It’s kind of amazing how huge art journaling has become in the past year. I remember discovering it back in 2013, when I found a couple of bloggers posting about their “Summer of Love” art journals. This lead me to Kara Haupt and Natty Malik and the Art Journaling Ning community. I think that now that the scrapbook community has embraced art journaling as its own, more people than ever are wanting to get into art journaling. While there are a ton of online classes and workshops out there, I’ve compiled a list of a couple that I have personally bookmarked over the years that are completely and totally free. So here’s my list of free art journaling classes and resources on the web.
Classes
In The Sun 2011 + In The Sun 2012 by Natalie Mutrux
This is a series of art journaling classes held in 2011 and 2012 by Natty from Genuine Major. These classes are free to follow on the respective blogs that are up, and you can even download the PDFs of each journal prompt, to do the class offline and at your own pace!
Introduction to Art Journaling by Get Messy Art Journal
A very simple and concise class, Introduction to Art Journaling offers exactly as the name says. Once you sign up, the course materials are sent straight to your email inbox. This is a go-to class for beginners, who have no clue where to even begin.
Elevate Your Art Journaling by Get Messy Art Journal
This beginner’s course is a sort of the companion sequel to Introduction to Art Journaling. A free course from Get Messy, Elevate Your Art Journaling is a great class to take if you feel stuck in your art journaling or need to mix it up a bit. It’s one of those classes to take when you feel you need to approach journaling in a different way.
Urban Journal Remix by Roben-Marie Smith
Roben-Marie offers a wide range of art journaling/mixed media classes on her site. In Urban Journal Remix, you learn how to make your very own junk journal repurposed from an old book cover and random papers.
Strathmore Workshop Series
Each year, Strathmore puts on a series of online art workshops that cover all sorts of topics from watercolor to pencil sketching to oil pastels. While these workshops aren’t art journal specific, they offer a wide range of topics where you can learn how to do specific techniques or use specific mediums.
Art Journaling Prompts Series
Mindfully You by Tiffany Julia
This is my very own monthly email series, focused on being more mindful in your life and in your art. The prompts are introspective and prompt you to explore all of your senses, allowing you to interpret them and respond however you want on the page.
The Heart Journal by Essie Ruth
Another monthly email series, Essie’s The Heart Journal is all about opening up your heart and sharing your inner self with your journal.
52 Weeks of Being Me, Journey to the Heart + Mind.Body.Soul by Words of Me Project
These are three different blog series, each series sharing a list of art journaling prompts around an overarching topic. Great place if you need a bit of inspiration in the form of prompts.
artJOURNALING daily by Traci Bautista
This is another art journaling blog series. It’s a series of daily journaling prompts, with each prompt being simple tasks that you can complete in about 5-20 minutes. This is an excellent resource if you’re looking for ways to art journal but can’t always find the time to.
The Document Life Project by Art to the 5th
This is a yearly project with a series of 52 prompts that involve keeping a weekly journaling habit. Both the 2014 and 2015 run of the project are free to explore. The 2014 run is called The Document Life Project: The Planner and it combines a weekly planner with an art journal. The 2015 run is called The Document Life Project: The Journal and it’s solely about keeping an art journal. Each month is themed and the A5 crew share their process with you every week, incorporating different tips and techniques for you to try out in your own journals.
Resources
Art Journal Everyday by Julie Fei-Fan Balzer
This is a mega art journaling resource page! There are plenty of tips and tricks on how to start and keep a daily art journal. Great if you want to start a journal but want to do your own thing without taking a class. You can get excellent insight on Julie’s own process and peeks into her journals as well.
Free Art Tutorials by Amy of Mindful Art Studio
This is a great page filled with awesome resources and art journal/mixed media technique tutorials.
Art Journal 101 by Kristal Norton
This is just a quick guide on what art journaling is and how to get started.
Keeping your Visual Journal
This is just a page on why some people keep visual journals. It’s a great resource if you’re struggling with starting or just wondering why you should start a journal.