Sketchnote Lab Dispatch: August 2025
Five cool things: Reflective Travel Sketchnote Workshop, Scotland Sketchnotes, July's Live Lab Replay, Handbook Walkthrough Part 2, and all of July and August's posts.
Welcome to the August edition of the Sketchnote Lab Dispatch.
I’ve been traveling this summer, but now I’m back with five cool links and more. Thanks for your continuing support!
What’s in this issue?
5 Cool Things to share with you.
The Reflective Travel Sketchnote Workshop happens Saturday, September 13th, where I guide you into creating your reflective sketchnotes of travel.
Sketchnoting Scotland: How visual notes made my travels more meaningful
July’s Sketchnote Lab Live Video Replay of Ask Mike Anything about Sketchnotes.
Sketchnote Handbook Chapter Two: A Guided Walkthrough Video with insights about chapter two of my book.
Sketchnote Lab posts from the past month.
Custom Sketchnoting Workshops to help your team learn the art and practice of sketchnoting to help move projects forward.
Five Cool Things
Here are five cool things I thought you would enjoy!
❥ 1. Guillermo del Toro's Mystical Notes - Check out Guillermo del Toro’s illustrative notes, which he uses to process ideas. This article by Jillian Hess even mentions a lost notebook returned by a cab driver!
❥ 2. Sketchbooks That Spoke - Bill Russell’s collection of sketchbook samples that served as journalistic tools to capture experiences.
❥ 3. Meditative Sketchnote Workshop with Ben Norris & Mike Rohde - A recording combining meditative practices and sketchnotes with Ben and me!
❥ 4. Use simple building blocks with Adam Ming - Pro Illustrator Adam Ming has a great post about using simple building blocks to create images, similar to how I like encouraging new sketchnoters to use five basic shapes. GMTA!
❥ 5. The Self-Containment of my Sketching - Peter from Start Bay Notebooks shares his simple, elegant toolkit for capturing urban sketches. The travel brushes Peter uses look really cool!
The Reflective Travel Sketchnote Workshop
Learn how to create travel sketchnotes after your trip using sketchbooks, pens, pencils, and your own photos without needing to be an artist!
Bring photos from a recent trip, your memories, a sketchbook, a pencil, and a pen along to create a reflective sketchnote with me.
I’ll show the process and then guide you as you create a reflective sketchnote of your recent trip so you can experience it for yourself.
Pricing is $25 and includes the live Zoom session, video recording, and PDF templates you can use in your own reflective travel sketchnotes.
Sketchnoting Scotland: How visual notes made my travels more meaningful
Creating reflective sketchnotes of our family trip to Scotland helped deepen my enjoyment of our memories and created a visual keepsake.
Read more and see all 24 pages!
July Sketchnote Lab Live: Video Replay
I had a great time answering questions!
Topics included:
How to take photos of sketchnotes
Some tools that can help capture and manage sketchnotes
Favorite pens
My latest sketchnote
A sneak peek at my Scotland sketchnote travelogue.
Sketchnote Handbook Chapter Two: A Guided Walkthrough Video
In this video, I reveal the design insights and creation notes behind the Sketchnote Handbook, Chapter Two, including my inspiration around this chapter.
Previous Month’s Sketchnote Lab Posts
Here’s what’s been happening at Sketchnote Lab:
Become a Paid Lab Member and you’ll support my work and have access to all Live Labs and recorded replays.
Custom Sketchnote Workshops
I love teaching teams like yours how to think visually and sketch simply with Custom Sketchnote Workshops.
I've presented workshops at schools: Drexel University, Marquette University, and The University of Michigan; Anne Arundel, New York City, and Fresno school districts.
I’ve also presented workshops for teams at SmugMug/Flickr, Hubspot, Northwestern Mutual, Johnson Controls, Dentsu Creative, and Sibley Memorial Hospital.
I’d love to teach your team, too. Let’s talk!
Thanks again for the chance to share something fun in your inbox!
— Mike
Sketchnote Lab is Mike Rohde’s space designed to bridge the gap between sketchnote theory and practice. The goal is to guide you in integrating sketchnoting into your everyday life. Learn more about Sketchnote Lab.
Mike is the author of The Sketchnote Handbook and The Sketchnote Workbook, bestselling books that teach regular people how to start and keep sketchnoting.
He founded the Sketchnote Army and hosts the Sketchnote Army Podcast, where he interviews visual thinkers to understand what makes them tick.
Mike offers recorded, live, and in-person workshops to help accelerate your sketchnoting practice and coaching for personalized, 1:1 sketchnoting guidance.
Become a paid Lab Member to support Mike’s work.