Faster + Confident Drawings

Have you ever wanted to draw faster or make more confident-looking drawings?

There are a lot of different ways to approach this problem, but the easiest way is this: Switch your tool!

If you’re sketchnoting with a fine-tip pen like a ballpoint pen, ultra-fine Micron, or Papermate flair, you may be making yourself work harder than you have to! These fine line tools are great for details, but they make you write/draw longer for the same effect. Here’s what I mean:

I drew the same thing with 3 different tools:

  1. a ballpoint pen
  2. a Neuland Fine One marker (round nib)
  3. a sharpie marker*.

I also timed how long it took to do each one:

  1. 1:25
  2. :46
  3. :47

I was able to shave off over 30 seconds of time just by switching tools! The black markers glide over the paper more easily, and I can create thick, bold letters much faster with markers than I can with a ballpoint. Plus, the drawings I did with the markers stand out better. Bold lines look confident. If you want to make your drawings look bold and confident, using a thicker pen/marker is a great first step.

If you’re looking for thicker tools, here are some of my favorites:

  1. Neuland Fine One
  2. Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pen
  3. Tombow Dual Brush Pen
  4. Zebra Brush Pen

*I don’t recommend using sharpies for sketchnotes. I only used a sharpie here to demonstrate how the pen tip size makes a difference.

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