Playing with Wings

Hello there! This is Erin from Mixed Media by Erin and I wanted to talk to you today about WINGS!

Ever since I was a little girl I have been fascinated with wings. Whether it was from the natural world; like bird wings, butterfly wings, or even BAT wings–or the supernatural world; such as fairy wings, angel wings, or dragon wings, I am just drawn to all things wings.

So, when Toiny requested a WINGS pack for this LAD I was instantly intrigued.

I have been memory keeping since college, but I also LOVE Art Journaling and fantastical digital art collage. WhileI was planning the wings pack,I decided I wanted to provide a variety of different wings so that when creating you could choose the best wings for the situation. When possible,I also tried to include multiple styles of the wings. As you can see in the screenshot of the folder, most of the line-art wings come as both a “stamp” and a “sticker” and in different colors to give you as much variety as possible.

The types of wings you will find in this pack include stickers, stamps, doodles, watercolor, feathers, gold, ice, fire, rainbows, butterfly, fairy, angel and more.

But how can we use these wings in our digital pages?

I’m here to give you a few ideas, though I am sure once you start playing with them you will come up with so many more!!

CLUSTER ELEMENT: The simplest way to use the wings in the wings pack is simply as a cluster element. Tuck them in behind a flower to create a “foliage” effect, or under the cluster as a paper-like layer. In the layout below of my nephew (who graduates this year –eek) I used one of the gold wings just beneath the paper flower to balance the yellow in the background paper. I also tucked one of the vellum sticker fairy wings into the pack of the cluster to give it a bit more width, but keep it light feeling so that the layout didn’t become TOO bottom heavy.

photo credit: Wild Village Photography;Big Moments: Rainbow Paper,Wings, Mini Kit,and Elements

I have to confess;I am addicted to vellum stickers for this very reason. They add depth and delicacy to clusters while not weighing the cluster down. I just love how they work in layouts, which is why I keep creating them.

**SPECIAL HINT#1** When using a vellum sticker add a dropshadow to it. This brings out the texture of the sticker, shows the edges off, and allows the image to shine through, all while creating depth on your page. If you aren’t sure what size shadow to use, start with these settings, { Distance:9 -Size:0 -Spread:12} which are set to look like a sticker lying flat on a page, and then tweak it from there if you need to. If you want it to sit higher off the page, like in a cluster, just increase those numbers until you are happy with it.

Using the settings above,you can see how the shadow helps the wings to stand out on a busy background below.

ON A PERSON: Another easy way to use the wings pack is to add them to a person. You can do this with any of the wings, but the effect it creates will be different depending on the type of wings you use.

Big Moments: Rainbow Paper, Wings, Elements, Mini Kit

My CT member,Cindy, added a pair of the rainbow wings to her subject and gave both a drop shadow to create a lovely image of a winged lady.

photo credit: Christian Newman: Big Moments:Page Kit, Wings

In an art journal page,I used one of the stamp style wings, but changed the color to white to create more of a ghostly look behind the lady.

Big Moments: Page Kit, Wings, Painted Solids

My CT member Caro used the wings in the layout, both as a layering element behind the photo, but she placed it in such a way that it also looks like her daughter HAS wings. So,if you are feeling hesitant to add wings directly to a photo or image, you can also play with them like this and create a similar effect. You CAN cut the wings apart to use them in different angles if you need to. Below I have used the same pair of feathered angel wings, but on the left image I have cut them into two pieces and flipped on to create a profile view.

Big Moments:Painted Papers, various photo images of mine

**SPECIAL HINT #2** When using bulkier “feather” wings, you will need a deeper, more dispersed shadow to create a more cohesive look. Most of the time when a bulkier item is looking out of place on a page, it just needs a deeper, softer shadow to help lift it up and make it fitin within the depth of its surroundings.

In this image I have demonstrate 2 types of shadows, one that I sometimes use for flowers and ribbons (on the left), and one for placing people in a 3-dimensional world (the right). Of course, each would need tweaking in regards to the background, but this is mostly to show how the depth of the shadow effects the final image.

Want a fun project to try?

Have someone jump as high as they can for a photo (trampolines are great for this)and use any of the wings to make it looks like they are really flying.

Big Moments Mini Kit, Wings, Elements

Normally I wouldn’t use a drop shadow for watercolor, but these wings, although alcohol ink/watercolor in style, actually work this way, as they look gauzy and ethereal and cast a slight shadow. Here I’ve used the shadow to make it look like he is jumping up out of the page. You could also use the deeper feather wing shadow from above to create a different look.

ON YOUR PET OR OTHER ANIMALS: You can take the same idea and add wings to your pet, or other animals. This is a great idea for remembering a pet that has passed, or maybe your pet is just an ANGEL in your eyes.

Giving your pet wings will reinforce this theme in your page. My creative team member Josie created this page to highlight this GORGEOUS pup, using my Big Moments Collection.

Big Moments:Page Kit, Mini Kit, Painted Solids, Wings

ON AN INANIMATE OBJECT TO ADD WHIMSY: If you are feeling whimsical, add a set of wings to an inanimate object. Make a clock fly, or have the stuffed animals flying around your child in bed.

Here I have added wings to a number to indicate the girl’s birthday age.

Big Moments: Wings, Mini Kit, Page Kit

AS PART OF THE MARK-MAKING AND PAINT: The stamp style wings lend themselves easily to mark making. They are already ready to go, and you can easily recolor them. Combine them with paint splatters to great your own “graffiti” style painty bits.

Big Moments: Elements, Painted Solids, Wings, Mini Kit

In the above image I used two of the stamp wings as part of my mark making cluster behind my photo.

BLENDED TO PAPER: You can also incorporate many of these wings into your background papers to create one of a kind images to use. We’ve talked about blending here on the blog before, so give some of those old tricksa whirl. Never be afraid to scroll through the blending modes and just see what they do. I can’t tell you how many times I am still pleasantly surprised by what happens. Here I have used three sets of wings with one of my papers to create an all new background for this photo of three of my kids. Can you find all three wings?

Big Moments: Paper, Wings, Mini Kit, Word Art

• SET ONE (seen here in blue on both side edges):I used a pair of Gold Wings (wings 14) and changed the blend mode to DIVIDE which created an entirely new look. I placed it against the side of the paper, and copied it on the other side to create a decorative elementin the background.
• SET TWO (seen as yellow hints on the left edge) I used wings 5a set to COLOR. It’s very subtle and easily missed, but adds to the overall composition.I layered it with the blue wing on the left to create some additional interest there.
• SET THREE (seen in the top right corner)I used wings 18 and clipped it to a paint mask to crop it a bit and give it a grungy look.Then I added it as one of the top layers, above the grunge and other blend layers of the paperI stacked. Now it serves more as a decorative transfer to add texture to the background paper.

For another fun twist, you can also clip your papers to a set of wings to create all newtextures and new wings.

SPECIAL EFFECTS: A few of the wings are a bit special and need some specific adjustments to use them. Namely the FIRE wings(wing 13), and the ICE wings (wing 12). I love using these types of wings in Fantasy images and digital photo collage.

To use the fire wings it will be best to use a dark background, as the smoke I included with the fire wings will not be as distracting, and the fire colors will really pop.

Here they are on both white and black paper, no changes made to either the wings or the paper, to better see what I am referring to.

fire wings side by side

What I like to do is first duplicate the wing layer. Then I add a fairly deep drop shadow to the bottom layer. Using both a shadowed layer and a non-shadowed layer stacked seems to offer the best contrast and create the most depth. See the difference below.

fire wing image progression

Big Moments: Wings + photo and ai images of mine

However, feel free to tinker around with them and the various settings and see how they do. A lot will depend on the lighting of the background, what you plan for the final page and how you use the effects. I would love to see what you come up with!

You can do a similar thing with the ICE wings if you like.

Now to be honest with you, my first instinct with the ice wings was to have a glow instead of a shadow, since the ice would be sparkly and bright. BUT, because I made them semi-transparent the glow actually takes away from some of the details. So once again I stacked the wings. This time the bottom layer has the Outer Glow applied, on top of that I have a drop shadow, and then I decided to add one more layer set to Color Burn to really make the colors pop back there.

ice wings side by side

ice wing image progression

Here is a fun page I made just playing with the ice wings.

Big Moments:Wings + ai images of mine

Again, have fun playing with blending modes and different effect and find the combination that works best for the image you want to create.

I am sure there are TONS more things you can do with these wings, and I hope I started your creative mind thinking about just what you would like to do with them.

If you do not have the Wing set and you would like them you can find them in my shop Here. Or grab my whole collection HERE.
Note: the Wing set will be free to all SUPERsize Club Members who play a Layout-A-Day.