Basics: Visual Journal
(AKA: Sketchbook, Art Journal, Junk Journal, Glue Book, Travel Journal, etc...)
(AKA: Sketchbook, Art Journal, Junk Journal, Glue Book, Travel Journal, etc...)
Keeping a daily sketchbook helps you to see and be present in the world.
This artistic practice can also help you:
Grow and develop new ideas
Make connections and foster creativity
Improve your drawing ability and observational skills
Maintain and ignite inspiration
Experiment with new techniques and materials
Encourage happy accidents or those unforeseen and unplanned creative discoveries
Have the basic plans for future personal artwork
Artist Journal Basics Things to use an artist journal for
How to Make a Sketchbook Journal
(& Why you should!)Don’t worry about making perfect pictures in your sketchbook—focus on practicing your skills, recording fleeting thoughts, and capturing moments of life. It's more about the process than the product. If you happen to create an exceptional composition, that's great, but that is not the goal. Keep your visual journal projects fun and fresh with the following ideas.
Mark up your pages ahead of time, so that you’re not facing completely blank white pages. Paint layers of color, draw lines, use a hole punch—anything to make them less precious, and enable you to be free with what you draw and create. (Check out the '15 for 30' prompts for this!)
Notice everything around you. Nothing is too mundane to draw—your cup of coffee, the materials you’re using to draw with, squirrels at the park, a bike in a rack, or even a trash can.This is how you make your observational skills stronger.
Don’t edit yourself. Spend no more than 10 minutes on a drawing and don't go back and erase. Instead, restate any lines that you'd like to change.
Try new materials. Don’t be stuck using the same old pencil. By all means, use it if that is all you have, but don’t be limited by it. Try different supplies, including forgotten markers and pens you may have lying around the house.
Use color. Don’t just stick to black and white. Alternatively, it can sometimes be helpful to give yourself specific parameters, like only using brown, red, and gold, to see what you can do within those limits.
Draw abstractly as well as representationally. Draw the same thing multiple times, becoming increasingly abstract with each drawing. Draw things up close so that they appear abstract, or draw small objects at a large-scale so that they go off the page and lose their context.
Take a line for a walk. Do one continuous line drawing of ten different objects. Keep your pencil on the paper as you draw and connect one item to the next.
Try a blind contour drawing. Look only at the subject and not down at your paper. It doesn't matter if the result looks like chicken scratch—this exercise will help you sharpen your observational skills.
Keep your sketchbooks and date your drawings to record your progress and artistic development.
Here is an awesome challenge to get you over the "blank page fear" and to have creative surfaces already down on the page for your journal drawing prompts to layer on top of.
15 minutes every day for 30 days... helps you create a habit of making art and being creative.
365 One Word Art Journal Prompts For Journaling & Creativity (Art Journalist)
50 Art Journal Prompts (Blacksburg Belle)
Art Journal Prompts (Felt Magnet)
10 Art Journal Prompts to Get Your Creative Juices Flowing (Udemy)
Cultural Heritage Art Journal Prompt (Tangle Vermont)
27+ Ideas for Using Words in Your Art Journal (Daisy Yellow)
Art Journal Every Day: Seven Journal Prompts (Balzer Designs)
Art Journal Prompts & Inspiration (Art Journalist)
10 Art Journaling Prompts to Try Out This Summer (Jerry’s Artarama)
Summer Art Journaling Prompts to Capture Summer Sweetness (Page Flutter)
15 Autumn Art Journal Prompts (Birch & Button)
Fall Into Art Journaling! (Amy Oestreicher)
Art Journal Prompts – 101 Words to Think About (Art Journaling for Beginners)
15 list prompts for your art journal (Roben-Marie)
Top Ten Art Therapy Visual Journaling Prompts (Psychology Today)
Three Sure-Fire Art Journaling Prompts (Cloth Paper Scissors)
Muse30 – Prompts for Your Art Journal (Daisy Yellow)
Art Journaling 101 – Using Prompts (Kristal Norton)
Wild Soul Art Journal Challenge (Linda Matthews)
16 Art Journal Prompt Ideas For Music Lovers (Art Journalist)
Posts & Prompts Blog Series (Susie Stonefield Miller)
3 Art Journal Ideas You Can Do In Under 10 Minutes (Joyful Art Journaling)
Art Journal Freedom: How to Journal Creatively With Color & Composition by Dina Wakley
Words to Live By by Dawn Nicole Waarner
Journal Sparks: Fire Up Your Creativity with Spontaneous Art, Wild Writing, and Inventive Thinking by Emily K. Neuburger
The Complete Decorated Journal: A Compendium of Journaling Techniques by Gwen Diehn
No Excuses Art Journaling: Making Time for Creativity by Gina Rossi Armfield
Art Journaling for Beginners by Rachel Ramey
101+ Creative Journaling Prompts: Inspiration for Journaling and an Introduction to Art Journaling by Kristal Norton
Create This Book by Moriah Elizabeth
Create This Book 2 by Moriah Elizabeth
How To Start (and Keep) A Visual Journal (Your Visual Journal)
Lettering Worksheets (Tombow)
How To Use Watercolors In Your Planner – A Simple Water Brush Pen Tutorial (Little Coffee Fox)
Starting a Creative Journal (Helen Colebrook on Skillshare)
Get Creative with Me: Letter A (Plslars on YouTube)
How to Start a Journal (Seaweed Kisses on YouTube)
Beginner’s Modern Calligraphy Online Course (The Postman’s Knock)
Art Journaling: Mixed Media on Paper (Creative Bug)
Step-by-Step Guides (Oops A Daisy UK)
Free Art Journal Inspiration E-book and Online Starter Course (Schulman Art / The Inspiration Place)
100 Days of Art Journal Therapy (Expressive Art Workshops)
Art Journaling with Photos (Tombow)
No More Excuses Journaling Series (Gina Rossi Armfield – No Excuses Art)
Art Journaling Exercises: 15 Creative Prompts Streaming Video (Artist’s Network)
Daily Drawing Challenge: 31 Art Journal Prompts with Dawn DeVries Sokol (Creative Bug)
Start Art Journaling! (Susie Stonefield Miller)
30 Days of Art Journaling (Determined to Shine)
Introduction to Handmade Art Journals (Kiala Givehand on Skillshare)
Meditative Art Journaling (Creative Bug)
Art Journal Prompts (Big Picture Classes)
Art Journaling: Simple Techniques to Express Your Creative Self (Fanny Achache on Skillshare)
Sketchbook Practice: Create Freely with Ink and Watercolor (Ohn Mar Win on Skillshare)