Art Journaling with a literal brain

Discussion in 'Art Journaling' started by bbymks5, Feb 16, 2017.

  1. bbymks5

    bbymks5 Where oh where can it be?!?

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    @ArmyGrl I'm also an INTJ!!! The process should bring enjoyment, so try not to "fight" yourself or your natural tendencies. That's exactly what I'm doing too...trying to force myself to do something completely different than I normally would and then shut down!

    @bcgal00 I love the whimsical look, but I just can't pull if off LOL!! Glad I'm not the only one with more structure!!
     
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  2. ArmyGrl

    ArmyGrl Merlot, Cab, Chard, Reisling - all 4 food groups!

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    I do that too from time to time...delete stuff. That was a tough lesson to learn. Maybe it's the time spent adding elements to a page and rearranging them; but goodness the first time was difficult. Now, no sweat. If it ain't working, good bye
     
  3. mimisgirl

    mimisgirl It's all about ME!

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    So I basically just let myself play - I experiment, pull together things I LIKE and see how I can get them to all work on a page - sometimes I will browse for inspiration first, take a walk, surf the web etc. TO be honest - A LOT of my pages get trashed - they just never come together in a pleasing way - BUT it is not time wasted, because I learn from my playing and see what does and does not work. I used to feel that everything HAD to have a purpose, but really AJ has become therapy for me, so sometimes just the process of doing it - even if I throw it away - is all that matters.

    I like challenges because they give purpose to my page - sort of, lol. BUt some of my FAVE pieces have come from just playing with materials - and that is both digital and in the real world.

    I will also say, even though I have been an artist for years, I only started letting myself play when I met Tangie back in 2011.
     
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  4. sbpoet

    sbpoet Well-Known Member

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    I only started letting myself play at being an artist when I met Tangie – online – at about the same time.
     
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  5. AnneofAlamo

    AnneofAlamo Slippers IN sunshine? Even better!

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    Tangie is the one who showed me I too could play...and now Sharon, we are together helping others to play..that makes me get so happy!
     
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  6. bbymks5

    bbymks5 Where oh where can it be?!?

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    Is it bad that I wish I could just add things to a paper, shake my monitor around and have everything land perfectly into place...just at the beginning anyway?
     
  7. AnneofAlamo

    AnneofAlamo Slippers IN sunshine? Even better!

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    you can add things you know...click on what you want using the control key, and then drag them all over to your canvas. hit enter enter enter bam bam bam until they are all on the canvas!
    Seriously, sometimes, that is how I start! find colors, things, textures that speak to me (hence why so many red and teal things on my pages), and I rearrange, and play, just play....
    not a bad way to start.

    and perfect? doesn't exist, and if that is what you are trying to achieve, you are stressed before it begins.

    the process of rearranging to me, is pure bliss...my memory pages, I have to sit, finish and upload.
    art journaling, I have an AJ WIP it folder. Work in Progress (and an Old Devo Fan). I revisit the TiFFs now and again.
     
  8. bbymks5

    bbymks5 Where oh where can it be?!?

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    I've been playing around this afternoon, but there seems to be this disconnect between my brain and the page at the moment LOL!

     
  9. klee73010

    klee73010 I might have a thing for drummers

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    Art journaling for me has a lot to do with emotions. I like to either express them, or help cultivate them and bring them about. Example: many of my pages are about positivity, either because I was feeling positive, or trying to feel positive. Emotions are so hard to think of in a literal sense for me, that art journaling became the natural flow of those feelings.

    Sometimes a kit can help me work through emotions I am struggling with, but when I am really stuck, I fall back to colors. Red is angry, green is jealous, navy and black are just dark and depressed... bright colors are me trying to get back out of my slumps... etc.
    By focusing on colors, I find a kit that will work, and go with it.

    So... my suggestion would be to attempt a page with colors, more than anything else. Let the act of placing that color, or making that color by whatever techniques or means, be the way you express a feeling, or work through something.

    I don't stop till I've gotten it all out. Sometimes I need two or three layouts to deal/cope... sometimes just one. Sometimes none... it sort of works itself out.

    Like this one... black... dark... I was really feeling upset.... looking at it now, almost 4 months later, and i can still remember the anger and frustration i was feeling, and that the reason for this page had to do with my husband and I and one of our biggest fights ever. It was the second or third layout I'd made to work through that.

    Sorry for the novella... hope it helps.
     
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  10. ArmyGrl

    ArmyGrl Merlot, Cab, Chard, Reisling - all 4 food groups!

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    Oh yea! Another INTJ in ART! I don't always trust what I read on the internet, but I did read that INTJs can struggle a bit with the "creative" side of art. When in art, we tend to be more technical....like architectural design, all axonometric, straight lined and technically perfect.

    BUT, art journaling style is not all technical and perfect. It allows freedom in line through curves and splatters. For my brain, my soul, really, AJ style helps bring me back to center. Helps me move from the order and logic left brain to abstract right brain.

    So, how not to shut down your brain? Try a few tricks maybe. If you are running Photoshop, you can lay a guide down. Im running creative cloud 2017. So I lay a guide by going to View-->New Guide From Layout. Then I set my columns to 3 and rows to 3 in order to keep true to the "rule of thirds." My order and logic brain loves the lines. And my canvas is no longer "blank". I have imaginary grid lines. From there, find an element (or something) that really speaks to you and bring it to your canvas. A one by one approach with bringing elements over may appeal to your sense of logic and order.
     
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  11. bbymks5

    bbymks5 Where oh where can it be?!?

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    Ohhhh!! I like this idea!! I love grids/graph/dot paper LOL!

     
  12. Dalis

    Dalis Jose Cuervo is NOT a good friend

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    @bbymks5 give yourself permission to play and know there is NO WRONG answer. I think that's the key for Art Journaling, let yourself go! I like putting down my feelings into my pages, sometimes you can see the frustration of the day in my pages and sometimes you can see I am just happy go lucky.
     
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  13. Dalis

    Dalis Jose Cuervo is NOT a good friend

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  14. bbymks5

    bbymks5 Where oh where can it be?!?

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    I love that page, and it's something I can totally relate to!!
     
  15. bbymks5

    bbymks5 Where oh where can it be?!?

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    I love this!!

    I generally pretty happy but I find myself drawn to more dark and twisty stuff! How can add that to "happy" pages LOL

     
  16. wombat146

    wombat146 Check out my kilt! And my turret!

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    I have really enjoyed reading all the posts here and getting an insight into how other people put their AJ pages together. We are all very unique so our approaches and finished pieces will be very different as well. My AJ pages are all very different, some are expressing emotions I had when I created it, other times a song lyric or poem will inspire me or even some wordart. My process changes depending on what I am wanting to create. Sometimes I already 'know' what I want to try and create and at other times I literally just drag a whole heap of stuff on my page and then start moving things around, duplicating some layers or deleting them or adding new stuff as an idea forms in my mind.

    But ONE THING I always love doing is adding and creating texture in my AJ pages...... I guess I am a tactile person, I love touching things to see what they feel like and I want my designs to have that same feeling. This is one that I was especially happy with....... still need to get it printed out though! One of these days!! lol!
    [​IMG]


    I find making ATCs (Artistic Trading Cards) to be really quick and easy to do because you don't have to fill in a whole lot of space! chuck a few things on, move them around and you are done! I love doing these when I don't have a lot of mojo happening. The layout below shows a whole lot of cards I made when the Sissy Sparrows were designing.... they have retired now but I used to love working with their stuff.
    [​IMG]

    But as someone already said before, just play every day and enjoy the process. Look at what other people have created and work out exactly what you like about the piece and then incorporate it into your own style. Have fun!! :)
     
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  17. bbymks5

    bbymks5 Where oh where can it be?!?

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    Oh WOW!! I love this layout!! The texture looks so real!! I'm a huge toucher as well.

    Your ATC's a amazing!! I so love the women on them!!

     
  18. Nemla

    Nemla Stretching my skill set

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    Ok, I have to put my spoke in, Aj is supposed to make you happy. So if you are literal then do a literal page..! Nothing wrong with that. Your challenge to your self could be that your background is 5 papers , or 6 different paint splatters , or even the same paint splatter turned different ways ,opacity changed,colour, what ever. Once the background is made you can put a quote on top in a great font,or make a piece of word art ( nice even lines) you don't have to do anything else ,but I bet after a while you will want to. And it will be your style,and that is more than ok.
    Edit; this was before I checked out your pages, they look great !
     
    Last edited: Mar 1, 2017
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  19. bbymks5

    bbymks5 Where oh where can it be?!?

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    @Nemla Thank you!! I've been playing around more and I think I'm working backwards LOL! I find my main background paper first, just the paper and then I find what I want to be the main piece and try to work around that. I'm going to try and do all of the background first and see where it goes from there.
     
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  20. jang

    jang Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

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    Paula's Under the Sea kit and her Fish Postcards I bought just because they spoke to me. The water theme for this challenge got me to pull them out and throw them onto paper. It really came together for me with the triangle template which I so appreciate. The aspect of art journalling I pulled from is that I loved doing this page. Here's mine:

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Mar 6, 2017
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