Every time I finish a diary it feels like I should mark the occasion. People ask me what I’m up to these days, and I say, “Working in my diary, mostly,” and they probably think I’m insane.

Looking back through this one, I notice how filled it is with drawings by my four-year-old: he is in that irresistible period where every single drawing they produce seems to be vibrating with life and you want to save them all. The ones in the diary are mostly discards that I “rescued” from the recycle bin to use in collages…

Collage, collage, collage. So many collages. That’s what I do when I don’t have anything to say.

If you want to see more, head over to Instagram, or I’ve posted the photo sets below.

ALSO: before anyone asks what brand I use…

Set one…

 

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Pages of a finished diary. (1 of 3) #kleondiaries 1. I always decorate the cover with weird stickers 2. I usually do a “guardian spirit” on the inside cover, but this drawing of a skeleton from my 4-year-old worked better I thought #juleskleonart 3. Drawing of poison ivy by the 4-year-old and real dialogue 4. Beethoven obsession 5. Sometimes it’s just quotes and collages 6. Phone doodles while talking to my friend @johntunger 7. I draw angry comix so I don’t say mean things out loud 8. When I have nothing to say i collage. Especially good when I have a daily paper with the comics section 9. More collages + 4-year-old’s drawing More: #kleondiaries

A post shared by Austin Kleon (@austinkleon) on Oct 23, 2019 at 7:19am PDT

…and set two…

 

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Pages from a finished diary. (2 of 3) #kleondiaries 1. I like to glue the four-year-old’s thrown out drawings to magazine backgrounds 2. Spider collage 3. Big feelings collage 4. Collage and quote about redwood roots 5. Sometimes I wake up with words in my head and even if they’re “bad” or “offensive” words I do something with them 6. Linocut prints by my six-year-old 7. Pretty standard page: longhand brain dump + doodles 8. More 4-year-old drawings (they’re irresistible) + comic dialogue 9. Epic Batman collage story #kleondiaries

A post shared by Austin Kleon (@austinkleon) on Oct 23, 2019 at 7:25am PDT

…and set three:

 

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Pages from a finished diary (3 of 3) #kleondiaries 1. Sometimes I will work on a new talk by drawing a comic and let it go wherever it wants to go (you can tell how much I’ve taken from @thenearsightedmonkey) 2. Tape collage / writing about what I’m reading 3. Abandoned collage 4. Grey’s anatomy + sheet music from the thrift store collage 5. Drawing of my son in his lucha mask 6. I like to take text ads and make new messages 7. A postcard of @valeriefowlerart‘s work + stickers and a torn note from my friend’s daughter 8. Back matter 9. I don’t always decorate the back cover but I couldn’t wait for the next notebook to bless it with Bucee Hope this isn’t too boring. When people ask me what I’m up to, I say, “Working in my diary.” ? #kleondiaries

A post shared by Austin Kleon (@austinkleon) on Oct 23, 2019 at 7:31am PDT