My 'Wreck This Journal'

I bought my Wreck This Journal about a year ago when I felt at a lost and despite being halfway through my first year at university, I felt that my creativity motivation left me. I thought that perhaps having a different task to do on each page would bring my creativity back to life and I am so glad that it has. I have seen so many brilliant art work other people have done with their Wreck This Journal on Instagram, Tumblr and Twitter and seeing everyone else's creativity really inspired me a great deal.

"If you hear a voice inside you say, 'you cannot paint', then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced." - Vincent Van Gogh

So I thought that I would take the liberty of showing you what I have done in my Wreck This Journal so far. I haven't completed many pages as I have struggled to find the time to actually sit down and make art. But I am happy with what I have done so far and I look forward to what I do next.

Pour, spill, drip, spit, fling your coffee here.

This is my most recent page I did a couple of weeks ago on a Sunday afternoon. Seeing as Alice's Adventure's in Wonderland is one of my favourite novels and that I love this Disney's version, I couldn't resist but base this page on the Mad Hatter's tea party. I sketched the pictures by hand before colouring in with water colour pencils (I was debating to turn it into a water colour page but I like it just as it is) and outlined everything with a blank ink pen. I then painted the background with tea, just so I was still obeying the title of the page...slightly!

Climb up high. Drop the journal.

I was inspired to do this page after I went to see The Amazing Spiderman 2 in the cinema last year. I am yet to mention that I am in fact a huge Marvel fan and take on a lot of love for the Avengers (especially Captain America!) but Spiderman hasn't been a superhero I hugely favoured. But all the same I LOVED the film - preferring to the first Amazing Spiderman movie. I was quite happy with the outcome of this page as I started drawing it out on a whim.

Do a really ugly drawing.

I wanted to use the idea of drawing an "ugly" picture metaphorically and I was drawn to the idea of the Hunchback of Notre Dame. Taking the quote Quasimodo shouts to Claude Frollo from the Disney film: "All my life you have told me that the world is a dark, cruel place. But now I see that the only thing dark and cruel about it is people like you!" I came up with the idea because Quasimodo was brought up into the world believing that he is a monster and therefore must never be seen by anyone in the city of Paris because they would only be afraid of his looks. I thought that I would draw Quasimodo showing that despite his upbringing, he has a soft, warming heart as he helps the bird take its first flight. This is possibly my favourite page so far.

Pretend you are doodling on the back of an envelope.

I had the idea to do this page since I first got my Wreck This Journal and I eventually completed it last summer on one of my days off. I used water colour to recreate the cover of the edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone that I own. Then using my fountain pen, I wrote out the letter Hogwarts sent Harry.

Make a paper chain

At first I didn't really know what I wanted to do with it so I just improvised as a test. I am yet to cut it out and make it into a paper chain but I think I like it just as it is. I decided to make it personal by adding certain things to each section that I have a strong interest in. I thought that I would add "take what you need" at the top just to add a little extra touch to it.

And so that is all I have of my Wreck This Journal so far. I have many other ideas to fill in some of the other pages, so once I have done more, I will probably write another post like this to show what I did and reasons behind them. I hope you enjoyed this post and for any of you reading this that have also added to your Wreck This Journal, I would love to see your creative ideas!

Goodbye for now1

Yours, Georgia x