How To Make An Art Journal

First off you will need some materials to start art journaling. You will need a blank book of some kind, I prefer to use unlined journals but lined note book will work just as well as anything else! Journals are easy to find anywhere including online and note books can be found at practically any store.

You will need scissors, make sure they easily cut paper and are comfortable to use. You will also need some tape or glue. If you are using glue then either a glue stick of liquid glue will work. If you are using tape I would recommend clear scotch tape, scotch tape is a good brand that is quality, other tapes do not stick nearly as well.

You will also need a pen, maybe markers, a writing tool of some sort. If you prefer to work with crayons get those, if you like markers do the same, pens, pencils, all the same. You will also need some magazines, with pictures you enjoy.
Do not get magazines that you will not cut apart.

You will also need a open, clean place to work. A empty table top or clean space on the floor will do just fine.

Once you have gathered your material you may move on to the next step.

You have you stack of magazines, yes?
You may be looking at them and get over whelmed, what picture do you pick out, what do you use?

First off take a deep breath, especially if what I just said started to make your breathing faster. Now I can't tell you what to pull out more then saying pull out what looks good, remember to check both sides of the page. Some times there's something on both sides of the page I want, but the problem is if I cut one of them out I would cut through the other. Sometimes you just have to decide which one you like better, or if you have a copier you can copy one of the sides and then have one of each of the pictures.

Choose the pictures that fit your mood, or what you want to express/create. Cut these pictures out, you can make clean cuts or wavy cuts, remember they don't all have to be straight lines. Now if you found a perfect picture except it has a cat, and you don't want to have the cat, you will be much happier if you just cut out the cat, put something over the cat so you don't see it. :)

You may also cut out words or letters from the magazines to use later, your pages may need a phrase or you may want to just say something, yes you can use a pen but sometime collaging letters and words can be fun too!

Now that you have chosen and cut out you pictures you may continue to the next step.

Now you need to choose your page, you do not have to start non the first page in the journal, you can choose a page n the middle! I like to close my eyes and open the journal to where it feels right and start my new page there. If you want to know the order you did the pages in you still don't have to start front to back, just date your pages just like in a normal journal.

Pick a page, now that you have your page you can start. Many people will like to color their page before the start adding pictures. Some people color with paint, crayons, markers, or pencils. If you color your pages with paint you will need to wait until your page is completely dry before moving on, and consider leaving a blank space, white space on the page for the little bit of writing you may want to end up doing.

After the before steps you can continue to lay out your pictures.
Note: Do not glue or tape any of he pictures down yet!
For now just arrange the pictures, find out exactly where you want them to to go,
add your phrases you are making with words or letter you cut out earlier.
The point to laying things out first is to make sure you like the end result, as well as seeing if anything else needs trimming before you glue or tape it to your page.

Once you have everything laid out just right, things are trimmed to fit perfectly then you may proceed!

Now that you have decided how you would like everything, and it's trimmed and laid out you may start to actually stick the picture to the page.

Tip: If you are using tape, make sure you tape all fours corners of your picture clip to keep corners from curling.

Start to tape or glue your pictures to the page , yes you may over lap the pictures if you want to. It's your art journal the rules are really up to you.

Once you have finished gluing or taping the pictures to your journal you may continue to the next step!

Now that you have finished with your pictures you can move on to design!
Design is my favorite, often I will do entire pages of design with not many pictures at all!

Design is done with your writing tools, markers or pencils, pens, glitter what ever!
You can add little designs to your page, little swirls lines etc.. it's basically just like doodling. Your doodling designs that are relevant to your emotions for this page.

Here is a little about doodling: Doodling 101.

Adding glitter, designs, etc really can liven up a journal page!

Now that you have done everything else you can just add the final touches. What are the final touches? Only you know, they could be final designs, pictures, colors and adding the dating of the page!

About dating the page, you can use several different date formats here are some examples:

Saturday, February 21, 2009
2,21,09
February 21, 09
21,2,09
2,21,2009
Got it?

Now that you have finished up all the small little things and dated the page you can add your signature, or pen name, initial, etc.

And Walla! Your Done!

Making art journal pages when you first start may be slightly time consuming or hard, you may need reference several times during the process. That's ok. It will get easier, you will get better. Just as everything else in life it takes practice, and consistency.

You will also notice as time goes by your art journal pages will get better, cleaner, they will start to show more of you, become more personal.

Still need a little more help, want something to keep handy on your bookshelf? I recommend checking out Doodle Diary: Art Journaling for Girls because it might be just what you need to really get going!