Art Journaling for Beginners: Combining Visual and Written Expression

An art journal is a personal space where words and images coexist. It is not a sketchbook (though it can include sketches) and not a diary (though it can include writing). It is a hybrid form that uses color, texture, collage, drawing, and writing to process experiences, explore ideas, and create without the pressure of making “art.”

What Is an Art Journal?

At its simplest, an art journal is a notebook where you combine visual and written elements. A page might include a watercolor wash background with a journal entry written over it. Another might feature a collage of magazine clippings alongside a poem. Another might be purely visual — an abstract expression of a mood you cannot put into words.

There are no rules. That freedom is both the form’s greatest appeal and its greatest barrier for beginners who ask, “But what do I do?”

Getting Started: Materials

Essential

• A notebook with thick paper (at least 90gsm, ideally 160gsm+ to handle wet media). The Archer & Olive is popular for art journaling due to its ultra-thick pages.
• A pencil
• A few colored pens or markers
• A glue stick

Nice to Have

• Watercolor paints (a basic set of 12 is plenty)
• Washi tape
• Old magazines for collage
• Stamps and ink pads
• Brush pens (which also work for calligraphy practice)
• Gesso (white primer for covering pages and creating texture)

Not Needed

• Expensive supplies
• Artistic talent
• A plan

Simple Techniques for Beginners

Background Washes

Apply a thin layer of watercolor or acrylic paint across a page. Let it dry. Write or draw over it. The color transforms a blank white page into something that already feels alive and removes the intimidation of starting from nothing.

Collage

Cut images, text, and patterns from magazines, junk mail, or printed material. Arrange and glue them onto a page. Collage requires no drawing skill and produces visually rich pages. Write around, over, or between the collaged elements.

Layering

Build pages in layers. Start with a background (paint, paper, tape). Add a middle layer (images, stamps, more paint). Finish with writing and detail work. Layering creates depth and visual interest even with simple techniques.

Text as Art

Write words in different sizes, directions, and colors. Repeat a meaningful word across the page. Write a sentence in a spiral. Let the text itself become a visual element, not just content.

The “Bad Art” Page

Intentionally make the ugliest page you can. Use clashing colors, messy handwriting, random marks. This exercise destroys the preciousness that prevents beginners from starting. Once you have made a terrible page, every subsequent page feels less intimidating.

Prompts for Art Journal Pages

• Color your mood. Choose colors that represent how you feel today. Cover a page with those colors. Write a few words over them.
• Collage your week. Find images that represent your week’s experiences. Arrange them. Add captions.
• Illustrate a memory. Draw or paint a scene from a memory, however roughly. Write the story alongside it.
• Altered text. Glue a page from an old book into your journal. Black out most of the words with a marker, leaving a found poem from the remaining text.
• Texture page. Use tape, fabric scraps, sand, leaves, or anything textured. Glue them in and write about texture, touch, and the physical world.

Art Journaling vs. Traditional Journaling

Traditional journaling processes experience through language. Art journaling processes experience through both language and visual expression. Some emotions and experiences resist words — they are felt in the body, expressed in color and gesture, understood through image rather than sentence.

If you find that traditional journaling sometimes feels limited, or if you process the world visually, art journaling offers a complementary channel. Many people maintain both a written journal and an art journal, using each for different purposes.

Overcoming the “I Can’t Draw” Barrier

You do not need to draw. Art journaling is not about illustration. It is about expression. Collage requires scissors, not drawing skill. Background washes require a brush, not technical ability. Written text can be the visual element itself.

And even if you do draw, the drawings in an art journal are for you. They do not need to be realistic, proportional, or skilled. A stick figure next to a genuine journal entry about loneliness can be more powerful than a technically perfect portrait.

The Practice

Like all journaling, art journaling benefits from consistency. You do not need to create elaborate pages every day. Some days, a page is just a color wash and three words. Other days, you spend an hour layering and writing and cutting and pasting.

The goal is not to produce beautiful pages. The goal is to show up, express something true, and leave a record of your inner life that is richer for including both words and images. Start messy. Stay curious. The art journal will teach you what it wants to become.