more planning/talking with each other before starting on a piece to avoid frustration on both sides.




If you felt inspired by this article to try your hand on a collab of your own, send me the link to the finished piece – if/once I get enough submissions, I’ll do another article to showcase your images!

If you have any ideas as to how you can challenge yourself in photo-manipulation, please write me a note! I’m always happy to find inspiration and I’m sure others do, too