How to Start an Art Journal

Art journaling does non take to be expensive or complicated. It's 1 of the most forgiving ways to brand art because in an art journal, everything you make is safely contained within your ain personal volume. You may choose to never share any of your pages with anyone (or everyone!) so it'southward a infinite where you can allow loose and explore with colors, shapes, lines, and your words all at once. You may choose to exit your journals more than free-form and expressive, or you may want to have more of a "finished" fine art product on each page. Here'due south some ideas on how to get started.

If you'd similar to see a video with some alive examples of art journaling, you can cheque out my video, How Art Journaling Heals for some inspiration so continue on with the prompts hither.

Step 1: Gather Some Basic Art Journaling Supplies

• Unlined art journal, (If you like the tan-paged periodical in the photo above, you can find it here.*)
• Paint – acrylic and/or watercolor are good choices
• Permanent artist pen in black
• Pencil
• My Favorite Art Journaling Supplies: At that place's a lot you could exercise even with this short list of supplies, but if yous are interested in a more than complete set of choices, check out some of my favorite art journaling supplies.

Stride 2: Make a Background

A  cute background is always a cracking place to brainstorm. The art periodical tin experience a lot less intimidating when yous are not staring at a white folio similar this i:

Background #1: "Messy Acrylic Background"

Get-go with this very piece of cake tutorial for making "messy" but beautiful background with acrylic paint. You just accept to exist able to scribble with paint.

Groundwork #2: "Tissue Newspaper Painting"

I've heard from so many people about how much they beloved the tissue paper painting technique. All information technology requires is tissue paper, a brush, and water. Information technology's simple and fun.

Background #three: Watercolor Dots

(If y'all have watercolors, here's a third option.)

one. Wet the unabridged folio with h2o, and then brush on purple watercolor paint.

2. Next brand "dots" with your watercolor brush of blue and imperial all over the circle until it's filled with color. You tin can let a few of the dots come out of the mandala like mine did if you wish.

Step 3: Cull a Theme for Your Page and Create!

Once you have a background, you have a great base of operations upon which to layer images and/or text. Hither's some art journaling "prompts," both visual and written, to get your creative juices flowing.

• Create aMandala

Mandala is a fancy word for a circle. In art, they oft accept patterns, though they don't have to. To make your ain, trace a bowl or loving cup to make a circle in the middle of your page. You can break up the mandala into pizza slices, concentric circles, or fill up it with a series of smaller shapes, like I did with these swirls.

1. Use the watercolor dots background described above to make yours similar mine, or a messy background with acrylics to change it up.

two. Once the page is dry, use a pen to make swirl shapes until you fill the circumvolve. I similar to utilise a gold metallic marker or white gel pen.

3. Make the mandala your ain! Experiment with dissimilar shapes, colors, and sizes. Brand a series and run into which mandala y'all like best.

For a dissimilar mandala pattern, check out this stride-past-step postal service on creating a flower petal mandala.

Y'all might also like to cheque out some of the simple putter patterns in this post: Doodle and De-Stress.

• Trace Your Mitt

Similar the circumvolve, our hand is a very familiar shape. Our hands are also 1 of the most expressive parts of our bodies, 2nd just to our faces. Knowing this, yous might choose to "pose" your paw in a detail mode and trace this shape, rather than the traditional open palm with spread fingers.Allow your imagination accept a little fun with the metaphors connected to hands.

Even if you trace your open up hand, you tin become very creative with what you put within. Use your manus to express something most your mood today, what yous are "holding" emotionally, or what you would similar to let go. For example, if I write almost things I am holding emotionally – I might write words and phrases about the things that are weighing on my heart – I had a fight with a friend, I snapped at someone and felt bad, etc. Sometimes letting out my worries helps, and other times it makes me feel worse.

Pay attention to what you need. If I'one thousand feeling down, often information technology'due south helpful for me to journal virtually the positives. In this case, I might write words and phrases in my hands that help me to focus on what is going well. Within my traced mitt, I might write about feeling proud of how far I ran this week, that I fabricated a delicious repast, or that I felt good almost supporting someone through a tough time.

You tin also fill up the manus by journaling nigh your dreams and desires, or fill it with magazine photo collage images or drawings that speak to you.

• Use Paper Cutouts

I'1000 a huge fan of using "failed" fine art pieces in my periodical. At that place'southward always at least some pocket-size role of an art piece that works. I salvage most fine art pieces for this reason. I proceed a baggie in a drawer with watercolor paintings, drawings, doodles, etc. When I'm not sure what to do in my journal, or I'm doing a collage project either in my periodical or on something else, I pull out this bag of tricks!

1. You can either cutting or tear bits and pieces out of your art piece. Look for tiny areas that catch your eye. Using a pigsty punch is another fun way to create smaller art pieces out of a larger slice.

2. Next, place the mini fine art pieces on your periodical page, playing with what feels correct.

3. Paste your collage bits in identify.

four. I've left this page more minimalistic, but y'all could putter, pigment, or write around these pieces to pull it all together.

• Paint a Quote

Quotes are a great style to express what you're feeling, simply without the piece of work of coming upward with just the right words. The quote I used for this piece is such a great reminder of how much power we have over our feelings and perceptions.  I love this quote, I find information technology so empowering.

• Create a Gratitude List

Make a list of at to the lowest degree 5 things yous feel grateful for this week.

• Create a Dictionary of Your Feelings

Think almost the word that describes the way you are feeling, or the way you want to feel, and look upwardly the definition. Write this definition on your page and decorate around it. If you lot accept an old lexicon, you lot might even cut and paste the definition onto your page. I find this exercise sometimes solidifies my feelings, and sometimes makes me re-evaluate them. You might even do one page per feeling in a detail journal such that you end up with a "dictionary" of your feelings. You tin can but write or use a combination of words and images on each page.

• Tape Something Meaningful Nearly Your Day

Rather than telling yourself that you need to write downwardly everything that happened on a particular mean solar day, why non employ the space to call up about something pocket-size, but of import? For instance, you might enquire yourself one of the following questions:

*What's 1 moment that I felt content today?

*What practice I wish for most right at present in the world?

*In x years, I hope that I wait back and think, "I'thou then glad that I…"

*I thing I really appreciated near this week was…

*What makes me experience really happy/anxious/angry/distressing/excited right now is…

Give yourself permission to mix writing and drawing freely. Don't worry nearly the quality of your drawings, let the journal be a space for experimentation.

You might write nigh seeing a horse on your bulldoze to work and how it was beautiful and that the colors of the sunrise inspired you to journal today. Possibly y'all write, and and so paint orange and yellow watercolors over the groundwork. You might and so depict a little equus caballus head next to your writing. Let information technology be free and imaginative, like a child would practise. Trust me, when it comes to fine art, the younger they are, the more than they know nigh artistic liberty and play.

• Gratis Write

Once you lot have a cute background, you lot may desire to create some interesting lines on your page and use them as a space to write down your thoughts and feelings. I sometimes try to boil information technology downwardly and write the "betoken" of what I'm thinking and feeling in big CAPS like this.

Pace iv: Desire to Learn More About Art Journaling?

Cheque out my east-volume, Starting Your Art Periodical, it'southward a treasure trove of fine art journaling ideas and techniques to help you lot say all y'all'd like to through art and writing in your art journal.

Likewise, be sure to sign up for the mailing list to get the latest on art journaling tutorials, ways to use art to relieve stress, and inspiring artist interviews.

Comments:

How exercise you lot creatively express yourself or let become? Have y'all tried art journaling before? Effort one of the launder techniques and a quote, and let us know how it turns out!

*Many of the product links in this post are affiliate links. This ways that if you choose to click and buy something, at no extra toll to you, you will be supporting the work of Mindful Fine art Studio to empower artists everywhere. Thank you!

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