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
Ink
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.
Part 4 – Claiming the Female
Women’s lives and stories have been interpreted through the masculine lens for a long time. The idea of the witch came out of men being afraid of the knowledge that certain women had. They wanted to control women and so invented this idea of witchcraft as something to be afraid of and repress. And I would like this lesson to be about not being embarrassed to tap into that shared knowledge and history. To acknowledge that we are women and that we participate in society and matter just as much as anyone else. I want women to be proud of this and to be intentional in our art and lives.
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...
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...
Lesson 6 – Unconventional Marks + Tools
Some of my favourite unconventional mark making tools I use in my journals.
Windy Waltzing Leaf: Using Bold Letters to Create 3-Word Poems
Ubuntu Hi, lovely Messians! It’s Divyam here and I’m totally excited to share with you this tutorial for the Season of Ubuntu. This season feels like a great moment to include...
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.
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...
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.
Creating maps to illustrate the seasonal landscape
Sometimes a season can seem like a country with it’s own landscape and culture, quite distinct from other seasons. In this tutorial, we are going to choose one season to work with and create a map showing its unique terrain. We’ll add some simple symbols to represent each place and touches of colour to bring the map to life. This map can serve as a helpful guide when you find yourself deep within this realm, reminding you of the roads you can take and places you can visit to make your stay more enjoyable!
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.
Illustrating people: Easy tricks to add to your tool kit
Drawing is one of the greatest ways to learn how to see, because when we sit and spend time looking at something in order to draw it, we must give it more than just a passing glance. Here are some arty tips on how to draw people.
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 find hidden imagery in paint spatters
Connections Hello, beautiful Messians! It's Ashley here, and today I'm sharing a quick challenge to stimulate your creativity and inspire you to get messy. When I was a kid,...
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...
Bonus – The Witch’s Garden
Welcome to the bonus lesson where we will stretch and blend and reimagine the symbols and techniques we have created so far. The idea for this bonus spread is to use all of the elements of the first four lessons to create an all-encompassing art journal spread. This is how I usually work: my art process is all about seeing and showing connections. The theme for these pages is the witch’s garden where all sorts of amazing things flourish. What would you like to have in your garden? What will you feed and nourish and what weeds will you take out? This is your chance to work intuitively and tie together all the totems that you have identified throughout this class.
Reuse the “meh”: Giving art a second life
Habit Art as a habit is great! But creating lots of art also means you'll create some you're not happy with. With these ideas, transform old art into something new & beautiful!...
Lesson 10 – Contrast in Pen + Ink
In our previous lesson, we learned how to use these two mediums together harmoniously. Lesson 10 however, is all about the contrast.
Lesson 9 – Replacing Water with ink
For our first lesson that uses both felt tips and inks together, we are re-visiting lesson 1. Lesson 1 taught us how to blend out our felt tips with water – this time though we are replacing the water with ink, or a mix of water and ink. This will give you a more pigmented finish and also allow you to mix colours and opacities.
Lesson 3b – Watercolour
Watercolour drips, Pens + Crayons, Dreamy Clouds, Gelli Printing, Galaxies
Lesson 3a – Acrylic
Blended acrylics, smoosh pages, gelli printing, inky drips, abstract stripes,
Part 2 – Archetypes
Totems > Part 2 From Vocabulary.com: “In the psychology of Carl Jung, an archetype is an inherited pattern of thought derived from the past experience of the whole race...
Lesson 2 – Felt Tips + Water
Taking what we have learned from our first lesson, we are repeating some of the same layering techniques but this time, adding water. The inclusion of water changes the aspect of felt tips so much and there is a lot of different ways to approach this method. Grab your supplies and let’s make a splash.
Lesson 1 – Layering Felt Tips
We will be learning how to layer felt tips on a page. Using multiple colours to create new blends for backgrounds and patterns. Playing with warm colours, cool colours, light and dark colours together.
Living wholehearted lives: use alcohol inks to create organic layers of universal wholehearted traits
Ubuntu Hello everybody! This is TC, and I’m so glad to be back with you for another tutorial, this one using alcohol inks on a different substrate, something called Duralar. I’m...
Using a spinner to move through seasons of life
This tutorial introduces the use of a simple spinner element.
How to tell your story
Story Amy Tan is here today to teach us how to tell our most important story - the every day one. Watch her incredible tutorial and learn how she uses everyday life + art to tell...
Use vintage photos and found words to tell a familiar or fictional story in your journal
Let’s explore ways to use vintage photos and papers in your art journal. Make a found word sentence or two to enhance you story, be it autobiographical or fictional.
Techniques for creating woodland backgrounds
Fairy Tales Hi Messians! As we are in the season of fairy tales, I thought a cool idea for my tutorial this week would be to explore that woodland, forest look that is...
How to use brush lettering in your art journal
Fairy Tales Hi! Olivia here with a quick and easy art journal page. I’ve listed the supplies and basic project steps below, but watch the video to get the full tutorial....
Colour symbolism around the world
Colour Hey, Messians! Misty here to talk about the cultural connotations and the symbolism of color from around the world.My interest in how colors are used in other cultures...
Drawing with pen and ink
Art 101 Hi, lovely Messians. It's Elizabeth here. I hope to serve as your personal creative cheerleader this season and throughout the year, chiming in with a "Just give it a...
Cataloguing and swatching your pens
Art 101 Hey Messians! EmK here for my first post, and I could not be more excited to be sharing these videos with you! You may have realized that this season is special! The...
Creating colourful paper scraps for collage
For Valentine’s Day I made these colorful stitched papers which I used in my art journal for the Get Messy prompts and also for cards. I thought I’d share a quick tutorial on how I made...
Bonus – Working Creatively with Pen and Ink
A bunch of techniques using pen and ink to encourage exploration.
Lesson 11 – Creating Independently
For our final lesson, we will be creating freely! Take all that you have learned in this course and put your favourite techniques into one page. Be inspired by the pages I am sharing in this lesson as well as your own discoveries along the way. We all are drawn to different things so take stock of what you have been more drawn to throughout the course and think of how you can combine your favourite parts into one (or more!) art journal pages.
Lesson 7 – Mixing Ink Colours
Using what we have learned from our first two ink lessons, we will now start to mix our own colours. Most ink sets are quite basic which gives us lots of blending and mixing possibilities. You can blend either directly on your page or on a palette. Depending on how much pigment (ink) and how much water you mix, your colours can differ immensely. Mixing ink colours is different to paint, as you don’t have the option of adding any white. I like to think of water as the white when mixing with ink.
Lesson 6 – Ink + Different Brushes
Imagine your brush is your magic wand and different spells will create different outcomes. In this lesson, we will see how many spells you know and can create.
Lesson 5 – Ink + Water
In our first ink dedicated lesson, we are simply mixing it with water. Super simple, but really cool and a perfect example of stretching your supplies. When you begin altering your materials, it gives you artist status for sure!
Words bring us together: brush lettering using watercolor and ink
Ubuntu Hello! Alicia here again to share a tutorial on using watercolor to brush letter quotes in our art journals. I have been playing with letters for over 4 years now and...
Creating Rituals around your art journaling
Connections Hi GM BFFs, Elizabeth here. In this Season of Connection, I'd love to share of my favorite rituals for connecting with my art-making and deepening my art...
Techniques for using ink in your art journal
Connections Hey there, Messians! It's EmK once more, and I'm coming to you today to get you excited about the super fluid, super beautiful supply: bottled ink! I've been...
Paper marbling with Ink
Colour Hi guys! It's Riet here and I'm so excited to show you a very easy technique to marble paper! I love marbling so much that I always look for easy ways to achieve it! Until...
How to stencil with mists
Hello again wonderful Get Messians. It’s Zinia again joining you to share some tips and ideas on how to use your mists with stencils. There was actually a topic on the Get Messy...
Making and Using Your Own Stencils
Hello Get Messians! It's Vanessa and I am so happy to be back! Today I'm bringing you a tutorial on how to make and use your very own stencils. We are in the Season of Happy, but...
How to mix ink with acrylic
Hello magical Messians! It’s Jules here to share with you a tutorial on mixing two of my favourite mediums: ink and acrylic. This is a technique that I use a lot but have never really...
Movable Idea Catchers by Kiala Givehand
IdeasYour challenge, should you choose to accept it: Create an interactive way to explore and discover the ideas that live inside you. Part 1Bonus Save this file to your computer, print it out, and...
Step 2 – Direct your aim
Failure To do better is better than to be perfect. - Toba Beta This lesson is all about the new. By directing our aim, by focusing on just one thing at a time, we dance naked in...
Lesson 3 – Sadness and Grief
Our art journals can be the perfect places to “art it out” when we’re feeling sad. Sadness can be a scary emotion, and one we shy away from, but if we can allow ourselves to sit with sadness from time to time, it can be good for us.
How to make plant-based inks
Nature Hello Messians, it's your favorite witch Vanessa here. This is a bittersweet post for me as it is my last one as a Get Messy Creative Team member. I have been involved in...
Playing with the interaction between water and ink
Hi Messians, I have a quick inky tutorial to share with you today. A few weeks ago I posted the image below on instagram and got a few comments asking how I had created the page on the...
Using image transfers
Hi, everyone! Jeannie here. Today, I’m showing you how to apply image transfers in your art journal pages. I learned about this technique last year but I only tried it when I got...
Making marbled paper
Hiya ladies, one of the many Lauren’s here (there must be some type of correlation between the name Lauren and art journaling?!) I want to share with you how I got the most amazing...
04 – Visual Gratitude Pages
While I love writing in my journal, there are also times where I just want to get my paints out and play. This lesson focuses on just that. We will still be documenting things we are...
Feelings from Music by Anouk Karssen
VulnerabilityYour challenge, should you choose to accept it: While you listen to a song that moves you, that reminds you of a happy memory or simply inspires you. Take a moment to feel what...
From Scrapbook to Sketchbook by Tiare Smith
EncouragementYour challenge, should you choose to accept it: Let this scrapbook sketch inspire your creativity. Use it as a guide to create in your sketch book or art journal. Action Steps...
Collage Relaxation
Promise#gmseasonofpromiseYour challenge, should you choose to accept it: Relax with your art and get into flow state with this easy art journaling technique. Repurpose scraps...
Finishing with the Unfinished
Finishing#gmseasonoffinishingLet's finish our journal spreads with unfinished things. I know I have a lot of sketchbooks and journals of pages I didn't finish, forgot about, or didn't like. Can...
02 – Drawing with Twigs
Let’s use unusual drawing and painting tools, like the sticks and twigs we picked up outside, to draw with ink and make interesting marks on loose paper. Use your twigs to experiment with...
1.3 Background
Now that we have our paper dolls ready, let's add color to our spread. We’re going to create a watercolor background with hues that best represents ourselves. Remember to skip the first 3...
1.2 Paper Doll of Self
First things first, we’re going to create a paper doll that represents our wonderful selves. This doll is going to be the focal point of your spread, so don’t be shy. Give her the spotlight...
Frame it, Landscape it, Populate it by Tammy Murdock
AweYour challenge, should you choose to accept it: Use this 3 step guide to fill your pages with something playful, serious, or perhaps perfectly preposterous! Part 1Part 2 Action Steps Bring your...
How to blend acrylics on the page
Hello everyone, Im Tanyalee, teacher of the newest Get Messy ecourse Messy Pages. Thank you for joining me for this guest post for the Get Messy Season of Contrast. It is so great to be back on the Get Messy blog. I am going to share with you a little snippet of my...
Comfort Zones and Kindness by Risa Iwasaki Culbertson
AweYour challenge, should you choose to accept it: Step outside your comfort zone to build confidence and kindness in your creative practice. Action Stepscreate something based on this...
2.3 Into the Journal
Now that our doll -along with her symbols - is ready and assembled, I will take you through how to add her to your journal as well as how to make a paper shelf/library of sorts to hold all...
2.2 An Articulated Doll
We will start by making our paper doll. For this part, you should – just like LaQuisha did with her doll – draw a representation of you. It’s a representation – it’s not a copy of you. So...
Warm Up – Creating beautiful organic shapes with water and ink
Learn how to make striking organic shapes with a simple, fun art technique that uses water and ink.Supplies loose paper (thicker paper works best) a container of water a brush a bottle of...