31 Hearts Walk Through

Hey guys! I'm super excited to share with you guys today, especially since I managed to get everything I needed to do done early. It's nice to not have to worry about doing a blog post right before bed. But not only that, I have a more detailed post in store for you guys today. I'm going to run through all of the steps that it takes me to make this page. I'm actually going to be something similar to this on a guest post (more on that another day), except with more detail. But let's get started, shall we?

To start off my pages, I like to add a layer of journaling. This is very basic, and is done with a Sharpie. It isn't meant to be read, so the writing can be as messy and/or sloppy as you want it to be. And you can do it as quickly as you wish to.

Then, I decided to add some layers of paint. I did a couple of different shades of pink with a paintbrush on the very base. Then I scraped the yellow and purple on with a credit card. You could use a piece of cardboard if you so desire. I did this rather roughly, paying no attention to where the paint was going. I just let it go where it wanted to.

Then, I started to consider stamping options. I use foam stamps with acrylic paint all of the time in my work, so I wanted to change it up a little. So I decided to go with a clear acrylic stamp and a StudioG ink pad in a dark red color.

Here is what the page looked like when I was finished with that layer. I stamped all over the page, and, although it took a little while, I think that it was worth it overall. I love the effect that I was able to achieve, and I think it really represents me. Also, I didn't try to line up the stamp. At all. Sometimes I even tried to make it NOT line up. On purpose. Because I wanted to see what would happen. And I kind of liked the way it looked. So I decided to continue in that way.

Next, I added some masking tape in varying lengths to the page. I did it so that the angles of the tape actually mimic each other; it makes it a bit more pleasing to look at, in my personal opinion. Also, I had the 'A Year in the Life of an Art Journal' prompt in mind for this page as well. The 'Stuff' prompt was tape. So I decided to incorporate it into this page. Which, just so you know, is a 31 Hearts page. I'm not going to show you all of those today, just this one. Because it's going to be so much longer than a regular post anyways.

After applying the tape to the page, I made a wash from a hot pink acrylic craft paint and water, and then spread it over particular parts of the page; the tape, and then a little bit into the background, so that it would blend a bit better. I love the look that I was able to achieve.

After that, I added some stamping with a purple acrylic paint and bubble wrap. I did this over the entire page, and I especially enjoy the way that it looks when stamped over top of the tape. It's different from what I normally do, so I think that in and of itself makes it interesting.

The next thing that I did on this page was to white out the shape of a person. Instead of a head portrait, I decided to do a whole body, like I did for my other 31 Hearts page, and try to imitate the effects that I got on that page. I also did this same type of thing on one of my ICAD cards.

The next step was to fill in the big bodies of color that my girl is going to be composed of. This consists of the dress, the skin, and, even though it's not pictured in the above shot, the hair. I do this rather quickly, and simply follow the lines that I have whited out in the previous step. You also want to make sure that the white doesn't show through; you need to cover it all up with color. I chose a blue dress for this girl, in order to contrast the background. In addition, it coordinates with the purple. But contrasts the pink. Overall, it just works.

As you can see in this photo, I chose to give this girl brown hair with blue streaks. I REALLY like the way her hair turned out. It goes perfectly with the page. Also, in this photo, you can see that I added the facial features. I drew them in with a pencil, and then painted them in. I used a manga style for my piece, but you could do this in any way that you wished to.

The next step, for me at least, was to add the heart that makes this a "31 Hearts" page. I did it with red acrylic paint, and painted it directly onto her dress. 

After the heart had dried, I added a word cut out from a magazine that reads 'hidden'. It just stood out to me when I went browsing through the text a magazine article was composed of. I also cut out a couple of other words, just for future use.

Next, I outlined the whole thing with a Pitt Pen, in a dark gray color. I used short, sketchy strokes for everything except the eyes, nose, and mouth, in which I used more controlled motions so that I would have a more sophisticated look. And so it didn't look messy. I also outlined the entire page with a border.

Then I added some magazine and newspaper letters for a title. I spelled out aware, as that is the topic that I was exploring in my journaling in the very first layer. Awareness. To yourself and to the world around you.

And, before I leave you, I would like to give you one more close up of this girl's face and hair. Maybe you can see why I like her hair so much. Maybe you can't. But it's mine. And that's one of the reasons that I like it. Thanks for visiting! And I hope that you join me again tomorrow for some more art journaling!