Hello! I’m back with another Art Journaling for Beginners post for you. This My Favorite Things page is perfect for beginners just starting to art journal, or even for experienced artists who are experiencing a bit of a block. This page celebrates your favorite things, and is what I call a “living page” which means that it’s never quite finished, and you can always add more favorite things to it later on.
We’ll be using minimal supplies, and doing some basic doodling. Don’t worry if you’re not super skilled at doodling or don’t know what to draw. You can always use magazine pictures or printouts, but I do recommend giving doodling a try. If you’re not quite sure what image works best for the thing you’re trying to draw, look up doodles online for inspiration. Let’s get started.
Check out my recommended beginner art journal supply list, too!
My Favorite Things Page | Art Journaling for Beginners
Supplies:
- Watercolor paints
- Markers
- Pencil
- Micron Pen (or other waterproof pen)
- Gel pens: white, glitter, metallic, etc.
Let’s start by making a background for our page. The key to art journaling is layers, and you always want to start with a background. I took 4 of my favorite colors, and watered them down to make pastel shades. I used pink, blue, purple, and peach. Then I took one color at a time, and made big blotches on the page. I kept filling in with different spots of color until the whole page was full, and let it dry.
I wanted a centered title for this page, so I used a purple marker to make 3 blocks of color in the center of the page. It looks a bit blotchy, because this poor marker was almost out of ink! It looks purposely textured though, so keep in mind that even if something doesn’t go exactly as you wanted it to, it can still end up looking really cool. I let the marker dry completely, and then used my white gel pen to write a title in the blocks.
Now we’re going to be working in pencil a bit. I highly recommend using pencil when you’re doodling, and then going over the drawings with pen. This allows you to experiment and make mistakes without it being permanent. I started by drawing some drop shadows on the title blocks.
Then I started going around the page and doodling images of my favorite things. Coffee, art, makeup, music, writing, and photography. I have lots of favorite things, but these are the big ones. So I drew all my little doodles, make sure there was lots of extra space to add more onto the page later if I want to. I made sure that I was happy with how it looked, then I took my fine micron pen and traced all the lines.
I let the pen dry for about 20 minutes. Always let pen and marker dry longer than you think might be necessary, because it helps prevent smearing and ink can often still be wet even when it looks or feels dry. Then I took an eraser and gently erased all the pencil marks. Next I grabbed my pen again and drew in some extra little details, like the wrapper on the coffee cup and the hash marks on the drop shadows.
If you like the look of plain pen doodles, you can leave them as is. Or, you can do what I did and color them in with marker and pen! I also took a glitter pen and wen over the title, and used a silver metallic pen to color in the electronics and the shiny surfaces like mirrors.
Then I took my micron pen again and added little titles to my favorite things to clarify what the doodles were for, since a doodle of a notepad and pen can stand for many different things.
And we’re all done! I added in a couple little hearts here and there too. There’s plenty of space to add in more favorites later, but it also looks like a finished page as is! I hope you all enjoy trying this my favorite things page!
