There are a lot of mental and physical benefits to journaling. If you want to dive a little deeper into the general reason for journaling, here are a few resources that might be helpful:

Huberman Lab episode on a specific science-supported journaling protocol to improve health

This New York Times article about Julia Cameron’s Morning Pages and the Pennebaker Study that Andrew Huberman also references (in much more detail) in the above podcast episode

Anyone can sketch

Whenever I share me journaling with sketches and illustrations I get a lot of comments like “I don’t know how to draw” or “this is so cool, I wish I could do that!”. The truth is that this journal is for nobody else but YOU. It is not supposed to be presented, and making errors, scratching out letters or drawings, starting over again is totally ok and all part of the process in journaling with sketches and illustrations! So really, anybody can do this without being a skilled artist already. This is not to make art to put up or necessarily share. This is to take the time to journal for yourself and have fun doing it!

Supplies you need to get started

My method of journaling with sketches and illustrations is using brush pens and a simple black marker. Here is what you need to get started if that’s a method you want to try.

A sketchbook
Color markers
A think black marker
A pencil and eraser

Make sure to buy an artist sketchbook over a notebook from the stationary section. You can get them on amazon or at an art supply store like Michaels. The reason for this is that you really want some thicker paper so the pens don’t bleed through onto the next pages. Regular notebook usually have thin paper. You want to look at a paper weight of around 120 grams. They come spiral bound, hard bound in landscape, portrait or square format.

I use this landscape version from Artist’s Loft (it’s just about thick enough with 75lb/110gsm thick paper) and I have this Moleskin square sketchbook bookmarked for future use. There is a difference in price points. If you’re just testing out if this is something you enjoy, I’d recommend the cheaper landscape option.

Next you’ll need a few different colored brush pens. There are many different versions, most of which have two tips - a broader one to color bigger areas and a finer one for more detailed sketching. The ones I got are Tombow dual brush markers. You can get a mixed set or start with a small selection of hand-picked colors. Honestly, you don’t need too many different colors to start with. If you have 5-7 colors that you like, that’s a great starting point! I’ve found that as I’m sketching, I don’t always show everything in their true color. So it’s not necessary to have every color in your arsenal. Make sure you grab a black one as it’s good for color and black and white illustrations.

A think black marker is helpful to outline shapes and add texture to larger areas. A felt tip pan or sharpie will do.

If you feel more comfortable making rough sketches with pencil before committing to it with ink, make sure you have a light pencil and a eraser. I use a basic pencil with a top eraser.

How to fill your first page

Once you have your supplies, you can start to journal with sketches and illustrations. If the empty page intimidates you, here are a few different approaches you can take,

1. Pick individual moments of your day and sketch them in black and white

Below are two examples of sketching in mostly black and white and some grey. I loosely arrange the things I want to sketch on the page, there is no particular order or grid to them. I try to make sure to fill the page and not have a random empty spot. I start by roughly layout out the page with pencil, then outline everything with my thin black marker. After that, I find some larger areas to shade in black to give the illustrations a little more weight - like filling in the coffee or soup in black, or coloring the speech bubble. The last step is to use a lighter color (I used grey) and add more context - I colored part of the clouds, added grey around the coffee cup and the cantucci to insinuate a table of sorts.

journaling with sketches and illustrations — Make it stand outrererwerwerwerwerwerwerwerw

Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

2. Divide your page into squares

Think about how many ‘scenes’ you want to sketch out, then create the same amount of squares on your page. I recommend to use a light color as a base - I used grey on the left and a light beige on the right. From there you can sketch out each moment you want to capture. Again, start with a pencil if you feel more comfortable doing so, then add outline with a thin black marker. Once done, add more depth with your black marker. And as a last step choose one different color to differentiate spaces. It’s enough to stick with that one color (blue on the left, orange on the right), or you can use different colors for every square. It will look a little more cohesive if you stick with only one additional color, if that’s something that matters to you.

Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

3. Stick to just one experience or moment

Pick one thing that you can dive deeper into. Below are two examples - things I ate throughout the day, and things I saw on a walk.

For everything I ate, I started by sketching the individual things I ate on pencil. I stuck to one corner of the page knowing that I would want to illustrate a table around it. I used colored pens to illustrate every item, as you can see I didn’t use a black marker to outline it first. Instead I used the black marker to add some texture. The bagel got some sesame seeds on top, the broccoli got some floret texture and the chocolate bar got some drawings of the squares. You can also have some fun and add faces to foods like I did on the sunny side up and the avocado.

Do you feel ready?

Hopefully you feel ready to give journaling with sketches and illustrations a try. You can also do a mix of journaling with words and illustrations. There are no rules, only what you find joy in!

Prompts to help you get started

If you still feel a little hesitant, here are a few prompts to help you get started. This is not an exclusive list, rather a few thoughts to get you started!