Illustrated Bible Journaling

Illustrated Bible journaling is a creative way to engage with the word of God.

This practice is a way to really sit with a line or two of scripture. To meditate on it, memorize it, let it seep into your brain in a way that reading alone just can’t do. For me, I feel the scripture differently as my hands move over a page deciding on what the letters will look like, what colours to use, if there should be figurative drawings or abstract patterns, I’m also thinking about the words from God. What they say, what they mean, and what they mean to me.

If you want to really absorb scripture, you might want to give Bible journaling a try.

Pitfalls to Avoid:

Sometimes people aren’t interested in this practice because they think they need to be an artist to do it well. Hear me when I say that is not the case. The POINT of this practice is to engage with the word of God to work through and think about a piece of scripture and get your body involved in the process. There is so much research out there about how engaging our different intelligences helps us to reinforce information and store it in our long term memory centres.

One more time- YOU DO NOT NEED TO BE AN ARTIST TO DO THIS PRACTICE. No one ever needs to see your creation. It’s just for you and God. So let go of comparison, perfection, and competition and just create.

Next- this kind of Bible journaling should not replace Bible reading and study. It’s an in addition to practice. I wait for a piece of scripture to LEAP off the page and stick in my mind for a couple days before I illustrate it.

Finally- Some people get really worked up about drawing directly in a Bible because it obscures the most important part of the Bible- the words. That makes total sense to me. If you only have one Bible, use a notebook, sketch pad, or separate piece of paper for your journaling (you could even cut the page to slot into your Bible so that it’s all together once you're done).

I have a Bible that I specifically use for journaling, it’s purpose is to be illustrated. So I study out of one Bible (seen in the first picture below) and then draw in a different one.

What you need:

• a Bible (for reading)

• A journaling Bible, notebook, or sketchpad

• Scrap paper

• a pencil

• Pens or fine tip markers

• Whatever colouring stuff you like best (markers, pencil crayons, watercolours, etc.)

• Extras like stickers, glitter, cut images from magazines etc. (totally optional)

Process:

(this is just what I did for this particular passage, there’s really no right or wrong way to do this since this practice is not really about the final outcome, but the process itself)

1) Choose your passage

I’ve been spending a lot of time in 1 Corinthians (for another project I’ve been working on) and thought that I’d do a Bible journaling exercise for one of the passages that has really resonated with me through my study (1 Cor 2:9)

2) Do a rough draft (or 2… or 3…) and practice your lettering (especially if there are flourishes involved)

3) Pencil it in it's final location

4) Ink it in

5) Add colour (I used pencil crayons)

6) Include additional elements as you desire (my pencil crayons are watercolours so I added water, stickers, gold gel pen, and markers to enhance lettering)

7) Final product (which AGAIN isn’t the important part)

Give it a go with your favourite passage, see what fresh meaning you discover when you engage with it in a new and creative way!

Keep practicing!

If you'd like to share your creations, I'd love to see them! Email them to meghanlamatthews@gmail.com or shoot me a DM (or tag me!) on Instagram (@itsmeghanmatthews). If you are interested in learning more about illustrated Bible journaling, you can book me for a workshop!