Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.
I was a little intimidated by my vision for this page. I loved this picture of a Romanesque church on a cliff and wanted to draw and watercolor a version of it on my bible page, but I didn’t know if I had the ability to draw it. So I tried it in pencil on a separate piece of paper and outlined it in black to use as line drawing reference.
A year ago, I know I wouldn’t have been able to draw this church, even the simple version. To create a line drawing from a reference photograph, you have to look for the important shapes and lines that will reveal the general idea of the picture. I never knew where to stop before. I used to totally skew the proportions (still working on that one) and never knew when to stop adding details. The overall effect was a strange, cubist, over-done mess of a line drawing.
But now… suddenly (well, after a little over a year of trying to become a better artist), I can draw a line drawing of this church photo. I surprised myself. I don’t say this to brag. I remember not being able to draw convincing stick figures. And that was only a year and a half ago. I have never been able to look at a reference and draw or think of a picture and draw. This is definite improvement in only a year.
If you are someone who says, “I like that bible art journaling, but I could never do that!”, rethink your position. I could never do it before, but God loves for us to spend time with Him. The bible says that the Holy Spirit is our teacher. It’s amazing what we can learn when the Creator God is our art teacher. Don’t give up on yourself before you ever start.
I used pencil, a black Faber-Castell PITT pen, and Windsor-Newton Cotman Watercolors to create this entry.
Here is the full process video:
What stood out to you in John 2?
If you would rather trace the picture than create a line drawing from a reference photo, I have included the traceable line drawing with word art for this page with the printables bundle for the entire book of John here:
