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Home / Art Journaling / Best Magazines For Collage – Guide For Beginners

Best Magazines For Collage – Guide For Beginners

We all see amazing collages online and most of them use magazine images. It’s because magazine images are easy to use, they offer so many options, sizes, and colors. 

But what magazines to use? Are they all good? Where to find those magazines?

This blog post answers all these questions so you can start your collaging right away and have a handful of ideas.

Best magazines for collage

collage art journal page

Are all magazines good for collage?

Well, I think that depends on the artist. Some will use anything they can, while others search for something pretty specific in terms of style, content, color, or paper type and quality.

Fashion magazines

Fashion magazines are great for people, faces, patterns, headlines, and textures. 

They have such great photos inside. I mostly use images of women in my art journal collages. That’s why fashion magazines are the best choice for this. 

art journal page

And not to mention, these photos were taken by professionals who understand colors and perspective. So, in addition, fashion photos can help you choose colors and get inspired by the whole scene. 

Another perk I love about fashion magazines is that I can fussy cut the images and really blend them into my background. Sometimes that’s not 100% easy to do because some photos are of women with wild hair which isn’t easy to fussy cut. However, why does it need to be perfect? You can always cut the image imperfectly and add unique style to your collage.

Their headlines are usually very attractive and you can use the whole words or cut them up in letters.

Other pages can be used as backgrounds, paper scraps, patterns, etc. Since they’re full of colors and different materials, and a lot of big photos, they’re a great choice for any kind of collage.

So, here are some suggestions on the best fashion magazines:

  • Vogue
  • Elle
  • Cosmopolitan
  • W magazine

Travel magazines

collage art journal page

Travel magazines can also be a great source for your collages. Imagine beaches, nature, animals, landscapes, mountains, lovely houses in a lot of styles: cottages, resorts, buildings, etc. These images can serve you as a part of the background or the whole scene where you then include other cut outs.

They’re a little low on headlines and letters, but the landscape photos can be used for the whole background, or cut it up into smaller pieces and make a monochrome collage.

Some ideas:

  • National Geographic
  • Travel guides
  • Geo

Art & design magazines

art journal page

These magazines can be amazing for collage!

They already contain so much beautiful artwork that you can use for your project such as: illustrations, abstract elements, paintings, art supplies, etc.

Not to mention that this artwork inside can inspire you to create something so interesting by following their color schemes and style.

Here are some suggestions:

  • Juxtapoz
  • Flow
  • Uppercase

Home & lifestyle magazines

art journal inspiration board

You can definitely find these magazines and they contain beautiful things like patterns, objects, furniture, whole houses, interior, fruit, veggies, color palettes, etc.

Combine these images with the ones from the fashion magazines, and you’re on your way to make something really beautiful and unique.

Here are some ideas:

  • Architectural Digest
  • Real Simple
  • Good Housekeeping

They don’t have to be high-end magazines. For example, I get a lot of free magazines from local companies like drugstores or health insurances, catalogues, or municipality ads magazines, etc. Believe me, I find some nice treasures in them. And they’re free!

Pop culture & vintage magazines 

If you’re more on the vintage and retro side of things, these magazines will blow your mind. When I see a pop culture magazine, or any on the topic of art and culture, I start hopping with joy. Today, they’re rare, and that’s a shame. 

But if you can find some, you’ll definitely love them for their retro vibes and aesthetics, portraits, and not to mention the typography. 

Here are some ideas:

  • TIME
  • Rolling Stone

Where to find cheap or free magazines for collage

First of all, ask around. Your friends, family, or neighbours might have a lot of magazines they just don’t care about but don’t know what to do with them. Help them recycle.

Also, if there are any thrift stores or flea markets around you, visit them and search for magazines. This is how I found interesting stuff at a local flea market.

Once I went on Facebook marketplace and got a great deal: I got 52 National Geographic magazines, and all I had to do was pay for the delivery. 

You can ask around at your doctor’s waiting room. They usually just get rid of those magazines, and if you ask them, I’m sure they’d be happy to give them away.

Alternatives to magazines 

art journal page with photos

If getting magazines is still hard and you don’t have enough materials for collage, here are some other ideas and alternatives for you.

  • Use old books, newspapers, or junk mail.
  • Print royalty-free images from the internet.
  • Explore washi tape, stickers, or personal photos for mixed media.
  • Use catalogues and cut out interesting objects
  • Save packaging paper
  • Get some tissue paper, stamp it and use as paper scraps on your collage

Is paper quality important?

I just wanted to briefly mention the paper characteristics when it comes to magazines and collage.

What I’ve found is that the best kind of magazine paper for collage is the glossy one. This is because the ink on the paper never smudged when I painted over with gesso or liquid glue.

On the other hand, some matte magazine images tend to smear the ink on the image. I don’t know the technicalities, it’s just my experience.

Although glossy paper has a shine to it (so it’s annoying when you look at it) I find it better than matte paper. Also, I can always tone down the glossiness by applying a layer of transparent gesso over my collage.

Conclusion

So, the best magazines for collage would be (in my opinion):

  • Fashion
  • Art and design
  • Home and lifestyle
  • Retro and vintage

Whichever magazines you find and use, don’t forget to experiment with cutting styles (fussy cut, tearing, imperfect cut, cut with a border, etc), colors, papers, etc. Combine different images, even the ones that have no sense being together in real life. Bring some magic into it!

You might like these collage articles, too:

Best Glue For Collage – How To Avoid Bubbles Or Wrinkles

13 Unusually Creative Collage Ideas (With Design Secrets)

From Scraps to Art: A Beginner’s Guide to Collaging With Tips & Ideas

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