Week 12 Prompts for Illustrate Your Week 2024
Prompts for Week 12 of 2024 for #illustrateyourweek in your illustrated journal
Week 12 for 2024! It may feel like the year has only just begun, but the spring equinox this week reminds us that the year is steadily moving forward.
I post a new set of Illustrate Your Week prompts every Sunday to help inspire and nurture the process of keeping an illustrated journal of your life. Add text and images to make a visual record that is uniquely you.
Illustrate Your Week Prompts for Week 12
Lots of things on the calendar this week. I sometimes get caught in thinking about whether or not I drew or recorded certain things "last year" or the year before to map to a specific week. I try not to worry about it, but sometimes I think about drawing something and have a flash of drawing the same thing before. I look at each new week of prompts as a new opportunity and a nudge. But I do hope that year to year, I'm not stuck in exactly the same pattern. (Close is fine.)
I have seen a few people mention recently that life is too busy and weeks too full to use the prompts.
That is totally okay! The prompts are a supplement. They are there for fodder and inspiration if you need them. The goal is the weekly journaling and the continued combination and exploration of words and art. Never feel bad if you have so much you want to record that you fill your pages without looking at the prompts. That's excellent!
Note: Sometimes prompts are really broad, but if you look at the calendar, you can see the avenues and connections. “Historical figure who inspires you,” this week, has several possibilities. You aren’t limited to anything or anyone specific, but you may find similar prompts pop up in other weeks, with calendar connections that, again, can provide an anchor.
Illustrate Your Week is a flexible project. I share weekly prompts and calendar notes that can be used as fill-in or fodder. Or, you can use the prompts as your starting point. Write or draw as much as you want. The illustrated journal is a record of your life. Only you can record this story in your unique voice and style.
You can draw anything on your pages and fill in with your daily notes. There is no one-size-fits-all formula for how to keep an illustrated journal or for what counts.
Your illustrated journal is a freeform space to hold your personal documentation, memories, hopes, wishes, and the tiny details that make up everyday life. — Amy Cowen
Calendar Connections
The calendar connections each week give a bit of random context that might inspire you to think about or notice something specific. Maybe they spark memory. Maybe they nudge you to draw something you wouldn’t normally draw or give you an idea for something to draw when you want to draw but don’t want to figure out “what” to draw. Many of these are very informal observances, but they can be fun starting points.
Here are some of the calendar notes that made my radar for Week 12:
Women’s History Month
World Folktales & Fables Week (17-23)
St. Patrick's Day (17)
National Introverts Week (18-24)
National Bubble Week (19-26)
National 3-D Day (19)
International Day of Happiness (20)
National Cherry Blossom Festival (20) (begins)
Astrology Day (20)
Equinox (20)
National Macaron Day (20)
World Frog Day (20)
World Sparrow Day (20)
Shakespeare Week (21-27)
World Poetry Day (21)
Rosie the Riveter Day (21)
International Day of Forests (21)
International Seal Day (22)
Daffodil Day (22)
Extra/Bonus Prompts
I typically share the prompts at Instagram as well, but I share a few extra prompts in the version here.
A series of timed drawings (Try going with the flow and doing something timed and deliberately “sketchy” in your illustrated journal. Do a few 1-minute or 3-minutes drawings, even of the same object.)
Something with wings
I leave most of the information below week to week so that anyone finding the prompts will have some guidance no matter what week it is.
Illustrated Journal Basics, Background Information, & How to Get Started
You can start your illustrated journal at any time of the week. Just pick up and start where you are with whatever the current week is. You may also find these earlier posts helpful:
There Are a Lot of Prompts
Should you do them all? Probably not! Prompts are always just ideas for things you might include in your journal. Your immediate life is really where your journal starts - and it may be that your memory life has an equal role. Observances can be a conduit to memory, an excuse to buy and draw (or Google) something simple (like a Twinkie), or simply fun to write down for context in terms of the passage of time.
Daily Notes
As always, I hope you take time to make plenty of notes in your pages. As an illustrated journal, there is an implicit mix of drawings and words. For me, the project is always a journal, not simply a sketchbook. Even though I draw lots of random things (especially portraits), the book as a whole is a “journal” — an illustrated journal of my life. For me, this isn’t simply a sketchbook. My daily notes help keep the journal anchored in my life.
While I don’t believe in rules for personal projects, for myself, I do think the personal notes, stories, lists, and tidbits are a foundation.
Something is Missing on the Calendar List
There are lots of dates on the calendar each week. I don’t want the weekly prompts to be simply a calendar toss-up, so I pick and choose, always aiming for a list I hope will inspire you to draw or reflect. Your journal has the space for any and all of the days that are important to you. What you value and want to record comes first. Prompts are always best thought of as filler, not as a prescription. You might have other days that are of particular note for you. We shouldn’t all be recording exactly the same things in our journals!
Use the Prompts that Speak to You
As always, the prompts are provided simply as optional nudges you may want to mix in with the recording you do of your day-to-day life. If you do Illustrate Your Week for a while, you will find that some prompts recur. (This is a good thing and true to the process of keeping a journal based on your life.) The weekly prompts give you options if you find yourself, pen in hand, and not sure what to draw, paint, write, or record in your journal.
You don’t need a more exciting life. This project celebrates the quotidian.— Amy Cowen
Your journal has the space for any and all of the days that are important to you. What you value and want to record comes first. Prompts are always best thought of as filler, not as a prescription. — Amy Cowen
These are lovely prompts, thank you so much.x