Art journal therapy is an extremely useful activity to help organize, understand, and process your thoughts and emotions while getting you in a creative and relaxed mindset. You can think of it as a mental reset, especially if you need to take a little time to yourself and slow down the day a bit. Let’s take a deeper look into art journal therapy, it’s helpful benefits, and how you can started right away!
Contents
- What is Art Journal Therapy?
- Why is Art Journaling Therapeutic?
- How Do You Make an Art Journal for Therapy?
- Art Journal Therapy Prompts and Ideas
What is Art Journal Therapy?
Art journal therapy is a form of creative expression and self exploration of emotions, using a combination of traditional journaling (written words) along with different mediums of art including pencil, different types of paint, and anything else you can make art with!
Art journaling is not considered official therapy in the traditional sense but can really provide a therapeutic experience and help declutter our minds while providing a mental break from our everyday schedules.
Art journal therapy includes using :
- Drawing
- Painting
- Sketching
- Use of photographs or pictures
- Collage
- Scrap booking techniques
- And anything else you can think of!
There is no “correct” way to use or make an art journal. You can be as creative and imaginative as you want!
Remember, this is about having fun and finding a personal space to be creative and mentally free so don’t try to limit your artistic side and try jumping right in!
Why Is Art Journaling Therapeutic?
Art journaling is therapeutic in a variety of ways including helping organize thoughts, slow the mind down from racing thoughts, and providing a safe & private space to express oneself.
Art journaling is therapeutic because it helps provide both a physical and creative outlet to express one’s feelings, emotions, and thoughts, while helping the individual process and work through them and can even help someone understand why certain reactions, emotions, or social situations happen, instead of just “getting over it”.
Benefits of Art Journal Therapy
Here are more amazing benefits of using art journal therapy in a bit more detail.
- Can Help Organize Thoughts, Feelings, and Emotions
- Can Stop Racing thoughts by focusing on the present and shifting attention away from negative thoughts or the past and future
- Allows someone to freely express themselves in a non-judgemental way / without being judged : In your art journal, you’re free to create whatever and whenever you want, without peering eyes or unnecessary thoughts from other people
- It’s very personal and intimate
- Up to you if you want to share it with anyone else. Totally fine if you don’t want to, I like to keep my art journals to myself.
- Provides a way to deeply understand your thoughts, emotions, and even actions in specific situations
- Allows you to transfer your thoughts and feelings into a physical medium, out of your mind
How Do You Make an Art Journal for Therapy?
Supplies
There are no specific supplies that you need when art journaling.
The only main items you need are a sketchbook, notebook, or journal that you feel comfortable using to create art and that can handle the artistic mediums you’re using (ie: thicker paper for watercolors or paint), any type of art material (preferably one that doesn’t rub off easily like charcoal, pastels, or even graphite, if you’re drawing on back-to-back pages), and your creativity!
And that’s it, you’re set to go!
Art Journal Therapy Tips
Here are some key points to keep in mind when doing art journal therapy:
1. Be in tune with your emotions.
2. Make something that brings you some sort of joy.
3. Relax and just enjoy the process. Don’t focus on the end result.
4. Allow yourself to make whatever you’d like without restrictions. This allows you to embrace your creativity and jump right into making an artwork.
What Do You Put Into an Art Journal?
So, what exactly do you put into an art journal?
Pretty much, anything you’d like!
I personally put in drawings with notes or magazine pages and journal entries that make me feel happy or put me in a more positive mood since art in general makes me feel satisfied and relaxed.
The image below is a drawing from a waiter. I really liked it and it reminded me of a nice memory, so I put that in my art journal.
But you can put other things in your art journal that evoke other emotions.
Again, you can write, draw, or make anything in your art journal that helps you process your feelings and emotions, be it good or bad. Remember, this is a creative outlet for you, that is meant to help you, especially when you’re not feeling your best. So feel free to take it in any direction you want!
Things to Put in an Art Journal
Here’s a quick list of what to put in your art journal:
- Written Journal Entries
- They can be whatever you want to write about, like your day, how you’re feeling, an interesting event or situation, or even gratitude journaling.
- Drawings and Art
- From sketches to watercolors, ink, pencil, and more, draw whatever you’d like
- Make it creative, fun, and relaxing for yourself!
- You can add little notes to your art
- Book or Magazine Pages
- Pieces of Nature
- Flowers, grass, leaves (preferably something flat to fit in your notebook)
- Event or Transportation Tickets, Travel Flyers
- Photos
How Do You Start an Art Journal?
Now, you might be wondering where exactly to start when doing art journal therapy for the first time.
1. Don’t Make it Complicated
Start off with 1 or 2 materials. Don’t try to overwhelm yourself with too many art supplies, otherwise it won’t be as relaxing and you might get burnt out.
All you really need is a notebook or sketchbook and something to draw/write with, like a pencil. Nothing fancy, especially when you’re doing art thrapy exercises for the first time.
2. Get any Notebook or Sketchbook
No need for a fancy notebook or sketchbook.
Sure, those Moleskin sketchbooks are really nice but you don’t need one, at least not now.
When you’re first getting started with art journaling, it’s all about experimentation and seeing what you like and what works best for you, not necessarily making the best art
You can just pick up any sketchbook or notebook that you find at a department or dollar store.
For me, I used a lined notebook that came with a pop-culture subscription box and just started drawing in it.
3. Start with a Quick Journal Entry
Writing is easier and faster than making art, so you can try just writing a simple journal entry to start.
It can be a few words or a few sentences describing your current mood, the weather, how your day is going, or something you’re grateful for.
4. Make a Quick Simple Doodle or Drawing
If you have a bit more time or want to take your art journaling futher, you can draw a simple little doodle or sketch that represents or relates to what you just wrote down.
Your drawing doesn’t have to be complete, perfect, or even recognizable. You can make it abstract if you’d like. As long as it’s something you can associate with your journal entry and helps you illustrate and transfer your thoughts and emotions onto paper.
5. Don’t Forget to Add the Date!
Adding the date helps you keep track of and organize your journal entries.
It’s also a great way to see your creative and mental progress throughout your art therapy journey!
Easy Art Journal Therapy Prompts & Ideas to Get You Started Now
Okay, now that we have a pretty good understanding of art journaling, let’s get started with some art journal therapy prompt ideas for beginners!
1. Make a Mood Collage
What is an emotion you’re feeling right now? Is it relaxing, happy, sad, or angry? There’s no wrong answer here.
Now, grab pages or photos from magazines/pictures of things that represent that emotion. Paste or tape them on a page of your journal or sketchbook and arrange them however you’d like.
Anywhere on the page, write how you’re feeling and why. This is a great way to understand your emotions and focus your mind on being creative.
You can even draw over the pictures using markers or paint to create a new artwork on top, making for a really interesting piece of artwork!
2. Write and Draw How You’re Feeling
Make a few sentences and write why you’re feeling the way you are. Then, draw those feelings/emotions. You don’t even have to draw a face. To simplify things, you can just draw a simple emoji or even make some abstract art that represents your mood.
You can even try making text drawings like the one below.
To do this, write out your emotion in a word or two and add doodles around it that represent how you’re feeling. You can use different colors to make it more fun and interesting.
3. Try Scrap booking with Drawing
Pick out things that you like or make you feel happy or more positive. It can be anything from printed photos, event or transportation tickets, or even pieces of nature from an outdoor adventure.
Then, paste or tape them onto an art journal page. I’d recommend choosing things that are flat, that way your art journal / notebook will close properly and won’t bulge, which will affect the shape of other pages.You can stick your objects on your page however you’d like.
From there, you can write down memories of those experiences and how they made you feel in the moment, right next to the object.
You can even take your art supplies and draw around the trinkets in different colors, outlining their shapes. Or, sketch little doodles next to them instead of using words.
4. Draw Your Day
Write down a brief description of how you’re day went, highlighting key points like what made you happy, upset, angry, bored, etc. Not only is this a great way to keep a daily journal of your activities but it helps you understand yourself and habits.
Pick one or two moments that really stood out to you (doesn’t it matter if it was good or bad) and try drawing those out. And no, you don’t have to draw a whole scene, just an object or two that represents that moment or emotion. You can color in your drawing if you’d like.
I chose to sketch people at Disneyland because seeing other people happy made me feel happy inside. Plus, I really enjoyed seeing all the interesting outfits and Mickey ears!
5. Try Gratitude Journaling with Sketches
A fun art therapy activity is gratitude journaling with sketches.
To start, think of 1-2 things that you are grateful for and write them down on a journal page. It can literally be anything you’re thankful for, big or small.
What’s something that you’re grateful for?
For me, I’m grateful for being able to take naps and having internet to write this blog! Also, I really love ice cream and donuts, so I’m grateful for getting them when I can.
You can also write down why you are grateful for each item.
Like in the previous art journal therapy prompt, make a simple doodle or sketch representing your journal entry.
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What art journal therapy tip is your favorite? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below and see you in the next post!
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