My digital sketchnoting workflow

Posted on December 12th, 2012 by Sacha Chua

Mike Rohde’s The Sketchnote Handbook (see my sketchnotes of it) focuses on pen-and-paper sketchnoting. I really enjoy digital sketchnoting, although there’s a bit more of a barrier to entry in terms of hardware. I’ve figured out a pretty sweet workflow for live-publishing conference/event sketchnotes so that you can catch people while they’re looking at the Twitter hashtag. Mike and I will be talking about digital workflows and tips for one of his podcasts, and I wanted to sketch my thoughts/talking points in preparation.

Click on the image for a larger version of the sketchnote.

Not specifically mentioned there because it’s more of a blogging setup, but WordPress + NextGen Gallery + Windows Live Writer + Text Templates plugin = great.

Like this? Check out my other sketchnotes and visual book notes. Want me to sketchnote your event? Know of any interesting tech / business talks coming up? I’d love to hear from you!

More posts about: process, sketchnotes // 15 Comments »

Short URL: http://sachachua.com/blog/p/24162

linditt

You’re collaborating with Mike?! Two of my favourite note-taker! Wow!
Pingback: Transcript of my chat with Mike Rohde (The Sketchnote Podcast) on digital sketchnoting » sacha chua :: living an awesome life
http://twitter.com/luctaesch luc taesch

just find this thx to mike podcast . thx ! Q: do you use art rage or stekchbook pro ? artrage is mentionned on the sketch note . and 2/ I find digital drawing not using the right space, too coarse. am i using the wrong resolution? should I zoom in when drawing ? ( wacom tablet). could you post a video of you drawing a sketch note from scratch, to perceive tyour workflow ? including mistakes and repositioning …. as I see it as a important value for digital..
- http://sachachua.com sachac
  
  Sure, here’s a sample with a lot of moving around to make things fit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6edjq-L18U
  
  I mostly use Sketchbook Pro because I’ve found that to be the most reliable and most responsive program for me. Illustrator often crashed, and ArtRage is a little slow for the kinds of things I like doing. I work zoomed-in, and the grid helps me keep in touch with how much of the page I’m using.
  - http://twitter.com/luctaesch luc taesch
    
    Many thanks:
    
    here is my take, correct me:
    
    - use only one pen ( ) with only two colors, selected from preset , and lasso for recolor or repositioning
    
    black is in fact dark grey, with a bit of the « other » color in it ( here blue) ( so there is space for pure black or pure blue if necessary : Title and reference stands out))
    
    - fit magically in the the page ??, but his was a panel, so I guess a temlate in mind , ie1 column per panelist ?. what would happen if suddenly you have too much for a panelist , thought ? (like the Q/A maybe) do you resize the page ? move it somewhere else ?
    
    - digital enable repositioning, so one can create space around a blob to make it stand out. i.e. the containers are mainly space, not explicit dot or bubbles. => lighter skectchnotes
    
    - usage of a grid in the background, very light :how so light ? grig is fine, a bit like ruler on notebook. write every other line. @sachac:disqus share the grid ?
    - http://twitter.com/luctaesch luc taesch
      
      I followed your example, and created a ready to start template, A4, 300 dpi, a grid grey and black , stronger every 5, 3 layer (gris, cartouche), title, main drawing .
      
      Many thanks for the lead ! https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3530355/skectchnote/grid1.psd
  - http://twitter.com/luctaesch luc taesch
    
    artrage : slow as unresponsive, to react, or missing UI shortcut ? did you tested 3 or 4? ( just discovering the workbench for shortcuts since 4)
    - http://sachachua.com sachac
      
      Ooh, I should upgrade and give that a try. (I was on 3.5.) Maybe I can use the workbench and views for a new sketchnoting workflow…
      - http://twitter.com/luctaesch luc taesch
        
        Sacha, I put a few screen shots here , and a bit of context :
        
        http://www.taesch.com/sketchnote/digital-sketchnotes-going-over-my-painpoints-with-sketchbook-pro-and-artrage-4/2013/05/05/396
        
        let me know your first reactions.
      - http://sachachua.com sachac
        
        Here’s a sneak preview of my thoughts on Artrage 4. http://sachachua.com/blog/?p=24778&shareadraft=baba24778_518699b991471 Thanks for the nudge!
      - http://www.trajano.net/ Archimedes Trajano
        
        Hi Sacha which plugin did you use to do the shared draft?
      - http://sachachua.com sachac
        
        http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/shareadraft/ , although http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/share-drafts-publicly/ looks interesting as well.
      - http://www.trajano.net/ Archimedes Trajano
        
        Ya saw those two too, I’ll try the http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/share-drafts-publicly/ one to see how it goes, even if has no reviews yet it seems to be vetted by the author to be compatible with WordPress 3.5.1
      - http://www.trajano.net/ Archimedes Trajano
        
        I ended up with “Public Post Preview” http://wpgrafie.de/wp-plugins/public-post-preview/en/
        
        Here’s an example:
        
        http://www.trajano.net/2013/05/preventing-comment-spam-in-wordpress/?preview=1&_ppp=5e46b90c9b
        
        The ShareADraft uses uninitialized variables (I have my WordPress installation set with enable warnings since I wanted to make sure my theme was clean)
        
        I couldn’t get the other one to work with Posts that are scheduled.
patmolla

Thanks it´s cool!!!

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sacha chua living an awesome life