36 Ideas To Start An Art Journal (Even If You Can’t Draw)
An art journal is an incredibly liberating tool that helps you release stress, process complex emotions and get off that damned phone.
I love a good art journaling session in the garden with a woodsy scented candle burning and a podcast going on my headphones. I doodle stars and flowers absentmindedly or I glue a mixed-media collage with images of Ancient Greece and 1920s flappers from old thrift store magazines.
Sometimes my art journal looks messy and the drawings have the technical skill of a third-grader.
But I just have one regret: that I didn’t start sooner.
Because for years, I really didn’t think art journaling was for me. So let my perfectionism hold me back from what’s now one of my favorite analog pastimes.
So if you’re staring at that first blank page of your own art journal – and wondering if you’ll ever create anything you’re not embarrassed of – then I have one piece of advice.
Just start.
You don’t need the perfect leather-bound sketchbook. You don’t need to be good at drawing. You don’t need a creative background or a curated selection of art supplies.
You just need to know it’s about expressing yourself. It’s about gluing your favorite song lyrics on top of splotches of yellow watercolor. It’s about loosening up and letting go.
It is NOT about the finished product.
An art journal helps you to:
- organize your racing thoughts (without judgment)
- process heavy emotions and navigate difficult times
- give your brain a much-needed offline sanctuary
So if you’re looking for some art journal ideas to kickstart your creativity, you’re in the right place.
I’ve kept an art journal for decades and I know that sometimes you just need a little push to get going.
Here’s my ultimate list of creative prompts and out-of-the-box ideas to start an art journal you’ll actually love.
The zero-pressure warmups:
1. Make a scribble with your eyes closed, then color in the shapes.
2. Make a quick doodle of 3 things you’re grateful for right now. These blessings can be as small as the coffee mug in front of you, the breeze through your window and the soft cotton t-shirt on your back.
3. Make a drawing using one long, continuous line across the page made without lifting your pen.
4. Sketch the scene right in front of you. Whether you’re in bed looking at your nightstand or on the porch gazing up at the moon, sketch the details around you and be present in the moment.
5. Create a visual checklist of your perfect slow morning routine.
6. Make a doodle with colored markers then spray the page with water to create soft shapes and patterns.
7. Paint a page with a single color and then write your current favorite song lyric over it.
The creative constraints and challenges:
8. Create a tribute to your favorite color and fill an entire page with a monochromatic collage using magazine clippings, doodles and paint.
9. Sketch a drawing using only GREEN markers, paints, pencils and images. The human brain thrives under limitations – they engage your brain to come up with creative solutions.
10. Draw 30 birds (or cars, or flowers or buildings) in 30 days. This kind of month-long repetition improves your technical skills and your powers of observation.
11. Document your week in ephemera. Collect items you randomly come across in your everyday life, like the flyers in your mailbox, ticket stubs, receipts, restaurant napkins and to-do lists. Create a collage using these items.
12. Fill an entire page with only 1 kind of shape. Make a drawing using circles only, or create a collage using only squares.
13. Make a drawing with two colors. Find two colors that you think look great together and create a drawing using only those two colors.
The nature-inspired pages:
14. Sketch some elements found in nature. Spend an evening at your local park drawing the curvy branches of the maple trees. Or fill a vase with grocery store flowers and draw the interlacing patterns of rose petals.
15. Fill an entire page with leaves and flowers. Botanical sketches are calming, easy and satisfying to create.
16. Gather a few leaves, flowers and shrubs growing in your neighborhood. Press these into your journal until they’re flat, then glue them into a page that documents the nature around you and the changing of the seasons.
The emotional and subconscious releases:
17. Sketch a giant keyhole and then draw an imaginary scene that lays just beyond it.
18. Draw a mountain range and write down your most ambitious dreams at the highest peaks.
19. Fill a page with your favorite childhood memories. Sketch a memorable teenage summer roadtrip to a national park or the cover of your favorite YA series growing up.
20. Depict an emotion. Pick an emotion like happiness, grief, calm or anger. Then fill a page with words, images, shapes and colors that best represent that emotion to you.
21. Draw or sketch images from a recent weird dream you had. Use colors and shapes to depict how it made you feel.
22. Draw or collage a representation of your safe space, whether that’s an imaginary meadow in the woods or your favorite library corner or wild beach.
23. Draw a night sky and fill it with your worst fears and anxieties.
The tactile and mixed-media play:
24. Fill a page with watercolor dots. First wet the entire page with a paintbrush dipped in water. Then make little dots with watercolor paint and watch as they bloom and bleed into unexpected patterns.
25. Sew colorful stitches straight into your journal paper with a needle and embroidery thread.
26. Sketch a map of your city and make small drawings of your favorite points (your regular coffee shop, favorite shopping arcade, best friend’s house, local botanical garden, etc).
27. Create a small vision board for the week ahead. Vision boards are hugely popular in January when everyone’s looking at the year ahead. Create a miniature version that represents your perfect week.
28. Create a visual dopamine list. Draw, collage and paint your ultimate list of items that bring you immediate happiness from a vase of wildflowers to ginger tea before bed.
29. Create an abstract painting. Let your hand intuitively guide your brush to create shapes and patterns. Don’t think too much about painting any particular object.
30. Apply a thick layer of acrylic paint to a page and then scratch a doodle into it with a toothpick.
31. Experiment with coffee and tea stains to create a vintage style collage.
32. Glue down labels from your favorite drinks, canned food and produce to create a collage that’s a homage to your favorite seasonal treats.
33. Cut a large image from a magazine and personalize it by doodling and painting over the image.
34. Use scotch tape to create a pattern, paint over it and then peel the tape away.
35. Dedicate a page to swatching art supplies and colors that you haven’t used yet.
36. Make a doodle with a light-colored wax crayon and then paint over it with a dark watercolor.
Read next:
Nature Journaling: An Essential Guide (+8 Tips To Start)
Can’t Stick To Journaling? Try These 4 Simple Hacks
10 Ways To Live A More Analog (And Satisfying) Life
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