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
Pencil
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
How to make a folded accordion book about everyday details
Connections One of my most favorite ways to include my life in my journals is to make the mundane magical. I love taking the day’s routine and drawing it out with color and...
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 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!
How to make an accordion folded journal
Fairy Tales Surprise! It's Misty! Normally Vanessa kicks off our seasons but she was kind enough to switch with me for Season of Fairy Tales so I could show y'all how to make...
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...
Creating self portraits through blind drawing
Hello lovely Messians, Vanessa here for the last time in 2016. What a year it has been, no? For me it was a year of change, of adapting to new surroundings, of letting go of certain...
A beginner’s guide to drawing faces
Hey friends, it's Katie here today! Your resident doodler! I'm the girl that always has ink on her hands! Really. This year I'm doing a challenge to draw or paint something...
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.
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...
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 7 – How to Layer Marks
How to successfully layer different types of marks without causing chaos or muddying up your pages.
Liberate yourself through abstract art (Perfectionism is an illusion)
Freedom
Scientific illustration: Curate your own seasonal collection
Art and science combined are great passions of mine and so naturally I really enjoy Scientific Illustration.
So today I wanted to share with you the rules of scientific illustration and hopefully show you some ways that you can level up your drawing skills, and illustrate the seasons.
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...
How to create flowing journaling
Art 101 Hi Get Messians! Jennifer (@stitchandletter) here. I'm so excited to show you one of my favorite lettering styles, what I'm calling "connected lettering." I've been...
Paint a Flutter of Ethereal Watercolour Butterflies
Freedom Hi Messians, this is Clare with my final tutorial as a Get Messy creative team member and what an amazing year it has been! It has been so great to be able to work with...
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...
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.
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...
How to Collect and Translate Inspiration
Creativity First things first, you have to be willing to sit in the messy middle. That is where art + creation come alive. In that in-between stage of idea and art - where...
Lesson 4 – Sketching a Face, Front View
Guess what? In this lesson I’ll be showing you how to sketch a face from start to finish! You can sketch faces at many different angles, but the angle I’ve always found easiest was just a front view, which means the girl is facing directly towards you.
Lesson 2 – Facial Features
Hey everyone, Welcome to lesson 2! In this lesson I will be showing y’all how I sketch different facial features, such as eyes, mouths, etc. The important features that will make up your characters!
Lesson 5 – Sketching a Face, Profile View
Okay, in this lesson I am going to teach y’all how to sketch a face from a profile / side view. I used to be pretty intimidated by drawing a profile and every time I did it it would look wayyy weird. Like my girls would have a big forehead, or tiny nose, etc. How did I get better? Practice. I was determined I wanted to learn how to draw a girl in profile, so I started sketching girls in profile… a LOT.
Lesson 3 – Sketching Hair
In this lesson I’m going to show you how to draw a variety of different hairstyles you can use on your faces! In the video I show some different ways to draw both straight and curly hair, and how to use the lesson printable.
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...
Our Archaeological Dig by Lisa Goddard
VulnerabilityYour challenge, should you choose to accept it: Work in layers to express different aspects of yourself and your life. Imagine an archaeologist peeling back each layer in 200...
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...
04 – Stitch a Meadow
In this lesson, we begin working in our journals by creating a collaged meadow landscape and adding stitched flowers. I’ll take you through my collage process and how I would build...
Texture
Texture is used to describe the surface quality of the work, referencing the types of lines the artist created. The surface quality can either be tactile (real) or strictly visual (implied). Tactile surface quality is mainly seen through three-dimensional works, like...
Wild Abandon
Moments#gmseasonofmomentsYour challenge, should you choose to accept it: Create with wild abandon. Let go of perfection and expectations and gather things that you love. Art...
03 – Warm Up Collage + Front Cover
When I am feeling stuck, uninspired or unsure I love to make mini collages. Using all of my favourite scraps of paper ad small journal, I create these mini collages as a way to warm...
Online Inspiration to Art
We always hear about using Pinterest for inspiration. Let’s make a pin board of things we love and use it to inspire endless journal pages!
The Sticky-Note
Get creative using sticky-notes (post-its) in your journal pages. The humble sticky-note is often overlooked as an art material, but there are lots of fun ways of using them. We’ll share a few of our suggestions and we’re sure you’ll have lots more ideas of your own.
Warm up: Create Inviting Journal Pages
In this bonus lesson, I am sharing a really quick and easy way to make your journal pages inviting to write on. Once we have the pages prepared, we will start adding the wonderful...
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...
Imperfect Face by Iris Fritschi-Cussens
OKYour challenge, should you choose to accept it: Draw and paint an imperfect face with simple raw art journaling techniques Action Steps Bring your imperfect, messy self, take what you need, and know...
Three, Two, One
Explore ways to create pages with a simple formula of 3 colors, 2 words, and 1 image. This formula opens us up to endless possibilities to create unique layouts.
3.2 Highest Self
Growth is a marker of life. As we grow, we learn. As we learn, we simplify and purify. This is a transformative alchemical process where our creativity, spirituality and self-awareness...
3.1 Our Transformation
In the next three lessons, we will create a series of windows leading to an ‘altar’ to the divinity present within each one of us. Our altars will be the seat of our highest self - that is...
3.3 You at Your Greatest
In this lesson, we'll wrap up this journey to the divine within. Action StepsWrap up this stage of your journey to the divine within
1.4 Windows
Remember those first 3 pages? In this lesson, we’re going to use them to create 3 windows to admire our dolls from. Let's first decide where our dolls fit best.Supplies Art journal &...