Art Journal Catalysts

How to make an envelope journal

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...

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It’s Happening Now: Making Art Fast and Slow to Create a Page of Opposites

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.

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Creating a mixed media self portrait

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...

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How to combine contrasting media

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...

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Textured Backgrounds for Journal Pages

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...

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Flowers of Freedom with the Gelli Plate

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...

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The paintbrush of power: Using comics and cartoons to turn yourself into a superhero

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.

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How to paint intuitively

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...

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Art journal your spirit animal

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...

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How to create a collage of hands

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...

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Creating maps to illustrate the seasonal landscape

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!

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Creating a Seasonal Mood Board

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.

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Storyboard Sunday: Using comic book panels to tell your tale

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.

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Scavenger Hunt: Get inspired by your neighborhood

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.

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Seeing patterns: Carve your own rotating stamp

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.

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Knitted with love: Using yarn to create pattern and texture

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.

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Translating Music to Paper

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...

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How to journal with leaves

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...

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How to make an accordion folded journal

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...

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How to give your figures colourful hair

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...

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How to work with negative space

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...

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How to use lines expressively

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....

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Art Journaling with Children

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...

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10 Songs 10 Minutes 10 Pages

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...

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Drawing inspiration from Andy Warhol

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...

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A beginner’s guide to drawing faces

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...

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Easy watercolor tiny book

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...

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Creating and filling an accordion album

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...

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Art with gelli plates

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...

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Writing letters to your past self

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...

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A guide to hand lettering

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...

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Documenting the Roller Coaster

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...

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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...

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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. 

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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....

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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