GUIDE: How to Start An Art Journal
When you think about the word journal, people often first associate it with the written word. This makes sense, considering most people use journals as a sort of diary or way to keep track of thoughts and special moments in their life. However, that’s just one way to look at journaling. A journal, according to Merriam-Webster is actually a record of experiences, ideas, or reflections that is kept regularly for private use. When you remove the idea that a journal needs to be a “written” account of your ideas or experiences a whole new concept opens up – the art journal.
An art journal is a daily journal kept by artists, often containing both words and sketches, and occasionally including mixed media elements such as collages. To put it simply, it’s like a tiny scrapbook of your thoughts and ideas. With an art journal, you aren’t limited to finding the perfect word to express your thoughts, but instead you can draw a picture, make a cartoon, paste a memento or showcase a photo. And, it doesn’t need to be in an actual journal either.
If the thought of keeping a visual diary of your thoughts and/or dreams seems enticing, here are a few tips to get you started.
Get A Journal
This can be anything you want to use to save your thoughts. It can be a composition book, a binder filled with pages, an actual journal, even a daily planner can work for this purpose. You may even want to make your own book. Whatever you decide to do, just make sure it’s big enough for the time you want to use it for. You may want to have a new book for each month, for each season of the year, or one book for the entire year.
Gather Supplies
It makes it easier to get started and make sure you are actually journalling when you have supplies that inspire you ready to go. Gather a box or basket and start collecting things that inspire you. Some things you might want to include:
- Colored pens and pencils
- Stickers
- Washi tape
- Stamps and ink
- Different types of paper scraps
- Glue stick and other adhesives
- Paints and brushes
- Scissors
- Ruler
- Stencils
- Rub on
- Tissue paper
- Magazines
- Paper items such as greeting cards, postcards, catalogs, etc.
- Fabric pieces
- Buttons
- Embellishments such as paper clips, brads, etc.
Create a Space
You don’t need a dedicated space to do your art journaling, but you do need a designated space. You’ll need a big enough space to spread out your materials and actually apply them to your journal. The real key here is to actually carve out a space for yourself that will make you excited about journalling. You want to create a ritual around your daily (or frequent) journalling practice. This is something to help inspire you, so take the extra effort to make it inspiring.
Make It A Ritual
An art journal is all about the process, and not the end result. You don’t need to show this to anyone. It’s a way to reflect on your thoughts while letting loose your inner creativity. You don’t even need to use it to record your daily life happenings like a typical journal. The point is to create something that helps you feel inspired. To do this, you need to make it a part of your routine. Determine how frequently you want to journal and create a schedule that works for you.
Keep it Fun
Anything you do on a regular basis can lose its luster. What makes an art journal unique is that it can be anything you want it to be. You can create a new journal with a specific theme. You can challenge yourself to use a specific type of medium or media. You can make one for vacation coming up or to journal about a new change in your life. You could dedicate one to a specific holiday or season. You could even use a journal to record things you do from a bucket list. The ideas are endless.
50 Journal Prompts
Speaking of ideas… It makes it a lot easier to start something when you can see what others have done. With this in mind, here are fifty journal prompts to kickstart your creative process.
- Something that inspires you
- Your favorite quote
- Your dream home
- Your favorite color
- Your favorite book or book characters
- Your favorite animal
- Your favorite fairytale
- Something seasonal
- Your favorite flower or a seasonal flower
- Your bucket list
- Family traditions
- Your favorite song lyrics
- Words that describe you
- Comfort foods
- Things you couldn’t live without
- Best advice you ever received
- Things you want to do
- Smiles
- Things you need to do
- What happiness means to you
- What success means to you
- What failure means to you
- Positive thinking
- Childhood memories
- If I had ________
- Rules of love
- Rules of friendship
- Rules of life
- Dreaming of a world…
- Things that annoy you
- Things you love
- What you are thankful for
- Your wish list
- All about the weather
- Your current mood
- The ideal menu
- A perfect date
- The perfect day
- Places you want to visit
- Somewhere you have already visited
- Your purpose in life
- What you were born to do
- What greatness means to you
- What crazy means to you
- Sad songs you love
- Your favorite poem
- Things you’d rather be doing right now
- Rules meant to be broken
- Your personal ethics/moral code
- A recurring dream you have
Art Journal Inspiration
For even more ideas, take a look at some of our favorite art journal ideas on our Pinterest board.
Follow InspirationInsider.com’s board Art Journal Ideas on Pinterest.
About Jennifer Good
Chief Inspiration Officer and Founder of Inspiration Insider. "You don’t need to wait to make a difference in your own life or the lives of others." - Anne Frank
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