I have been enjoying browsing through Pinterest for sketch ideas and for lettering styles to use in Bible journaling. I compile my favorites in folders and then print out so I can have them as references. Sometimes I take a photo of the screen with my phone so I have different resources in various places.

I found the garden sketch this way in a 'drawing 101' series. It was on how to draw a lamppost.

I did all the sketching freehand in pencil, using the original as an instruction guide, modifying as I went.

The lettering was an alphabet also found on Pinterest and printed out. I drew the basic letter shapes in pencil and then worked in pen to enhance each with twigs and leaves.

I think both the drawing and the lettering work perfectly to illustrate this scripture.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 6:57 PM PDT

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I woke up one morning with this image in my head of 'the way of the cross' leading from an earthly path up into heaven. The path literally goes through the cross.

I immediately knew which verse I wanted to draw it for - John 14:3.

Yes, I realize that there will be no sunlight in heaven because God's glory will light it. I know, too, that there will be no clouds but putting in these two elements complete a landscape that our earthly brains will recognize.

The streets were colored with gold metallic pencil but it came off looking more brown than gold - bummer.

I like the wrought-iron gates even though I know that the gales are actually made of pearls. Again, artistic license.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 10:30 PM PDT

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I must admit this is a pretty straightforward copy of an idea I saw online. I drew my own chain from scratch, including the broken link, though. The original was done to illustrate a song rather than these verses.

I did some shading to make the chain more 3-dimensional. 

I selected parts of the two verses to include in the text and used my own cursive handwriting.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 10:11 AM PDT

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Still being inspired by all the historic art we traveled to see, I wanted to include a part of the Sistine Chapel's ceiling in my journaling. I chose the hand of God giving life to Adam at creation.

Although I included all the elements of the creation in the background the central focus is on the two hands as referenced in Genesis 1:26.

I tried to make the upper-case letters in the scripture look more gothic. Not sure I succeeded but they are different, in any case.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 10:02 AM PDT

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 For this verse I wanted to include reference to the fact that all people can be the family of God no matter their circumstances or culture.

I included a tent, a house boat, a middle eastern house, an appartment building, row houses and a castle.

I chose simple block lettering for the scripture.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 9:57 AM PDT

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 When I searched image files for the term 'cornerstone' this concept came up as a logo for some kind of conference or study. I did a quick sketch in my notebook to use on one of the myriad scriptures that use this term.

I started with very square blocks and then did pen scribble work to round the edges and add some face texture for dimension. I added the vines after this.

I used a warm grey and a cool grey to distinguish between the cross and the wall and then used a darker tone of each for shading.

I designed the lettering as being built of stones and used the same greys to color them.

The final word would not fit one one line if lettered in the stone-style so I did it on the diagonal and added flourishes and leaves to reference the vines in the illustration.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 9:23 AM PDT

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When I was looking for a sheep picture to use in a previous page, I came across this little lamb and had to save him to use for this scripture. He is so sweet!

The original showed only the lamb and a bit of the shepherd's sleeve so I had to 'invent' the rest of the guy. I'm not too good at drawing people so he is not very refined-looking.

The lettering is a bit messy on this page, too. There was a lot to fit in and we were on a bit of choppy seas when I was inking it. When I made a few slips of the pen I decided to make the lettering double-thick and fill in with color.

The color shanges in the lettering is meant to keep the eye moving down the page.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 9:16 AM PDT

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The image files on the internet, both drawings and photos, make great inspiration for Bible journaling illustrations. For this scripture I used a general concept I had seen for the placement of the tree and the stream while drawing my own version of them.

I then designed the rest of the landscape out of my head.

I wish I had chosen another color for the field that appears as red in the photo. 

The lettering is my own design.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 9:10 AM PDT

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When we went on a cruise to the Mediterranean I took along my journaling Bible and colored pencils as a project to work on when not reading, touring, eating, or participating in onboard activities.

The first page I did was actually inspired by the fact that we were at sea.

When designing the netting I kept sketching on scratch paper until I came up with an easy knot to draw. I have no idea if it really 'works' as a knot, but it looks good on paper.

I sketched and inked the net as the first layer then sketched and inked a layer of fish and added two more layers of fish so they would all overlap. All the pencil marks were then erased before coloring the illustration.

I worked a lot on shading so the knots would look 3-dimensional and the fish would cast shadows on each other.

I had taken some photos of pages from lettering books with my phone and used one as a reference for the lettering of the scripture.

I blended the colors from the water and the fish on each of the letters for more interest.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 8:59 AM PDT

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This scripture was one of the first I put on my list for future journalling -- "From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the Lord is to be praised."

When I first read this I knew I wanted to do a scene that could be either a sunrise or a sunset. I think I succeeded.

I drew all the elements using double lines so they would have more impact. I used solid black for the birds, the tree trunks and the man praising. This makes them easier to see against the background and also reinforces the scene.

I used yellows, oranges, pinks, purples and blues to color the sky and added bright yellow to the edges of the objects facing the sun to give them a glow.

The trees and the grass were colored with a mixture of dull greens and they were further muted with layers of successively darker greys.

I have been marking and printing neat lettering styles from Pinterest and found several in those that I thought went well together as well as suiting the text.

I colored the letters with colors from the artwork - orange, 2 purples and a green.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 8:23 PM PDT

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Last week, while sitting in church, I had a sudden inspiration to draw a 'crown of thorns' using crosses to make up the thorns. I made a tiny 1-inch sketch of the idea.

Today, when I sat down to make a full-sized sketch I wondered how it would look to make those crosses from nails so they would have a sharp, thorn-like point. Well, it looked just great!

I had to switch back and forth from vines to crosses while drawing so they woud end up being interwoven. This allows some of the nails to be under a vine and some on top of a vine while the vines wrap around one another, too.

I added drops of blood below the crown and went on to the lettering.

The first phrase of the lettering is more elegant to denote the jeers of 'King of the Jews'. I colored this in purple for the purple robe they put on Him. The letters for 'mocked' have little barbs and the letters for 'crucified' are similar to the nails.

I had already written the reference in the next space so added 'He is risen' underneath that. Those letters are very upright and are colored golden yellow like the morning sun. 

I went back to the scripture reference and drew the tomb with the stone rolled away.

I did the coloring on the crown with three browns colored pencils and used silver metallic pencil on the nails.

Happy Easter: He Is Risen, Indeed!

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 1:49 PM PDT

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Who knew the Proverbs 31 woman was a quilter? When I ran across this passage again the words in verse 22 just jumped out at me: "She makes coverings for her bed".

Not only that but verse 27 says "She does not eat the bread of idleness", which would indicate that her activities are not considereed a wasting of time but industrious.

I believe I just got permission from God to make more quilts!

The drawing for the pose was based on this painting:

I changed her into biblical era clothing and gave her a modern quilt to stitch.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 3:47 PM PDT

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It took me a while to get back to putting artwork in my journaling Bible. But I was actually spending a lot of time going line-by-line through the index and making notes of scriptures that I wanted to use. I ended up with 8 pages!

This section of scripture is one I had already planned to draw out before I did the index search, though.

The hardest part was actually deciding how to do the lettering. I tried to make them look like vines.

Although I noted the reference as verses 1-4 I only used the first part of verse one and one phrase out of verse 4. I hope to encourage the reader to look at the whole section of scripture.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 10:18 PM PDT

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I'm so glad I discovered this form of art. I had read a lot about art journaling and viewed others' work but the multi-media, and mostly abstract, stuff I was seeing was just not speaking to me.

Then I saw some Bible artwork by Sandy Allnock (she used to run Operation Write Home for whom I made cards for servicemen) and knew I had found the focus I wanted.

The key for me is that I have a verse in mind and can draw artwork specifically for that page. It doesn't have to be frame-worthy nor does it have to be hidden away in an art journal with other random art. It has purpose - a devotional focus.

I experiment with lettering styles that I would have no reason to study were I not trying to marry the text to the illustration.

For this page I reflected on Isaiah 35:1.

I wanted to illustrate the profusion of blossoms so drew (from memory) a wide variety of flowers. I also made the desert cactuses bloom in the mid-ground.

I searched a font library for 'flower fonts' and sketched several to use, repeating them down the text for continuity.

I came upon this scripture by thumbing through the concordance in the back of my Bible the other day. I'm going entry by entry making a note of phrases that evoke an illustration in my mind. In the first session of this cataloging I have reached the middle of the 'C's.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PST

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When I have read through this section of scripture in the past, I have always zeroed in on the phrases 'the hairs of your head are numbered' and 'fear not'. This time I wanted to focus on the fact that God treasures us and finds us to be of great worth to himself.

I looked up photos of sparrows on the internet to get their shape and coloring right. I wanted to make sure they looked like sparrows and not like robins, hawks or parrots! Good photo reference is essential.

I had just thumbed through a book on botanical drawing and took a few photos from the back pages. In that, I studied the structure of a branch that I could incorporate into the drawing for the birds to perch upon.

I drew with a pencil, traced with fine-line pen, erased the pencil lines and added colored pencil to the drawing.

Various lettering styles were pencilled in, inked and colored before I added lots of doodle swirls and colored them.

I used my favorite color to lightly color the sky as my finishing touch.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 2:23 PM PST

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I trolled Pinterest for Bible Journaling ideas when I first started and have combined several for this scripture. Some used the keyboard or the staff for other scriptures.

The roses were sketched in from memory of some I once saw. I used the lines in the journaling border as a guide to drawing the keyboard - very handy. I looked up 'treble clef' to get the shape and shading right.

The handwriting on the scripture is my own and I used notes for all the dots over the 'j' and 'i's.

My extra-fine line pen is getting low on ink so I moved up to a wider tip for the inking. It lends more weight to the drawing over the coloring.

The colored pencil work was used primarily on the roses, leaves and goldenrod, but I did use some smudged color on the staff, treble clef and scripture.

You'll also note that I started dating the artwork above the reference at the top of the page. I went back to my already-posted pages and added the dates on them as well.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 9:18 PM PST

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As soon as I started considering this scripture for Bible journaling this was the image that popped into my head (no pun intended). I had to do some searching to find a reference photo for it as I could not remember what it was called.

I made the colored areas match the lettering on the scroll, used a variety of greys to shade and model the head, and did the same for the scrolls.

Because the phrase 'whatever is' was repeated over and over in the scripture I turned it into a simple bulleted list with this phrase as the header.

I put the reference into a 3D box to mimic the sculptured head.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:54 PM PST

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This will be a scripture that is familiar to most, although I learned it in the KJV when I was a child and this version sounds 'not quite right' to my ear. But since I am doing my work in an NIV Bible I stick to that in the art and quotes.

I first drew the lantern in a sketchbook and then looked up a photo to see where I had gone wrong. It was mostly right, though I had forgotten those supporting bars along the outside.

After the lantern, I drew in the path and followed that by the various roadside materials.

The lettering is my own invention, too.

I went back to a single page illustration as this called for a more vertical layout.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 5:33 PM PST

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Ooooh, I love it when a project comes out exactly like I planned it!

Last time I had my Bible journalling out I made a note of several scriptures I wanted to illustrate and did some rough pencil sketches in a notebook. So, when I got ready to work today, I already had a starting place.

I selected Psalm 139:17-18 to illustrate with a beach scene.

As usual, I completed the sketch in the Bible with fine-line black pen and used colored pencils to finish it.

I don't know why the photo does not show it, but on the lettering (the wider parts) are double lines with purple colored between them to match the distant hills.

This was drawn and colored completely from the imagination. The only reference I used was a look-up of a photo of a sandpiper so I could get the pose correct.

I added lots of little dots around the critters and around the last words in the quote, "the grains of sand", to join them to the illustration.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 9:06 PM PST

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Today I set aside the quilting projects and got out my journalling Bible.

I had collected some photos of sheep from the internet onto my phone so I decided to use John 10:27 as the reference.

I sketched the sheep in my sketchbook and outlined it in dark black ink. This allowed me to trace it in pencil into the Bible where I used the black fineline marker to finalize the illustration. I added curly wool to him and then finished with colored pencils.

The text section was sketched out in pencil directly on the page and then refined with the black fine line marker.

I highlighted the scripture in the text where it passes behind the head of the sheep.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 3:18 PM PST

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