Sermon Sketchnotes - Have you heard of these????

A couple of weeks ago I was accidentally introduced to something called SketchNotes". The idea intrigued me for my sermon notes so I did a little research. In doing so I found this book by Mike Rohde 

So what ARE SketchNotes??? This is an explanation from Mike Rohde himself. . .

"Sketchnotes are purposeful doodling while listening to something interesting. Sketchnotes don't require high drawing skills, but do require a skill to visually synthesize and summarize via shapes, connectors, and text. Sketchnotes are as much a method of note taking as they are a form of creative expression."

The idea is that when you engage your creative skills, your listening skills, and your physical (writing) skills, along with your visual skills, you learn and retain more. It also makes your notes more user friendly, helping you to go back and find main points and re-enforce what you heard and learned. Apparently business people and students are doing this all over the country these days. 

I found a ton of really cool examples online, which made me refine my search to "Sermon SketchNotes" and I found this book by Marsha Baker

I also found a ton of great examples of SketchNoting just for sermons!  Here are a few of the ones I have found so you can better understand what it is I am talking about here . . . 

Aren't they cool!!! They range from really busy to really clean and simple - colorful and black & white, lots of text, lots of icons (doodles).

So, I decided to give this a try. But I did not use a live speaker - instead I rewrote my sermon notes I had already written and here is my first one

I got 6 pages of notes down to these 3 pages and I lost nothing! I also can quickly find the info I want to revisit through the use of the icons. 

See the difference in being able to find something in your notes? 

They suggest you make yourself up an icon dictionary of little doodles etc that help you identify things so as you are doing your SketchNotes you don't have to come up with a doodle - they become part of your written vocabulary like regular words. So here is my  little Icon Library I made up 

So, next up on my quest to learn more about this was a Face Book group - that's right there is a group on FB - it is called Sketchnotes Community. It is a closed group but if you are interested in this I suggest you ask for an invite. I have found a lot of inspiration there and have found the small group to be very nice and helpful. In particular there is a gentleman named David Dial that has been so nice to answer questions for me and make encouraging comments on the things I have shared. But the best part is seeing his notes - Oh MY!!! They are great - beautiful to look at but more importantly they are just chock full of information! Take a look at some his work. . . 

Aren't they AWESOME!!!!

So one day I asked David this question - 

"I am very new to sketchnotes and I was wondering if you would answer a couple of questions for me? Do you actually do your SN live during a sermon or do you just do bullet points and create at home? If you do this live how to you stay up with what your Pastor is saying - any tips? One last questions - what pens do you use?Thank you for letting me pick your brain a little." 

and here is his answer complete with examples - 

Marta- Glad you joined. This little group is here to encourage and inspire any way we can. Thanks for the gracious words. To answer your 'live' question: the attached is the live pencil version I do during service, in my Moleskine sketchbook with dot grid. I then sometime Sunday afternoon I adjust the layout and Chk my spelling by inking it with farber caste ll brush pens and good old bic colored felt tips. 

Content is only good as the speaker and the source. We get an outline our bulletin but I just let the Holy Spirit guide how he is inspiring me that AM. Thx for the questions and happy sketchnotes. Blessings.

Before

After 

I have yet to do any "Live SketchNoting" I am still trying to find my groove in all of this. But I am rewriting all of my notes from our last sermon series "Reboot"

And I keep them in my little binder with my Sermon Cards I have been making. 

I hope you will at least think about giving Sermon "SketchNoting" a try - you might like it???

More importantly, you might retain more of what you heard on Sunday morning!

Until we meet again, Be blessed and Be a blessing!!!