Art Journal Catalysts

Tutorial

Collography: Printing with Texture

Collography: Printing with Texture

Freedom Hi! Sarah here, and today we’re going to be making collographs. Collography is a printmaking process in which materials are glued to a rigid substrate. When printed, the...

Dig in
Scientific illustration: Curate your own seasonal collection

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. 

Dig in
How to tell your story

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...

Dig in
Mindful Art with Amy

Mindful Art with Amy

Amy from Mindful Art Studio demonstrates using art for mindfulness in order to find beauty and relaxation.

Dig in
How to draw faces

How to draw faces

Divyam shows you how to draw a face so you can add unique characters to your art journal.

Dig in
How to use oil and chalk pastels

How to use oil and chalk pastels

This post is concentrating on both oil and chalk pastels, as well as other medias. Pastels are a great way to add texture, depth and variety into your art. The colour pay off and resistance you get from oils is fun and powerful whilst chalks can be soft, beautifully...

Dig in
2.1 Quiet Backgrounds

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

Dig in
Playful Printmaking

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...

Dig in
Doodling for beginners

Doodling for beginners

Nature Hey everyone, It's Katie here! You've probably heard of zentangles, right? It's a method of line drawing where you create repeating patterns and turn them into designs. I...

Dig in
How to make a pop up art journal

How to make a pop up art journal

Fairy Tales Hello lovelies! It's Ashley here with a fresh new tutorial. As you know, fairy tales are full of ups and downs, twists and turns, trials and triumphs, much like...

Dig in
Make your own printables for journaling

Make your own printables for journaling

Fairy Tales Hey y'all, Katie here! I'm having so much fun with this Season of Fairytales. I'm actually a huge science fiction nerd, but fantasy is my my second favorite genre...

Dig in
Journaling in monochrome

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...

Dig in
Colour symbolism around the world

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...

Dig in
Expressing yourself through colour

Expressing yourself through colour

Colour Welcome to the Season of Colour! Vanessa here to usher you in to this Season. As is always the case when we start a new theme, I need to find a way in. I need to figure...

Dig in
Masking and resist techniques

Masking and resist techniques

Contrast Hey Y’all, Katie here! For today's tutorial I wanted to share a few different techniques for doing watercolor resists and masking with with a variety of supplies....

Dig in
How to use scale to create contrast

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...

Dig in
How to paint faces in your art journal

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...

Dig in
Drawing with pen and ink

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...

Dig in
Cataloguing and swatching your pens

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...

Dig in
How to create flowing journaling

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...

Dig in
How to produce detailed layers

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...

Dig in
Creating expressive pages without looking

Creating expressive pages without looking

Hello, Julia here again to share a new type of creative practice with you... This past year, I have started to create in a new way (for me, at least). It’s something I have started to...

Dig in
Hiding your journaling on your pages

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...

Dig in
Including song lyrics in your art journal

Including song lyrics in your art journal

Music is such a powerful part of life and memory. You can hear a beat, a lyric, see an album cover and be immediately transported to another place and time. I have strong connections...

Dig in
Creating pages inspired by cover art

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...

Dig in
10 Minute Art Journal Pages

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...

Dig in
Xeroxing Photos To Use In Your Art Journal

Xeroxing Photos To Use In Your Art Journal

Hi Get Messians, it’s Cait. I’m stoked to share... XEROXING PHOTOS ONTO EXCITING PAPERS! I think that xeroxing is underrated, magical, and surprisingly inspiring. Sometimes when my...

Dig in
Making and Using Gelli Print Backgrounds

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....

Dig in
How to staple large zines

How to staple large zines

This is one of those ‘a-HA’ moments. I could never figure out how to staple together pieces of paper that were too big for my stapler to reach. I saw this on the net somewhere a few...

Dig in
Make Your Own Paper Embellishments

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...

Dig in
Creating colourful paper scraps for collage

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...

Dig in
Lettering

Lettering

Belonging#gmseasonofbelongingTurn your monoprinted pages into lettering with Mou's technique.Transcript (this transcript is automatically generated and is sure to contain...

Dig in
Messy Mandalas

Messy Mandalas

Reflection In this Artist Date, Clare will guide us on how to make a ‘Torus’ mandala base using a compass, along with a freeform method which needs no equipment apart from a...

Dig in
Creative Warm-Up Exercises

Creative Warm-Up Exercises

During this hangout, Jenny shared a creative warm-up exercise that can be used for those busy days when it’s hard to fit art in.

Dig in
Making and filling a grid

Making and filling a grid

Habit Gilly guides us through the relaxing art of making a grid by colour, doodle, paint, collage or mixture of different things.Using a thick piece of paper or art journal we'll...

Dig in
Floral Junk Journaling

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...

Dig in
Embodying the Fool: How to feel the fear and take the leap anyway

Embodying the Fool: How to feel the fear and take the leap anyway

Starting can be difficult. The way ahead is obscure, we are afraid of failing or of getting lost on our journey. So how can we set off boldly, how can we be daring? We must embody the Fool. The Fool is an archetype that allows us to take a leap of faith, to go ahead even if we are fearful. When we are able to look ahead with enthusiasm and energy and when we know that whatever lies ahead is part of our journey and will support us, we are embodying the Fool archetype. This allows us to feel free as well as (perhaps paradoxically) in control of our own destiny. That is when we are happy to start. We will use water soluble media to create an inspiration wave to encourage us to start. Let’s gather this wave of positive energy and let’s be intentional in finding the mantras that carry us forward and let’s take that leap! Let’s start in this creative journey together.

Dig in
Lesson 11 – Creating Independently

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.

Dig in
Lesson 7 – Mixing Ink Colours

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.

Dig in
Lesson 5 – Ink + Water

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!

Dig in
Lesson 1 – Acrylic Gel Medium Transfers

Lesson 1 – Acrylic Gel Medium Transfers

In this lesson I will go over the basic steps you’ll take to create an image transfer. These will be the exact same steps you’ll do for every single acrylic medium image transfer you’ll ever make. Once you’ve got this technique down, you’ll be able to incorporate it into your spreads with other mediums like paints, inks, and various papers.

Dig in
Lesson 4 – Colouring In

Lesson 4 – Colouring In

For this lesson, we really are going back to kindergarten. Colouring in is one of life’s simplest joys. It is remarkable for calming your nerves as well as creating bold and fun pages.

Dig in
Lesson 5 – Real Life Pieces

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.

Dig in
Lesson 5 – Simple Shapes

Lesson 5 – Simple Shapes

Often we see shapes as separate from the idea of mark making, but shapes are comprised of marks to create them. We use marks to build the shapes we want to see. Shapes can be used to portray all kinds of expression and emotion to a page.

Dig in
Fifty Two Portraits

Fifty Two Portraits

Fifty Two Portraits is a photography class in self-discovery; a way to document your life right now and uncover your creative self using self-portraiture and reflection. Inspired by a year-long creative project she embarked upon when she turned 40, Vanessa Oliver-Lloyd leads you on a path of self-discovery towards better knowledge of yourself as a person and as an artist. The class includes 52 prompts, 1 for each week of the year, centered on 1 of 7 themes: you, places, family, style, work, life, and friends, plus Vanessa’s photos for reference and inspiration. With Vanessa as your guide, embark on a journey in using photography and words to reflect inward and capture who you are at this phase in your life.

Dig in
Hand Lettering Bold Statements

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...

Dig in
Liven Up Your Creative Palette!

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...

Dig in
Acrylic Painting Techniques Tutorial

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...

Dig in