The Leuchtturm 1917 Notebook Review Is Up

If you read my Friday, March 8 post about my 2013 fake journal prep you'll know I mentioned the Leuchtturm 1917 Notebook. This morning I put my review of this journal up on Roz Wound Up (so it could be easily accessible to the other reviews I've done on commercially bound journals).

You can read more about my tests using mixed media on the Leuchtturm 1917 Notebook here.

I will be using one of these books for my 2013 fake journal so you'll begin seeing pages from it here sometime in April. (It's a 9 x 12.5 inch book and finding time to scan the pages is going to be a bit difficult given my current schedule, so I'll probably start posting pages a week or so into April.)

I hope that your plans for 2017 are going well and the pieces are falling into place.

Later this week I'll post the new button design.

And I have to give some thought to this year's contest.

We are getting close!

Selecting a Journal for 2012 IFJM and Some Pre-IFJM Contest Musing

Left: Some Stonehenge Journals with altered covers stand behind "fresh" wirebound journals. I'll be using the 6 x 12 inch blue journal at the back for my 2012 fake journal. Read below for details. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

Because I make my own journals for my daily use I like to select commercially bound journals for use during International Fake Journal Month. This helps me distance myself from the "character" who is keeping the journal.

This year I started testing a couple types of paper and a couple commercially bound journals, but I wasn't finding anything that I liked. On a whim I took a 7 x 7 inch Stonehenge journal off my shelf and started playing with inks on the last page. I knew that my character would be taking walks so I wanted something portable. I thought that there might be a lot of architecture in the journal because I'd like to sketch more scenes and buildings. Suddenly I realized my character would be at the same place everyday and I would need a larger book than the 7 x 7 inch book. The "end" of the month flashed in my brain. I started to back off of the idea.

My reluctance came from the rather somber nature of the concept. For me IFJM was always about looking into the dark side of things, exploring my somber side. But when I went public on the internet with IFJM in 2009 I found that my projects, while still a bit on the dark side (there always seems to be some death or injury), were in many ways upbeat (at least in certain aspects).

Well the last 18 months I have found a tendency in my regular journal work to become more and more personal. I show less of it to others. I select portions I take to classes for student viewing more carefully. I'm moving into a more private mode, which is a typical cycle for me.

I realized that the IFJM idea I had "settled" upon was not something I could share publicly. I also decided it wasn't an idea I wanted to work on at the present time. I believe that character has a lot to teach me, but not now.

So instead this year I'm going to take a bit more playful approach. Currently I am thinking that there will be a recurring motif about a certain someone in my fake journal: his name is Frank. You'll meet him soon enough if I go that way. I'll include illustrations and a bit of text each day. As usual I'll begin in medias res.

In order to work in this journal I will be creating a backstory from which to work, but I won't be supplying any backstory when I post the images. I am considering holding a contest for readers to suggest a backstory and then printing both of them after IFJM. I'm still thinking about the contests.

You get the idea, there is a lot up in the air about IFJM this year. That's another reason I wanted to be a little bit more playful this year.

I'm focusing this year on making changes to the public face of IFJM so that it runs with less administration time for me. If I'm successful at my attempts it means that next year I can go back to my more somber and challenging ideas because I'll have more time to explore them.

Immediate Changes To the Organization of IFJM
This year, instead of asking everyone to send jpgs for me to post here, or to have people send me links to "x-number" of posts on their own blogs so that they can be eligible for a prize drawing, I will be asking that everyone post his or her own images on a blog or website for which a link can be provided.

As soon as a participant has posted 5 pages and sent me a link I'll go and check out their posts at that time. The link will then be placed in the link list of 2012 participants in the right column of this blog. The introductory material on the blog will direct readers to that list. Whatever shape the contest takes this year, the winner will come from that list.

This will immediately free up more time for me to make and scan my own work. And I won't have to keep track of links and addresses and such.

Watch for additional changes as they are finalized.


In the meantime, I hope you are selecting paper that you will enjoy working on for a month, ditto media!

Take a moment to read past posts about preparing for IFJM by scanning the category cloud.

It is most important to spend a little bit of time thinking about who your character is. He or she will be writing your journal in the first person, a little bit each day (ideally) or a little bit several times a week, during April 2012. You want to be sure that he or she is someone with whom you can live and grow.

To test your idea you might want to write a brief background of your character. This isn't part of your journal because it isn't written in the first person. It's just a little examination of who your character is, what she or he might want. What goals does your character have? What occupation? What quirks? How will you be able to pull off writing and sketching from the perspective of that person? Will you have to do some research? Will you be interviewing someone who has that job? Do you have the time, each day in April, to make progress in your project, in a meaningful and significant way? Which is more important to you—experimenting with a visual style or with the text? How does the project further your current art goals? How can you tweak the project so that it better supports your current art goals or personal goals?

Keep in mind that it is perfectly suitable to keep an IFJM journal with no text at all, and no explanation. Only YOU need to know what is going on and what will be a consistent action (and art action) on the part of your character. You do not need to explain anything to anyone! (I do recommend that at the end of the month you write a background note and paste it into the back of your fake journal so that 10 years from now you can remind yourself what the perspective of your character was—even who she or he was.)

So now it's time to do some serious thought for your project. Don't sweat it, just sit down and think about it, start taking some notes, let it grow. If you find an idea that appeals to you let it sit in your brain for a couple days and ask yourself "when during MY day would I be able to write from this character's perspective?" The answers may surprise you. If after two or three days you find the idea begins to lose its shine, go back to the drawing board for a new concept.

While I know that I'll be working in the thin, blue-covered book shown above, I'm not sure yet that my final idea has fully gelled. I have a couple weeks to let it percolate.

I hope you'll all consider joining me this year with your own fake journal. I look forward to seeing them.

International Fake Journal Month Is Only 56 Days Away!

Above: A selection of commercially bound sketchbooks that might be suitable for my 2010 Fake Journal. From top left: wirebound Monteval Watercolor Paper Sketchbook; Moleskine watercolor sketchbook; square, soft-covered sketchbook with drawing paper from Kunst & Papier (blue cover); a fresh, soft-covered Alvin Field Book (yellow cover) of the sort I used last year; and an APICA notebook with ruled pages. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

While Punxsutawney Phil may have emerged yesterday and told us all there are 6 more weeks of winter, there is a more important deadline approaching: International Fake Journal Month 2010 begins on April 1. That gives us fifty six days to gear up.

If you are new to fake journals and the celebration of them during April every year, I urge you to go to the side bar on this blog, "What Is International Fake Journal Month?" That paragraph will provide a link to this blog's first post which explains fake journals and the celebration in detail. Also in that sidebar paragraph you'll find a link to the video of my completed 2009 fake journal, which I kept using an Alvin Field Book like the one in the above photo.

A fake journal is something that is kept in real time, so you may think there isn't a whole lot to do to prepare. Actually, there are a number of things you can do before April to ensure you have success [you actually keep working in it throughout the month] and fun [you actually want to keep working in it throughout the month] with your fake journal.

Here are some helpful suggestions:

1. Start thinking about what you will use as a book for your fake journal this year.

You might consider using a book you have bound yourself. For me, since I bind my own books, I like to use commercially bound books for my fake journal as it helps me distance myself from the "author" of the fake journal—i.e., he/she isn't someone who binds books like I do.

I went to Wet Paint (my favorite art supply store) yesterday to check out commercially available options. They have an extensive selection of sketchbooks and journals. I was weighing the many options when Christina came over to help me. She showed me many books she thought I might not be aware of and remained cheerful when I said things like, "the paper smells when it's wet," "The paper smells like musty plant material right now," and "I really wanted to have pre-printed lines on the page." Suddenly, I realized that since it wasn't "me" keeping the fake journal my personal prohibition against wirebound journals didn't apply and it was back to that area of the sketchbooks. And so it went.

(One of the advantages of supporting your local independent art supply store is that they are exceedingly helpful and they realize that while you may be peculiar you aren't dangerous.)

I came away with a selection of books because I needed to think about it a bit more. I know that I will use these sketchbooks for other projects (perhaps life-drawing) if they aren't picked for a fake journal. Doing additional thinking before you go to the store is always recommended—it's just that for me this is one of the few times a year I get to buy commercially bound journals. I like to bring them home and hold them and test the paper.

2. Consider what media you'll be using.

The media you work with will determine your paper choice in your selected journal. You may elect to create an Altered Book Fake Journal. If so you'll pick a book to alter and the paper in that book will determine which media you'll use. Some printed books may only tolerate dry media. Some printed books may have slick pages suitable for use with only certain inks.

Think of the options in another way as well. Is there a medium you would like to experiment with? Do you want to apply yourself to using pencil, or pen, or acrylics for a month? What speaks to you? Now is the opportunity to take a risk-free venture into experimentation with that medium.

Last year I elected to use the Alvin Field Book. It has water resistant pages that actually took dip pen and watercolor extraordinarily well. (I tested this on the back page because I had never used one of these books before.) I was smitten. That's why I have another one on hand for whenever I have an urge to work that way again. This year however, I don't think I want to work with dip pen. (I work frequently with dip pen as it is, and would like to do something distanced from last year's fake journal.)

The square Kunst & Papier sketchbook in the above photo is a possibility, because I love square formats, but it is not suitable for wet media. Do I want to use only drawing media?

The wirebound Monteval watercolor sketchbook as thick pages that will take just about anything I throw at it and will give me the fun of working in a wirebound journal—something I only very rarely do because I prefer to bind my own books and enjoy working across the gutter of a page spread.

And so it goes. Look at the book you're considering and ask yourself whether or not it will allow you to work with the media you want to use.

3. Consider the page size.

I mentioned in item two how the selection of media will effect your choice of a fake journal. But page size and orientation is also a consideration. Do you like to work in a landscape (wider than it is tall) format, a portrait format (taller than it is wide), or square format? Do you like to work across the gutter on a page spread (which means wirebound journals are not for you)? Do you like to fold the book back when you work with it (which means wirebound books are for you)?

Now ask yourself what does the author of the fake journal like to do? This might surprise you. Working in a fake journal can lead us to explorations we are aching to make, but feel constrained to make in our regular visual journals.

Next, consider the size of each page. Are you used to working large? Do you want to work small on a large page and leave lots of white space? Do you normally work one way with page size and space? If so, a great way to mix things up in your fake journal is to select something opposite to all your regular choices.

And finally, when considering page size also consider whether or not you are going to be posting your fake journal pages on your website or blog, or if you are going to be sharing it in other ways. If you intend to post it is the page so large it can't easily be scanned? Will you have to take digital photos of each page or page spread? Will you have to scan each page in a spread and then knit them together in Photoshop before you post them?

If your intention is to share your fake journal remember that every additional work step you add to the project to share it will actually eat up valuable time you could spend working in the fake journal. You might be best served by not sharing the journal at all until the completion of the project at the end of April—then you can make a video of the completed book. Or you might find that by posting every day you will keep yourself working on the fake journal.

Whatever you decide about how you will share the journal, remember that it will have an impact on your time. Make it as easy as possible on yourself by making a "sensible" choice now.

4. Consider the time you will have to spend on the project in April and the number of pages you will need in your journal.

In 2009 I tested on the back page of the Alvin Field Journal and then cut it out. When I counted the remaining pages it left a title page and exactly 30 page spreads, which meant I could fill one a day. Work and my regular journal lead me to expect that one page spread a day in the fake journal is the limit of what is realistic. Maybe you aren't going to keep your real journal in April (I advise against this, but I know people who have tried it). Maybe you know that you will only be able to fill a page a day.

Whatever realities of life you are facing I recommend that you count on spending no more than one hour a day on your fake journal. Some days it will be less, some days more, but even at an hour, it will mean shifting things in your regular routine. And if you can't find an hour and are going for 15 minutes a day in the fake journal it's unrealistic to plan to fill an entire page spread unless you are working very quickly indeed.

When I looked at the books in the above photograph I found that there were 20 sheets in the wirebound book. Will I work on both sides? One side only? Will I be OK with not having a page a day? When I looked at the Kunst & Papier book I realized there were also fewer than 30 page spreads. Would I be happy working on a spread over a couple days? Maybe that's what this year's author does? That leads me to another crucial consideration…

5. Consider who the author of your fake journal will be.

Since fake journals are created in real time doing elaborate planning about who your author is can be counter productive. It can wear you out before you even get started. However I find that as I start to choose a book to contain the fake journal some inkling of who the author is starts to come to me. I keep these ideas rolling around in my head, so that when April 1 comes along I can hit the ground running with sketching matter and media suited to that author. Comments and other personal details just naturally flow.

Also, if you start considering at this point who the author will be, ideas which seem excellent will have time to show themselves as one-trick-ponies that are not sustainable for a month.

So let some ideas start to jostle around in your head. Just tell your brain to think on this issue and then forget about it.

Getting Ready for International Fake Journal Month
Remember, there are only 56 more days until International Fake Journal Month. This could be just the creative adventure you need this spring. So whether you ponder the above considerations or simply grab a book April first and start in, I hope you'll consider joining me this year for International Fake Journal Month. Remember, Life's so short, why live only one?