Graphic Journal Club

How can you join?

 

Online

The Graphic Journal Club meets online twice every month on Zoom through the Patreon membership tier “Graphic Journal Club”.

Members receive:

• two live sessions every month

• access to the replay in their inbox

• a growing archive of past workshops

• monthly prompts and creative resources in a private patreon chat

• a welcoming international community

 

 

In person

Graphic Journal Club workshops also take place in person throughout the year.

These include:

• monthly workshops at Strangeland (La Rochelle, France)

• special pop-up workshops

• schools

• universities

• libraries

• festivals and cultural organisations

Each workshop follows the same philosophy while adapting to the people and the context.

 

Invite the Graphic Journal Club

If you’d like to organise a Graphic Journal workshop in your school, university, library, festival or organisation, feel free to get in touch.

 

Explore

 Graphic Journal Gallery on Padlet (non exaustive  + evolutive page)

Graphic Journal Club Instagram

 

What is Graphic Journaling?

Graphic Journaling is the practice of combining drawing and words to explore everyday life.

It doesn’t matter whether you know how to draw or haven’t opened a sketchbook in years. A Graphic Journal isn’t about making beautiful pages. It’s about paying attention, observing yourself, collecting memories, exploring emotions, and giving shape to your thoughts through images, words, symbols, colour and collage.

Sometimes you’ll draw yourself.

Sometimes you’ll write a single sentence.

Sometimes you’ll simply play with shapes and colours.

Page after page, your journal becomes a visual archive of your life.

Why practice Graphic Journaling?

Graphic Journaling offers a moment to slow down in a fast-moving world.

Over time, it becomes a gentle creative ritual that can help you:

• reconnect with yourself through drawing

• build a regular creative practice

• observe your personal and artistic evolution

• explore emotions with curiosity rather than judgement

• collect memories and everyday moments

• generate ideas for artistic or personal projects

• develop visual storytelling skills

• create a space where creativity and self-reflection can coexist

Although many people experience positive effects on their wellbeing, Graphic Journaling is not psychotherapy and does not replace medical or mental health care.

What happens during a session?

Every session follows a simple rhythm.

We arrive.

We take a moment to slow down with a short grounding or breathing exercise.

We warm up with a simple drawing, often a self-portrait.

Then we explore the theme of the day through prompts, drawing exercises, writing, collage, observation or visual storytelling.

At the end of the session, those who wish can share their pages with the group. Sharing is always optional, and there is never any pressure to speak or show your work.

Every session explores a different theme, while gradually building a sustainable creative practice over time.

Who is it for?

The Graphic Journal Club welcomes beginners, experienced artists, writers, teachers, students, therapists, curious minds and anyone interested in exploring drawing as a personal practice.

You don’t need artistic experience.

You don’t need expensive materials.

You don’t need to be “creative.”

Curiosity is enough.

About Me, as a Graphic Journal facilitator

I’m Nicoz Balboa an Italian-born (living in France!) trans man, artist, graphic novelist and workshop facilitator based in France.

I’ve been keeping Graphic Journals since 2000, and for more than twenty-five years this practice has been at the heart of my creative process. My sketchbooks have become the starting point for my graphic novels, illustrations and personal projects, as well as a space to reflect on everyday life through drawing.

Over the years I’ve led Graphic Journaling workshops for adults, children and teenagers in a variety of settings, including art studios, schools, libraries, community organisations and, more recently, universities.

In 2023 I completed an accredited Therapeutic Art Life Coach Certification, expanding my practice with non-clinical art-based approaches for creativity, self-reflection and wellbeing. While my workshops are not art therapy or psychotherapy, this training has enriched the way I design creative experiences that encourage curiosity, emotional awareness and personal growth.

Today, the Graphic Journal Club is where I share this practice with others.

Whether online or in person, my hope is always the same: to create a welcoming space where drawing becomes a way to slow down, reflect, connect and tell our stories, one page at a time.

“I guess that, if I think about it, what makes the Graphic Journaling a self-care practice is the possibility to enter a very personal inner-space (inside ourselves and inside the journal) while also nurturing the artist inside ourselves. Taking this time to Graphic Journal offers a still moment in a safe dimension in which we can be ourselves while expressing all the feelings. Drawing doesn’t have to change the world. Sometimes it simply changes the way we look at ourselves.” Nicoz Balboa