Your first basic equipment
Posted: Sun Feb 02, 2025 6:02 am
To make sketchnotes, you don't need expensive materials! Basically, you can start with the following
a regular sheet of copy paper
a simple black marker (if necessary, a good ballpoint pen with a black lead, for example Bic, will do)
possibly a light gray felt-tip pen
But it's more fun with "better" materials. But remember before you buy something: Just as it's not the camera that takes the picture, but the photographer, it's not your pens and notebooks that make the sketchnotes, it's you!
I like to use the Leuchtturm 1917 notebooks or the Evernote Moleskine. If I have dotted lines, I'm happy! Make sure that the paper isn't finland telegram screening too thin (otherwise the ink tends to bleed through) and that it doesn't have too many "tooths," i.e. it's rough and blunt. Then it works slower and also draws too much ink from the markers.
Markers from Sakura Pigma Micron are my favorites when I work with markers. No other marker has such a consistent ink flow and such a comfortable tip. The ink is also waterproof and archival-proof (so it doesn't fade). The Faber Castell PITT markers are also OK - although I find the tips a bit "scratchy" compared to the Sakuras and the ink flow is not quite as consistent if you work a bit faster. But that's a matter of taste. I've heard a lot of good things about markers from Neuland, but from my own experience I've only used the thick whiteboard and flipchart markers.
a regular sheet of copy paper
a simple black marker (if necessary, a good ballpoint pen with a black lead, for example Bic, will do)
possibly a light gray felt-tip pen
But it's more fun with "better" materials. But remember before you buy something: Just as it's not the camera that takes the picture, but the photographer, it's not your pens and notebooks that make the sketchnotes, it's you!
I like to use the Leuchtturm 1917 notebooks or the Evernote Moleskine. If I have dotted lines, I'm happy! Make sure that the paper isn't finland telegram screening too thin (otherwise the ink tends to bleed through) and that it doesn't have too many "tooths," i.e. it's rough and blunt. Then it works slower and also draws too much ink from the markers.
Markers from Sakura Pigma Micron are my favorites when I work with markers. No other marker has such a consistent ink flow and such a comfortable tip. The ink is also waterproof and archival-proof (so it doesn't fade). The Faber Castell PITT markers are also OK - although I find the tips a bit "scratchy" compared to the Sakuras and the ink flow is not quite as consistent if you work a bit faster. But that's a matter of taste. I've heard a lot of good things about markers from Neuland, but from my own experience I've only used the thick whiteboard and flipchart markers.