What Supplies Do You Need for Bible Journaling?

Illustrated Faith, also known as bible journaling is a great way to worship using your creative/artistic side. But what supplies do you need for bible journaling? What do you need to get started with Bible Journaling? 

If you want to know a little bit more about Bible Journaling or you want to find alternate ways to participate in Bible Journaling without drawing in a bible, check out this post. 

If you’ve decided that you want to try out Bible journaling, I’ve put together a list of basic items that are easy to get and can help you start on your journey. 

Sketch Journal:

I outlined in this post why I use a sketch journal for the illustrations instead of drawing in a bible. If you want to go the same route then I recommend this journal.

I like it because it’s the same size as my bible and the pages are thick. It’s going to last a long time and it’s easy to carry with me. 

Black Pens:

Black pens are great for lettering and adding detail to your illustrations. Most of the time I draw in pencil and then go back over it with black pens. Then I can go back and erase the pencil marks. 

If you want to use watercolors than it’s important that you get permanent pens that won’t run or smudge.

This set of Pitt artist pens by Faber-Castell have lasted for several months. This pack comes with a variety of sizes and does not run when they get wet. I highly recommend them. You can find them on Amazon here. 

Colored Pencils:

Some people use crayons or markers but I really like using colored pencils. If you get a high-quality colored pencil they will blend easily and if you make a huge mistake you can usually erase some of it. 

Prismacolor is one of the best colored pencil brands and preferred by many artists. Prismacolor has a great student line called Scholar. These are a great budget friendly option that will help you blend the colors together. 

Watercolors: 

Watercolors are one of my favorite things to use when illustrating. They’re so easy to use and the great news is that you don’t need to buy fancy watercolors to begin. I simply raided my kid’s art supplies and pulled out the cheap watercolors that we have for them to use. 

Oil Pastels: 

Oil Pastels are my latest purchase to use with Illustrated Faith. I found these student oil pastels on Amazon.com with the plans for my kids to use them for art. 

Of course, I decided to use them as well.

Oil Pastels are great because you can really blend them well and they are bright colors. The best part is that oil pastels resist watercolors so you can easily watercolor on top of them to add color and depth to any white space. 

On this page, I used oil pastels for the planets and dark black sky. Then I did a light black / gray color wash of watercolor over the black background. 

That’s just a few simple supplies that I use every day to draw and illustrate in my bible journal. 

You can also use:

• markers
• washi tape
• stamps
• acrylic paints
• and much more. 

My next purchase are artist quality markers.

Between craft store coupons and finding great deals with add-on items on Amazon.com you can easily start your Illustrated Faith journey with a small budget. 

Lately, I’ve also fallen in love with my new ESV Bible from Crossway. Many Illustrated Faith artists that illustrate in their bible use the ESV Journaling Bible from Crossway. I’m currently in love with this one.

I don’t illustrate in my bible but I do love wide margins for notes.

After using this bible I’ve also fallen in love with single column bibles. It reads like a book and doesn’t distract me like a two column bible does.   If you’re looking for a new bible, I highly recommend the Crossway ESV Single Column Legacy Bible. 

Are you going to try out Illustrated Faith or do you already participate? What’s your favorite art supply to use? 

You can check out some of my Bible Journaling pages here or on Instagram using the hashtag #clumsyfaith. 

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