Creating Mixed-Media Art

Learn mixed media techniques with Artsy Karma. Get inspired with my step-by-step tutorials. Try my techniques today and unlock your creative potential.

Take me straight to the tutorials

What is mixed media?

paints
pastels
colored pencils
stamps and stencils
strings and other fibers
photographs or other images
bits of different kinds of papers
plus, whatever material you can dream of (and that will attach to the artwork 😉)

To see some examples, please check out my mixed media gallery page.

Mixed media art is a creative form that combines a variety of mediums, such as painting, sculpting, and photography, to create exciting art pieces. It’s often considered to be an expression of freedom since the artist can use whatever artistic supplies they want to create the artwork. By combining multiple mediums together, artists can add different textures and effects to their pieces that wouldn’t otherwise be possible with just one material.

Materials often used:

What will I learn here on Artsy Karma?

The mixed-media techniques you'll find on the background techniques page are primarily for backgrounds and are meant for you to continue adding more materials and art on top of. However, many of them can be used as the central artwork as they are, once you're finished.

How would I use these mixed-media backgrounds?

There are many forms of mixed media where you could use these backgrounds as a perfect start to your artwork. The ideas below are my favorite ways to use them.

Canvases

Canvases are a great way to showcase mixed media backgrounds. With the right combination of colors and textures, they can create an amazing visual effect that draws viewers' attention. Whether you’re an experienced artist or just starting out, mixed media backgrounds on canvas can help you take your artwork to the next level.

Art Journals

Art journaling is done in a blank sketchbook, usually with thicker paper. You can also alter a regular book into an art journal. It is a practice that combines drawing, painting, and writing to create colorful, textured, and personalized mixed-media artwork. By combining visual art with writing, you can express your feelings, experiences, and ideas in a creative way. It’s also an excellent way to relax and build self-expression through creativity.

Artist trading cards

Artist trading cards (ATCs) are miniature works of art created by individual artists and are exchanged with other artists, usually in an organized swap.

The measurement for an ATC is 2.5″ x 3.5″. They can be done in any style, but the size makes them especially good for trying out the mixed-media background techniques I teach in the tutorials on the backgrounds techniques page.

There are several websites dedicated to setting up these swaps. The sites that I like to participate in are Swapbot.com and ATCsforAll.com.

You can see hundreds of the artist trading cards I’ve made in my Flickr gallery, and check out my mixed media gallery here on Artsy Karma.

After I learned about artist trading cards and just how crazy fun they are to make and collect, I realized how much I loved making small pieces of artwork because it's so fun to see all the different kinds of elements you can use in something so concise.

The art below I created for Swapbot.com to trade like artist trading cards The art can come in a variety of little shapes and sizes.

The background techniques page tutorials are perfect for these little art pieces, and I urge you to go ahead and make some little art of your own.

But there are many other ways to incorporate art into anything, including everyday objects

An altered sardine can

An altered box

Altered dominos

Soon I will start posting other mixed media techniques to use in all the examples I described above. So stay tuned.

Take me to the background techniques