What Goes Into It — Marissa Levien

Click through to see how my pieces are made, start to finish.

Heirloom IV

Concept Sketch

Adding oil pastel

Adding oil pastel

Starting the waves

Starting the waves

More waves

Thickening ink lines and adding collage

Thickening ink lines and adding collage

fanning out the collaged quilt motif

fanning out the collaged quilt motif

Finished product

Finished product

Concept Sketch

Adding oil pastel

Starting the waves

More waves

Thickening ink lines and adding collage

fanning out the collaged quilt motif

Finished product

Burst

Background with colored pencil and oil pastel

Background with colored pencil and oil pastel

what this did to my pencils

what this did to my pencils

Drawing a faucet and collaging it on

Drawing a faucet and collaging it on

collaging on book pages, colored with watercolor

collaging on book pages, colored with watercolor

detail of the collage

detail of the collage

adding the splash

adding the splash

Finished product, with detail

Finished product, with detail

Background with colored pencil and oil pastel

what this did to my pencils

Drawing a faucet and collaging it on

collaging on book pages, colored with watercolor

detail of the collage

adding the splash

Finished product, with detail

Heirloom III (American Mandela)

Laying out the quilt motif

Laying out the quilt motif

My hand-drawn version of textile patterns

My hand-drawn version of textile patterns

Pasting down the center of the pattern on mat board

Pasting down the center of the pattern on mat board

The full pattern, colored and pasted down

The full pattern, colored and pasted down

detail of the drawn-on "textile" designs

detail of the drawn-on "textile" designs

Drawing on lines

Drawing on lines

Filling in lines

Filling in lines

More filling in...

More filling in...

So many lines...

So many lines...

Drawing the corner pieces

Drawing the corner pieces

Collaging on corner and edge pieces

Collaging on corner and edge pieces

Drawing and cutting out another corner piece

Drawing and cutting out another corner piece

That same corner piece, pasted down with gold leaf

That same corner piece, pasted down with gold leaf

pasting down more corner and edge pieces, with gold leaf

pasting down more corner and edge pieces, with gold leaf

Another drawn and cut out corner piece

Another drawn and cut out corner piece

Finished product

Finished product

Laying out the quilt motif

My hand-drawn version of textile patterns

Pasting down the center of the pattern on mat board

The full pattern, colored and pasted down

detail of the drawn-on "textile" designs

Drawing on lines

Filling in lines

More filling in...

So many lines...

Drawing the corner pieces

Collaging on corner and edge pieces

Drawing and cutting out another corner piece

That same corner piece, pasted down with gold leaf

pasting down more corner and edge pieces, with gold leaf

Another drawn and cut out corner piece

Finished product

The Phantom Tollbooth

Pasting on book pages, colored with oil pastel

Pasting on book pages, colored with oil pastel

Drawing, cutting out, and pasting clouds of numbers and letters, and drawing the tendrils in the background

Drawing, cutting out, and pasting clouds of numbers and letters, and drawing the tendrils in the background

Filling in the tendrils in the background

Filling in the tendrils in the background

Filling in background further

Filling in background further

Eliminating any leftover white space

Eliminating any leftover white space

Finished product

Finished product

Pasting on book pages, colored with oil pastel

Drawing, cutting out, and pasting clouds of numbers and letters, and drawing the tendrils in the background

Filling in the tendrils in the background

Filling in background further

Eliminating any leftover white space

Finished product