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.
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Week 33 for 2026! This week leans a bit on the calendar. As always, you can use the prompts in other ways, too.
I never actually read Moomin, and I started to generalize this prompt to any comic character, but when I called up Moomin, I realized I might want to spend a bit of time with it. So, it’s a prompt of its own. If you are really opposed to Moomin, skip it! (When I read this book of illustrator/comic artist profiles a few years ago, I really enjoyed the one on Tove Jansson. This post is related.)
While I didn’t end up with a Julia Childe prompt in the mix this week, I have a soft spot for this graphic novel: Bon Appetit! The Delicious Life of Julia Child by Jessie Hartland (Episode 203).
*I am tucking a small “roll it” table below for a random prompt. It’s just a small extra for paid subscribers.
Illustrate Your Week is a flexible project. Each week, I share weekly prompts and calendar notes that can be used as fill-in or fodder for documenting your life with a combination of words and art. Your illustrated journal might be a sketchnote of your week. It might be more like a diary with doodles, or it might be a sketchbook with marginalia. Write or draw as much as you want! 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.
I encourage you to find your own approach, and don’t be afraid to change week to week as you experiment to find the combination and balance that is most comfortable and satisfying to you. The illustrated journal is a record of your life. Only you can record this story in your unique voice and style.
I leave the information below week to week so that anyone finding the prompts will have some guidance no matter what week it is.
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. These posts may be helpful.
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.
Include notes in your pages! As an illustrated journal, the format invites 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. My daily notes help keep the journal anchored in my life.
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.
The weekly calendar connections 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 and add a bit of variety to your week.
The list of general calendar connections (a short list of unofficial “observances” and holidays) often informs the prompts for the week and can help you “fill in” or anchor pages. This list is a bonus for paid subscribers. Upgrade for full access. You can also find calendar information other places online to support your journaling.
Limited-time offer: Upgrade for $30 for one year using this link. Offer expires 8/15/26.
There are lots of dates on the calendar each week. I pick and choose, always aiming for a list I hope will inspire you to draw or reflect. Because this challenge has continued over a number of years, I often rotate and shuffle the mix of calendar dates I include. You might have other days that are of particular note for you—birthdays, anniversaries, and other markers and milestones. We shouldn’t all be recording exactly the same things in our journals!
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
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