Pen + Ink > Bonus Working Creatively with Pen and Ink As a huge enthusiast of all things creative, working on this course has been a real challenge and labour of love...


Julia Cusworth
Julia is a British designer and creative enthusiast. She loves to express herself through shape, colour and pattern – living by the ethos of more is more!
Lesson 11 – Creating Independently
Pen + Ink > Lesson 11 Creating Independently Create 10 pages! This might sound like a lot but think of all the different skills you have learnt throughout this course....
Lesson 10 – Contrast in Pen + Ink
Pen + Ink > Lesson 10 Contrast in Pen + Ink In our previous lesson we learned how to use these two mediums together harmoniously. Lesson 10 however, is all about the...
Lesson 9 – Replacing Water with ink
Pen + Ink > Lesson 9 Replacing Water with ink For our first lesson that uses both felt tips and inks together, we are re-visiting lesson 1. Lesson 1 taught us how to...
Lesson 8 – Resisting Ink
Pen + Ink > Lesson 8 Resisting Ink In this lesson, we are looking at how to resist ink. Since ink is such a fluid and water like medium, it can be fun and interesting to...
Lesson 7 – Mixing Ink Colours
Pen + Ink > Lesson 7 Mixing Ink Colours Using what we have learned from our first two ink lessons, we will now start to mix our own colours. Most ink sets are quite...
Lesson 6 – Ink + Different Brushes
Pen + Ink > Lesson 6 Ink + Different Brushes Imagine your brush is your magic wand and different spells will create different outcomes. In this lesson, we will see how...
Lesson 5 – Ink + Water
Pen + Ink > Lesson 5 Ink + Water In our first ink dedicated lesson, we are simply mixing it with water. Super simple, but really cool and a perfect example of stretching...
Lesson 4 – Colouring In
Pen + Ink > Lesson 4 Colouring In For this lesson, we really are going back to kindergarten. Colouring in is one of life’s simplest joys. It is remarkable for calming...
Lesson 3 – Felt Tips + Magazines
Pen + Ink > Lesson 3 Felt Tips + Magazines In this lesson, we are using magazine pages instead of our art journal. Try and gather 5-6 different pages to try out these...
Lesson 2 – Felt Tips + Water
Pen + Ink > Lesson 2 Felt Tips + Water Taking what we have learned from our first lesson, we are repeating some of the same layering techniques but this time, adding...
Lesson 1 – Layering Felt Tips
Pen + Ink > Lesson 1 Layering Felt Tips In our first lesson, we are taking everything back to basics. We will be learning how to layer felt tips on a page. Using...
Welcome to Pen + Ink
Pen + Ink > Welcome Hi friends Hi friends! I am Jules, a designer, colour, pattern and animal lover from the north of England. I am so excited to share this class with...
How to use oil and chalk pastels
Hi! I’m Julia, an artist and designer from the north of england and today I will be talking you through one of my favourite new mediums; pastels. This post is concentrating on both oil and chalk pastels, as well as other medias. Pastels are a great way to add texture,...
How to journal with leaves
Nature Hi Messians! Today I am going to share with you some ideas on how to get nature directly into our art journals. I have used different types of leaves for all of my...
Gathering ephemera for meaningful collage
Connections Hi Messians!Today I am sharing with you a super simple idea that I use a lot in my art journaling - it is essentially grouping ephemera. The word ephemera was...
Techniques for creating woodland backgrounds
Fairy Tales Hi Messians! As we are in the season of fairy tales, I thought a cool idea for my tutorial this week would be to explore that woodland, forest look that is...
Photographing and videoing your art journal for teaching
We asked Jules for the way she photographs and videos her art journals as an artist and art teacher. She's sharing all of this goodness for you... enjoy! NB: I use my Samsung S7 for all photographs and video Photos Step 1 = create art on desk, this is usually a messy...
Using colour with more confidence
Colour Hi Messians,Jules here to help build up your colour confidence!If you are familiar with my work, you will know I am a huge colour obsessive. I always want to use more! I...
How to combine contrasting media
Contrast Hi again messians!In this post, I will share with you quick tutorials on contrasting mediums. These are the tools and products you wouldn't necessarily think about...
5 Tips for creative collaborative projects
Art 101 Hello Messians, I wanted to write a post today about organizing collaborative projects. This is something highly encouraged within the Get Messy community and I love...
How to use lines expressively
Art 101 Hello Messians! I'm so excited to be back on the creative team this year and today I am sharing a very simple how-to guide for creating expressive lines in your pages....
Creating expressive pages without looking
Gifts Hello, Julia here again to share a new type of creative practice with you... This past year, I have started to create in a new way (for me, at least). It’s...
Playing with the interaction between water and ink
Dreams Hi Messians, I have a quick inky tutorial to share with you today. A few weeks ago I posted the image below on instagram and got a few comments asking how I...
How to keep an illustrated dream journal
Dreams Guys, it’s Julia here with the most exciting thing ever. Be prepared to put a journal under your pillow because we’re about to get early morning creative! Creating a dream...
Including song lyrics in your art journal
Music Music is such a powerful part of life and memory. You can hear a beat, a lyric, see an album cover and be immediately transported to another place and time. I have strong...
Ep 005: Art Journaling as a way of documenting life
Messy Conversations[wpseo_breadcrumb]Messy Conversations is a series of interviews with amazing art journalers who share their favorite tools, tips and why they art journal. You’ll get an exclusive peek into their art journal pages and their process....
Using your own photography in your art journals
Introspection Hi Messians, Julia here with a confession - I am awful at documenting my life. No matter how hard I try, I just can’t quite get into that format. I always...
Incorporating lists in your Art Journal
Lists Hello, It’s Julia here again to talk you through how I, as a non-lister, am tackling this season! As a dyslexic person, words are not my friends, so I would never choose to...
Colour Psychology in Art Journaling
Happy Hey messians, Julia here. We are currently in the season of happy and one of my main links to happiness is colour. I even devoted a 100 day project to it in 2015...
How to mix ink with acrylic
Magic Hello magical messians! It’s Jules here to share with you a tutorial on mixing two of my favourite mediums; ink and acrylic. This is a technique that I use a lot...
Creating Collages in Photoshop
Serenity Hello get messians! It’s Julia here for a digital collage tutorial. I shared a collage that I had created in photoshop a few weeks ago and had...
A Brave Zine Collaboration
Brave As I am sure you know by now, Julia and Vanessa decided to collaborate on the Brave zine that we were making for the second week of the prompts. This is how they went about...
Being Brave in Art Journaling
Brave Hey Get Messians, Julia here. I had an idea for a prompt during the get messy blog hop. It was as I was reading all the lovely and amazing comments left for me on my blog and...