Creating an Art Journal Layout Using Templates

When I first looked at Sherrie Piegdon’s May ScrapSimple Club, Journal Junkie, it was clear there were possibilities for an Art Journaling layout: the painted papers, the subject and style of the embellishments, the many layers… oh-so-many customizable layers!

The embellishment pieces all come in three layers, as does the alpha. There is a newsprint bottom layer, then a painted layer (some have multi-painted layers for further customization!), and finally a top “doodled” layer. They basically triple the size of the club! The pieces can be used as multi-layered customized pieces or separated and used individually – or as I did, mixed and matched!

After looking through the pieces and reading the word art (my favorite part of most collections), I decided on a page about dreams, which then led me to a favorite song. Song lyrics are fabulous places to find Art Journaling inspiration. The lyrics are part of a larger picture, an album that tells a story; but for this purpose, they are perfect and give the dreamy feel I want.

Using the idea of dreams and drawing on the lyrics “starry nights, city lights coming down over me,” I decided I needed to set my base. I wanted a dark night sky, but I knew getting the backdrop both blue and gray could be tricky. I selected two overlays. (These overlays can be used as overlays with Blending modes, but I chose to use them to create papers.) I used the Paint Bucket tool and clipped a block color to each layer, playing around with Blending modes until I achieved this fabulous blend of blue and gray that fit my theme perfectly.

Next, I thought about adding the song lyrics, but I still wasn’t sure where to place them or in what design. So I skipped ahead to some stars which I had seen in the Brushes file. Yet something was missing: the skyscrapers mentioned in the first verse. I knew the ScrapSimple Paper Templates: Street Grunge would give me that subtle silhouette I needed.

With the backdrop in place, I added in some brushed stars. I used both the Star and Star Mist brushes, blending them in to achieve a subtlety that fits this haunting song.

The spaces between skyscrapers gave me the perfect Journaling spot.

Next, I used the Diamond and Arrow Mist Brushes which added a grungy, urban feel, so I worked them in around the edges. The Diamond Mist Brush reminded me of chain-link fencing, so I wanted to add a metallic style. I played around with every metal style I had, looking for a tinfoil-type style. My vision was for it to look like I had stuck on some tinfoil as part of my Art Journaling collage. I love working in depth in my Art Journaling layouts. It just wasn’t happening, though, so I left it and went on.

Alphas. Who doesn’t love alphas? And three layers that can be mixed and matched? Heaven! I love all three varieties Sherrie included – the newsprint, the watercolor, and the doodled outline. I wanted to create some visual interest, so I used the newsprint on the “Are We” titling down the right-hand side and the paint layers for the “We Are.” This left me with the doodled layer for “The Waiting” title along the bottom, top, and left edges.

Fabulous? No, not yet. I felt it needed some extra texture, and for the night sky… what could be better than a little bling – in the form of glitter, of course! I added a glitter style to the paint layer. Better!

Now for some starry night skies: I used a very small-sized brush to stamp on the “starry night” before adding a bevel to give it a depth like paint. Looking good!

I still wasn’t satisfied with that chain-link fence effect in the bottom left, though. I decided I might try a gold style from the ScrapSimple Tools – Styles: Gold 8501 and desaturate it to give me the tinfoil effect I wanted. After trying a few, I decided I actually really liked the gold because of the focal interest it gave against the muted tones of the rest of the page.

But now for balance? Hmmm. I revisited the “Are We” alpha on the top right. The newsprint was good, but perhaps I could add some gold paint there? I dragged in the paint alpha letters, resizing them to give a different effect. I tried giving them a gold paint feel, but it needed more. Playing around with the gold textures I used for the Diamond Mist chain-link fence, I found one that gave a “puff paint” effect which I really liked!

Oh no! I had completely forgotten the very thing that gave me the idea in the first place. I needed those wings. The wings come with a few extra layers than the alpha; they have extra paint layers for additional paint colors to completely customize your work. However, I wanted the simpler version. I love newsprint, and it seemed perfect for the gritty reality I wanted on my dreamy wings. I selected the newsprint layer, the painted outline, and the doodled layer.

Placing the three layers on top of each other and highlighting all three layers in my Layers palette, I dragged additional layers by holding down the Alt key while dragging the wings over to my page. This is a super-easy and fast way to make duplicate layers! Placing an odd number of these wings around my page gave the whimsical feel I wanted. Changing the paint layer to a glitter style and the doodle layer to a dark blue kept the night grunge I was after.

Now for the word art. I wanted to keep the feeling of desolation of the song, but still add some hope in my page. I selected the words “Dream Big” from the word art. Erasing the border, shrinking and rotating it, and placing it on each set of wings allowed me to add that feeling.

Art Journaling uses lots of layers and having a collection that allows for all those pieces to be available in multiple forms (that we know will work together) is genius! By selecting different parts of the embellishments and alpha, I was able to construct my page and give it depth while being confident it all worked well together. There was enough visual interest in this collection to construct a page with nothing more than one additional item and some styles.

Have fun with this club, try something a little different with it, and definitely have a go at breaking down those layers and using them separately. We would love to see what you create, so be sure to post your pages in the Scrap Girls Gallery.

Tutorial written by Jody WestTutorial written using Adobe Photoshop Elements 12 with Windows 7 

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