When you live in an authentic, imperfect, messy way, you’ll automatically be honest in your journal. It is this honesty that will grow art inside of you and enable you to make art that looks the way it does in your head. Over time, you will hone this craft, and your art will look as beautiful as your truth.

There are three truths to know about art journaling: The first page sucks, the middle is a mess, and bad pages are the path to good pages.

The middle is a mess

The messy middle is the part of creation that happens between the excitement of starting and the satisfaction of finishing. It features a whole bunch of imperfection and is sometimes uncomfortable, but it’s also the part where you discover the most about yourself and about your art-making process. Making mistakes teaches us so much more than making flawless art ever will.

There’s so much excitement that happens the first time, and that can be enough to get you through the beginning. It takes work to extend that excitement, which might make you uncomfortable.

If you feel this discomfort, you’ve reached the messy middle. Once again, close your eyes, acknowledge it, and move ahead anyway.

If you’re unable to tell what moving ahead actually is, then I’ve got you. I’ll tell you. I know a lot about this stuff.

So if the first page sucks and the middle is a mess, then why create art at all?

I have a theory that we’re all due a certain number of terrible pages of art before we hit one that we adore. I don’t know what that number is, but let’s say it’s one hundred. Every time you create bad art, rather than beating yourself up about it, just acknowledge that it is one of those designated bad pieces and celebrate the fact that you’ve checked one off the list. You’ll never have to do that one again, and you’re closer to that lovely piece.

Shift your focus away from the end result and focus on the process, which is the only thing you have control over.

Knowing that the suckiness and the messiness is part of the journey, and that all artists go through this, makes it more bearable.

The best part about art journaling compared with other art forms is that the imperfections, the suckiness, and the mess are the very best parts. Over time you’ll learn this in a deeper way. Over time, you’ll find your exact why and your art journaling will fulfill this purpose.

I art journal to realign and to let go. Through art journaling, I let go of what’s stuck in my head. I process my emotions and articulate my thoughts. I refocus.

Art journaling is deeply personal, and my reason probably won’t be your reason. You can see what art journaling is to other artists in the “Connect” chapter near the end.

Art journaling is the practice that takes you from creative dreaming to creative doing. An art journal is a notebook—or a sketchbook, or a piece of paper, or any tool of artistic expression you want—that you fill with drawings, paintings, thoughts, words, lyrics, photos, magazine cut-outs, and ephemera from your life. You’re a visual person. Page through this book to see visual representations of art journaling.

Art journals can have lots of words or no words. You can use a journal to document your life and express your emotions, or you can use it to practice art techniques that interest you. Ultimately, art journaling is all about creating for the sake of creating. It’s powerful. It’s cathartic. It’s messy. It’s yours.

Or rather—it’s ours.

Not a single person inside the Get Messy community has ten uninterrupted hours per day to spend on their art. Art journalers are people with crazy busy lives. They find pockets of time for creating. They schedule a time to create just like doctor appointments. One of our favorite Get Messians, Rose Sheridan (@rosieraindrops, see here), takes her art journal with her to the microwave to add a smear of paint as the seconds count down.

I recommend that you decide if you want this in your life. If you do, and you’re ready for it, I suggest you make time for it—it will be worth it.

You’ll find reasons to art journal throughout this book, but here are a few quick reasons:

Art journaling allows you to start from zero.

The range of expertise for art journalers is wide. Some have a degree in fine art and sell their work in galleries and make marks in a journal, and some are actual children scribbling on paper. You’ll fall somewhere in between those two.

You can do it your way. Whatever your zero is, art journaling lets you start from there. Whatever your journey is, art journaling allows it.

Art journaling helps you grow as an artist.

You may think, “I want to be an artist,” or “I want to make amazing things.” But then you have no idea what to make, or you think what you make is terrible, or not what you expected. By this point you should know that you’re not going to be amazing at something the first time you try it. You must practice, learn, mess up, try again, and then practice some more. As with anything else, practice and repetition are what grow our skills.

Art journaling helps you learn and practice for whatever creative endeavors you want to pursue, allowing you to test the waters and develop your preferences.

Art journaling is self-care.

I love art journaling because it helps me process my thoughts. It helps me understand what I’m feeling before I know I’m feeling it. Art journaling expresses thought and emotion through words and art.

For some of us, journal writing is difficult to maintain. We might be bad at words, or we might feel pressure to write like a professional novelist. But there is so much you can say without words, and art journaling allows you to do it.

Art journaling punches perfection in the face.

Perfectionism is a terrible thing that prevents us from releasing our beauty into the world. The more you art journal, the freer you are in your art because you’re not scared of sucking. This “screw perfection” mentality often finds its way into places other than our art journal.

Art journaling is pressure-free messing up. And we totally encourage messing up.

Art journaling creates a huge body of work.

Art journaling gets you from one streak of paint to one page to one finished journal to shelves full of art journals. This body of work serves as a timeline showing how much you’ve grown as an artist. First art journals are completely different from the latest ones. Working in journals will help you make as much art as possible compared with creating on a canvas or other substrate.

Quality is achieved through quantity. Nothing is better than seeing your finished and unfinished journals piling up on a shelf, knowing that your creative body of work is growing, evolving, and just hanging out in the real world.

Art journaling is a natural catalyst for consistency and habit.

Magical things happen when you create consistently. Art journaling helps you be consistently creative when you don’t have time to paint a humansized detailed painting every day. The dedication shown in art journaling regularly will filter into the rest of your life and be glorious.

Art journaling helps you find your style.

A large body of work, along with consistent creating, helps you develop your unique style. Spoiler alert: You won’t find your style by pinning images with your favorite colors. You’ll find your style by showing up and creating every day. Art journaling allows you to use potatoes in your art, discover that you love that, and develop it.

Art journaling has a lovely community.

Being part of a community of people who get what you’re doing is invaluable. When you’re in a slump, they’re there to encourage. In the entire history of Get Messy, not once has someone shared their art and received negative feedback—pretty amazing for something that happens online!

Get Messians’ least favorite pages often receive the most love. How encouraging to have someone see something you’ve stared at for too long in a completely different light. Art journalers are on this journey with you. They get you, they get why you’re doing this, and they’re able to see the beauty.