These are lists that are more "journal like"
For those of us who are visual - and have trouble with lists - here is how to make these lists more interesting. If you are a word person - than the rest of this post will be just fine:
THESE ARE ALL TAKEN FROM ON LINE RESOURCES WHERE I HAVE JUST CUT AND COPIED. BUT ALSO PROVIDED THE LINK OF THE RESOURCE.
This site has a lot of references to other sites:
365 questions for your journal
What I like about these is even though these are "Word" questions - prompts - how Debbie Hodge puts this together is doing this with little note cards. It takes down the pressure of perfection, and allows you to skip around
This list feels a little too "sensitive" for my tastes - but I think if you are doing some personal digging, this could work. I still think these lists are far more for the verbal thinker - but it is important for the visual thinker to dig around to find how something that is not in our comfort zone to create a tool from someone elses'.
I'm highlighting the few that feels like something that I would find more inspiring.
50 Art Journal Prompts
1. Take a minute to connect with your feelings. Close your eyes and imagine
what your feelings would look like, and then draw or paint them.
2. Grab your favorite novel and randomly open it to any page. Read the first
paragraph on that page and illustrate it.
3. Remember in high school when you’d doodle on your notes? Just doodle
until you fill an entire page.
4. Look outside and let the weather and your surroundings inspire your next
art journal page.
5. Pick an object in your house. While looking only at the object, put your
pen to paper and draw it without picking up your pen. Now add some color to
your crazy drawing.
6. Find a beautiful picture in a magazine, cut it out, and make that the
center of your art journal page.
7. Fill a blank page with shapes. Paint or color them in.
8. Imagine your inner critic as a monster. Draw or paint him.
9. Pick a quote and design an art journal page around it.
10. Write down five of your core beliefs. Pick one and illustrate it.
11. Journal about things that you love.
12. What’s your favorite fairy tale? Draw or paint your favorite scene.
13. Think about someone who inspires you. What characteristics of that
person make her so inspirational? Use those characteristics to inspire your
journal page.
14. Live in the moment. Journal about whatever’s on your mind.
My issue with this one is - if you are having trouble being inspired - this is exactly the problem.
Here I would say "think of the one thing you are embarassed to make because you think it is a stupid idea - do it here. Don't like it - find an image from a magazine and cover it - or paint over it.
15. Construct a journal page around the last time that you traveled.
16. Write down some of your life mantras such as, “Choose love. Follow your
heart. Live in the moment.” Write them over and over again on your journal
page, but use different lettering styles each time.
17. Take your art journal outside and document what you see. Write it, draw
it, or paint it.
18. If you had one superpower what would it be? Journal about that.
19. Grab some junk mail and use it as the background of your art page. Paint
or color over it.
20. Write down 10 things that you’re grateful for, and use them to inspire
your next art journal page.
21. If you only had one more day to live, what would you do? Journal about
it.
no pressure there right? Not my personal choice.
22. Pick a lyric from one of favorite songs and illustrate it.
23. Pretend it’s the New Year. Set a goal and journal about what would
happen if you reached that goal.
24. Find a poem and let it inspire your next art journal page.
25. Pretend you’re a goddess. Draw her.
26. Think about something you’ve always wanted to do but you’ve been too
afraid to do. Draw a mountain and write your fear on one side and then what
your life would be like if you could overcome that fear on the other side.
27. Illustrate your favorite moment from the past week.
28. Write a compliment to yourself for something you accomplished recently.
Center a journal page around that compliment.
29. Write yourself a permission slip to stop doing things that you think
you’re supposed to do, but you don’t want to do. For example, “You have
permission to stop reading a book that you’re not enjoying. You have permission
to buy cookies instead of baking them for the next bake sale.”
30. Journal about your unhealthy habits.
i think this just re-enforces them. unless this is the content of your work...
31. Draw yourself in a beautiful ball gown.
no
32. Journal about things that you think are lovely.
33. Think about something in your everyday life that you take for granted,
and devote your next art journal page to it.
34. Draw a map from wherever you are to where you want to be.
35. Paint or illustrate how you feel when you’re at your favorite place.
36. Draw a large heart in the middle of a page and fill it with things that
make your heart smile.
37. Think back to your favorite childhood memory and use that to inspire
your next art journal page.
38. Journal about heartbreak.
39. Journal about peace.
40. Fill your art journal page with all the things your inner critic says
such as, “You’re not good enough. You’ll never be anybody special.” Then paint
over the words until they’re not visible.
41. Use Mod Podge to adhere book pages to a journal page. Use that as your
background and paint or draw on top of them.
42. Pick three colors. Draw an animal using a pen, and then use only those
three colors to fill it in.
43. Journal about magic.
44. Think about the last movie that you watched. What did it leave you feeling?
Illustrate it.
45. If you could have lunch with anyone, who would it be? Journal about that
person.
46. If you could tell your younger self one thing, what would it be? Journal
about it.
47. Draw a staircase, and think about your biggest dream. Draw it at the top
of the staircase and then fill each step with the “steps” you’d have to take to
make your biggest dream a reality.
48. Journal about hope.
49. Think about a child in your life. It could be your own child, a
neighbor’s child, your sister’s child, or any other child who see regularly.
What do you want for that child? Journal about it.
50. Journal about things that make you laugh out loud.
