Bullet Journals and Beyond: Having Fun with Your Journal!
So you picked out the perfect journal and the untouched pages are just waiting to be marked up. Whether you want a place for your daily thoughts, your school notes, doodles, sketches, to-dos, reflections, or just writing down lists of things - it can be intimidating to make that first mark. Keeping a journal is all about making it totally, functionally, and beautifully yours; it doesn’t have to be perfect! With the right mindset - armed with the right tools - inspiration is right around the corner.
Bullet Journals come at the center of the philosophy of incorporating creativity and productivity into your days. The beauty of bullet journals is that you have the power to create your own planning strategy, personalize your intentions, and have your own style showing through each page you create. Plus, bullet journalling comes with a whole community of talented people that will never leave you uninspired and scared of a blank page ever again. If you are interested, there are some great resources to introduce you to Bullet Journals.
Personally, I have always struggled with the blank page - getting my thoughts captured and organized. Using a sole fountain pen to write in my journal felt more like a chore than the meditative experience I desired. Then I realized something - even though it should have been obvious - journaling doesn’t have rules!
That is when I started eyeing not only the writing utensils in my pencil case, but also my art supplies, especially those offered by Faber Castell. Incorporating sketching, hand lettering, doodles, colour coding my lists, and using the space of my page as a canvas to organize my words and thoughts really unlocked the joy of using a journal on the daily for me.
Colours! Colours! Colours!
If you are a visual thinker, incorporating colours can do a lot more than doodling rainbows. Colour coding tasks, underlying key phrases, differentiating days or weeks, or practicing your hand lettered headers - colours can do all that work and more! And now that we are doing more than colouring inside the lines, it is important to note that coloured markers aren’t just for kids anymore.
The Pitt Artist Brush Pens by Faber Castell is an incredibly versatile style of marker - the flexible brush felt tip gives you a great variety of line types suitable for drawing, lettering, or simple colour coding. If you haven’t used a brush tip pen yet, then you haven’t experienced the satisfaction of how soft and smooth it feels to lay down a line. Whether a thin outline or underline, a bold stroke, or a full colour fill, the Pitt Artist Brush Pen can easily hop from one task to the next.
With 60 colours available, Faber Castell offers all the basic colours you’d need to get you started. This includes a fabulous box set of 12- and 24-pens that gives you a rich colour range. My favourite part of the Pitt Artist Brush Pens are the curated sets of 6. If you worry you’ll feel overwhelmed by too many colours, a limited colour palette helps to keep it simple, while giving enough variation in tones to differentiate my lists and ideas. These curated sets also give a beautiful unity and refined look to my pages. From a solid Basic, to Landscape, Blues, and Terra, I love using these compact brush pen sets for an easy colour scheme while writing at my desk, or if I am just sketching and doodling on the go.
A Picture is Worth 1000 Words
Sometimes words can’t quite say it all, and who said drawings should only be in your sketchbook? I love spontaneous sketching, and it is a great way to document your thoughts and events through windows of illustrations. Sometimes it’s a sketch of the plant in a coffee shop, sometimes it’s simple icons that relate to my tasks for the day. The Ecco Pigment Fineliners are Faber Castell's line of felt tip pens made from recycled materials, and they come in a variety of widths that will suit your drawing style. These dependable felt tip pens are a must have in any tool kit, as it can go from detailed black ink sketches, to mountains of writing without a moment's notice. And don’t worry about going over your words or lines with a brush tip or highlighter - these fineliners use waterproof ink so you won’t have to worry about a smudged mess.
Making Your Words POP
Writing and making art are not mutually exclusive. Hand lettering is a beautiful expressive art form that lets what your writing take center stage. It is the best of both worlds and makes eye-catching spreads in any journal, perfect for highlighting important phrases, words, or mantras close to you (or maybe something you need to remember!). They are also a fun way to decorate your handwritten notes and messages to your friends and family.
The Faber Castell Hand Lettering Set gives you a great tool kit for your hand lettering dreams. The 12 piece kit starts you off with 6 Pitt Artist Brush Pens and 2 Pitt Artist Fineliners to give you a taste of the basic tools - and their range.
But hand lettering, or even decorating, in your journal doesn’t need to be colourful to be brilliant - grayscale can give you just as much inspiration as a rainbow. Get back to the basics with the Faber Castell Pitt Artist Pens Hand Lettering Set that gives you the range you need to focus on the form, and less on the colours. This set is fantastic for hand lettering beginners, but doubles as a perfect set of markers for the artist exploring darks and lights in their drawings.
When it comes to keeping a bullet journal, it should be creative and most importantly it should be fun. So don’t keep your art supplies out of your pencil case, and make that blank page yours! What are some techniques you’ve been practicing in your journals? Let us know!