What Do You Write In An Art Journal? (7 Genius Ideas)

An art journal’s sole purpose is to provide you with a way to express yourself freely and be creative to your heart’s extent.

You can do just about anything with it without having to stick to a rigid format or use it to schedule your days. 

This is where it largely differs from a bullet journal even though both tend to be used in a similar fashion.

Since an art journal is that specific space you can turn to be creative, there’s no limit or restriction on what to do with it.

You can write just about anything! From short sentences or large paragraphs, it can also be a great place to write just a word or two. Anything that comes to mind like a feeling or a random thought can be written in your art journal.

To give you a quick idea, here are a few main things you can write in an art journal:

• About You
• Poems
• Words, Positive Affirmations
• Feelings, Reflective Questions
• Dreams
• Quotes, Lyrics, Sayings

If you’d like to know more about what kind of poems or words that you can write in your journal, take a look at each of these options in detail below:

Information About Yourself

An art journal is all about you, it’s basically like a piece of yourself filled with pages of things you love and your thoughts and expressions. 

This is why it’s a good idea to introduce yourself in the first few pages of a brand new art journal.

You can begin by giving a few details about yourself such as the things you like, your favorite movies, places, and people, what your passions are, who you want to be, how you would like to see the change in the world, things that make you unique or stuff that you admire about yourself.

There is also an option to include photos or mementos that mean something to you.

Here you can grab the chance to talk about the story behind that picture that was taken or why you love that specific item.

You could also sketch a portrait of yourself and write around that image everything that describes you or means something to you.

Lists

As mentioned a few seconds ago, writing about things you love is an awesome idea for an art journal in particular which is why lists are the best way to do so.

You can create pages of these lists and you will never get bored of them.

It’s also a pretty genius way to make sure you’re filling up an art journal faster than usual.

To make things easier for you, I’ve created a list of ideas that you can write lists about:

• Favorite Books
• Favorite Summer/Winter Activities
• Favorite Places To Visit
• Movies You Want Watch
• Favorite Actor/Actresses
• Things You Love To Do
• Go-To Ways To Destress
• Surprising Moments
• Things You’re Proud Of
• List of Affirmations
• Things That Make You Feel Good
• Things That Make You Feel Happy
• Things You’re Grateful For

Poems

Whether it’s a deep poem that you can intensely relate to or a show poem that you thought was incredibly genius.

I’m sure there are blank spaces on a few pages that you can include these.

Writing down poems in your art journal that either you have created or a famous poet’s poem is a fantastic way to create themed pages as well. 

If a poem is about love, you can go outside or buy a rose and turn it into a pressed flower to decorate the page.

You don’t need to limit yourself to one poem on one page but you can add as many as you like.

Positive Words And Affirmations

We all know how powerful words can be and the impact that they hold. 

Often what you tell yourself is what follows you around so be sure to use kind and positive words when describing yourself.

Use words that will make you feel good and write them down in a bold font. 

If the page you are working on has something to do with positive affirmations or you would like to include them somewhere, here are a few  phrases you can use:

“I am WORTHY”

“I am grateful for everything that I have in my life”

“I deserve everything good in life”

“I choose to focus on things that will help me”

If you’re looking for common words to use, then here are a few you can try:

• Amazing
• Bold
• Creative
• Lovable
• Strong
• Empowered

Feelings And Reflective Questions

Another way to give you an opportunity to write more in your art journal is to write down whatever feeling that comes to you at that moment.

If you’re feeling down or if you’re excited about something, include it!

Maybe you have a collage of pictures of your family, you can write down how much you love and care for them.

If you have a spread about your dreams and goals, write down what makes you excited for them or things that make you nervous.

Alternatively, you can dive deeper into art journaling by dedicating a few spreads solely to explore more about yourself.

You can ask yourself questions and answer them as is or go about it in a fun way and include images, doodles, poems, and sayings that relate to that question and your answer.

These questions could include:

• What is hope?
• What is your most favorite memory in all the years you’ve lived?
• What is your biggest mistake?
• What do you wish to know more about yourself?

Dreams

I have a sweet spot for these types of pages in an art journal because there are so many things to do with them. 

If you had a really good dream, write as much detail as you can remember.

To take things further, if you’re good at drawing, you can create an illustrated version of it on that same page.

Related Post: What Can I Draw In An Art Journal? (29 Amazing Ideas)

Or you can draw dreamcatchers and write your dream in between the lines. 

However, this doesn’t only apply to just writing about dreams you had at night.

You could also write down your dreams for what you want in life.

You could have pages specifically about your vision for the future and the things you would like to achieve and acquire in the future. 

These pages are fantastic to use as an inspiration or motivational source to help you make those dreams come true.

Quotes, Lyrics, And Sayings

Lastly, using quotes, lyrics, and sayings is one of the most common things to write in an art journal. 

They’re great to break up too much detail on a page but they can also make a page really stand out.

If you can’t think of anything to write on your own, then turning to quotes or writing down a line from your favorite song is even better.

Here’s a hand-picked collection of inspirational quotes you can use as a quick reference if you need to add them to your journal.

In terms of quotes and sayings, you can find many different ones if you search it up online depending on what you looking up. 

There’s plenty to choose from thoughtful, inspirational, motivational.

Related Post: What Do You Write In A Journal Before Bed?

Conclusion

Personally, I think it’s best not to overthink what you’re going to write in an art journal but just go with whatever pops up in your head while your working and creating that page.

If there’s a specific color or name that you suddenly think off, write it down but as you can see, there are plenty of things you can write about in an art journal.

But if I had to choose which is my go-to, that would be quotes and lyrics.

I’m always listening to music and coming across an impressive lyric isn’t that hard. 

Also, quotes are simply perfect to use when art journaling and you’ll never run out of another one to use. 

Before I leave you, I would like to just recommend that you have fun with it. 

Try all of the above and you’ll notice that writing about a few of these ideas above can definitely make your art journal richer with content.