A La Luna" design theme.
I took inspiration from the Pixar Short La Luna, a short story about a boy that reaches for the moon (quite literally) for January's design theme.
NOTE: While the pages are like those who setup their Bullet Journals (BuJo), I use this journal more as a memory keeper/diary. The BuJo-inspired pages encourage me to make note of the good things in life, even on the worst days.
The Design Theme
I recently re-watched the Pixar Short "La Luna" on Disney+. The beauty in the short story telling and computer-generated animation inspired me to reference a few scenes for my January journal design.
Title
For the title page, I sketched the trailer poster for the Pixar Short the best I could. I don't normally sketch people because I don't feel I'm skilled enough to do so well, but I'm pleased with how the boy turned out.
I used gouache paints to color this and the other pages. I consider myself a novice still learning basic painting techniques. I struggled with the paint either being too dry to spread well or too thin and transparent. Fortunately, it seemed like a forgiving medium because I was able to correct some of the many issues I faced.
Calendar Overview
The calendar overview is where I note important dates I want to document in my journal.
The larger calendar fills much of both pages. I note events such as birthdays, appointments, and holidays within the appropriate block that represents a day in the month. During the month, I'll make a short note of something that happened.
On the left, I have a mini calendar for next month and another box where I'll note next month's events coming soon. I like being able to visually see ahead to things I may need to be aware of before those days come.
To fill some of the blank space above the mini calendar on the left page, I sketched and painted a stump filled with star fragments as seen on the moon in the Pixar Short.
I included the silhouette of the family in the boat before the large moon as it rose. I know it doesn't make logical sense to have the moon on the bottom of the right page when I had a stump that resides on the moon on the left page. However, I didn't care about my artwork being logical.
Highlights and Trackers
Every night, I write a line of text highlighting one good thing about that day on my highlights page. Usually, I write about a simple thing that made me happy. Even on the worst days, I try to think about a highlight of that day to write down. This page is intentionally left blank since I'll fill it in throughout the month.
On the trackers page, I note when I complete my favorite hobbies. While many journal enthusiasts track their habits, tracking my favorite hobbies reminds me to dedicate time for myself and happiness. The hobbies I track are:
arts + crafts,
writing, and
gaming.
My dogs' care and happiness are equally important. I track the following for my dogs:
when they go for a joy ride,
when I've cared for their coat with a brush, leave-in shampoo, or bath,
when they received teeth care with brush chews or teeth brushing,
when they participated in extended, extra, or hyper playtime, and
when something unusual happens with my senior dog.
Since I'll fill the pages throughout the month of December, I kept the design minimal with the boy standing happily in a pile of star fragments.
Mood and Resolutions Pages
I treat my mood tracker page as a coloring page of sorts. Each night, I'll color-in a star that represents my overall mood for that day: awesome, meh, bad/sad, or sick.
The mood tracker page represents the scene where the older gentlemen ponder what to do about the large star that fell onto the moon's surface. In that same scene, the boy realized the large star was in fact many smaller star fragments stuck together.
While painting the page, I forgot to leave space for my color legend. It was an easy fix. I made my legend on a scrap piece of paper, cut it down to size, and adhered it to an empty space on the page with tape.
The resolutions page is special for my January journal design. A couple years ago, I started writing New Year's resolutions to set myself attainable goals. I decided to make myself four resolutions again this year with one of them being a stretch from reality.
What's new this year are additional smaller goals I want to set for myself. I want 2022 to be my year of change and new experiences. This means I'll need to make small changes for my year to be meaningful.
My Thoughts
I love the Pixar Short "La Luna" and thought January was a great month to use it as my journal's design theme.
I'm especially grateful I used gouache paints to color the pages. The paint pigments allowed me to add vibrant and bold colors to the pages. It's a nice change from softer aesthetic when I've opted for watercolor paints in times past.
What's Next?
I'm shifting focus to my New Year's resolutions. There's so much I want to accomplish, so I'll need to think about what changes and new experiences I want to pursue in 2022. I'll share my resolutions with you in a future post.
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Thanks, and have a great day!
Simply Jelly Jam
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