This section will include 10 step-by-step formulae for making art journal spreads to take the overwhelm out of art journaling.
Art Journal Catalysts
Acrylic
Lesson 4 – Layering Image Transfers
For this final lesson, I will demonstrate how you can create a really cool art journal spread by layering multiple image transfers on top of one another. This particular process does take time to complete, only because you have to wait until each transfer is completely dry before you add another transfer over it. But the outcome is so worth the time and wait.
Layers and Layers of Life with Cindy
In this Artist Date with Cindy, we will glue and paint and then gesso and then glue and then paint some more. And then maybe some more.
Create texture in your art journal using minimal supplies
This tutorial will show you two different ways of creating texture in your art journal using minimal supplies, making it the perfect beginners technique.
How to make an envelope journal
Connections Hey y'all! It's Katie here with my tutorial for the Season of Connections! Have you ever had a penpal? I used to have half a dozen of them when I was a...
How to make a prompt-producing DIY chatterbox game
Hi there everyone, Tanyalee here with a bit of a fun tutorial post. Today I am going to teach you to make an origami fortune teller/chatterbox that I have designed with art journaling...
Lesson 6 – Peace
Tthoughts about the idea of inner peace and how we seek it.
It’s Happening Now: Making Art Fast and Slow to Create a Page of Opposites
First we will work as fast as we possibly can, going wild on the page without stopping to think about what we are doing. Next, we will move to the opposite extreme and work incredibly slow, slower than we might have imagined possible. Lastly, we will bring these two extremes together to create a page of opposites, inspired by the principles of yin and yang.
Creating a mixed media self portrait
Connections "A portrait affirms; it gives the gift of self to its subject. It says, 'Yes, you are worth spending this time over, your story deserves to be told, you should...
Imagining and creating fantastic creatures in your art journal
Fairy Tales Hello Messians, it's EmK again, and I am thrilled to be here for the season that I've been anticipating the most: Fairy Tales! I've always fancied myself a writer...
How to make and use your own colour catalogue
Colour Hello, hello! It's Ashley here. This season has been such a blast, so I wanted to round it out by sharing a simple color catalogue you can create and use for continuous...
Combining warm and cool colours to create contrast
Contrast This season has been a blast, and I can barely believe that there are only two more weeks left in this wonderful world of contrast! But, thankfully, I have prepared for...
How to combine contrasting media
Contrast Hi again messians!In this post, I will share with you quick tutorials on contrasting mediums. These are the tools and products you wouldn't necessarily think about...
Textured Backgrounds for Journal Pages
Hello again Get Messians, Tanyalee here with another tutorial post. This week I am going to show you how to use household items to create texture on your pages. I wouldn't normally use...
Lesson 4 – Lines, Lines, Lines
Lines can be utilized in many different ways to create visual interest in your artwork. Lines can be used as a graphic element to create drama, help draw the viewers eye across the page to a point of interest, create backgrounds with controlled line work and more.
Lesson 6 – Unconventional Marks + Tools
Some of my favourite unconventional mark making tools I use in my journals.
Flowers of Freedom with the Gelli Plate
Freedom Hello everyone! It’s TC here, with my final tutorial as part of the 2018 Creative Team. I can hardly tell you what a great year it’s been and how grateful I am to you for...
Let’s Get Fancy: Taking collage further with your Gelli Plate
Artist Julia Bethmann shows you use your gelli plate to get more out of your collage work.
Selfie Sketch: Creating a painted sketched self portrait of yourself
Tiffany shows you a different way to create a self portrait using a headshot photo of yourself.
Junk drawer as treasure trove: using household items to make marks in your journal
Use common household items — things from your cupboards, drawers, and mail piles — to make marks in your art journal.
The paintbrush of power: Using comics and cartoons to turn yourself into a superhero
When I read all our posts and conversations on the Facebook group or on the forums, I am continually blown away by the incredible human beings that make up this community. I see courage, creativity, friendliness, and love. I see artists making the world a better place each and every day. Lets play at being superheroes, celebrating these incredible qualities and bringing them to life in our art.
Spreading kindness: Using our art journals to leave kind words for others
Kindness Hello artists, Alicia here to share with you a special tutorial that is near and dear to me! When I lived in New York City, it became a habit of mine to take in all the...
How to paint intuitively
Contrast "The universe buries strange jewels deep within us all, and then stands back to see if we can find them.” – Elizabeth GilbertHello my favorite artists! It’s Riet here...
Creating depth and dimension without bulk
There are a ton of ways to get some gorgeous depth into your art journaling that doesn’t involve a lot of bulky doo-dads. I’m going to show you how you can use simple tools and...
Lesson 5 – Prompts
How I interpret prompts and how I utilise the techniques I have demonstrated so far to make my pages. The goal is to give you a starting point for using prompts in your own pages. It will include a run-through of my interpretation of four prompts, with hopefully four very different spreads at the end.
Lesson 8 – Resisting Ink
In this lesson, we are looking at how to resist ink. Since ink is such a fluid and water like medium, it can be fun and interesting to pair it with something opposite. We will work with elements that are basic for any artist – nothing fancy, not even masking fluid!
Lesson 2 – Intricate Backgrounds
In this lesson, I will show you how to create intricate backgrounds using paints, inks, and a series of image transfers. This is an easy way to make your pages pop and look like they took a great deal of work to create.
One World – A Mixed Media Concertina Art Journal
Ubuntu Basic Supplies: Large sheet of smooth medium weight paper like Arches hot press - 22”x30” 90lb/185gsm Fluid paints in favorite colors like Golden Fluid Acrylic Paint Brayer...
Creating a Seasonal Mood Board
We all have favorite seasonal activities and traditions. By using old calendar pages, and creating a mood board, we are celebrating these unique parts of the current and upcoming seasons.
Storyboard Sunday: Using comic book panels to tell your tale
Comic book panels are a great way to focus in on the small moments while, at the same time, building up a bigger picture of the story we want to tell. In this tutorial, we’re going to be telling our stories by combining a comic book page layout with a mixed media, art journaling style.
Scavenger Hunt: Get inspired by your neighborhood
Today I invite you to explore your neighborhood or maybe even a new city as a child would, curious about everything and wanting to find all the answers! Use the scavenger hunt guide to collect inspiration for your art journal and let your inner child play.
Level up your art by drawing into wet paint
Artist Cait Sherwood shows you a really simple technique for leveling up your art. Draw into wet paint and create a deeper art journal page.
Seeing patterns: Carve your own rotating stamp
Using a square eraser you will learn to easily design and carve a stamp that creates a rotating pattern. Create your own designs or be inspired by your personal symbols or images you find in a book. Using a stamp to create patterns, is a quick way to add a layer of interest to your spreads.
Everyday kindness: flaps which open to reveal inspiration for ordinary kindness
Kindness Hi everybody! This is TC, and I'm super happy to be with you today! I love this season and I'm looking forward to all the messes we're going to make together this year....
Self-love: How to create an origami love letter to yourself
Kindness Hi, it’s Moriah and I am so excited to share my tutorial with you today! For the season of kindness I wanted to find a way to express self love. Being kind to myself is...
Knitted with love: Using yarn to create pattern and texture
When I was thinking about the theme of kindness, I thought about how much love and care gets poured into making things by hand for the people we love – baking a cake, sewing a dress, knitting a sweater. The end result is a form of kindness that you can feel, that has been brought to life through the process of making something by hand.
Creating a journal of the tides of your year
Nature Hi Get Messy friends. It's Elizabeth here with my final tutorial of the year. And what a year it has been. I have been so grateful to connect with you, and have been so...
Translating Music to Paper
Nature Hey friends. For todays post I wanted to show you something that I absolutely love doing in my journal. And that is, making playlists or working with lyrics of songs that...
How to journal with leaves
Nature Hi Messians! Today I am going to share with you some ideas on how to get nature directly into our art journals. I have used different types of leaves for all of my...
How to give your figures colourful hair
Colour Hey Y'all, Katie here today to share a tutorial with you! As you know I love drawing and painting, and with it being the Season of Color, I wanted to share with you how I...
Creating contrast by juxtaposing moods
Contrast Hi, lovely Messians. Elizabeth here with some wisdom from Victor Hugo. (And, hopefully, some workable inspiration for you and your art journaling). First,...
How to work with negative space
Contrast Hello dear Messians! Vanessa here, I am thrilled to welcome you to the Season of Contrasts. I am feeling very inspired by this theme. When I was thinking of how to...
Art Journaling with Children
Hey, it's Sarah here. „Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.“ - Pablo Picasso. Every child is born with an unbroken will to discover the world...
Using Envelopes In Your Art Journal
I love using envelopes when I art journal! It’s the perfect thing to tuck away some special writing or journaling, photos, letters, anything really.
Drawing inspiration from Andy Warhol
Hi Get Messians, it's Karen here. I don't know about you but it can be really hard to come up with ideas sometimes for your journal. It's annoying to feel "stuck" when all you...
Make a gorgeous mess with bleached paper
Hello creative people! It's Torrie here, and I am back with a super quick and satisfying tutorial on creating bleached papers. Bleached papers? It sounds messy, and it totally...
Creating and filling an accordion album
Hi everyone, Tanyalee here from the Creative Team. I'm going to give you an insight into my process for a journal page. Not just any journal page though, an accordion album using...
Art with gelli plates
Hello Get Messsians! It’s Karen here with my first Creative Team post and I am really excited to show you what I’ve been up to. I don’t know about you but I’m always a little sad that...
Bonus: Going large in an A3 sketchbook
Less#gmseasonoflessTaking everything we've learned in the first tutorial, we are now going to take the same colours and techniques and go large. When you open up an A3 sketchbook...
Creating massive impact with minimal resources
Less#gmseasonoflessIn the previous lesson, we explored our colour palette and mark making. Now we'll be bringing it all together.Action Steps pull everything together in a...
Colour Mixing
Season#gmseasonoflessIn this tutorial learn how to explore the full possible range of a limited colour palette, and experiment with mark making. In the next lesson, we'll pull it...
Creating Everyday with Artist Trading Cards
Habit This lesson will take you through a week long creative habit that I like to do in my own art practice. For 6 days, we will set ourselves up to create an artist trading card...
Documenting the Roller Coaster
Documenting DEBBIE BAMBERGER Debbie is a sexual and reproductive health nurse practitioner in Berkeley, California. She began art journaling in 2016 with no prior art...
Re-start: Six practical ways to get back into journaling when you’ve taken a break
Starting Tanyalee Kahler Tanyalee Kahler is an Australian mum turned artist. She loves creating mixed media art journals, dabbling with watercolours, publishing magazines...
Expressing your current mood through a painted selfie
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Stone textures: Juxtaposing texture and colour in your work
Freedom Elly here, closing the Season of Freedom and bringing you the very last tutorial from 2018’s Creative Team. I wanted to leave you with something colourful and fun that...
Lesson 3a – Acrylic
Blended acrylics, smoosh pages, gelli printing, inky drips, abstract stripes,
Lesson 3 – Abstract Backgrounds
This lesson is broken up into three parts: acrylic backgrounds, watercolour backgrounds and collaged backgrounds. I will very quickly take you through a selection of techniques using each medium/technique. At the end of the lesson you will have a vast array of tricks up your sleeve to make fast, abstract backgrounds for your art journal spreads.
How to Paint a Geometric Galaxy
I’ve gotten a bit of a reputation for including watercolor galaxies in my work, but I just can’t help it. I love painting galaxies and starry scenes, so now I am thrilled to be sharing my techniques with you.
Lesson 1 – Mark Making Warm Ups
3 different warm up exercises designed to help you loosen up and also connect internally with your marks.
Bonus – Marks Imitate Art
In this bonus lesson, we will create an art journal page transforming a found image with marks! This is a great technique to practice creating marks but also makes for a really lovely art journal page!
The Freedom to Get Inspired From Art History
Freedom Hi, it’s Moriah here and this is sadly my last tutorial for you all as a member of the Get Messy creative team. It’s been such a joy to serve on the team this year and I...
Liberate yourself through abstract art (Perfectionism is an illusion)
Freedom
Playing with Masks: Using Masking with Acrylic Mediums to Create Layered Spreads
Freedom Happy Wednesday Messians! Tiffany here with an interesting way to play with your acrylic paints and inks. In this tutorial I'll show you a few ways to play around with...
Archetypes enhance the power of story: using the hero’s journey in our art
Archetypes are used in stories to convey powerful meaning across culture and time. Explore the classic archetype of the Hero and the Hero’s Journey in our art journals using mixed media elements and a recurring Hero figure.
Documenting Color with Sarah
Create color swatches to cut apart to make simple collage palettes and patterns with Sarah.
Mindful Art with Amy
Amy from Mindful Art Studio demonstrates using art for mindfulness in order to find beauty and relaxation.
2.1 Quiet Backgrounds
how to quieten a background with gesso
how to quieten a background with vellum
how to quieten a background with tissue paper
how to quieten a background with white out text
the glory of the blank page
inherently quiet backgrounds
Playful Printmaking
Kindness Hello Get Messy Family! I am thrilled to share one of my favorite art journaling techniques with you. This is one that I find easy to do, inexpensive, great for all...
Healing Heart: Using painted paper and collage to encourage self love
Kindness Hi, Sarah here! I'm so excited to share this tutorial with you all! I love that we're starting a new year of Get Messy with the Season of Kindness. What a great way to...
Block printing nature motifs
Nature
Journaling in monochrome
Colour Hello all, it's EmK again, and I'm here to talk to you about using color! I know that you’re probably not surprised that I'm talking to you about color this season, but...
How to experiment with unfamiliar colours
Colour If you have been collaging or journalling for a long time and feel you have a distinctive style, it’s useful to notice your patterns and try to break out of them from time...
How to use a gelli plate to create faces
Contrast I love to use the gelli plate to make lovely prints to add to my journal pages, they add colour and pattern as well as images which can be traced and printed using the...
How to use scale to create contrast
Contrast Hi, friends! It's Misty here to talk a bit about using size to create contrast and interest in your journals. I've got a short video to go over a few basics. I'll be...
How to paint faces in your art journal
Contrast Hi you, beautiful creative souls! I am so happy to be back with another tutorial for a brand new Get Messy Season of Contrast. Can I just start by saying that I feel...
Techniques for creating easy acrylic backgrounds
Art 101 Hey Y'all, Katie here for my first post as a part of the 2017 Creative Team! This week, Misty and I are featuring Acrylics here on the blog. Misty wrote up an amazing...
How to produce detailed layers
Art 101 This technique is an art journaling step by step that anyone can do, whether following the steps as I have done, or adding your own unique spin to the steps. There are...
Creating both tactile and visual textures
Art 101 Hi lovely artists! It’s Riet here from the Creative Team and today is all about textures. You know exactly what I’m talking about, right? Those wonderful...
Hiding your journaling on your pages
Hello! It's Anika Lacerte with some tips on hiding your journaling on your pages. Hidden journaling makes it possible to write your thoughts down without sharing them with others. For...
Creating distressed metallic elements in your art journal
Hello again Get Messians, it's Karen here with a super fun tutorial using shoe polish, tin foil and glue. Yes I know, the main staples of your art supplies I know! Stick with me though...
Creating pages inspired by cover art
Hello messy dearest. I have a really fun challenge for you today. This one hits me right in the (good) feels and I hope you’ll love it too.We’re gonna go way back and pick a favorite...
10 Minute Art Journal Pages
Hi there everyone, Tanyalee back with another tutorial. As it is the Season of Introspection, I thought it would be a fun idea to do a tutorial on making 10 minute art journal...
Using Ink Blots to Connect to Your Intuition
Hello lovely artists, Vanessa with you for this first tutorial of the Season. I am very much looking forward to where this Season of Introspection will take us, aren't you? Let's...
Making and Using Gelli Print Backgrounds
Hey there Messians, Katie here with my first post as a part of the Get Messy Creative Team! I am super excited to be here and be able to share a peek into my art journaling with you....
Using art journaling skills in memory keeping
Hey there, fellow Get Messians, Kathleen here. Today I’ll share some of my experiences I’ve had with scrapbooking and art journaling and tell you something about how these two forms of...
Make Your Own Paper Embellishments
Supplies old book paper ballpoint pen paintbrush acrylic paint sealant scissors 1. Draw shapes onto the paper Three simple ones for me, on two types of paper. The hearts and stars were on...
Lettering
Belonging#gmseasonofbelongingTurn your monoprinted pages into lettering with Mou's technique.Transcript (this transcript is automatically generated and is sure to contain...
Floral Junk Journaling
Documenting In this lesson, you'll learn what junk journaling is and see examples of Meg's own junk journals. She'll show you how you can create your own floral inspired junk...
Abstract Emotions
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Part 1 – Spirit Animals
Why do you need a Spirit Animal? What is the point? Why can’t a quiz on Buzzfeed tell you the answer? A Spirit Animal embodies a trait or a quality that you have in your personality or that you would like to invite into your art journal. Take the time to meditate on this, try to focus on a part of you that you like – or something that you lack – and that you would want to symbolise through an animal. You give the meaning to that animal because it is your Spirit Animal.
Lesson 5 – Real Life Pieces
Incorporating real life pieces into our journal pages – the things that accumulate in your life on their own accord; little mementos that come from events you attend, people you meet or places you visit.
Hand Lettering Bold Statements
Freedom Hello! Alicia here from Vine & Thistle. In my last tutorial as a part of the Get Messy Creative Team, I am going to be showing you how to create a bright and bold...
Colour Theory Basics: The Colour Wheel and Colour Harmony
Ubuntu KELLEE Kellee Wynne Conrad is the creator of Color Crush Creative, a thriving, internationally followed Instagram community of color loving artists and the online...
Liven Up Your Creative Palette!
Seasons In this video, I explain three simple principles of color to liven up your creative palettes: color value, temperature and intensity. Use these tips to make your...
Acrylic Painting Techniques Tutorial
Seasons In this video, I share three fun acrylic painting techniques to create painted patterns in your journal. We’ll walk through dry brush stripes, rose florals, and an ombre...
Leaf and flower gelli prints for all seasons
How to use fresh leaves and flowers to create beautiful gelli prints for your journals.
Repeat patterns: creating decorative designs in your art journal
This tutorial will guide you and inspire you to create repeat patterns in your art journal and on collage papers for your art journal.
Scribble Play: Creating a mixed media mosaic scribble
Have fun creating and filling in a giant scribble with all sorts of materials and mediums you don’t normally work with to create a quirky mixed media mosaic scribble.