Sketchnoting Practice : Your Personal Visual Vocabulary [October 2015]

All Hallow to you! It's time for October Sketchnoting!

This evening event is structured time for learning, exploring and improving our sketchnote practice.

This session, we'll crowdsource the icons and pictures you need to build your own personal visual vocabulary!

We'll start with a supershort overview of sketchnotes, and then dive into a series of Rapid Rounds. Our first task will be to collect a list of stuff that we want in our personal visual vocabularies...things, ideas, people & scenarios. Then we'll use these as prompts for our sketching practice.

At the end of the session, we'll have a gallery and discussion about where to take a visual vocabulary.

If you're new to sketchnoting, this is a great way to get started. And if you're an expert, it's a fun time to practice and share with others. All skill levels welcome!

Note: This session is more about pictures than lettering or structure.

:: What to do to prepare before the session ::

Coming prepared will really help you get the most out of this. Prep should take only about 15 minutes...

Think about how you want to use visual note-taking in your life...is it part of a professional practice? Are you in a specific industry? Do you want it for personal journaling or enjoyment?

With that in mind, write down a list of 5-10* things you'd like to be able to draw simply and quickly. Here are some categories to get you started:

• things (objects you can see, like computer or bicycle)
• ideas & concepts (like collaboration or strategy)
• people (like groups working, people walking, sports)
• situations/context (like scenes (urban, rural, home interior) or scenarios (like going to a movie or having a difficult conversation.)* You can have more than 10, we just won't be able to use them all. But come with lots and you can pick your faves.

:: Here's the plan ::

• Welcome, get to know each other & pizza [6:30-6:45ish]
• Quick topical overview while eating
• Review & consolidate lists for visual vocabularies; curate
• Warm-up/rapid rounds (quick 5 min learning sessions)
• Quick critique of work & selection of personal picks
• Gallery of work created & open critique (15-20 min)
• Wrap-up, feedback & what to do next time

:: What to bring ::

You'll need to bring your own paper/journal and pens. Some folks bring colored pencils or special pens (Tombow is a favorite.) Plan white computer paper is good. Lined paper is bad. ;)

:: Note about food/drinks

We haz pizza! Your $5 registration helps to offset the cost. Hope to see y'all there!