Sketchnote Lab Dispatch: September 2025
Five cool things, Reflective Travel Sketchnote Workshop is TOMORROW, August's Live Lab Replay on metaphors, and Lab posts from the past month.
Welcome to the September edition of the Sketchnote Lab Dispatch.
School is back in session, which also means fall, my favorite time of year, is here! I love the cool temperatures, falling leaves, and the chance to break out my comfy sweatshirts.
Thanks for your continuing support of Sketchnote Lab!
What’s in this issue?
5 Cool Things to share with you.
The Reflective Travel Sketchnote Workshop is TOMORROW, Saturday, September 13th, where I guide you into creating your reflective sketchnotes of travel. Tickets are $25.
August’s Sketchnote Lab Live Video Replay with
on metaphors is up.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. Do this every day to improve your drawing skills - Pro illustrator, Javi, shares his 3-page technique to help your drawing practice. Check it out!
❥ 2. Using tonal value contrast to control where people look - In this 7-minute video, Drewscape demonstrates how to use tonal value contrast to control where the viewer looks and in what order.
❥ 3. Notebooking Made Simple - My friend and teacher, Jennifer Weibert, offers educators training and guidance for using notebooking for students to accelerate learning. I taught sketchnoting in her school district years ago, and now she’s integrated those ideas into her practices. Go Jennifer!
❥ 4. Visual Thinking Strategies I: Boosting Drawing Skills - Visual thinker Carlos Gilmar offers practical tricks and techniques to help you shape and strengthen your visual thinking.
❥ 5. How to Draw Directly With Ink - If you fear drawing directly with a pen, this tutorial from Teoh Yi Chie offers great tips to get started.
The Reflective Travel Sketchnote Workshop
TOMORROW! There is room for you to 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.
August Sketchnote Live Lab Replay with Dario Paniagua on Metaphors as part of a problem-solving process.
My friend Dario Paniagua shared how he uses metaphors to help facilitate group problem-solving and how to utilize them as an aid in the problem-solving process. I’ve decided to make this replay free, so you can see what Lab Members have access to each month (plus the archives).
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.