Artist Journal

 What is an Artist Journal?

An Artist Journal is a book kept by an artist as a visual, and sometimes verbal, record of her/his thoughts and ideas. Art journals generally combine visual journaling and writing, to create finished pages.

 Goals:

1. Explore new techniques- printing/collage/origami/3D effects 
2. Try different mediums- paint/ pastel/ markers/ watercolor/mixed media/ colored pencils
3. Practice art skills and concepts- drawing/ painting/Elements of Art and principles of design
4. Play around with different color combinations
5. Write your thoughts
6. Have your own theme/ idea
7. Develop a personal artistic style  

Here are a few things you can use art journaling for:
Art journaling can give you the space to get all of those feelings out and express yourself, rather than bottling all of those heavy emotions up inside. Art journaling can reflect thinking and grow both personally and spiritually, it can connect with that inner artist and awaken your creative gifts that you may not even be aware you have yet.

Artist Journal Ideas

Developing mini ideas from scratch.  Brainstorming ideas:

• 1. Introduce yourself! Draw or paint a self-portrait.
• 2. Draw some of the items you bought recently.
• 3. Create a map of your favorite place, real or 
• imagined.
• 4. Draw a favorite childhood memory.
• Go for a nature walk and collect flowers
•  or leaves
• 5. Write about your walk and why you gathered
•  these items.
• 6. Paste old photos and doodle on top of them
•  using markers.
• 7. Fill a page with geometric shapes.
• 8. Illustrate what’s in your bag.
• 9. Draw your favorite pet.
• 10. Hand a letter /an inspiring quote or a personal
• 11. A mantra from your favorite books or articles.
• 12. Randomly take pictures outdoors.
• 13. Randomly sketch an object 
• 14. Draw what you see outdoors. 
• 15. What’s Your Favorite Word?
• 16. What’s Your Favorite Song/Lyrics?
• 17. Think About Your Bucket List.
• 18. Use Geometry.
• 19. Draw A Mandala.
• 20. Do You Have A Favorite Flower?
• 21. Doodle Faces.
• 22. Do You Have A Favorite Quote?
• 23. Use Positive Affirmations.
• 24. Use A Photo That You Love.
•  25. What Are You Thankful For?
• 26. Use Magazine Photos.
• 27. Use Paper Scraps To Make A Collage.
• 28. Practice Calligraphy.
• 29. Doodle On Black Paper With A White Pen Or Marker.
• 30. How Do You Feel Today?
• 31. What Would You Do If Money Was No Concern?
• 32. Constellations.
• 33. The Advice You’d Give To Your Younger Self.
• 34. What’s The Weather Like Today?
• 35. What’s The Season?
• 36. The Universe.
• 37. Your Favorite Poem.
• 38. A Memory From Childhood
• 39. Friendship
• 40. Beautiful Scenery
• 41. A Favor Song

 Artist Journal Prompts

What should be included in the artist's journal cover?

Rubric-

1.Theme / Idea

         2. Text- Calligraphy/ lettering

3.  Observational drawing Images

4.  Collage/ found objects/ photos 

5.   Should have an Art Styles ( please click on it)

         6. Different mediums  

First assignment 

Go outdoors and Take 6-10 pictures:

Create your own categories and add your thoughts in

Something interesting

something up

something under

something inspirational

something alive

something moving 

something fixed

something designed 

something crawled 

something fast

something slow

something wet

something dry

something colorful

something close-up 

something far

something large 

something small

something geometric 

something organic 

something sharp

something mechanic 

something rough

something soft

something bright

something dark

something complicated

something simple 

something decorative 

something nature

Something completed

Something halfway

Something whole

Something partial

Something high

something low

Something creepy

Something cute

Something wild

Something with perspective 

Something layered

Something bent

Something old

Something new

selfie

Any more?

How are you going to use these pictures?'

These are the ideas Ms. of students. Ms. Hsieh copied from the chat :

I might draw the same thing, but have it shaded differently to show a different mood than what was in the original picture

I’m going to bring all the pictures together in a realism drawing

Hybrid (Combine your pictures)- surrealism 

Cut the picture in half and draw the other half

 I am going to draw the same thing but try to change the background and shading

Cut the picture in half and draw/collage the other

I am going to draw the picture in black and white, to change the mood originally implied in the picture, as if all of the colors has been drained away. half.

Draw a mandala pattern using pictures you found

I will make a collage out of my pictures, and creating a design.

Draw a zentangle from a picture

I will use the shaded photo to make a heart shape in the middle and more shade around the edges but bright in a heart shape in the middle.

Recolor the drawing the alternate color

I was going to create a circular flower/plant collage

I can put all my pictures into a potion bottle or perfume bottle.

Some of my pictures can grow from a tree.

I might swap some of the elements, for example, instead of raindrops on the flowers, flowers on the raindrops. Or maybe cut it into pieces and put filters on different parts of the picture

I might put some parts in a painting or a drawing.

I'm going to redesign certain aspects of the photo

I might incorporate them into a drawing of a forest or nature scene.

I will try to find similar photos and put them together like a puzzle

IM going to collage them into one big picture, maybe with more sketches on top of them

ill try to do something with origami

I draw a picture of a potted plant. I could put plant pictures to complement it.

might make all my drawings into a garden scene, with all my sketches as plant life, like the flowers I sketched will be flowers in the garden.

can use my outside in the woods picture and draw my stuff animal that I was going to draw for the draw what you see sketch. Just in the woods.

I might make one big plant out of cut-out pieces of the pictures of the other plants, and I will also have some parts of it as drawings in pencil (collage).

I think that I might take the picture of my pine tree and make it look like one half is cut down to represent deforestation.

I will use my flower pictures and use that to make like a big flower, and someone watering them to make them grow bigger

I will draw a tree with one side black and white, and the other watercolored or colored with oil pastels.

I will use my open door picture and use that to make flowers and plants and a hand reaching out to the outside world

I could draw using a color swap and maybe swap the colors on the image, for example on a flower I could do yellow petals and the middle and stem would be blue

I will draw the bark of a tree peeling off to

 symbolize how trees are dying.

maybe I could use part of the picture in the drawing and draw in the rest of the picture in a few different styles

maybe I'll draw someone lying in the nature I've drawn

maybe I'll change the background color to gray so I change the mood

maybe I could use part of the picture in the drawing and draw in the rest of the picture in a few different styles

maybe I could makes some part of it realistic and make some part of it look less realistic and more like a cartoon, and perhaps another look kind of realistic, but in completely different colors

I might do something with a peach blossom tree, with half man-made, and the other representing nature.

I might cut out the foreground of the picture and draw it, but keep the background as the photograph

Brainstorm Theme:

painting of nostalgia

Painting nostalgia can be linked with the encounters between the photographer and the subjects, hence, new ideas can be generated. Painting becomes a channel through which nostalgic experiences are separated from the desire to go back to the past and transformed into unpredictable new ideas and effects.

Question and Answer from students:

how did you blur the background?

I think there is a feature or something in the portrait thing

Artist Journal Cover - 2

See the following films and continue to finish the cover.

The checklist to the rubric of the cover.

1. What is the text on the cover?

2. What is the collage material on the cover?

3. What is the color combination on the cover?

4. What is the art medium on the cover?

5. What is the observational drawing on the cover? 

5. What is the art style on the cover?

6. How many hours have you worked on the cover?