Think in Building Blocks: Letters to Stories

In this final episode of The Sketchnote Army Podcast season 15, we have compiled the tips from nine great visual thinkers into a single episode. We hope these tips will inspire and encourage you on your visual thinking journey.

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Running Order

• Intro
• Maggie Appleton
• Alejo Porras
• Alina Gutierrez
• Pierpaolo Barresi
• Claire Ohlenshlager
• Jimi Holstebro
• Deb Aoki
• Alan Chen
• Julian Raul Kücklich
• Outro

Links

• Maggie's Website
• Alejo's Website
• Alina's Website
• Yobi Scribes Website
• Claire on Instagram
• Jimi's Website for Art
• Deb's Website
• Sh8peshifters website
• Julian's Website

1. Maggie Appleton’s Tips

1. Explore GIFs.
2. Play with Midjourney or DALL E.
3. Explore interactive essays or long-term visual essays.

2. Alejo Porras’ Tips

1. Show up consistently, be present, and care about what you do.
2. Be kind to yourself.
3. Be curious about people to learn how to make them feel appreciated and loved.

3. Alina Gutierrez’s Tips

1. Push yourself to try something new so it doesn't become boring.
2. The more people are engaged with creating the visuals, the more impact it has on them.
3. Give yourself grace if you are starting. Don't compare yourself with those who started way before you did.
4. Give yourself realistic goals.
5. Listen to a TED Talk or a podcast to try taking live notes.
6. Challenge yourself to add new icons as you progress.
7. Look for something you're not an expert in and take visual notes of that.
8. Leave your comfort zone and get exposed to different tools.
9. Find inspiration from other artist's work.
10. Do the first line, even if it means signing your piece before you get started.

4. Pierpaolo Barresi’s Tips

1. Have fun.
2. Do what you know.
3. Give thanks.

5. Claire Ohlenshlager’s Tips

1. Practice because with practice, you develop your way of visual thinking.
2. White spaces don't matter.
3. It's not really about the tools, so don't go around buying a whole set. First, try it out before you invest in lots of tools that you are not going to use.
4. Words will help you find the icons and the pictures. Metaphors will help sometimes.

6. Jimi Holstebro’s Tips

1. Don't limit yourself to gadgets.
2. Just do it.
3. Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse.
4. It's not about being good at drawing. It's about conveying ideas.

7. Deb Aoki’s Tips

1. Think of drawing as a form of alphabet and writing system versus an artistic system.
2. You don't need to learn how to draw everything in the world. Just the stuff in your world.
3. Be visual with fun, low-stakes things.

8. Alan Chen’s Tips

1. Aim for your creative minimum.
2. Practice on paper more than on digital if you can.
3. Try to link your habits.

9. Julian Raul Kücklich’s Tips

1. Work with shapes, mix them up, and find new ways of combining them.
2. Shift from noun to verb. If you find it hard to draw something, it's often easier to draw a verb that goes with it.
3. Always carry a pen and some thread. If you need to draw a large circle, that's the easiest way to make that happen.

Credits

• Producer: Alec Pulianas
• Shownotes and transcripts: Esther Odoro
• Theme music: Jon Schiedermayer

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