7 TIPS for a STUNNING Art Journal Page - Art By Marlene - 4 pages
Updated: Mar 1, 2022
The more I create Art Journal Pages, the closer I get to realizing which techniques made some pages more stunning than others, here I am sharing what I found out so far, I hope you find it helpful!
Background:
You can create an awesome background full of texture with distress inks, watercolors, or dylusion sprays. Be creative when using these media, you can either :
spray the inks then spray water to distress the background.
Wet your paper with water with a big brush, then add your watercolors
or, spray your working surface, my glass mat here, with the inks then repeatedly place your paper "smooshing" it against your mat on different areas on the paper until you like the given texture.
On this project I used the smooshing technique.
2. Extra texture:
After your background is dry, stamp more texture on top to make your background even more rich. use any mini doodle stamps, I used here Art by Marlene Mini Texture Stamp Set , Dramatic Dots Set and Mix & Match Set . Use black ink or a color darker than your background when stamping.
3. Fine Touches:
Add fine touches to your doodle stamped texture, I always come back after stamping the texture on my background with my white gel pen or acrylic markers to color or add some sketchy lines to my texture.
4. Set the Scene:
Set the scene around your focal point to show where they are. For example in the page where a grandma is standing, I gave her a ground or a washi tape to stand on.
If you have a bird, give it a branch to stand on and some clouds around. Also note that I wanted to make my crab be floating in the ocean so I gave it no ground.
5. Dimension:
Adding different dimension levels gives a variety to your art journal page. Mostly my focal point. Almost all the time, I add foam tape behind my focal point to raise above the background. It creates this awesome natural shadow around the image.
Focal element could be a paper element or a stamped image that you color, die cut then add to your journal. Here I used some Art by Marlene So-fish-ticated Paper Elements and So-fish-ticated stamp set.
6. Embellish your page:
Use any embellishing elements from your stash, anything that matches your scene, focal point and background. It could be enamel dots, glossy accents, buttons, hearts, stickers or gems. I always go to enamel dots, I have a variety of colors and sizes so I can find what matches my projects.
7. Last & IMPORTANT: Store your Page
Always decide how/where you want to store your art journal page once the project is complete. Do not just leave it on your desk, it will end up in your drawer. Add it to a frame and hang it, insert it into a binder, create an art journal booklet, or into an already-made booklet.
Here I used a 4X4 binder by Paige Evans and taped each page on a black background and punched in colorful eyelets to create a stunning art journal 😍😍
I have a step by step video tutorial on my YouTube Channel, you can also watch it below!
Thank you for stopping by!
