Collage

Circles seem to show up a lot in my art journals. I thought I’d share the steps I took to create a recent journal spread.

This photo of plates was in a home decor magazine and I thought it would make a great foundation for a journal spread. I cut it out and glued it down.

Then I added some lines that line up with the cut away parts of the plates. These will add some structure for the doodles I will add later.

I thought that the bottom right side of the composition needed another colorful circle to balance those on the left. It also added another cut-away area for more doodles.

I added a doodle pattern to the center area.

I though some more airy doodles would contrast nicely with the more dense area in the middle.

And to complete the spread, I add some connecting doodles to pull the everything together.

Supplies used in this journal spread (These are affiliate links. This means that if you click on the link and buy certain items, I will receive a small commission (at no extra cost to you) to help keep the lights on in the studio.)

• Moleskine Sketchbook, Large
• Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pen – Black, Super Fine Nib
• Elmer’s Extra Strength Glue Stick
• Scissors

I was intrigued the first time I heard of Zentangles®. I tried the method but decided it was too structured for me. Every now and then I like to try out various tangle patterns to create a Zentangle inspired art journal spread.

I stared this spread out by gluing down some magazine images.

Then I drew some dividing lines using the edges of the photos as guides. Then I went to tanglepatterns.com to find patterns to fill in the rectangles. I also chose red and yellow and yellow markers to add colors to the design.

Here I added another pattern.

And here is a third.

And a fourth. When adding the final patterns, I chose to use duplicate patterns in opposite corners. I also repeated a pattern 4 times and colored the corners in with a black marker.

Here is the completed Zentangle inspired art journal spread.

Supplies used in this journal spread (These are affiliate links. This means that if you click on the link and buy certain items, I will receive a small commission (at no extra cost to you) to help keep the lights on in the studio.)

• Moleskine Sketchbook, Large
• Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pen – Black, Super Fine Nib
• Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pen – Black, Brush Nib
• Elmer’s Extra Strength Glue Stick
• Scissors
• Tombow Dual Brush Pens

I love to read and also love the look of words on a page, I decided to create and art journal spread using text.

First, I tore some magazine pages into squarish shapes and started gluing them in my journal.

I decided to make the pieces on the right sized of the spread larger to add some contrast to the design.

Then I used a black brush marker to color in the areas between the text.

Next, I used fine tip markers to doodle squiggly lines over the text. I really like how this looks, but felt like it could use something to tie all the pieces together.

So, I used a white gel pen to add connecting lines between the shapes.

And any spread can be improved by adding circles. At this point, I am satisfied the the result.

Supplies used in this journal spread (These are affiliate links. This means that if you click on the link and buy certain items, I will receive a small commission (at no extra cost to you) to help keep the lights on in the studio.)

• Moleskine Sketchbook, Large
• Elmer’s Extra Strength Glue Stick
• Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pen – Black, Brush Nib
• Stabilo Point 88 Fineliner Pens
• Sakura Gelly Roll Pen – White, Medium

I saw an art journal spread on Instagram using house shapes. Since I love everything about houses, I decided to create my own house-based spread.

I chose photos of interiors for the house shape because I love home design and nesting. And because I also love getting out and exploring, I chose nature photos for the roof shapes.

Here are the houses and roofs glued down in my art journal.

I then outlined the houses with a thick black line and added some lines to create spaces to add doodle pattern to.

Here I started the doodle patterns with parallel lines using a thinner pen.

I added a checkerboard pattern in the upper center space.

I added a variation of the checkerboard pattern to add variation while keeping some continuity in the design.

I wanted to add even more contrast to the outer areas, so used a different pattern that has more black areas.

For the bottom areas I repeated patterns from the top areas, but in a different order and with some minor variations.

Supplies used in this journal spread (These are affiliate links. This means that if you click on the link and buy certain items, I will receive a small commission (at no extra cost to you) to help keep the lights on in the studio.)