Connections I love being inspired by what I learn from other artists. Over the past couple of years, I’ve learned so much from talented, and generous artists, and I’ve...
Art Journal Catalysts
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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...
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...
Adding words when you don’t like your handwriting
Hey there, it’s Kathleen here and today I want to share some ideas with you for how you can incorporate words and phrases in your art journal pages even when you don’t like your...
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...
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...
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 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...
Art journal your spirit animal
Art 101 Hi guys, it’s Riet here. Today I want to show you my Raven Nest Journal. It’s about my spirit animal that I discovered last year. I dedicated a whole journal...
How to create a collage of hands
Hey Messians. It's Nina here with a fun and simple idea for your next art journal spread. Since we're in the season of Gifts I thought it only appropriate to make this piece about...
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...
Using Commonplace Books as a Weapon Against Perfectionism
Failure The last time I counted back to see how long I’ve been keeping commonplace books, I thought it’d been about twelves years or so, but since then I’ve found...
Connecting to Culture: Creating a Paper Theatre in Your Journal
Ubuntu Elly here, adding my thoughts to the Season of Ubuntu. We have all had weeks now to wrap our minds around the concept of Ubuntu and part of my thought process has been...
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 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!
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.
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.
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 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 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 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...
How to use lines expressively
Art 101 Hello Messians! I'm so excited to be back on the creative team this year and today I am sharing a very simple how-to guide for creating expressive lines in your pages....
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...
10 Songs 10 Minutes 10 Pages
When I’m staring at a blank sketchbook or art journal page, feeling the call to create but at a loss for where to start, I often turn to music. A good song can evoke so much. I draw from...
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...
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...
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...
Easy watercolor tiny book
Hey messy people! Nina here. When you’re taking on a huge project – like a daily challenge or a 30 lists album – it can prove quite necessary to take a shortcut on some things. Like the...
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...
Writing letters to your past self
Hello everyone, Nina here. One of the most humbling experiences in life is learning just how much we don’t know. As we get older we realize that the things we used to be one hundred...
A guide to hand lettering
Hand lettering is something that everyone can do. I think it’s really important to embrace your writing, it’s part of you and your personality. I love to use my handwriting on my journal...
Quieten the Itty-Bitty-Shitty Committee
Holly guides you through mindful art practice to go from unkind self words to positive affirmations.
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...
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!...
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...
Lesson 5: Interviews From Expert Artists on their Muses
Inspiration Learn From The Experts!I've rounded up four artists who came to my mind immediately when I began thinking about this season to share with you today....
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...
Joy Notes and being inspired by yourself
Freedom Ali Ali Brown is a wife, mother, teacher, intercessor, singer, musician, photographer, filmographer and artist. She is a life scribe who has kept a journal for as...
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...
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...
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...
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.
Using a spinner to move through seasons of life
This tutorial introduces the use of a simple spinner element.
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.
Using a Traveler’s Notebook to Tell Your Story
Use ephemera from your everyday life to create a story using Traveler’s Notebooks.
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.
Photographic Abstraction: Using Cropped Images to Focus on the Details
Create your own abstract images by zooming in and cropping your photos interesting ways and then use these photos to share the details of your stories.
Paper dolls: making your illustrations interactive.
For our final play date of the season we are making paper dolls. Animal, monster, human, cartoon superhero? Turn your illustrations into moving characters.
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...
Scar Tissue: creating collaged hands of forgiveness
Kindness Hey everyone. Tiffany here with my very first post on the Get Messy blog as a Creative Team member! I'm so excited to begin sharing with you all different ways to...
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
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...
How to use the language of flowers in your art
Nature Hi creative peeps! It’s Riet here. I can’t believe it’s nearly the end of my time as creative team member. I feel quite nostalgic writing this as I can remember the...
Using thread and vintage elements to connect to the past
Connections Hello Messians, Vanessa here for the first tutorial of the Season of Connections. I don't know about you, but for me the idea of connection is definitely related...
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...
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...
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...
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....
Including interactive elements in your art journal pages
Fairy Tales Hey messy artists! It’s Riet here, talking about my favorite art journal theme! Eek! If you know me you know every time is fairy tale time for me! This season is...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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....
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...
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...
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...