Starting a Bullet Journal

April 7, 2018

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In the past couple years, this new trend of "bullet journaling" has exploded. I see it all over Pinterest, and as a creative, I instantly became intrigued with this new thing that many people are adding to their daily routines. I have tried to start a bullet journal before but became intimidated numerous times and failed to complete my first spread. I always thought that a bullet journal had to consist of a crazy amount of spreads that tracked every single part of your daily life (e.g. water intake, mood, exercise, sleep, habits, chores, etc. etc. etc.).

All of these things are very important and are great to keep track of it all in one place, however, as someone who is constantly on the go I knew that if I were to start some spreads that consisted of all these "trackers," I would not keep up with it, so I was okay with keeping my journal as simple as possible.

Before we go on any further, what exactly IS a bullet journal? Well, according to bulletjournal.com, "The Bullet Journal is a customizable and forgiving organization system. It can be your to-do list, sketchbook, notebook, and dairy, but most likely, it will be all of the above. It will teach you to do more with less." Awesome. So it can be whatever you want it to be! And the whole purpose of it is to boost your productivity.

So how should you start? Well, here is what I did...

Here are the supplies I purchased from Amazon to use in my bullet journal:

As a newbie, I knew that I did not want to over complicate my bullet journal so I created spreads that I knew I would use or reference back to throughout the year. I purchased notebooks that had dotted paper opposed to lined, blank or grid paper because the dots would be a great guide for me to layout my spreads without being too visible and distracting from my journals contents. I also had ink pens, washi tape, and a small transparent ruler on hand. Feel free to use your favorite supplies to create your own bullet journal.

To come up with the layout of my bullet journal, I simply thought of the goals, projects, and habits that I wanted to work on throughout the year. This way I knew exactly how to utilize every page of my journal to help me track and achieve year-end goals.

Here is exactly how I laid out my first bullet journal in a simple format:

Cover Page: Inspirational Quote

I feel as though this is a great way for me to start out any sketchbook or journal. It takes away the fear of messing up on the first page and it sets the tone of the whole sketchbook. In this case, I simply searched my Pinterest boards for an inspirational quote and found "Everything will work out." Very fitting to start off a bullet journal. And lastly, I bought these adorable cactus stickers from HaNaCoOL's Etsy shop.

Spread 1: Index / Master Key

This spread is very straightforward, however the further along I got to laying out my bullet journal, the more I noticed that this spread wasn't crucial and did not serve much purpose for it to be in my bullet journal. I initially included it to be where I would write in the key for the symbols used throughout the journal, but because I am including keys on each spread for the symbols that are used on those pages, I feel as though this master list isn't always necessary for me to include. I do, however, have an Index where I keep track of the order that my spreads are in, and I am currently trying to figure out what to add onto the blank page.

Spread 2: Yearly calendar / 6-month and 1-year goals

Having the calendar spread out on one page really puts timing in perspective for me. A year to some people seems like a really long time, but once they get to the end of it they say that it has flown by. Well, it has flown by because one year really is not a long time!! This is a great way for me to light the flame under my butt and start on the next project sooner rather than later. I also included a list of goals I want to accomplish at the 6-month benchmark, as well as what I would like to complete at the end of the year.

Spread 3: Brain Dump / Social Media Trackers

Art, photography, and traveling are my passions and hobbies, and one day they will be my full-time career. In order for that to happen nowadays, it is helpful to have a decent following on social media. So in order to stay updated with the growth of my platforms, I am keeping track of how many followers I start with at the beginning of each month. I also have included a "brain dump" page to jot down any ideas that come to mind so I do not forget about them later.

Spread 4: Monthly Spread

This is a great way to start off the month because you can add so many layers to this spread. For this month, I have the monthly calendar where I mark dates of when I will make my social media posts, along with goals that I set for myself to reach in April, Notes/To do's, as well as a column for me to write down any important dates to remember that would not fit in the calendar layout.

Spread 5: Week 1 Spread

I stuck with simplicity for the design of my first weekly spread since it was my first time creating a layout for a bullet journal. I included a "side bar" on each page to include an April thumbnail calendar reference, weekly goals, blog post and video ideas.

What I plan to include for the future

In the current state of my art career, I am still figuring out what I would like to do in order to grow. I have an idea, but I am someone who needs to have tasks and lists written out in order for me to feel organized, which is initially the reason why I started bullet journaling (hopefully it continues!! 😬). To take it a step further, I am going to incorporate a Habit Tracker to keep my daily chores and assignments in check to help my art career flourish.

My initial thoughts on bullet journaling

Overall, I really enjoyed planning out the layouts and catering my bullet journal to my needs in order to be the most productive I can be. I hope that I can continue on with this and I am looking forward to delving deeper into the world of Bullet Journaling!!

In the comments below, tell me what you do in order to be productive?

A Endless List of Drawing Prompts to Fill your Sketchbook

March 19, 2018

Sketchbook Tour

March 7, 2018

(Click play to watch the video above)

This is my first official sketchbook tour and I cannot be more excited to have completely finished this! It took me longer than I was planning, but at the end of the day, I wanted to go at my own pace and not stress out about this. I was using this sketchbook to get back into the swing of drawing and creating and experimenting with my art.

The sketchbook itself was given to me by my sister. She bought it from this hilarious shop out in Des Moines, Iowa called “RAYGUN.” The store has a bunch of apparel items, stationaries, and other trinkets that have really funny and sometimes brutally honest phrases on them. My sketchbook, in particular, says "Current Part-Time Struggling Artist, Future Full Time Struggling Artist."

As I said, this sketchbook was meant to be used for experimenting and not so much “finished pieces” so I was never originally planning on doing a sketchbook tour, but, about halfway through I decided to anyway because I love watching other artists on YouTube open up their sketchbooks for the world to see. To me, it’s kind of equivalent to someone opening up their diary and reading it out loud. But, I decided to take the plunge and put it out for the world to see.

There is nothing much to it besides process sketches, experimental paintings, scribbling to try out new art supplies, and even some similar drawings and paintings I tried to mimic from Instagram.

Feel free to watch the flip-through video, which is at the top of this post, or keep scrolling to see each page up close and personal.

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As I said earlier, my sister bought this for me from a store in Des Moines, Iowa. I'm crossing my fingers that this saying does not describe the fate of my future, but it does give me a good laugh. On the cover, the only thing I added was a sticker with my logo on the bottom right-hand corner.

Coming up with a cover page was tricky for me. I watched a ton of sketchbook tour videos on YouTube and a lot of them didn't have a solid starting point. I thought that overlaying a piece of kraft paper with a random saying and the dates of when I started the sketchbook and when I finished were a solid start.

I was going through a little funk when I drew this spread. The cliche analogy of a glass half empty or half full popped into my head, so I decided to draw it. I'm not sure what I was trying to accomplish with the man climbing up the ladder though. Maybe theres a diving board up there?

This spread has a couple of different layers to it. I was first practicing some calligraphy with my very first brush pen, and then came back to it months later to overlay a Polaroid photo of my art palette and some extra paint from a project I was working on.

I used this spread to test out some new washi tape and plan out the lettering for a sign hanging in my room, as well as experimenting with different patterns and textures.

This is probably my least favorite spread in the sketchbook. I totally abandoned this and got a little lazy by not completing a page of roses like I had planned, then proceded to fill up the other page by just adding stickers that I got from a new bracelet and lipstick I purchased a while back.

Pure irony. I grew up watching Star Wars and want to one day paint an incredible portrait of Darth Vader. I came across the sticker and had to add it to the spread to give the portrait a little story of my own. I then added my Rogue One and The Last Jedi tickets on the opposite page.

I have never taken a formal drawing class, and have seen many artists across the internet constantly draw figure studies. It is a practice that helps you improve on your skills, so I thought that I would give it a go.

I want to get better at drawing people - throughout college I pretty much just stuck with drawing perspectives and architectural drawings because that is what I went to school for, but I wish I drew people more often.

And as an homage to my college years, I took a break from drawing people and drew this perspective of the interior of a modern kitchen.

This was a quick spread. I used this for some scribbles and ideas for a tattoo design, as well as stuck a misprint of my avocado drawing from my Brooklyn Sketchbook Project series.

I kind of miss The Weeknd's old hair... it was an unusual style, but it was symbolic. So here is another attempt at drawing a more specific person, as well as including a lyric from one of his songs along with a couple of clippings from an art magazine.

This is another lazy spread with one of my misprints of a sketch I did while studying abroad in Barcelona.

I drew this house because I was inspired by one of my favorite artists, Semiskimmedmin (Minnie Small). This past October, she participated in a worldwide event called Inktober and created ink drawings different types of houses and what haunts them. My house didn't nearly turn out as great as what hers did, but since I used watercolor it didn't turn out as bold as what it would have if I used ink. Here is Minnie's playlist to her Inktober 2017 videos, definitely check them out! As for the photos of the dogs, I'll explain that in the next spread description...

These were reference photos of two dog portraits I illustrated for commission pieces. I was very happy with the end results, check them out here (along with other illustrations) if you are interested in seeing how they turned out!

And here are more photos of the puppers...

And here are some more photos of my niece pupper... I know, I'm looking like a crazy dog lady but in my defense, I was testing out my new Polaroid camera!

It was Thanksgiving, and at this point I was on my third Thanksgiving meal. I also tested out a new Pentel brush pen and Copic Sketching Markers as well as displaying a failed attempt of taking a polaroid photo of my Christmas tree.

Here are a few more tattoo designs I did for my sister and myself with a stripe of metallic washi tape.

More drawings of faces, one of which I was unhappy with the eyes, so I covered it up with paint. Another misprint of my travels when I was in Milan.

This was a brainstorming spread for a commissioned guitar painting I did around Christmas time. Check out the time-lapse video of the project here!

There isn't much of a story on this page - I bought some gold leaf paper and discovered that it is VERY difficult for me to apply. This also was an extention of the previous page for the abstract guitar painting.

A spread yet to be finished... I've recently become obsessed with these palm leaves and drawing them. I was inspired again by Semiskimmedmin to create an inverted drawing with black and white ink and paper.

A dream of mine is to one day have my own art studio. I jotted down a couple of notes, drew up floor plans and started a perspective of what I would like it to look like.

I came across this dude on Pinterest, I believe. I love sea animals, especially (octopuses?) (octopi?). The blue background is a mixture of primary cyan and primary white from my Holbein gouache paint set.

Here I did a couple of hand studies (also referenced from Pinterest), and then tried a more detailed inverted sketch using white gel pen and colored pencil. It turns out that I am pretty happy with how the drawings turned out because hands have always been difficult for me to draw.

The drawing sometimes makes my eyes hurt, but what led me to drawing this was a Skillshare class that I took online pertaining to finding your creative spark and the first lesson was to pick up whatever what was in front of you and just use it to create something. Once you had that object, just start letting it flow on the paper. Hours later, I ended up with zebra stripes so naturally I had to draw a zebra on the opposite page. The gel pen I used rubs off onto other pages easily, so I sealed it off with a coat of clear nail polish.

On this spread, I was hitting a creative block, so I drew what was in front of me; a handful of my art supplies.

This was a spread where I was having a hard time getting inspired, so I opened up a few magazines and clipped out images that I liked to create this collage.

I like Rhinos. They remind me of grumpy old men.

Here are a few more sketching exercises - I tried drawing some difference expressions in cartoon eyes, then I took a Copic sketching marker and drew random shapes. From those shapes, I created illustrations of what I saw and ended up with results that I was quite happy with.

I came across this illustration on Pinterest and immediately wanted to recreate it. I love how it turned out.

This spread is unfinished, but I liked the idea of this man from a magazine I found him in breathing out fire.

I am a succulent junkie. They are easy to take care of, and they add a fantastic vibe to a space.

This is another version of the mountain scape I illustrated a few spreads back. I used water color to create an ombre affect, finishing it off with white splatter paint to add a starry sky.

I've been reading this book on Urban Sketching because that is a technique that I would love to be able to do on my travels. They are very quick, look effortless and turn out to be amazing pieces of work. This view is that I attempted to quickly sketch is the view from my office in downtown, Chicago.

These are some plans for a DIY drawer to add under my vanity (left) and a DIY coffee table (right) which you see me filming on in my Sketchbook Tour Video.

Prismacolor and Blick Illustration swatch colors.

Reeves 24-Pack Gouache color tube set swatch colors.

thank you so much for your interest in my work! If you'd like, comment what your favorite spread is, and leave a link to your portfolio if you would like to share!

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