Art Journal #1

 Last weekend, I started an art journal where each page has a different prompt for me to follow. I chose a blank sketchbook with heavy-duty paper and wrote a prompt out on each page. I've been pretty inspired by Wreck This Journal and Create This Book videos on YouTube, but I don't have the money (or patience) to order one on Amazon so here's my version. I thought I'd share the pages I made so far for an easy, simple blog post. This might be first non-fashion blog post, so let me know if you'd like to see some more art spreads like this in the future!

Here's the first in the book. The prompt I chose says, "all about your favourites." On the right are little doodles I did with coloured pencils of some things I like! When I draw with pencils, I always outline in pencil first, then colour in, go back and fix anything and finally outline with a thin black marker. It's essentially a Sharpie, but so much better since it doesn't have a toxic smell and won't bleed through the pages. Since they smudge, however I used packing tape to seal in. For the left page, I thought it would be cute to do a list on a clipboard of my favourite things that you can't exactly draw. I used gel pens to fill in the bubble letters, which took soooo long. Definitely worth it, though!

I love stickers, so I added some of my favourite ones here. The right page is totally empty, but I'll fill it out over time. I am very proud of my handwriting there, though. If only it was always that neat! 

The third page is about making an alteration (something I do very often to my clothes.) Change the shape, colour, etc. of something. I decided to sketch several of the clothing and accessories I've sewed, but change the colours. My button-down skirt in the top-left corner looks so good! I wish it was really those colours. However, I prefer the originals of all the other pieces. 

You can find some of the clothing here:

the star jeans

accessories

the purse

the socks

Doodling is a classic, dignified art form - no, I'm totally just kidding. However, it's very relaxing and never pressuring. I made a doodle page using my pastel markers (except for the yellow - it's very neon.) Never the less (what does that even mean?) this is one of the best pages I did so far. I think it's the perfect amount of cutesy and graphic.

I think this is such a good prompt. Here, the colour combinations are the hair and shirts. The girl on the bottom-right I like the most, obviously. I wish the orange girl's hair was a bit more bouncy and a bit less of a square, but I tried! I use watercolors for some change in art supply variety. I wasn't sure what to do on the left page, so I just tried to do a blendy rainbow background. It came out okay. I painted that on a separate piece of paper, and glued it in with my stub of a glue stick. My sister has named the girls since. The purple-hair is Violet, of course, and blue-haired is Allison. I don't remember the others.

The last page I did was to create an upside-down page here. I used coloured pencils, my black outliner and packing tape to sketch out this girl upside down. The face features were much easier to draw with the paper upside-down or upside-down again (like, with the hair sticking straight up) not to mention the heart on the shirt. However, the hair was much easier to draw with the page facing the proper way. It came out a little stiff - has anyone ever told her to use conditioner? My personal fave touch are how the dangly earrings hang upside-down as well. I gave this girl a laughing expression, pink/purple hair and a rainbow heart on the shirt.

Thanks for reading!