Category: Creative Notebook

The 4 creative books I’m reaching for.
I have an ever-expanding collection of creative books, most of which I keep near my desk. These are the four I have been reaching for lately.

This book is chock full of little tidbits of advice. And the advice that resonates with me changes each time I pick it up. Right now, I’m loving this advice:
- Keep a logbook, a place to write down what you do each day
- Create a blog: “Having a container can inspire us to fill it.”
- “Surround yourself with books and objects you love.”
This is the book that inspired me to start a creative journal in the first place, and to do so in a composition notebook. This book collects hand-drawn syllabi, assignments, and handouts from the college classes taught by artist Lynda Barry. There is tons of inspiration here, including the Daily Exercise.

This is by far the best collection of collage images I have found. The paper is thick, and the images are high quality. There is a bit of a vintage tilt to the subject matter, but I have found myself coming back to this again and again as I collage.

This book contains dozens of creative prompts. What I love about it is that it combines visual creativity with written creativity, which is my happy place. It also includes interviews with other journal keepers. No matter how much of a funk I’m in, I can always find something inspiring here.
November 16, 2023

Austin Kleon, books, collage, Creative Notebook, Emily K. Neuburger, Lynda Barry, prompts
Background: Ink Smooshing
Yes, that’s a technical term: ink smooshing. It’s one of my favorite techniques for a quick and easy background in my notebook. Here’s how you do it.

Materials
- Water-based markers (I’m using two Tombow Dual Brush Pens.)
- A piece of flexible plastic (I’m using a piece of packaging.)
- Spray bottle
- Paper or notebook page
Step 1: Scribble

Scribble your marker(s) on the piece of plastic. There are really no rules here. You can use one or two or five colors – whatever your want. I like to use two primary(ish) colors that make a third color. Here, I’ve chosen a pink and a blue that will combine to make a nice purple.

Step 2: Add Water

Add some water. I like to use a little spray bottle. Play around with different amounts of water to get different results. But note that the more water you add, the longer it takes to dry. Here, I did two sprays.

Step 3: Smoosh

Pick up the plastic and smoosh it on to your notebook page or whatever paper you’re using. When I want my colors to mix, I fold the plastic a little before smooshing to let the colors come into contact. That’s what I did here.

Step 4: Play

Keep smooshing until you have the coverage you want. You can add additional layers and colors, too.

I use this technique ALL the time. I hope you enjoy it too!
November 2, 2023

backgrounds, smooshing, Tombows
First pages and last pages

Today, I reached the end of my current creative notebook and began my newest creative notebook. The notebook is dead; long live the notebook.

Reaching the end of a notebook is always a little bit exciting and a little bit sad, as firsts and lasts tend to be.

Here is a look at a few of my “last” pages, including the one from today:

Historically, I have had a hard time writing on the first page of a new notebook. But in my creative notebooks, I look forward to the first page. It represents a fresh start, but it is also a continuation of what has come before.

As you can see, I use the first page to mark the beginning and, eventually, the ending of the notebook.

Here is the first page in my new notebook from today:

Full disclosure: I did not like my first iteration, so I covered it up with this beautiful paper from Ali Edwards.

On to the next page.

October 26, 2023

composition notebook, Creative Notebook, first page, last page
Make your notebook your own.

I really mean this. Take complete ownership of your notebook.

Those bullet journals online are beautiful and lovely, and I want to bullet journal sometimes. But I know from experimentation that it doesn’t work for me right now. I don’t want to spend that much time on the aesthetics.

I used to love the structure of planners like those from Franklin Covey and Day Designer. But those don’t work for me right now either. My digital calendar and task manager handle the day-to-day life stuff.

My notebook handles the ideas and freeform thinking and planning. Right now me needs my notebook to have less structure and less pressure. It is a place to just be and write and create.

Choose a notebook because it works for you, not because someone (or apparently everyone) else is using it.

Decorate your notebook, so it makes you happy when you see it.

Put things in your notebook for you – current you and future you but not past you.

Exercise

In your notebook, make a list of things you want to put in it. Take 2-3 minutes and write down everything that comes to mind.

Give yourself permission. Start a new notebook, decorate your cover, or begin a new page with something from your list. Take it and make it yours.

October 12, 2023

bullet journal, Creative Notebook, write it down
6 Ways to Get Unstuck
There are times when I look at my creative notebook, and I have no idea how to fill the page, how to invite the creativity. Sometimes I just need a little push.

This is a list I have compiled to help me get unstuck. Maybe it’ll help you too.

1. Add randomness
- Roll the dice
- Use a random generator
- Glue down all the random bits from your desk
2. Add restrictions
- Use a prompt
  - Currently -ing words: watching, reading, listening, loving, etc.
  - Lynda Barry’s Daily Exercise
  - Photo prompts
  - Writing prompts
- Set a time limit
- Limit materials
  - Use words only
  - Use images only
  - Make a collage using one magazine
  - Use only stickers, only washi tape, only watercolor, etc.
3. Add movement
- Go for a walk
- Work somewhere else: a different room in your house, outside, a coffee shop, etc.
- Work outside your notebook (and glue it in later)
4. Add repetition
- Participate in a creative challenge
  - The 100 Day Project
  - Junk Journal January/July
- Swatch your supplies
- Make a list
- Collect: quotes on a topic, items of the same color, etc.
- Fill a page with: circles, labels, lines
5. Add color
- Fill the background with color
- Glue down ephemera from life: packaging, mail, etc.
- Make a pattern
6. Add structure
- Make a pocket
- Cut down the page
- Fill in a grid
Examples

From left to right, top to bottom:
- Fill a page with circles; use only watercolor
- Fill in a grid; glue down all the random bits from your desk
- Work outside your notebook and glue it in later
- Swatch your supplies; use only washi tape; fill the page with color
- Glue down ephemera from life
- Cut down the page
I hope these prompts serve as a reference for when you need a little creative push.
September 7, 2023

dice, get unstuck, prompts
Keep just one notebook

“Once I decided to keep everything in one notebook I found a partner and participant in keeping the words and pictures and ephemera that are part of day to day life. That feeling I have about wanting to write something or draw something or make notes about something or glue something down— my composition notebook holds all of it. It’s a place. A time and space.”

– Lynda Barry, Tumblr, March 2022

I have been keeping a creative notebook in a composition notebook for over a year. I was first inspired to do so after reading Lynda Barry’s book Syllabus. For most of that time, any handwritten notes went into my notebook. If I was taking an online seminar, the notes went in the book. If I got mail with pretty packaging, it went in the book. If I was upset about my day, my emotions went in the book. If I was planning a party, the lists went in the book. If I wanted to play with watercolor, swatch new markers, or create a collage, it went in the book.

The end result is undoubtedly greater than the sum of its parts. As it fills, the notebook becomes a unique collection, with the whole becoming so much more than any individual page.

Your creative notebook is a collection of all of your thoughts and writings and drawings and musings. Its power comes from the juxtaposition of all of those different things side by side, page by page. Plus, you not only get the experience of filling it up but also the experience of revisiting it and learning from yourself. (More on that soon.)

I break the one notebook “rule” sometimes. For a while, I tried keeping the creative notebook AND doing daily pages in a Hobonichi Techo Cousin. While I enjoyed doing the pages, it became too much after a while, and I returned to the creative notebook. I also use digital tools like DayOne, Apple Notes, and Bear for daily journaling, random notes, and writing drafts. But any physical notes, lists, outlines, collage, or play goes into the creative notebook. I return again and again to these notebooks.

Keeping one notebook may not work for everyone. Multiple, dedicated notebooks is just as valid and will work better for some and at different times. But keeping one creative notebook is something I recommend you try.

August 10, 2023

composition notebook, Creative Notebook, juxtaposition, Lynda Barry, whole is greater than the sum of its parts
Date your pages!
I try to date everything: cards I send or receive, art I make, kid art and school stuff. I’m never sorry to have the date on something and often sorry the date is missing, especially in my notebooks.

If you don’t have or want a date stamp, handwriting the date is super easy. But to me, there is something special and graphic about using a date stamp.

This is my current collection of date stamps.

Here is more info if you’re interested in any of these:
- Turquoise – no idea where I got this one
- Ali Edwards date stamp
- Ali Edwards time stamp – no longer available
- Becky Higgins – no longer available, similar
- Amazon
- Trodat (the picture shows DDMonthYYYY, but mine came MonthDDYYYY)
- Old Becky Higgins – no longer available
- Studio Calico Mega Date Stamp
Some artists who use date stamps:
Start dating your notebook pages today. You’ll be glad you did.
August 3, 2023

Austin Kleon, composition notebook, date stamps, Mo Willems
Ode to a Composition Notebook
First and foremost, I use a composition notebook for my creative notebook, because Lynda Barry had her students do it in Syllabus. That’s why I started. But I kept it up because it worked for me.

Here are the reasons I love a composition notebook, specifically:
- Perfect size. The page size is not too big and it’s not too small. The book itself usually has about 200 pages, which provides plenty of room without being enormous.
- Inexpensive. It’s cheap, especially around back to school time (now!), and it’s easy to find.
- Low pressure. Because it’s cheap, I don’t feel precious about it. I have very expensive and beautiful notebooks that I don’t use because I feel I need to save them and fill them with only the most beautiful things. Not so with a composition notebook.
- Classic look. Let’s appreciate its low-key beauty, shall we?
- Sturdy. The pages are sewn in, and it has a hard cover. So it can handle whatever you throw at it.
- Easy to use. It can fold back on itself. There are no rings or spirals to get in the way.
- Paper. This is thin cheap paper, yes. But I find it is sufficient, even with wet media, if I’m careful. And it’s easy to glue two pages together as needed.
- Lines. I also love the lined pages. I can ignore the lines when I want to, but they are there when I need them.
A composition notebook is a cheap and easy way to start a creative notebook, but use whatever works for you. Go smaller; go bigger; go handmade; or go for luxury. The notebook itself does not matter. What matters is putting things – your thoughts and ideas and random life stuff – down on paper.

Keeping a physical creative notebook encourages me to play. I use it for my writing exercises and notes and making lists and creating collages and swatching new supplies. I use it to journal about my feelings and my days (though I do this in other places too). I use it as a scrapbook and glue book. I use it for anything and everything.
July 27, 2023

composition notebook, Lynda Barry
What is a creative notebook?
Let’s start, as we do, with text. A definition.

creative notebook
noun
A place to hold your ideas.

Let’s break it down.

First, it’s a place, a holder, a container. It is typically a notebook of some kind. A place to put thoughts and ideas and doodles and whatever else comes up in your life. But it doesn’t have to be one specific physical notebook. Think of the term “creative notebook” as a concept rather than a specific form and make it work for you.

It could be physical. It could be digital.

It could be big. It could be small.

It could be expensive. It could be a few pages of computer paper stapled together.

It could be one notebook. It could be several notebooks.

The physical reality of it is less important than its use.

I use one composition notebook at a time. Use whatever works for you.

Three of my recent creative notebooks

Second, it’s for your ideas, your creativity, your life. Creativity can be an intimidating, nebulous word. But again, think of it in broad terms. The “creative” in “creative notebook,” means, to me, the raw materials of life. Your ideas and notes, whatever the context.

It could be for a typically creative endeavor like painting or writing. It could be for your work as a lawyer or project manager or content creator. It could be both. It could be neither.

It could have nothing but words. It could have nothing but images. It could have both.

My creative notebook includes a little bit of everything:
- charts
- ideas
- drafts
- research
- notes from classes
- work notes
- free writing about stuff on my mind
- swatches
- collages
- lists
- quotes
- writing exercises
- poetry
- brain dumps
- diary-like entries
- goals
- lettering practice
- doodles
- ephemera from life
- any other kind of note or idea I have.
It is not your job to find the creativity and then write it down. It is your job to write it down, and the creativity will emerge.

Practice

Artists call their notebooks sketch books. Writers call them writer’s notebooks or commonplace books.
It doesn’t matter what you call it; it matters that you do it.

I recommend starting with putting everything in a designated notebook for a while and see what happens.

The lovely thing about a creative notebook is, if you keep it around and put things into it, the creativity will appear. The mishmash of notes and ideas coalesce, and the whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts. When you see your thoughts and swatches and collages and doodles and lists and whatnot juxtaposed with the others, new connections are made, themes emerge, creativity is found.

I hope you try it.
July 20, 2023

write it down