The Creative Power of Art Journaling: Benefits Across Mediums

Art journaling is one of the most personal, expressive, and liberating creative practices an artist—or anyone—can embrace. Whether you’re a seasoned painter, a casual doodler, or someone just looking to reflect visually, art journaling is a flexible format that invites play and experimentation. The process is fun and rewarding — if done right it brings us back to why we are drawn to create.

The beauty of it lies not only in what you create, but how you create it—and the medium you choose can deeply influence your experience. Meanwhile the process frees the artist to create purely for creativity’s sake because it is all about the process.

Let’s explore the unique benefits of art journaling with six different mediums: pencil, charcoal, pen, watercolor, acrylic, and oil paint.

Pencil: Quiet Precision and Gentle Exploration

Using pencil in your art journal offers a soft, forgiving gateway into creativity.

Benefits:

- Erasable freedom: Mistakes can be easily corrected, encouraging risk-taking and sketching without fear.

- Great for planning: Perfect for studies, thumbnails, or journaling ideas before committing to other mediums.

- Gentle texture:The range from soft shading to sharp lines makes it ideal for subtle emotional expression.

- Veratile partner for use with other mediums. Whether uses to create details within a watercolor or while creating a subtle layout for your oil painting pencils can be a great tool

Pencil is your quiet companion—great for introspective entries and morning pages filled with loose drawings, thoughts, and diagrams.

Charcoal: Expressive, Bold, and Raw

Charcoal adds drama and energy to an art journal. It’s messy, moody, and powerful.

Sketch of same dog in preparation for commission. One completed in pencil the other in charcoal

Benefits:

- Deep contrast: Allows for striking value shifts and dynamic compositions.

- Gesture and movement: Ideal for expressive mark-making and capturing emotion quickly.

- Tactile experience: The act of smudging and blending becomes part of the artistic process.

Charcoal turns your journal into a stage where bold ideas

and raw emotion come to life.

Pen: Commitment and Clarity

Inking your journal pages with pen teaches decisiveness and offers crisp, confident lines.

Benefits:

- Permanent marks = creative courage: No undo button means embracing imperfections.

- Visual impact: High contrast and detail make pen work stand out, even in small formats.

- Great for mixed media: Pen plays well with watercolor washes, collage, or colored pencil.

On a whim, I decided to pull this Albert Einstein portrait, created in multicolored ballpoint pen out of my journal and frame it

Using pen encourages clarity of thought and design, making it a favorite for artists who love linework, lettering, or journaling alongside drawings.

Watercolor: Fluidity and Intuition

Watercolor is a medium of flow, spontaneity, and beautiful unpredictability.

Benefits:

- Emotion in color: Transparent washes evoke mood with minimal effort.

- Portable and quick-drying: Great for on-the-go journaling, nature sketching, or travel logs.

- Mindful process: Requires patience, presence, and a willingness to let go of control.

Watercolor teaches you to respond, not force—a great lesson both in art and in life.

Photo from a Plein air watercolor journal entry from a while back

Casein: Layering and Playfulness

Casein paint offers vibrant color, quick drying time, and versatility across styles.

Benefits:

- Buildable: Easily layer over previous work or cover mistakes.

- Bold expression: Rich colors and a unique mat texture make for exciting pages.

- Mix with anything: Combine with watercolor, use as an underpainting for oil painting, or use with drawing tools.

Caseins are perfect for the artist who likes to play, mix, and explore multimedia techniques within their journal.

This image wa created using watercolor and casein

Oil Paint: Depth, Patience, and Richness

Though less common in journals due to drying time, oil paints bring unmatched richness and depth.

Early on I didn’t realize that using oil paints in a journal was even a possibility until I saw some of my favorite YouTube instructors doing so simply by putting a coat of gesso on the pages of their journal and letting it dry. Once you let it dry, you can paint in oil paints in your journal.

Benefits:

- Blending heaven: Smooth transitions and nuanced shading are a joy to create.

- Emotional weight: Thick, tactile strokes and luminous glazes carry emotional impact.

- Long working time: Gives you the chance to revisit and rework pages slowly.

Oil painting in a journal invites intentionality. It’s less about quick entries and more about slow, meditative practice.

Final Thoughts: Choose Your Tools, Choose Your Journey

Art journaling is a space where no rules apply—only opportunities to explore. Each medium brings something different to the table:

- Pencil invites thought.

- Charcoal demands emotion.

- Pen encourages confidence.

- Watercolor teaches surrender.

- Acrylic fuels play.

- Oil celebrates depth.

Whether you stick to one or rotate through them all, experimenting across mediums will not only improve your skills but deepen your relationship with your creative voice. Your art journal becomes not just a sketchbook, but a mirror—one filled with color, mark, and meaning.

These mediums and others done within a journal offer, an artist an amazing opportunity to learn and grow while working free of stress associated with trying to produce a museum quality piece or within the specifications of a commission. Additionally, an art journal will help you catalog your progress and shine a light upon your evolution as an artist. From time to time I nearly finished peace will emerge from the pages of your journal and if this should happen, you’re free to clip it out frame it and do what you wish with it. But any day is a good day when you have even the most simple form of art journal entry added to the pages of your journal.

Here’s a list of more than 100 art journal prompts.

Now grab your favorite tool, open a blank page, and begin!