Smash Book or Hand-Made Journal?
I have now used my pink Smash book as an art journal for so long that I can summarize my experiences of using it as an art journal. During the time I have used my book, I have noticed that other brands too have published similar kind of books with pre-decorated pages. I am certain that many are tempted to buy them but wonder if they really work as art journals.
Good Jumpstart
I started my “pretty art journal” about a year ago. I also have other art journals but I have noticed that I grab this one more than others. I think that one reason is that it offers easy jumpstarts for doodling and writing. Sometimes they can be annoying. Like the page with a map background, seen above. I never liked that spread until a few days ago when I wanted to journal about the places that I want to visit. The background was perfect for the theme.
Art journaling is very difficult to commercialize from start to finish. It’s creativity and self-expression that matter, not the products used. But there’s a great deal of talk about blank page syndrome and all the art journal guides list tips for how to get started. I think that Smash book like journals can offer the easy starting point for many. I am especially fond of the thing that I can start to decorate a page and leave it unfinished for a while. With decorated paper in the background, it looks fine. I often add one of two details here and there and then finish the pages later.
All in all, I think that Smash book can work as an art journal but I also think that if you really want the book to look more personal, use a blank book or make one yourself.
Hand-Made Journal
This one is my favorite art journal. A hand-made journal from start to finish. It’s my own guide for creative living. “Rules and regulations,” it says!
It documents my philosophy for creating and living. Could not use Smash book here!
I end this blog post with these noble statements, feel free to borrow any!
From Art Journaling To Fabric Design
This time I want to show how I use my art to make designs. Some may think that art journaling and art in general is very far way from design. But that’s not true. You can grab inspiration and ideas from art and it can be very straight forward.
Remember the art journal page I made about women loving historical dramas? It grabbed my attention while I was searching for ideas for a new fabric design. See the yellow-orange ornament on the right corner? I liked the way it was structured.
So I redraw it and tried how it would work as a repeat.
After that I opened Adobe Illustrator and created a digital version of it. I do not usually scan my doodles even if you can do so. I like to understand the structure of the ornament first and then fine-tune it while re-creating it.
Another thing that I like to do is to leave some asymmetry to the motif. I think it looks more interesting that way.
When choosing colors I decided to imitate the contrasts in the art journaling page. I created two colour combinations and three sizes for test prints.
This is how they came out! See my Etsy store for more photos!
When art journaling I am often filled with ideas and details. I have found out that it is not a good thing for me to try to control the creative flow then. To design is to simplify. Later one image can offer jumpstart to many designs. I still see many details on this page that I could use for designs.
An art journal can be your mini world, the best sourcebook for any pattern design!
Photo Album Art Journaling
I have tried to find easy ways to do art journal pages when I only have little time for it. I had a couple of small empty photo albums so I thought why not! People already scrapbook by inserting photos and journal cards to photo pockets so there’s not much difference to that!
These are all 4 by 6 inches pages!I do still art journal in bigger size too. Here’s a new page for my “pretty art journal“. I think it goes fairly well with the page I made earlier.
And here are some greeting cards that I have made recently. The world really is full of color and that inspires me every day!
Pretty Art Journaling
I have started to wonder: is there only one style in art journaling? Is it only for those who are ready to explore with paint and who are not afraid of getting messy. And scrapbooking: is it about using commercial products and aiming for pretty pages?
Can’t there be pretty art journaling?
I bought this pink Smash book some time ago. The pages were so pretty I could not put any mess over them. And my style of making scrapbooks was not suitable for them either. But after getting fed up with messy mixed media, I dared to open it and just make it pretty!
So why not glue all the pretty stuff to your art journal? Add lace and frills and anything you find beautiful!
I added both commercial products and my own hand decorated papers to the page. Even my handwriting is a bit more controlled than how I usually write.
Finished Journal
>> See the flip-through video of this art journal!
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