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!
Abstract Watercolor Flower Card
This week, I invite you to paint with me. Let’s make an abstract watercolor flower card!
Abstract Watercolor Flower Card – Watch the Video!
In this video, you see me both creating and talking about abstract floral art. Watch the video and paint with me!
I hope my love for abstract florals is contagious! Here’s the finished card again.
Watercolor cards are just precious. You can never have too many, and there’s always someone you gan give one to. That’s why the new course Wild Garden has many card projects.
Wild Garden – Paint with Me!
In the upcoming course Wild Garden we will paint flowers freely, intuitively, and expressively in watercolor. Sign up here!
Wild Garden will begin on September 22, 2025. Sign up now!
Wild Garden – The Early-Bird Sale Begins Now!
Exciting news! The early-bird registration for the new watercolor course Wild Garden is now open!
Watch the video and sign up now!
Wild Garden will begin on September 22, 2025. The early-bird sale will end on August 24 (at midnight PDT). Sign up here!
Painting Seascapes – Making The Scenery Look Bigger
This week, we dive deeper into painting seascapes and other big sceneries. In spring, I thought my painting Atlantis was already finished, but after seeing the ship paintings in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam in May, I realized that I had made my seascape painting too simple and small-scale, and went back to working on it. Now it’s finished!
Painting a Bigger Sea
Despite the size of the canvas, you can make the seascape or any scenery look larger by adjusting the composition and the size of the brushstrokes. Compare the finished version with the one below!
When you want to make a seascape look bigger, add tiny strokes, especially near the horizon, and adjust both left and right edges so that it looks like the seascape continues outside the painting.
The changes may look small when you look at the small photos, but in reality, they make a big difference. Here’s a close-up photo of before and after.
There are so many details that it was easier to make a short video instead of sharing more pics.
Seascapes don’t have to be boring and all blue. They can include all kinds of events and creatures, even buildings like in my painting.
A Series of Big Sceneries in Progress
It’s been a hot July in Finland, and my little studio is really warm in the afternoon. But I have big canvases in a queue, and the next one is already in progress.
New Course Is Coming Up!
Painting seascapes and other sceneries is exciting, but as you know, I also love flowers. I will be running a new watercolor course called Wild Garden from 22nd September to 14th November. Here’s a small teaser pic …
The early-bird sale of Wild Garden will start next week, so stay tuned!