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Get Messy is an online art journaling school that teaches you to cultivate your creativity. Without perfection.

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How to bind a three hole pamphlet stitch

How to bind a three hole pamphlet stitch

This is a lesson from Basic Bookbinding. Whatever your inner artist needs to create, build yourself the perfect handbound book with this course to capture all of your beautiful art and precious words. In Basic Bookbinding, you will learn how to bind four different...

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How to make art when you have no time

How to make art when you have no time

So much creative energy, so little time. Somehow, twenty-four hours in a day never seems like enough to do all of those things we have to do, let alone those things that we really want to do ... and “not having enough time” is without a doubt one of the top excuses...

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Seven art myths we can kick to the curb

Seven art myths we can kick to the curb

The world is full of myths about art. Some good, some bad. These myths float around, getting passed from person to person and perpetuating the way that art is perceived and talked about. Many of these ideas are not only inaccurate; they’re damaging to artists and the...

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How to create when you have zero ideas

How to create when you have zero ideas

Want to make art but have no clue how to get started? Perhaps you know these symptoms all too well: You have the aching feeling inside of you that comes from not making, but it’s accompanied that pesky voice that tells you that there’s no point. You have zero ideas...

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Stop trying to find your style

Stop trying to find your style

As artists and creatives, we can become obsessed by the notion of style. Style defines our work and gives us a way of describing our art to others. We are told invariably that style is everything: that having a recognisable style will help us to sell more work and gain more followers on Instagram. Despite the tempting potential upshots of having a neatly definable style, however, I want to propose that style is not the be all and end all. Here’s why you should stop trying to find your style…or at least flip the idea on its head a little bit.

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Artist Dates: Everything you need to know

Artist Dates: Everything you need to know

Floating around in the art world, you may have heard of the term Artist Date. Maybe more than once. Maybe only about one-hundred-and-thirty-seven times. Stemming from Julia Cameron's seminal book, The Artist’s Way, artist dates are a tried and tested way of connecting...

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6 Lessons from ‘Do the Work’ by Steven Pressfield – and how to apply them to your art making

6 Lessons from ‘Do the Work’ by Steven Pressfield – and how to apply them to your art making

If you’re part of the Get Messy community, you have almost definitely heard of Steven Pressfield. His book, Do the Work, lays out the nuts and bolts of getting creative work done. I was recently lent the book by a friend and rocketed through it in about two hours…. Yes, it’s only a short book, but yes, it’s also that good. And yes, I would highly recommend that you read it. But in order to pass on some of its wisdom before it’s in your hot little hands, here are 6 important lessons that I learned from Do the Work – and how to apply them to your art-making.

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The Joy of Ripping Paper

The Joy of Ripping Paper

Type “ripped paper” into Google and you’ll be delivered almost 65 million results, with the first few pages pretty much solely taken up by Pinterest pics and downloadable ripped paper PNGs. Ok, we got it, the world is pretty into it. And so am I: ever since I can...

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In a creative rut? Why more art supplies are not the answer

In a creative rut? Why more art supplies are not the answer

When stuck in a creative rut, buying new art supplies can seem like a reasonable way to go about getting out of it. After all, we all know that art stores (and to a lesser extent, their online equivalent) are magical places; not only full of…uhh, art supplies, but allure and promise and potential. I’m here to tell you to hold your horses. Back up a little. Here’s why stocking up on more art supplies is not the answer.

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7 ways to feel less alone as a creative

7 ways to feel less alone as a creative

The life of a creative can be lonely. And let’s face it: whether we identify as creatives or not, we all know what this pretty rubbish state of being feels like. As humans, we’re hard-wired for connection: we long to be understood by others, we long for relationships with people with whom we can go through our struggles and celebrate life’s wins. This blog post presents 7 ways towards feeling less alone as a creative. And the best part is – perhaps counter-intuitively – many of these can be done without interacting with a single other human in real time.

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Abbey Sy expresses herself on paper

Abbey Sy expresses herself on paper

Artist SpotlightWhat is art journaling to you? Art journaling to me is all about expressing yourself on paper; regardless of what medium and purpose and style. Ultimately, these little decisions of materials being used, styles and layouts being...

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The mess makes for the BEST art

The mess makes for the BEST art

I'm currently reading two books - ​Pema Chödrön's Start Where You Are​: A Guide to Compassionate Living and ​Mind Management, Not Time Management: Productivity When Creativity Matters by David Kadavy​ These books are helping me journey through the theme we're...

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When you can’t create…

When you can’t create…

I’ve been sick for the past four months. Nothing serious, just a round of puking, a few colds, and like so many of us, I managed to catch corona. It’s been an extended period of lying on the couch doing nothing - sometimes cuddling a four-year-old, and sometimes...

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