How to Make Pop Art Pictures


Things You'll Need

  • pencils
  • paints
  • sketch pad
  • canvas
  • paint brushes
  • digital camera

Pop art is an art form that began in the mid 1950s in Britain and later in the decade in the United States. One of the most well-known pop art entities is Andy Warhol, whose works stand as iconic to the medium. Pop art is a visual medium that uses iconic elements from pop culture. The pop artist removes these elements from their context and combines them with other pop cultural references, or isolates them, giving the viewer of the icon an entirely different context. Learn how you can create your own pop art.

Consider the composition of your pop art pictures. Pop art is sketched, painted or photographed. Many pop artists combine these mediums to create their work. Other considerations for composition include the pop icons you choose to include in your work and the message, if any, you want to present. Decide if you want to focus on using logos, celebrities, or popular media in your work. Will there be a theme?

Bring together the elements you want to use. If you need photographs, take them and have them available when you sit down to create your pop art pictures. Maybe you want to paint a picture of a Pepsi Cola can with human features drinking from a can of Coca-cola. You could paint the Pepsi can and overlay a photograph of a can of Coke. Knowing the medium you're going to work in, or the combination of mediums, will give you direction. You might want to do a color pencil sketch or an acrylic painting that features gadgets from the 1950s and strategically place digital photos of high-tech gadgets in the art work.

Consider using a computer and graphics editing software to enhance your work. Software products such as Adobe's Photoshop allow you to add special effects to your work. You can scan photos you take into the computer and use photo editing software to combine them into pop art collages. The computer allows you to combine and edit sketches, paintings, and photographs to create unique pieces of pop art.