Juxtaposed Images in Deliberate Sequence

A few years ago I learned about the practice of sketchnotes, which Mike Rohde, author of The Sketchnote Handbook, calls “purposeful doodling while listening to something interesting.” You can see some great examples on the Sketchnote Army blog that Mike runs. I started taking sketchnotes at professional conferences and workshops and found it to be a really useful practice, helping to keep my mind engaged during presentations and talks and producing summaries of these events that I found myself returning to again and again. About a year ago, I started taking sketchnotes of sermons, too, for the same reasons. You might have seen my Doodling in Church blog where I share them.

The girls know that I bring a notebook and a pack of pens to church each week, and they’ve seen some of my sketchnotes. Last week, Hannah found my copy of The Sketchnote Handbook and, after looking through it, was inspired to start sketchnoting, too. Here’s her first attempt using a pen and a pack of Crayola markers at Sunday school last week:

On the first page, she’s got a few different takes on the idea of patience, the theme of the lesson. The second page features a colorful and accurate recap of the Jacob and Esau story. I was impressed, and I was reminded again that these little girls actually pay attention to me, just as I was back in December when Lily took up photography.

After church, Hannah asked if she could get the same kind of pens I use when I take sketchnotes. I had been meaning to head to the art store downtown to replenish (and possibly upgrade) my sketchnote supplies for a few weeks, so we made a family trip out of it. I can’t say that our visit to Plaza Artist Materials was a cheap way to spend the afternoon, but it sure was a lot of fun. The three of us spent an hour browsing the art and craft supplies and came home with plenty of tools for future creative work.

Hannah opted for drawing supplies over sketchnote pens, a shift that isn’t too surprising given her age. Her interest in learning to play the mandolin only lasted a week, for instance. Once she spotted a book on drawing dogs and cats, that’s all she wanted to do for the rest of the day. Here’s her first piece:

Lily, on the other hand, just wanted a black pen like Daddy’s and a notebook like Daddy’s. She’s at the age where life revolves around Daddy, which is just fine with me. Later that night, after the girls spent the evening drawing and doodling, I looked through Lily’s new notebook. Check out what my five-year-old created:

According to Lily, the guy on the second floor of the house is sad because it’s cold outside and the fan is blowing. After he turns off the fan, he’s much happier. Meanwhile, the guy outside the house checks the mail and isn’t thrilled to have received a package… until he gets inside the house and discovers the package contains a puppy, at which point he’s very excited.

Lily’s next drawing is epic:

Starting in the upper left and moving down and to the right, we have a spaceship flying through the stars, then approaching Earth, then flying toward North America, and then landing somewhere (Nashville, I think). Finally, we have a little girl getting out of the spaceship. Epic! My little girl is quite a visual storyteller!

I’m blown away by my kids creativity, and I’m grateful I have the means to help encourage it. I can’t wait to see what they create next!

(The title of this post adapted from Scott McCloud’s definition of comics, “juxtaposed pictorial and other images in deliberate sequence, intended to convey information and/or to produce an aesthetic response in the viewer,” which taught me long ago that separating medium and genre can be a useful thing to do.)