Text and links from sketch

Anchoring my thoughts with a sketch

I keep most of my notes in text files. This is great for searching, but the sameness of the typography makes things blur together.

I have to read a lot to remember what things felt like, and I still feel so much is missing. Some people can evoke lush word-pictures. I'm not there yet.

Lately I've been giving myself more time to draw, to colour, to doodle.

"Today: A+ kept giving me hugs as we walked home from the supermarket."

Even my simple sketches give me a surprisingly good sense of what I felt, what I cared about.

I made a font from my handwriting, but real handwritten text says so much more.

Comics are very expressive. I wonder how they do that. How do they draw something so specific and yet so resonant?

I take a tangled thought, coax a bit of it into a drawing, and see where that takes me.

"A drawing is simply a line going for a walk." - Paul Klee

Sometimes I do an audio braindump to feel my way around it or to capture lots of details. That gives me a wall of text. Too much, and at the same time, not enough.

I might try to make an outline and expand it, but I often lose steam.

I like organizing and fleshing out the sketch. Drawing it is fun.

Then I can write the text. I often add lots of details and links. Sometimes I feel lost in the weeds. The sketch becomes my map.

I want to finish writing so that you can see my sketch! (and so it makes sense to you and my future self)

Sometimes I just keep playing with the drawing until something interesting emerges.

https://sach.ac/2025-09-12-07

I've been drawing more lately. It's slow, but more fun. I like looking at my sketches from years ago. I think I will like these ones years from now.

I feel like drawings do a good job of reminding me what I feel about a topic, why I want to write about it, and what the overall shape of the topic is, which is important so that I don't run out of steam a couple thousand words into a post. The drawing also encourages me to finish the post so that I can put it out there.

Other related posts:

• My Emacs writing experience (2025) - how the text side works
• Finding the shape of my thoughts (2025) - similar to this one
• Through blogging, we discover our thoughts and other people (2025)
• Updating my audio braindump workflow to take advantage of WhisperX (2024)
• How sketchnotes fit into my personal knowledge management (2024)
• Integrating visual outlining into my writing process (2013)
• Working with the flow of ideas (2023)
• Working with fragmented thoughts (2015)
• Drawing thoughts on index cards (2015)
• How I organize and publish my sketches (2013) I don't use Flickr and Evernote any more. I built my own sketch viewer, and I use text files in the same directory as my sketches to make them locally searchable.

Elsewhere:

• Shaping Ideas and Remembering Experiences Through Sketchnotes with Mike Rohde - Get Yourself Optimized

  I find when I look back over these notes that the memories really come flooding back in really high detail because then, I spent a little more time documenting when I [relive it].

• Sketching and Reflecting. I’ve been using visual thinking… | by Chris Spalton | UX Planet - getting more out of reviewing and reflecting on sketchnotes
• Practical skill building and application of sketchnoting and visual thinking (Troy Schubert). I think the section on "Deeper Thinking: Cliché to Metaphor" might be good for expanding my visual vocabulary, and figure 31 (Polarity Management – Results of Self-Facilitation) reminds me of how I like to use sketches to explore my thoughts.

Text and links from sketch

Considering the format of daily sketches 2025-09-03-06

The iPad is comfortable to draw on in landscape mode, so for the past few months, I've been drawing my daily moments as monthly calendars. Before then, I used to draw a dozen daily sketches on one page. And long before that, daily index cards.

Some people draw fancier sketches. These ones are ArneBab's.

• How he started in Aug 2022
• Latest one: Aug 2025

I like the varied sizes, colours

Tanny McGregor has a colourful calendar. (5 minutes a day? Hmm…)

• but this is from 2020

Here's Winnie Lim. This one's Jan 2025.

Maybe I'll try putting more time into it. Just doodle. It's okay to slow down.

What do I want from my sketches?

• Moments I might not have photos of: sketches don't have to be photorealistic, although it might be good to get a better sense of what we feel like, and then what we look like
• Playfully stretching my skills
  • details
  • shading
  • colour
• Maybe I can try Procreate? Easy layers, colour fill.
• Stick with Noteful for now - nice to work with notebooks

Feel free to use this sketch under the Creative Commons Attribution License.

I've been regularly drawing daily moments for a while now. Now that I have a little more time for myself, I want to think about how I can make this even better. I think I'd like to start with more colour, especially as the cooler months approach. (I used to struggle with the desaturated bleakness of winter, but now I'm beginning to realize I can add the colour myself.)

I also want to play around with more expressive faces and figures, and drawing more types of things. That probably means doing a daily drawing (or drawings) in addition to my moment of the day, so I can play with things that might not show up in our everyday life. I can start by focusing on cartoony illustrations: simple lines and curves and colours. It doesn't have to be realistic. Fancy shading can wait.

It's okay to keep things simple with a monthly grid. Maybe eventually I'll relax the grid and play with different sizes. Eventually I might start to mix in more text, like the way some people do travel journals. I tend to write a lot of text in my sketches by default, though. Starting with the grid forces me to keep text to a minimum.

Someday I'd like to be able to tell stories in comic form, like Drewscape does. I can develop an ear and an eye for stories. Much to learn.

Links for inspiration:

• ArneBab's daily sketches: I love that he shares his monthly sketches publicly and is still at it. =)
• Tanny McGregor
• Winnie Lim
• Drewscape

Who else should I add to my feed reader?

(View sketch)

Text and links from sketch

Colours (August IndieWeb Carnival theme) sach.ac/2025-08-31-02

I don't draw with lots of colours these days, even though I can have as many as I want. Usually:

• black
• highlight
• maybe gray
• maybe an accent colour

I've drawn with more colours before. I think it's when I feel more relaxed about time. A+ is playing Minecraft with her cousins. I could do many other things, but I want to draw.

I looked at 18 years of sketches and picked some things I like.

• 2020-02-06: I like painting.
• 2015-03-06c: I like softer colours.
• 2017-01-30a: This doodle was fun.
• 2012-03-21: I like the contrast here.

I came across this collection I made, too: highlighter (style I tend to use), decorations (Luigi Mengato), toned text (Kazumi Koyama), contrasting text (Timothy J. Reynolds), accent text (Eva-Lotta Lamm), spacer (Makayla Lewis), areas (Per Axbom), glow (Katharina Bluhm), background (Eva-Lotta Lamm), flood (ItsLilpeanut), text and outlines (Heather Willems), colourful outlines and fills (Liisa Sorsa), everything (Lynne Cazaly), shade (Makayla Lewis), shaded cartoon (Hamish MacDonald)

I circled the ones I want to try.

In Syllabus, Lynda Barry assigns colouring sheets. Don't rush. Students figure out that thicker colour = more fun.

The library always has crayons and sheets. I've been colouring while waiting for A+. I press hard and fill the space.

I like seeing these across the room as I draw in bed.

Someday I'll get the hang of this!

Feel free to use this sketch under the Creative Commons Attribution License.

Hmm… so many of the sketches from my post in 2014 are no longer accessible, or the sketchnoters haven't posted anything recently, or they no longer use that style, or I can't quite find an equivalent thing to link to. Time marches on, I guess.

More recent colour inspiration from active sketchnoters:

• Andy Draws: I like these colours.
• Clarity Canvas Weekly: small colour palette used effectively
• Drewscape: more like comics or graphic novels
• Sketchplanations: mostly shading, but also more colour from time to time
• Eva-Lotta Lamm: the thumbnails are grayscale, but the sketchnotes are coloured in her posts

Check out the August IndieWeb Carnival for lots of other colour-related posts.

Feel free to use this under the Creative Commons Attribution License.

Text from sketch

Feline feelings sachachua.com/2025-03-26-01

• happy
  • playful
  • content
  • interested
  • proud
  • accepted
  • powerful
  • peaceful
  • trusting
  • optimistic
• surprised
  • startled
  • confused
  • amazed
  • excited
• bad
  • tired
  • busy
  • stressed
  • bored
• fearful
  • scared
  • anxious
  • weak
  • rejected
  • insecure
  • threatened
• angry
  • let down
  • humiliated
  • bitter
  • mad
  • aggressive
  • frustrated
  • distant
  • critical
• disgusted
  • disapproving
  • disappointed
  • awful
  • repelled
• sad
  • lonely
  • vulnerable
  • despair
  • guilty
  • depressed
  • hurt

Feelings wheel by Geoffrey Roberts

I want to draw more expressively, and experimenting with distinguishing between emotions seems like a good start. I followed up on our idea of drawing cats after Stick figure out feelings. It was a lot of fun drawing various kitties based on Geoffrey Roberts' emotion wheel. It turns out I'm still sometimes iffy on what a cat looks like in different poses, but maybe enough of the cat-ness has come through in these little doodles. =)

Related posts:

• Stick figure out feelings
• Drawing update
• Lion cut
• category - cat

You might also like:

• Cat Language – Lili Chin Art Inc
• The one about emotions | Catsu The Cat
• Pusheen : emotions
• https://www.artstation.com/artwork/w8bVVO

Feel free to use or remix these stick figures under the Creative Commons Attribution License.

Text and links from sketch

Stick figure out feelings https://sachachua.com/2025-03-22-02

Feelings wheel by Geoffrey Roberts, stick figures by Sacha Chua and the kiddo

• happy
  • playful
  • content
  • interested
  • proud
  • accepted
  • powerful
  • peaceful
  • trusting
  • optimistic
• surprised
  • startled
  • confused
  • amazed
  • excited
• bad
  • tired
  • busy
  • stressed
  • bored
• fearful
  • scared
  • anxious
  • weak
  • rejected
  • insecure
  • threatened
• angry
  • let down
  • humiliated
  • bitter
  • mad
  • aggressive
  • frustrated
  • distant
  • critical
• disgusted
  • disapproving
  • disappointed
  • awful
  • repelled
• sad
  • lonely
  • vulnerable
  • despair
  • guilty
  • depressed
  • hurt

I had fun drawing stick figures based on Geoffrey Roberts' emotion wheel while waiting for A+. After she finished her class, she sat with me, suggesting some ways to improve the expressions and even adding her own flair.

We imagined another sketch showing cats expressing the different emotions. A+ already has a title for that sketch: "Feline feelings." It'll be a good challenge, figuring out how to draw cats clearly enough to show those emotions. Related: this sketch of bird stickers on r/Supernote.

Other variations: drawing other emotion wheels, like the Plutchik wheel or the Junto wheel. Some wheels vary emotional intensity, which will be a nice exercise.

A challenge: working on the outer ring of emotions. How do I distinguish "disillusioned" from "perplexed"? What about "free" from "joyful"?

I found my copy of Bikablo Emotions, and I'm looking forward to picking up more tips from it. I remember flipping through it for my post on sketchnotes: Building my visual vocabulary (2013). So many things to explore… =)

After our first informal field trip to the Art Gallery of Ontario, I got my own 13" iPad Air so that I can play with digital painting beside A+. Using the same apps might make it easier for her to pick up ideas from me and for me to pick up ideas from her. We mostly draw in Procreate, and I'm starting to get the hang of its brushes and features.

It's been nice doing moments from daily life again. It's been a while since I got to play with colour this easily.

A+ and I are both interested in piano, singing, and drawing, so we're experimenting with the Simply family subscription (CAD 46.49+tax/month). A+ likes to draw in the evening as a way of postponing bedtime. I could probably find lots of free drawing tutorials like the ones that Simply Draw has, but it's nice that it's already set up with the video in a corner and it pauses at the appropriate steps, so A+ can independently do it. She's starting to see shapes and shade a bit better now, although she doesn't yet have the patience to blend things slowly. I'm developing that patience, yay me. I wish I could zoom in on the reference image, though.

Here are some drawings I made following the Simply Draw tutorials.

One of the things I like about digital drawing and painting is that I can sneak up on blending by using different opacity settings and colours instead of either accurately controlling the pressure in my hand or switching between pencil and eraser. I also love the way I can use layers to build up an image gradually, how I can erase or undo, and how I can just use whatever colour I want without having to hunt for the right colour pencils or put things away afterwards. I haven't really played around with drawing with art supplies, although the watercolour tutorials that cross my feed seem fascinating. Maybe someday.

There's a glimmer here of how this might become a relaxing thing to do, different from untangling a thought or condensing a book into a sketchnote. I'm slowly getting to the point where, when I notice I'm starting to get anxious or when I'm tempted to nag A+ about procrastination, I can tell myself that I'm going on an art/music break instead and that usually keeps me busy enough until the urge passes. I think this might be useful for our sanity, especially if A+ picks up the idea too. When I'm on a music break, she often gets inspired to kick me off the piano and do her own music lessons, so that's a win. Art is something we can do side by side, and I can always make a drawing more elaborate since A+ likes to stay at roughly the same stage as I am.

I remember enjoying art enough as a kid to have fun at a summer camp where we did things like sand art and papier mache. I think I worked on an illustration of a sparrow that made it into a book of poetry or something like that. By the time we got to drafting classes in high school, I was feeling a bit more meh about art. I got back into art again with the Colors app on the Nintendo DS and then ended up getting into drawing and sketchnoting. I'd like to play around more with colour, and maybe I'll do more doodles and more drawing just because. I like drawing nature, and I'd like to get better at drawing characters too. I'll put the sketches on my blog and in my online sketches, and it'll fun to see how I grow over time.

A+'s class is working through a variety of assignments while reading through The Wild Robot. They've done chapter 1-11 so far. One of the assignments is to visualize things from the book, like sketching 6 things Roz has seen in nature so far. I figured I'd practise drawing too.

References:

• blue flower by NiklasErnst
• goose by Open Clipart-Vectors
• sparrow by artellliii72
• beaver by Clker-Free Vector Images
• squirrel by JonPauling
• sheepdog by marybettiniblank
• chipmunk by CoastalSandpiper

A+ thought that Roz encountered a beaver, but I think she might have mixed it up with the otters. It was fun to draw a beaver anyway. I'm getting the hang of blocking out the shapes with a highlighter and then going over it with the pen.

The sheepdog wasn't from the story. It's from another reflection that I've been noodling on about how A+'s teacher often tries to herd 17 kids to be on the same literal page during virtual class. It's a hard job.

Learning about sheepdogs sent me on this fun tangent

A tangent on herding dogs: heelers (Heelers! Like Bluey!) nip at the heels; headers stare down the animals with a strong eye; some breeds use both methods and also run along the backs of the sheep; some are moderate to loose-eyed; some use barks; some are tending dogs who fence the sheep in. Fascinating. This Reddit thread is interesting too. And sheepdog training tips sound surprisingly relevant, like the importance of figuring out what distance the dog is ready to work at (which is not always the same as the distance the dog thinks they are ready to work at). Sometimes I'm the shepherd, sometimes I'm the sheepdog, sometimes I'm the sheep I want to herd.

As for A+ and art, she still gets very frustrated. "I can't do it!" she wails. But she's starting to be able to say things like "I see there's a circle here." I think it might be helpful for me to borrow a bunch of drawing books that emphasize sketching on top of basic shapes, instead of those drawing videos that just tell you the lines and curves to draw. Maybe Ed Emberley's drawing books. It might also be interesting to look through some digital art tutorials and tips, like this thread on the Procreate forum (oooh, monsters with eyes). Getting even more tempted to get an iPad for myself so that we can learn side by side. I've tried drawing on Android tablets/phablets before and Medibang Paint was pretty nice, but one of my goals is making it easier to bounce ideas and discoveries off each other.

Could be fun.