Who's Posting Their 2011 Fake Journals?

This posts provides links to the fake journals that people are posting themselves. I will create a sidebar of links to these posts so if you should wish to return to them later you won't have to find this post again. Simply look for the 2011 Participants List in the right column of this blog.

Many people started a blog dedicated to IFJM to contain the postings on their fake journal. Others are posting on their regular blogs. The links should take you to their first IFJM post and after that, either way you should be able to navigate to the rest of their posts using their blog apparatus.

If you don't find yourself on this list it means that your entry(ies) didn't reach me.

If you intended to enter but don't find your name on the list please follow the instructions for emailing your intention to me in this post.

If you have been sending your images to me to post here because you don't have a blog, please note that I am going to start doing that next week. I will hold the post until I have your 8 journal pages (or spreads) and then create one post for you.

If you are participating in IFJM in a private way (i.e., not publishing your pages) I would like to offer you encouragement to keep going, to keep working, and to keep looking for the insights you set out to find when you set your goals. I hope it is a great journey for you as well.

This year's crop of fake journal characters is diverse, I'll let you discover who each is as you visit the links. Please be sure to leave a note to let participants know that you have stopped by to see their project!

Anne M. Bray (I wrote about the return of spygirl a couple posts ago)

Carol Bonomo

Timaree Cheney

Denise Thornton

Donna McMenamin

Jamie Williams Grossman

Jeanette Sclar

Jill Lee-Jones

Joan Tavolott

John Tubbs

Judith D. Gluck

Kalina Wilson

Kitty Lynch

Kyra Scrapacat

Meinhild Selbach

Melinda Bilecki

Michelle Himes

Mimi Holmes (no website)

Nan Westbrooks

Sarah Robinson

Wendy Lynch

If you want to find additional examples of fake journals, scroll down further in the right-hand column of this blog—just below the category list you'll find the "2010 International Fake Journal Month Participants who Post Their Pages." Some links may no longer be in use as people take their work down, but you will find several interesting examples of fake journals to look at.

 

Fourth Page Spread in Roz's 2011 Fake Journal

Click on the image to view an enlargement.

The text on the recto page is clipped off from scanning. It reads:
it has been warm, (43 degrees F) all day. It's raining outside—which is not good for flooding
I'm out of white paint and have to stop fussing
the beads will need to be perfect shiny orbs

Third Page Spread in Roz's 2011 Fake Journal

Click on the image to view an enlargement.

Above is the third spread of my 2011 fake journal, covering 3.29.11 and 3.30.11. The text reads as follows:

Verso (Left) Page:Top Left: March 29, 2011 Harry at Bona for dinner around 7 p.m.
Around sketch at left: Harry looks just like Jack Lemmon looked before he died.
Main Text Column: Harry is getting older. It struck me hard tonight while his family talked after dinner and I sketched. I noticed this—How sometimes suddenly we cease to look like ourselves, the iconic self we carry around with us in our minds, that perfect self that immediately ressonates [sic] from photos and video as "ah, yes, there I am." The self we realize is our peak self—never improved upon. There is a hardening around Harry's eyes and cheeks—a hardening of edges and a softening of the fleshy bits.

Recto (Right) Page:

And a hollow-ing. The skull is peering out. "I see you. I'm coming." The face of death you have to look past to see the iconic self. The familiar self, the self you wish hadn't passed its peak.

Fortune Cookie Fortune:
May your faith always exceed your fears--no price is too great to go through life afraid.

HUH?!

Text on torn paper:

3.30.11 4:30 p.m. My mind is filled with little thoughts and I blew off my workout this morning, so even less focus is possible. Instead I keep thinking "I have acrylic paint all over ALL my pants. I have acrylic stains on all my hand towels. Some part of me says that I should worry about this, but the moment that might start to happen there is another part, a larger part that tells me I don't give a damn. It's amused that I even let these thoughts in for more than a notice. Why ponder what you aren't going to change? The real question is why did I blow off that workout? Get at that.

No just get out period. It's brilliantly sunny, I can hear the birds singing. I just got up to go check the temp and it's 43 degrees F.

6:18 p.m.—why does everyone think I'm a DeLorme? I got stopped by drivers 3x.

Sketches 5:54 p.m. E. River Flats. Five pairs.

Second Page Spread in Roz's 2011 Fake Journal; also Preparing a Links List

Click on the image to view an enlargement.

Above is the second page spread in my 2011 Fake journal, the March 28 entry. On a happy note, I messed around with positioning my journal on my scanner. I found that since the scanner takes a slightly oversized view I am actually able to get most of the journal on with only two scans, stitched in the gutter by a slight bit of overlap.

This weekend I'll be compiling a list of people who are publicly posting their fake journal pages on their own blog, website, or Flickr account. Even if you aren't entering any of the prize drawings, if you are posting your images and would like to be included in this list, please send me an email at rozjournalrat@gmail.com. Include a link of course. (If you are entered in the contests and have already sent me your information there's no need to repeat it.)

Despite the scanning clarity you still can't read the page, and since I'm not doing explanations with this journal (more on that another day) I am typing the text out below.


10:22 p.m. Can George be a viable character? Can I find his shape under all that fluffy hair? Does a one-eyed dog bring too heavy a symbolism? Can I get his shape in movement? Are there too many dogs. Not enough dogs?
I went over to Wet Paint this afternoon and met the oddest person…potentially the oddest: Roz Stendahl (found out she's a graphic designer). She was over in a corner by the paper counter chatting with Tim who works there—I've seen him before. As near as I could make out they were talking about Anthony Mann Westerns. Who does that? She laughs quite a lot. She is rather enamoured of buddy films, which is where the conversation edged. They were also talking about the Kimberly 9xxB pencil. I didn't know about it. Tim had some lovely zoo drawings he'd done with it. Soft, textured tones, but not horribly smudgy. I bought a couple (tested them out sketch[ing] George.[)] A bit stiff and scratchy but it really keeps its point.
I bumped into her again near the Schmincke pan watercolors. Turns out she also likes Schmincke gouache—and dogs. We talked for a long while and since she wasn't totally irritating and because she had an interesting nose (large) I asked if I could paint her portrait. She said I could if I could also sketch her in my sketchbook (she assumed I kept one because I had a new one of these in my hands). She has some sort of project: Project Journal Infiltration. She wants people to sketch her from life in their journals.
Now she was sounding a bit like a nut job, so I started to back up and said I'd probably only do studies from photos in my sketchbook. But I need to take photos of her and have a sitting.
When she started asking me questions about my painting and art it turned out that she has read both books by Rayde and Seetre. I meet so few pepole who have done both.
Blue lettering: Swapping "I" for "me" does Oprah cringe when she sees it later?

First Page Spread in Roz's 2011 Fake Journal

Click on the image to view an enlargement.

REVISED POST: CLEARER IMAGE
Above is the first page spread from my 2011 Fake Journal.

This is a REVISED VIEW because I found I was able to scan my journal after all (my scanner, it turns out, takes slightly larger than an 8.5 x 11 inch sheet and allows me a little bit of overlap to knit the two halves together.)

The journal I'm using is an 11.5 x 8.5 inch Moleskine Watercolor journal; they don't have perforated pages at this size.

Part of the 2011 experience for my character is "no explanations" so that's all I'll write at this point. I will say that she was testing a pen which I will have something to say about on my regular blog later in April (need to do more tests). My character has abandoned the pen, and frankly I'm just about to do that myself, except there are more tests to be run. But now we're getting into explanations.

Oh, one thing, yes, the journal started on March 25, 2011.

They Are Up: Photo References for Project Journal Infiltration within IFJM

I have created a page that holds 11 photos you can use for drawing references when incorporating me into your fake journals for this third portion of the contest.

View the photos.

Read the guidelines on using the photos (what types of situations you can put me in, etc.) and submission guidelines here.

Reminder: Please Follow the Instructions for Entering the Prize Drawings

I'm really excited to see so many people are joining in to celebrate International Fake Journal Month this year.

Many people are writing messages to the blog saying that they are joining in, and that's great to hear, and a great way to share what you are going to be working on.

Please note, however, that to enter the drawings for prizes you need to follow the instructions for submitting an entry to me off-blog, as indicated in one of the contest sections.

There are 3 contests and they are listed with links in the right column of this blog under 2011 Contests, as well as repeated here for your ease:

1. Post your own images or send me jpgs to post (if you don't have a blog or Flickr account).

2. Promote the contest by button a linked button on your blog.

3. Do a Project Journal Infiltration within IFJM (more on this later)

If you have written to the blog, but want to enter a drawing, please be sure that you take a moment to follow the instructions for entering the drawings so your entry ends up in the right folder.  Thanks!

Welcome to International Fake Journal Month 2011!

Today is the first day of International Fake Journal Month 2011. Time to explore your character's life and journaling practices.

Several folks, including me, started in March—some started out of sheer excitement to get going, I had to start in March so that my character could actually meet some people she needed to meet before April. More about this later.

Great news from Anne M. Bray—Spygirl is back this year!

I'll post a list of links and participants at the end of each week, but I thought it would be good to start you off with work from a past participant.

And finally one more tip:

I know I've said it before, but for some reason I didn't listen to myself—choose your book size so that it is easy for you to post your images! I elected to go with the Moleskine Watercolor Journal that is 11.5 x 8.5 inches (no perforated pages in this size!). Well it doesn't fit on my scanner! I would have to make a couple scans and splice them for each spread. Even if I only wanted to scan a page I'd have to make two passes to get it all. That extra half inch! So there is much gnashing of teeth in the Huron Blvd. studio! (OK, not that much gnashing, I'm not blind and I did realize this problem going in, but I needed a large commercially bound book and ignored my own advice.)

On the bright side, I'm five page spreads in and already have learned something key about myself (more about this later too), so I will not complain more about this. I am spending my energies working out what would be the best way to show the pages. If I photograph an open book I'll need to get the lights out each time, and it's already too cluttered around here, and so it goes. I'll work this out and put something up on Monday.

In the meantime…

Everyone get busy with your fake journal. Have fun, enjoy your materials, enjoy your process. Let me know how it goes. Don't forget, in medias res. (Now that really is the final tip for today.)

Tips on Getting Under Your Character's Skin

Journal keepers have a bit of an introspective nature. They are examing the world through their own lens, their own preconceived notions, the events of their lives which forged them into the person they are. When we join a fake journal all of the journal character's past is just that, past. But you, as the creator of the fake journal (which is different than being the character who is authoring it) need to access that past information in playful and interesting ways, just as that material would fall within the course of a real journal. Each bit of information will tell you more about your character and help you create a journal from that character's perspective.

Whether it's the first time or 50th time for you keeping a fake journal here are a couple of ways to keep your interest in your character growing and developing in your journal pages.

• Read a book that you would never read, but that your character wants to read. Write about it as your character would, setting aside your own notions. Illustrate something in your character's day which reflects or echoes the thoughts brought up by his reading of that book.

• Ask yourself—"What is your character's favorite magazine, and why?" Listen to what he says to you. Don't close your mind because it isn't a magazine you would read. Go to the library and read through a couple back issues of this magazine, keeping notes about article topics and journalistic slant, and so on. Note the design elements of the magazine. To whom is it supposed to appeal? Is that who your character or is he perversely interested in things that aren't aimed at his socio-economic demographic? If so, why is that? During April purchase a current copy of that magazine. Read a little bit every day or over a couple days and journal as if your character were reading that magazine. What does he find of note, what does he quote from it, what plans does he generate because of it?

• Watch a movie you would normally avoid. The genre, actors, director, writer, or theme might be ones that you avoid. Instead your character loves all or some of these characteristics of the movie. For your day's journaling write your character's response to the movie in his journal. Part of your character's response might be vehement disagreement with a movie critic's column on that movie (or agreement?).

• Go to a restaurant that is not one of your usual haunts. Order from the menu and view the restaurant from  your character's eyes.

• Go to a restaurant that IS one of your usual haunts. Journal about how your character views the menu, the food, the ambiance, etc.

As you can see from the simple examples above, there are things that you can do daily throughout April which will give you increased fodder for your character to journal about. Explore your character's life through the media and experiences he allows for himself.

Everyday as you go through your life, make a mental note how this same experience would be viewed by your character. If you happen to have the chance and you have your fake journal with you, actually stop and journal from your character's perspective right then!

You don't have to struggle to find experiences for your character. There is a whole life of experience that is streaming right next to the life you are currently living.

Location, Location, Location: Where To Set Your Fake Journal

I encourage first time fake journal keepers to make it as simple as possible for themselves—don't worry about changing your handwriting, and if you do, just change your pen; keep your journal in the present time so  you aren't prone to anachronisms; write about something that you already know about.

There is another way that you can keep your fake journal project easier to keep up with—locate your character either in your current city, or in a city that you know very, very well.

Once you establish that location it is simple for you to recount details about locations—all the little details you would write and draw if you were sitting at a café watching the world go by.

Several participants of past IFJM celebrations have written fake travel journals with great success. But it also appealed to them at the time they were writing, to do the extra research on locations so that they would have details to include.

Just as your regular journal seems more substantial and clear when you include details from your location, such as cultural events, weather, street names, descriptions of fashion, and so on, your fake journal can benefit from the same focus.

If you do decide to place your fake journal in some distant location how will you handle sketching buildings and such? Immediately you've placed yourself in the "sketch from photos" activity. Will you be happy not sketching from life for a month in your fake journal? Have you been to that location in the past and do you have your own photos from which to sketch? If you don't have your own photos will you be sketching from copyright free photos?

Something to Consider: Remember when you sketch from photos that someone else took you are actually infringing on their copyright. You might think it's OK because you aren't going to do anything commercial with your sketch, but I encourage you to always assume that you might.  I can't tell you how many non-professional artists have come up to me and asked me about printing and selling cards, or paintings, etc., that they have painted from the photos of others. Time has passed and everyone tells them what a wonderful painting it is and they have decided they should do something with it. To do so legally would require that you track the copyright holder down and get permission and possibly pay a licensing fee.


I always encourage people who are drawing from photos to use their own photos. That way they get to set up the lighting, the composition, the central focal point—all to tell the story they are trying to tell. And just as important, they now can use that painting in whatever way they want.

Let's get creative for a moment. There's another way that you can go to a distant location without using photos of that location that were taken by someone else. Your character might be the type of visual journal artist who only sketches animals, birds, desserts, food items, etc. These are all things that you can draw from life where you actually are, or from your own photos if that's how you would like to proceed.

You can do your location research and read up about the area, and then next to your illustration of your pigeon (who was actually a neighborhood pigeon you just fed and sketched) you can write about the life of the people around you, based on the reading research you did.

Think about location and how you want to handle it before you jump in! A little bit of planning now will make it easier for you throughout the month.