Hi, I’m Mark from Mark Your Pages. Acrylograph pens can be used for  so many things inside of your journal. You can use them to draw out letters, doodles, or full layouts. They are an opaque pain pen, which means that it’s not transparent. What I love about this is that you can use a pencil to draw out an idea first and draw overtop of it with an Acrylograph and you won’t see the pencil. Once dry, the paint pens also can be used overtop of one another to create layering effects. Today, we are going to share 4 ideas that you can start using in your journal or planner today. 

Materials

• Acrylographs (one darker color, one lighter)
• Archer and Olive Notebook or Notepad
• Stencil / Ruler
• Fineliner
• Pencil

Headers

Grab 2 Acrylograph colors to use to create this header. In this case, we are going to draw out MON for Monday. We are going to use a bigger box letter. Using the same color, fill in the full letters to make them solid. Once the base color is dry, take your second color and you are going o tap lightly overtop of the Monday letters to create tiny polka dots. you can make these dots as larger or small as you want - but be sure to make that choice before you start putting your pen to paper. I love how the colors pop on the this page and make the regular old Monday header look awesome in our notebook.

Drop Shadow

In a previous blog, I showed you different ways that you can create drop shadows in your planners and journals. You can use those same techniques for this drop shadow example. Once your have your box in the paper, you are going to draw out a few lines to set the space for the drop shadow. If possible, you want to start a the bottom left of the shape. Moving in 1 square, you can draw a line down and run it across the page to the right, passing over the end of the shape by 1 space. Next, you can draw that line up and stop it right when it hits the mark you are looking for. Once you have your shape set, go ahead and fill in the space with your base color. Next, we are going to add patterns to the inside of the drop shadow that we just filled in. My favorite thing to do with drop shadows is to fill them in but using dots or in diagonal lines to make things look a little different and interesting.

Organic Shapes

As much as I love straight lines, I really enjoy wild and organic shapes. Slightly off set ovals are an easy one because all you have to do is draw a light wobbly line. For this example we are going to later more shapes on top of this one. I personally really like closed and open circles with these shapes because it accentuates the curves of your original shape and makes the shape over all more fun. You want to start with a few scattered solid circles. Next, draw a few scattered open circles overtop of the shape. You can even do outside the lines and overlap the colors too when these circles. And last, if you have space, add a few quick dots in between these other shapes. My favorite way to use this shape is as headers for columns in my bullet journal. It adds the pop of color and artistry to a pretty simple vertical layout.

Doodles

The last skill we are going to cover is creating quick doodles with your Acrylographs. I don’t flame to be a great doodler, but I do know how to add elements together to make a decent illustration. For this example we are going to keep it simple and make a planet with a ring around it. using your base color, draw our and color in a circle. Next, to create the ring around the planet start on the left side of the shape, and loop around a circle to the over side. When you get to the edge of the right side of the circle be sure to slop right before it touches behind the main image. If you’d like, add some stars or moons to the page around and overtop of the planet you just made.

I have so many Acrylographs in my collection, I really need to start using them more. If you’d like a step-by-step guide on how to draw the examples we covered today, be sure to download my printable and practice drawing out the shapes, lines, and patterns you’d like to use in your next journal or planner.

And check out the video tutorial for more on this topic!