Fall Bullet Journal Theme: Black and White Florals
Hi friends, it's Liz from @thegraytergood here with some bullet journal ideas and inspiration for you! This autumnal bullet journal theme is a beautiful way to decorate your bullet journal and add little fall touches to your weekly spreads or your bujo cover page. You don't have to be inherently talented at drawing to try it either; flowers are naturally imperfect so embrace the wobbly lines and have fun filling in spaces with your own style of doodling:)
What You’ll Need:
Your Archer + Olive Dot Grid Notebook (I have the A5 size)
Black gel pens in 06 and 08, and white gel pens in sizes 05, 08, and 10
A Pigma Sakura Micron in varying sizes like 005, 01, 02, and 03
A pencil, eraser, and a ruler
Optional: Your favorite markers, paint, or Acrylograph Pens if you want to go for a colorful look rather than a monochromatic one.
Why so many pens and so many sizes? For florals, using varying line widths tends to add depth and realism. When sketching your flowers and twigs, having a few bits of leaves or petals overlapping also adds even more depth, but don't forget to ensure that your word or letter is still legible. Flowers are never perfect either, so don't worry at all about having nice and neat lines. If you aren't quite sure how to draw different sorts of flowers, join the club! ;D I almost always use reference photos, and there's no shame in that at all - think of all the landscape painters that take their canvas out into the open air. I'd recommend getting a general feel for how a flower looks and trying to draw it in a style that you like, whether it's modern and interpretive or quite realistic. Lean in to what you like:)
I've been using Microns for my line art lately since it tends to dry quicker than a gel pen and I can erase my pencil lines sooner, and varying which flowers are black and white adds a lot of contrast which draws the eye around the page. You can also add interest by filling in a flower with a pattern instead of just leaving it a solid color, or you could make this autumn floral style your own by using these techniques with your own color palette. And don't forget to let the inks dry down a bit before you layer another color over top.
For this floral spread, I chose seasonal flowers and items, such as sunflowers, dry leaves, twigs, and even a half an apple hidden in the middle. I wanted the letter to pop off of the page and be the central focus, so I left it white and outlined it in a thicker black line.
You can use this spread idea for a cover page with just a single letter, or with an entire word, and of course add in tiny leaves and things in the corners of pages and boxes. Another idea is to draw out the outline of large leaves and use those for daily to do lists, or draw small ones and color them in for a mood or habit tracker. The options are nearly endless!
I hope y'all enjoyed this fall floral theme, and don't forget to share your recreations with me on Instagram by tagging @thegraytergood! For more tips on all things lettering and illustration, visit me at https://www.thegraytergood.net, and sign up for free access to my secret resource library here: https://www.thegraytergood.net/freebies-and-subscribe.
And if you’re serious about your art/journaling and want to better show it off online, I’ll be talking about how I film, photograph, and edit my work (without crazy expensive equipment) in the next blog post. See you then! :)
