Season of Contrast + A New Journal (Week of 4/2/2017)

A new season started over at Get Messy Art Journal and this time it's all about contrast!

People that are familiar with me and my artwork (specifically my illustration work) will know that I'm a big fan of contrast. I like dark things with beautiful things, light with dark, and seeing how these contrasting elements work together to create something that is ultimately more meaningful in the end. Thus, this season was perfect for me!

I'm most happy with the page on the left hand side, which is actually the endpaper for this journal (which I also made).

Here's a close up of some of the details. I knew that I ultimately wanted to create something that was more thought out and "planned", though I still went with the flow as far as what I did next. It was a lot of fun to create something in this manner, and I think I will try something like this again in the future.

Unfortunately, I've been extremely busy lately, so these two pages are all I have for you at this time. I do hope you liked them as much as I did though, and I'll see you all next time.

Emotion & Journaling (Week of 3/12/2017)

Hey guys, I'm back with another week's worth of pages, and this time around I get a little more deep and emotional with them.

 Art has always been my way of letting out my emotion and feelings, but this week especially that sensation has been multiplied by a hundred. I'm at the end of an art block I was experiencing (and still pushing myself through) and that left me with a lot of overwhelming feelings to get out of my system.

Almost all of my pages this week took a ton of layers to actually bring to completion (I think because I already overworked them a bit), but I managed to get things pulled together in a way that was manageable.

This is one of my favorite pages, though it is potentially the most chaotic. I had already dumped a bunch of layers onto this page when I started to work with the face. I used white paint mixed on a piece of plastic with water based markers; I wanted to see if I could make my own paint colors. As it turned out, it worked beautifully.

The actual face itself was a representation of how I was already feeling when I started to draw, and there is a substantial amount of journaling on this page, both legible and not. It was a lot of fun to just let go of the fear of creating and just put layer on top of layer.

I think that the finished page is fairly busy, but that's what I love about it. It's a rather accurate representation of how I was feeling.

This page was actually an attempt at being a bit more conscious with my journaling. I tend to overthink most things in my life, so forcing myself to just sit and think tends to be a fairly dangerous thing to do. I use the phrase "stuck in my own head" to describe this sensation.

However, this was a nice way of forcing myself past that; I allowed my mind to wander, my thoughts to reveal themselves, and then I dumped them on the page. It was a relief, and something I'd love to experiment with more in the future.

 

I apologize for the darkness of this full shot, but you can see the true colors better in the detail shots. I'm not quite sure if I'm finished with this page yet (considering some neon pink oil pastel), but I thought I'd share it regardless.

 I put the finishing touches of this page on this morning, and I find it amazing just how meditative all the doodling and paint layers can be. I'm starting to find my groove, and that's a nice feeling.

I also find that bright colors and abstract shapes make me happy.

The final page I have to share with you guys today is actually the first that I finished this week (but the furthest into my journal). This was the page that I think really pushed me out of the block I was feeling last week. I got caught up in this page and pretty much completed it from start to finish in one two or three hour evening sitting.

It's not my favorite face I've ever done, but I love the effects I was able to get with colored pencils, and how relaxing and soothing it was to work on.

I hope you all enjoyed seeing my pages from this week, and I'll see you all next week!

Textures and WIPs (Week of 2/13/2017)

For several reasons that have come to my attention recently, I thought it would be nice to start a blog in order to share some of my mixed media projects!

I'm Jordan, I'm 20 years old, and I've recently been extremely interested in illustration. You can see my work on my Instagram here. However, in an attempt to relax in the realm of my artwork, I've recently taken up art journaling once more. Years ago I was extremely involved in the community (I think it was 2011? Or thereabouts) but only recently have I become involved once more. I joined Get Messy, and this is the Art 101 season, which I've been having a lot of fun with. I'm here to share my texture pages from this week.

First and foremost, this is a rather simplistic page in comparison to a lot of the work that I typically do. It's near the front of my new art journal (that I made especially for Art 101), and deals with a few things that have been more emotional for me.

The pages of this book were created from watercolor experiments (which was the first week of Art 101), and that shows through in the background of this page.

This page is a little more representational of the type of work that I typically do. I tend to skip around in my journals quite a bit, but as of right now I'm calling the left hand page complete.

A close up of some of the texture on the page above. This is one of my favorite little parts of this page; the colors and textures and doodling all work together in a way that is extremely aesthetically pleasing to me. I also like the dots of my end paper showing through. 

This is another texture that I was playing with, and the work in progress page it is a part of can be seen above. This is a piece of tissue paper that I crumpled up before sticking it down with Mod Podge. I made a conscious attempt to make sure the wrinkles showed up in the dry piece. I still need to add more to this page, but since it's related to the theme of texture, I thought I'd share.

The final page I want to share is this one; it's rather graphic and vibrant, which I like, and it incorporates a lot of collage elements. I consider this page complete as well, though I'm not convinced that I'll never add anything more to it (some journaling might be in order).

I leave you today with a close of detail shot of some of the textures and doodling on this page; it feels really nice to be back into art journaling after so long and I'm excited to see what the future holds for me and my art!