Tutorial: Start With a Strong Image

Today we're going to explore art journaling pages that incorporate a strong image from a magazine.  I have to admit that this is a type of art journaling I rarely do.  But it's wildly popular.  And my favorite master of this technique is Teesha Moore.  These are two of her intensely colored, doodled, and collaged masterpieces:

Aren't they amazing!?  Be sure to check out her blog.  I'm hoping that I'll have the opportunity to take a class with her one of these days at her events ArtFest and/or JournalFest!  Wouldn't that be awesome?

There are many, many ways to approach this style of art journaling.  And today I thought I'd take you through the basics of my version of creating an art journal page with a strong image from a magazine.

I'm starting with a prepped notebook (i.e. masking taped and gessoed):

STEP ONE: Paint your Background.

I painted the background with blue acrylic paint.

STEP TWO: Gather Some Images.

I collected a bunch of magazine pages...

...and then cut out the bits and pieces that I liked.  I'm not committed to anything.  I probably won't use most of them.

Psst!  See the crown?  I cut that free hand from the perfume ad in the upper right corner.  Remember, you don't just have to cut out existing images.  You can use the magazine pages as patterned paper.

STEP THREE: Create Your Central Image

I played with all my cut outs and then glued down the combination that I liked the best.

I used multi-medium to adhere the pieces.  I applied it with a brush both under and on top of the magazine pieces.  One of the things that I like about multi-medium is that it doesn't get sticky the way mod podge does.

Then I like to embellish the central image and add some hand painted bits.  In this case I drew some hair and then painted it in.

You'll notice that the magazine face is very wrinkly.  You can be more careful and flatten it out while you're gluing it on. However I'm lazy and I don't care that much.  Thus, the wrinkles are a-okay with me!

After the hair, I embellished the face.

Notice how free my painting is.  I don't try to make it perfect.  I just have fun! It helps to bring some personality to the face.

Finally, I outlined the image with black paint.  This helps to unite the magazine and paint together.  (And do you see the cute little red belt I added to her outfit?)

STEP FOUR: Decorate the Page

I started by doodling and painting on the left side of the two-page spread.

Then I cut some pieces from this magazine page...

...and added them to the doodle.  It really looks like I took a ton of time to collage together a bunch of patterned paper, doesn't it?  Love that!

Next step was to add some doodling that travelled across the page.

I used a black Permapaque pen to create the triangles along the right side and the circles.  Again, the secret here is just to do it and not think too much about it.  My circles are wonky.  My triangles are not straight.  And I love the way they look!

Finally, use acrylic paint to color in the circles and triangles.

STEP FIVE: Add Journaling.

I added my journaling next.

Don't worry too much about what to say.  Look at your image and think about what it's saying to you.  What were you thinking when you created that image?  Many people also use journaling prompts to get themselves started.

Once I had written my journaling I colored it in with a white paint pen.

STEP SIX: Embellish, embellish, embellish!

This is the step that transforms an ordinary journal spread into something wonderful!  Attention to detail is a must!

The first thing I like to do is fill in the empty spaces.  A heart fills the gap between the top text and the big word "heart."

The empty space to the left of her head is filled with a painted doodle.

I brought some of the red color over to the left side with a dashed line of red paint.

And then I went to town with a white Uniball Signo!

And this is the final result:


If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment and I'll get back to you!

Thanks for stopping by!