The biggest problem I see with sketchnote starters is trying to get too fancy, too early. It's like running three miles when you should do one, or cooking beef bourguignon before grilled cheese. Too much, too soon, so sad, so you stop.

To battle this, just remember the K.I.D.S.

Keep It Damn Simple

Remember the easy shapes we drew last time? You can create great-looking notes with those shapes for a long time. Remember the K.I.D.S.

Here's an example from my own work. I was creating a few original sketches for an online course, and had visions of sketching out an entire kitchen scene. Cabinets, shelving, a bar, everything. A couple hours later, I just couldn't get all the spacing and ratios correct. Something was a bit off each time, and it was driving me nuts.

I was trying to do too much. You have to be able to sketch within your boundaries. I wasn't ready to sketch a complex, detailed scene like that. I threw away the drafts and started simple, and my friend was very happy with the results.

To practice this, let's do a live sketchnote together. We will be using Angela Lee Duckworth's TED Talk "The Key to Success? Grit". You can watch the talk and see my real-time notes here.

When you're done, snap a quick photo of your sketchnotes and send it to me, or share on Twitter @MattRagland.

And always, always, remember the K.I.D.S.

Matt