I recently received three journals from the Ellie Claire imprint and was very impressed by the quality of the books. Not only do the books lay flat for the writer, but they use a very high grade of paper for those of us who like to sketch with ink. I even used watercolor markers without worrying about bleed through on a subsequent page.
The Illuminate Your Story Journal had quotes and scriptures salted throughout the book. After every couple of writing pages, the book instructs the writer with how to create illuminated letters used in ancient times. The steps were easy to follow and helped me build my bullet journal lettering vocabulary of styles and fonts. Based on the book and my new abilities, the art of illumination is certainly not lost today, as I once thought.
The hard cover was designed to last a lifetime and is rugged enough to survive more drops than I’d make. The texture and embossing of the book are also of a high quality, making you feel like you own something worthy of your words. The artistic value is amazing and the elastic band to hold the book closed helps protect the pages when the book takes a tumble. The book also has a place saving ribbon and a pocket for collected ideas in the back.
The Faith and Lettering book is a little larger in size and offers lessons on typography. It only took me a few minutes to understand one of the designs and immediately start using it in my daily business notes. The book also gives professional tips on how to draw flourishes, arrows, and banners.
One of the most fun aspects of the book is the training pages that encompass line art, a graphic, banner, and a mixture of type fonts using a decorative verse. The page shows the final work, provides a lightly traceable version for practice, and gives enough space for a couple efforts of your own.
Not only did I have fun practicing the various styles combined with imagery, but I found myself having memorized the verse just from the writing process. I also had the imagery of it ingrained in my brain so I could review it in my mind’s eye whenever I chose. Prior to doodling in this journal, I had no idea how quickly memorization could happen as a result of this artistic process.
The Illustrated Word was the third book I reviewed. It took me back in time to the art of the Renaissance. This coloring journal had numerous illustrations ready for my choice colors. It also had a fully colored segment on the opposite page to see what the artist thought to use as an appropriate color palette.
The book had far more pages for writing than the other books and included a full-color illustration on every spread from the Museum of the Bible archives. The artistry illustrated from hundreds of years ago was amazing, and the intricate handwritten words brought an understanding of the importance of words to bear.
All three books were masterfully crafted and raised my interest in the Ellie Claire imprint. I went to EllieClaire.com to see the hundred plus additional artistic products, most of which are worth far more than its price tag.
So, check out the three new journals and let me know how much you enjoy them.
The funniest laugh I got was learning about how John became Piff the Magic Dragon. He was the only one to arrive at a costume party in costume. This drove him to mope around, getting more grumpy as the night progressed. His sharp wit, self-deprecating humor, and deadpan delivery had people laughing throughout the evening. One of his friends suggested he add this persona to his act and Piff was born.
CJ's Corner 