When it comes to mindfulness, if you ask me, it’s hard to beat a daily art journaling practice. Taking time to paint and draw daily (even if it’s just a few minutes!) has often been a safe-haven in an otherwise chaotic life. So, if you’re ready to take up art journaling, but you’re not really sure what you need—I’ve put together this list of my favorite art supplies just for you!

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What supplies do you need for art journaling?

The thing about an art journaling practice, is that it gets to be whatever you want it to be. And I am a full believer that budget should never be a barrier to creativity! The good news is that you don’t have to spend a lot of money to enjoy a robust creative moment for yourself. There are a ton of great art supplies for a good budget that you can pick up at Target or even the dollar store—and so my favorite budget supplies make this list alongside a few more splurges as well.

At the end of the day, the only thing you truly need to start art journaling is a notebook and something to make marks on it! As a mixed media artist, I enjoy having a few different supplies around to truly mix the media up and have a chance to play with all kinds of textures and colors, and of course—layers!

My minimum art supplies list includes:

1. A notebook

2. Tools

3. Paints

4. Pens/Paint Pens/Markmakers

1. My Favorite Notebooks for Art Journaling

First things first, if you’re starting a creative journal practice—then at bare minimum, you have to have a notebook to journal in!

I’ll confess that MOST of the graphics in this post are NOT ranked in any way, EXCEPT this one! Here is the list of my favorite notebooks for art journaling:

1. Dylusions Creative Journal

2. Recycled Composition Notebooks

3. Strathmore Visual Mixed Media Journal

4. Strathmore Mixed Media Vellum Spiral Pad

The Ranger Dylusions journal is my absolute favorite notebook of all time for making art in. I truly love the elastic that wraps around the journal to keep it closed. That’s probably because I add so many layers in mine and do a lot of collaging, so it tends to get wider. It’s nice to have that elastic to keep everything together and not worry about things falling out. On that note, mine has an envelope on the inside—and I like to keep baggies of papers and magazine clippings in there to use later, or if I’m still working on them. So, that’s my number one and it’s definitely a splurge.

Number 2 is a close second and the least expensive option. I really enjoy grabbing a bundle of recycled composition books and being able to lay all of them out to create painted paper in to get them started before art journaling.

I also keep the other two notebooks on hand for journaling and sketchbook practices. Honestly, I have a notebook in every room of my house for art journaling AND I keep one in my purse too! 😂

2. The Tools You Need for Art Journaling

Creating painted paper in my art journal became an important part of my journaling practice after learning from fellow artist Alisa Burke! I had done this on loose pieces of paper with my students for a while—as starting with a blank canvas can be intimidating to start a piece! The idea is to take blank paper and cover it in paint to lower the anxiety of starting completely from scratch.

I’ll probably do an entire blog post about painted paper soon, but for now, know that I pre-paint a TON of pages in my notebooks away, that way when it’s time for my daily art journaling practice, there’s already a layer down.

Here is a list of my favorite tools for creating in my art journal:

• Speedball Soft Rubber Brayer

• Staedtler Math Set for Drawing

• Stainless Steel Palette Kniffe

• Princeton Snap Taklon Brushes

I use the brayer and the knife for creating painted papers in my journal. The geometry kit and the paintbrushes or for the journaling that happens afterward! I get the most use from the compass in the geometry kit, but the letter stencils are also really fun for adding more layers and texture. These synthetic taklon brushes are my FAVORITE and I really love the long handles on them.

3. My Favorite Paints for Art Journaling

Paints! Note that I’m a mixed-media artist and you can REALLY see that here. Usually, I use acrylic paint to do MOST of the painted papers in my notebook. But a lot of time I will also use watercolors to get background color on them! Believe it or not they look fantastic—even in regular old composition books. I work a lot of layers up in them and I always enjoy how they turn out.

Here are my go-to paints for art journaling (in no particular order):

• Art Philosophy Metallic Accents

• Watercolor Confections: Tropicals

• Art Philosophy Watercolor Confections Currents

• Liquitex Basics Acrylics

• Mondo Llama Acrylic Paints

• Crayola Watercolors

4. The Paint Pens that I Love to Use in my Art Journal

Finally—paint pens! Here are my favorite paint pens (and sticks!) for doodling in my art journal:

• Medium Point Posca Pens

• Extra Fine Point Posca Pens

• Bold Point Tips Posca Acrylic Paint Pens

• Mondo Llama Tempera Paint Sticks

I know, it’s a whole lotta Posca pens, but, what can I say, they’re my favorite! Also, I am obsessed with these tempera paint sticks from Mondo Llama—they are safe to use with kids (and maybe even intended for them, but they are one of my favorite art supplies to play with!)

In Conclusion

It can be intimidating to start something new, but I hope having this great list of art supplies that are perfect for diving into an art journaling practice makes it a little easier!

Know that you don’t have to have a HUGE budget to get started—but it is always fun to experiment with new and exciting paints, markers and tools. All you have to have is a notebook and something to mark it up with—but I appreciate having different paints, brushes, and markers around to layer up my own art journal.

If you’re looking for inspiration of WHAT to do in your art journal, check out some other posts on my blog where I talk about mindful mandalas , creating collages, and vision boarding (which you can do directly in your journal!)

Do you already have a thriving art journal practice?

In your opinion, what are the BEST supplies to use in your art journal?
And, is there anything you WOULDN”T use your art journal for?

Let me know in the comments below!

Andi Garbarino

Andi Garbarino is a Mixed Media Artist on the North Shore of Boston in Massachusetts. She’s passionate about building community and facilitating space for folks to get in touch creatively with their intuition. Andi’s artwork whimsically portrays the full spectrum of emotions of the human existence.

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