50 Art Ideas in an Art Journal

This week I have a special treat for you: a flip-through video of my full Dylusions Creative Journal. It has 50 art ideas, not only for art journaling but for art-making in general.

The pages are mostly made with colored pencils, watercolors, and acrylic paints. I also have many that have hand-drawn collage pieces.

I started the journal in 2020 and finally finished it now in 2025. There are so many memories saved in it. But I didn’t want the nostalgy to take over, but tried to make the video as useful and as easy to watch as possible.

50 Art Ideas – Watch Now!

There’s so much ideas that I thought it would be handy for you to have all the ideas and links listed.

List of Art Ideas and Links to Related Content

#1 Borders

Get inspiration from books and paint covers so that they have borders.

#2 Draw a Tassel!

Draw a decorative object like a tassel rather than an animal or a person.
Blog post: Making the Art Journal More Magical
Course: Animal Inkdom
Course: Magical Inkdom

#3 Forgotten Supplies

Check what supplies you have and use those that you haven’t used for a very long time. At the same time you can decide if you really want to keep them.
Blog post: Art Supplies I Should Not Use Anymore

#4 Introduce Yourself!

Tell who you are in words and pictures.

#5 Title

Give the book a title that inspires you.
Blog post: Adding Text and Layers to Your Pages

#6 Makeover

Paint over any page so that the previous layers show through. Then add details on top of everything.

#7 Alice in Worderland

Paint a place where strange things happen.
Blog post: Painting a Mystery
Blog post: Wonderland Art – Inspiration from Alice in Wonderland

#8 Indoors and Outdoors

Paint a room with large, open windows. Imagine that the outside world floods in.
Blog post: Painting a Mystery

#9 Cafe Bakery

Imagine a lovely cafe where you bake cakes.
Course: Decodashery

#10 Paint with Pencils

Use colored pencils like they are paints and color without outlines.
Course: Intuitive Coloring

#11 Child’s Drawing

Use a child’s drawing as a starting point for a page.

#12 Hole

Make a window from one page to another by cutting a hole.

#13 Scribbles

Pick a black pen and scribble and doodle your heart out. Then use the drawing as a coloring page.
Blog Post: Don’t Just Create Circles
Blog Post: Doodler’s Sampler Step by Step

#14 Transparency

Draw on a transparent film or print your drawing on the film.
Blog post: Creating Wood by Doodling Layers

#15 Safari

Draw animals and use unconventional colors and details.
Course: Animal Inkdom

#16 Time Travel

Combine your art from several years into one spread.

#17 Happy

Collect happy things and write comforting and hopeful thoughts.
Blog post: Mini Drawings on Art Journal Pages

#18 Inner Child

By creating, we cherish our inner child. Let her face appear in one of your pages.
Blog post: Coloring with the Inner Child

#19 Columns

Add drawings and paintings as vertical stripes on the spread.

#20 Free Video: Colored Pencils – Intuitive Approach

Blog post: Colored Pencils – Intuitive Approach

#21 Underwater

Let blue tones dominate the background and create an underwater scenery.

#22 Nighttime

Imagine what can happen in the night when no one is watching.

#23 Fairytale

Make up a fairy tale while you draw.
Blog post: Picture Prompts – Creating Art Journal Pages with Handdrawn Animals
Course: Animal Inkdom

#24 Wings

You can draw wings on almost anything.
Blog post: Picture Prompts – Creating Art Journal Pages with Handdrawn Animals
Blog post: Angel Drawing for the Inner Child
Course: Magical Inkdom

#25 Four Seasons

Express spring, summer, fall, and winter in one spread.

#26 Seed Flower

Start with a single flower.
Blog post: Flower for Your Art Journal
Blog post: Expressive Watercolor Flower Collage

#27 Floralize!

Leave some happy parts of bad art visible and then paint flowers on the top.
More ideas for revamping:
Blog post: Revamp Art Journal Pages So That They Spark Joy!
Blog post: Revamping Watercolor Painting with Watercolor Pencils
Blog post: Art Makeover – Revamp Your Old Paintings!

#28 Carve & Stamp!

Carve a lino plate and use it as a stamp.
You can also use a gelli plate.
Blog post: Gelli Plate Meets Fine Art – Monoprinting Ideas for Art Lovers

#29 Lemons

Express your appreciation for lemons or other fruits by painting or drawing them.
Blog post: Painting And Drawing Fruits
Course: Fun Botanicum

#30 Vermeer Girl

Re-create the face from Johannes Vermeer’s painting Girl with Pearl Earring.
Blog post: Vermeer Girl with Heart – Draw with Me!

#31 Glow

Make a drawing that glows without using any glitter. Use soft transitions from light to dark.
Blog post: Bringing Old-World Feel to Abstract Painting

#32 Spirit

Visualize the person’s spirit, not only the face.
Blog post: Intuitive Art Journaling
Blog post: Coloring an Intuitive Selfie

#33 Puzzle

Glue a couple of small drawings on the page and continue their outlines so that they form a new image.
Blog post: Mini Drawings on Art Journal Pages

#34 Easy Start

Paint the background with watercolors and then use it as an inspiration for coloring.
Blog post: Why Draw in the Ready-Made World?

#35 Stripes

Paint stripes of your current favorite colors.

#36 Scan, Print, Collage!

Scan your drawings and print them smaller. Use the printed images for a fun collage with stripes.
Blog post: Making the Art Journal More Magical
Course: Magical Inkdom

#37 Block

Paint rectangles and triangles to make a design.
Blog post: Building and Breaking – Revealing Artistic Potential
Blog post: Art Quilts in a Modern Way

About Paul Klee
Blog post: Paul Klee and the Art of Learning
Course: Floral Freedom

#38 Chapter

Make a themed chapter of several pages for your art journal.
Course: Hearts and Stories
Course: Fun Botanicum

#39 Storybook

Make a storybook page.
Blog Post: Art Journal as a Storybook

#40 Childhood Memories

Get inspired by your childhood and draw things you loved back then.
Blog post: Maximalist or Minimalist? Style Experiments in Art Journal Pages
Blog post: Choosing the Word for 2025

#41 Dolls

Rather than drawing a realistic person, design a doll with all the accessories.
Course: Decodashery
Course: Doll World

#42 Dark Background

Make an impact with the contrast between bright flowers and dark background color.
Blog post: Imagining Flower’s Spirit

#43 From Back to Front

Add more than one color to the background and, at the same time, adjust the shape of the foreground objects.
Course: Freely Grown
Course Wild Garden

#44 Modern

Make organic shapes more angular and thus more abstract and modern.
Blog post: Making Florals More Modern

#45 Letters

Imagine that the letters are fictional characters and add expression and decorations to them.
Blog post: Making the Art Journal More Magical
Blog post: Draw Your Own Fonts

#46 Watercolor Love

Paint flowers with watercolors.
Course: Wild Garden
Course: Freely Grown

#47 Castle

Imagine a building that is full of fun details.
Blog post: Intuitive Art Journaling

#48 Experience

Imagine being in an imaginary place.
Blog post: Intuitive Art Journaling

#49 More Is More

Be a maximalist, and get inspired by nature’s abundance.
Blog post: Maximalist or Minimalist? Style Experiments in Art Journal Pages
Blog post: Following the Inner Color

#50 Jewelbox

Divide the page into small compartments and color the compartments one by one.

Need More Than These 50 Art Ideas?

See the blog post from 2020: 75 Ideas in an Art Journal

I hope you enjoyed this post and put the art ideas in use. Let’s keep creating!