Make Abstract Art From A Photo

I took a painting class after college, and one of the assignments that stuck with me after all these years was creating abstract art from a photo.

I want to share the technique with you because it’s a great way to boost creativity and develop an art style, while creating unique pieces of art.

This process is good for both beginners and more advanced artists.

If you’re feeling creatively stuck, this exercise is an excellent way to get marks on the page, play around with new compositions, and generally stretch your mind into new creative territory.

What Is Abstract Art?

When an image doesn’t recognizably represent an object or image, it’s considered abstract.

Why Make Abstract Art?

Abstract art can be created for multiple purposes, such as exploring aesthetics, making unique compositions, expressing emotions, exploring original ideas, or pushing boundaries for visual expression.

Some of us may be naturally oriented to abstract art, while others might be curious to try something new.

Whichever camp you fall into, this exercise is:

fun
stretches the imagination
and can help you think outside the box!

Gather Images For This Project

We used nature magazines in the class I was taking. For that assignment, I found a photo of rocks and pebbles and created a series of oil paintings. Nature images are really good for this process, but you could use any images or photographs.

For our example today, I want to show you how accessible this is, so I’ll use an image from a grocery store catalogue.

Other good sources of inspiration would be landscapes from National Geographic magazines, a landscape photo, your own photo or original image, portraits, or even photos of abstract paintings.

Create or Find a Viewfinder

First, you need to get yourself a viewfinder!

A viewfinder is a rectangular hole or window cut from paper or other flat material.

There are a couple of ways to do this:

Cut a rectangle from a piece of paper. Index cards are great for this, but any stiff paper will work.

If you happen to have an empty slide mount, these make excellent viewfinders. Sadly, these are pretty antiquated, but they do still sell them. If you’re a teacher and want to invest in a box of 100 of these for your class, I think it would be a worthwhile investment!

How to make abstract art from a photo

Next, you’re going to flip through your magazine, photos, or images to find inspiration and a composition that intrigues you.

You might think you need to start with abstract photos, abstract patterns, oil paintings to make abstract art, but you do not! You’d be surprised to find interesting compositions all over the place.

I had a couple store catalogues, and thought I’d try to find something in there to show you how it’s possible to find good ideas from everyday resources.

art image viewfinder make abstract art from a photo

Here’s a sample of some compositions I found inside…

magazine images to make abstract art from a photo

And then if we zoom in, you can see how these might be inspiration for an abstract drawing or painting:

closeup of viewfinder to make abstract art from a photo

Pretty cool, right? If you want to use these, that could be a great place to start.

Here’s the image I ended up using. Seriously, watermelon. I liked the round edge and the sharp edge. I could have changed the colors, but I also like the green/red combination.

use a viewfinder to make abstract art from a photo

How do you convert your photo into art?

Once you have your composition, you’re going to get paper, canvas, your sketchbook, or whatever you like to create artworks on as your base.

I love working with these acrylics, so I went in that direction, but you could sketch, draw, color with pastels, or use watercolors.

Next, you’ll paint or draw what you see.

Or use it as a starting point and change it up.

You don’t have to be literal. Use different colors, add texture, or change the lines. You can lean into your emotion, add more vibrancy (or take it down a notch).

What makes this picture abstract?

What you’ll find is that the subject of the photo loses its original meaning. While it’s possible someone could look at my painting and think of watermelon since the colors are familiar and the shapes might remind them of it, I’d wager that wouldn’t be their first thought.

So, give it a go, or tuck this idea away for a rainy day.

Viewfinders on the Go

I’ve been known to travel with viewfinders. They’re handy for creating compositions from real landscapes, which can be recreated literally or abstractly in a sketchbook.

For abstract compositions, I’ll use the same process we used with the photos. There are truly endless possibilities!