Tools

I love seeing lists of what tools people use, and so here’s mine. 🙂

Analog

Pens and markers

• Uni-ball Signo 307 for writing. This is my favorite pen, period.
• Sharpies for writing (ultra-fine tip) and doodling (fine tip); the metallic ones are great for drawing on black paper
• Tombow dual brush pens for drawing
• Stabilo fineliners for drawing
• Mildliners for drawing and highlighting
• Gelly Roll pens for drawing, especially on dark paper
• Posca markers for drawing, especially when I want opaque colors

Notebooks

For bullet journaling, I use a Leuchtturm1917 Medium A5 Notebook. I stuck with the classic black one for years but my last two have been teal (officially, “pacific green”). Always dot grid.

For pocket-size notetaking and lists, I like Field Notes and other brands in the same size, like Word and Story Supply Co. Dot grid is usually my first preference, but in these smaller notebooks I also like lined and blank pages.

I have a specific notebook I like to use at work: the Maruman Mnemosyne N195 A5 Notebook with lined pages. The plastic covers make it durable for taking back and forth to work. Perforated pages are easy to tear out. And the size is perfect for being portable while still having plenty of space to take notes.

I’m not picky about sketchbooks, but I like Canson XL mix media pads. The paper in these holds up to a lot of different pens and markers, so that works out well for me.

Miscellaneous

• Washi tape is great for taping envelopes shut and taping around the edges of a piece of paper before painting. I don’t use specific brands. Just whatever is at the arts and crafts store.
• Bone folder for making nice creases on zines
• Index cards for jotting down notes and organizing ideas

Digital

Organizing myself

• Reminders app (native on iPhone) - grocery lists, to do lists, shopping lists, and reminders with due dates
• Calendar app (native on iPhone) synced with Google calendar - to keep track of appointments, vacation days, and events
• Notion - organizing info for my hobbies. Most often, I’m in Notion while working on my zines, newsletter, and blog.
• Google Keep - for quick notes
• Google Drive - file storage in the cloud

Writing

• Day One - Officially this is a journaling app but I use it for capturing ideas. With the premium version, you can record an audio entry and the app will transcribe it to text. That’s really useful for me to talk through ideas, and then I have the text to work with later.
• Google Docs - writing anything and everything, and being able to access it from any device with a browser and internet connection
• Google Keep - drafting short pieces of writing
• StackEdit and Writebox - converting markdown to HTML

Working with images

• Canva - graphic design, social media graphics, and laying out zines
• Sketchbook - digital drawing. I use it on a Google Chromebook that doubles as a tablet.
• Pixlr - when I need photo editing that’s more advanced than what I can do on my phone
• Pixabay and Unsplash - images that are free to use

Reading

I generally prefer reading physical books, but sometimes I read books on Kindle or my phone. The Hoopla app is great for checking out ebooks from your library (including graphic novels!).

For articles and blogs:

• Feedly - reading blog posts via RSS feeds
• Pocket - saving links to read later. Although honestly, I forget to go back to look at what I saved. But the links are there for whenever I want to read them.