In my 7 years of art journaling practice, I often hear “How do I start if I can’t draw?” I love answering this question because it shows that:
My art journaling practice has cast a wide enough net to attract people beyond its traditional audience of visually inclined people
Someone is taking the initiative to step out of their comfort zone and learn something new
I stay away from the “everybody can draw” or “everyone is an artist” cliches that frankly do not help anyone. So, this is my answer. Since The Internet loves numbered lists and I am now writing for The Internet, here comes my 5-step process to learning and incorporating art journaling into your life.
1. Learning to draw is like learning a new language
Drawing is mostly the act of translating ideas, thoughts, feelings and words into the visual format. In a way, you are learning a whole new language - the visual language. It takes time and practice before you could become fluent enough to express yourself in this new language, however, the payoff is often greater than the initial investment in offering you a whole new array of tools to express what was previously unsaid. The visual language is so rich that “a picture speaks a thousand words” became a well known saying that has been (mis)attributed to a number of famous people. Investigating who said it first, is unfortunately out of the scope of this newsletter, but the message is clear: the visual language has the ability to deliver the message with multiple nuances almost instantaneously. This is something that the written or spoken words often lack. So, yes, learn to draw and read on!
2. You decide what your “fluent” is
Unlike other languages where there are often universally agreed standard of fluency, the visual language is a lot more malleable. Especially, in the realm of art journaling, where your main focus and intention is to express yourself, mainly for your own consumption and possibly for the people closest to you. There is no gatekeeper here other than yourself, so my criteria of “fluency” is simply to be comfortable with expressing whatever you want to express in lines, shapes, colours, positive and negative space. This level of comfort can only be achieved by doing it over and over, and since there is no gatekeeper, you do not have to be entirely comfortable in doing it before your art journal becomes “valid” or something like that. Your process of getting comfortable with the art is an important part of the journal.
3. Build Your Visual Vocabulary
Vocabulary is an integral part of language learning. Thanks to the explosion of visual media in the last decade, our generation is armed with a certain level of basic visual vocabulary, even without realising them. People of all ages are now communicating in GIFs, emojis, tiktok videos and reels. For someone who wants to start art journaling, those are valid starting points.
This is how I move forward from those baselines:
I write down in words what I want to say.
I find existing ways to depict them. A simple google search or a scroll through the emoji list does the trick.
I copy them.
I find gaps - there will always be one - a drawing done by someone else can rarely represent 100% of what I think or feel, with all the nuances.
I make modifications to fill in those gaps, either by writing some words, drawing on top, or mashing it with a different drawing.
4. Draw from Life. Draw from Observation
Drawing from life or from observation is the equivalent of listening to native speakers conversing in the language you want to learn. They exist out there on their own accord - it is now up to you to put yourself in the right situations and absorb the new language in all of its mundane glory. Take a seat, take your time and move your pen. You will learn about yourself and the way you capture or prioritize things as much as you learn about the object(s) you are drawing. You will learn some shortcuts and symbols that help you capture more with less. You will add more into your “Visual Vocabulary”. Attending a few classes live, on drawing from observation can help you enlist a second pair of eyes to give feedback and solve problems when you feel stuck.
5. Join in The Conversation
You can’t really say you have learnt a new language without ever joining a conversation in the said language. While you can go on a solo journey with art journaling and just keep all your visual stories private, there is value in letting your art join in some form of conversations once in a while. Join an online or in-person art journaling community like the one I have here in Singapore. Post on social media sometimes (even though posting on social media should not be your main and only purpose in art journaling) to discover that there are like-minded people who are in a similar journey. Be open to conversations and be kind, you will likely be surprised at the value these open conversations can bring.
What do you think about these 5 steps? Have more to share about this topic? Questions? Feel free to start a conversation in the comment section!