The background for your collage may be any surface starting from simple paper, cardboard, canvas, wood or even plastic. Make a collage using some photos that you arrange according to a theme you choose (e.g., coffee time, summer or friendship). In addition to photos, place some fabrics, newspaper clippings or magazine cutouts on your working surface. You may also make a portrait using pictures by drawing the outline of the portrait and filling it with a picture of you or the person you prepare the portrait for. If you like minute work, you can create a portrait that looks like a human face when viewed from a distance. Place several small pictures and cutouts that have similar colors to the different areas of the face.
You can use newspaper clippings to create a collage on a piece of colored cardboard, which you buy or color yourself. Cut strips and other basic shapes from newspapers and glue them on the cardboard. You may also draw an outline of an animal or a flower arrangement on your cardboard and glue the newspaper clippings inside this shape.
Magazines contain colored pages, which can be the background in the collage you make. Your collage may be based on a theme or a color. Selecting a few magazine pages of similar colors can be a good starting point. You may also cut thinner strips of different colors and glue them onto the existing background. If you have any stamps, you can creatively use these in your collage to create a motif.
The collage technique allows you to put together different objects and materials and you can create both two and three-dimensional compositions. You can start from a cardboard box. The box can be decorated with pieces of colored paper, acrylic colors, pieces of fabric or magazine cutouts. You may also cut holes in the box and introduce wire, which may be covered in clay, papier-mache or fabric. Taping other objects such as matchboxes or figurines to your box can make your composition more intriguing.