One of the things I wish I had done differently as I started Bible journaling is to have been less afraid of drawing pictures in my Bible. Because I have never thought of myself as artistic, I almost completely avoided drawing anything beyond the most basic shapes in my Bible. While this allowed me to focus on my hand lettering, I was missing out on adding those visual elements to my pages that have now become a big part of my "style."
I am still not very good at thinking of an idea and drawing it off the top of my head but I have now become adept at using Instagram and Pinterest to find images I like, practice them on paper, figure out how to make them my own and transfer them to my Bible. The cacti above were based on an image I found on Pinterest that I am really happy with.
When I started in this Bible, I made a commitment that my pages would be my own and that I would not exactly replicate anyone else's work in my Bible. I have held true to this and never use pages and lettering with the pictures that go along with it. I struggled a bit with the fact that I am using the drawings of others on IG and Pinterest to learn how to draw the same thinngs but have decided that I am learning (and now teaching others) how to draw things that I never would have figured out on my own.
So...go for it. Give it a shot. Find a sketch or doodle that you like and pay attention to the details. What makes a picture look 3D? What sort of coloring and shading gives you the effect that you like? How do scale and perspective affect what you're looking at?
Happy journaling, friends.
