Art Journal Goodnotes For Adults

Getting started with digital art journaling on the iPad

I have spent roughly four years building out digital journals in Goodnotes, and the initial setup is the part that actually matters. Most people skip it and end up frustrated when their pages feel chaotic or when files become impossible to navigate. I use a combination of pre-built Art Journal Goodnotes For Adults templates and a small set of core brushes I adjust slightly depending on the week's mood. The templates come from my own folder structure, which I keep organized by date, project type, and whether the page is meant for sketching, writing, or full artwork. Goodnotes doesn't include a dedicated "art journal" mode out of the box, so what most adults actually use is a combination of custom templates, a curated brush pack, and a workflow that treats each notebook like a physical journal. You open the app, select a blank or grid page, and layer pencil sketches, watercolor washes, and handwritten notes over time. The app supports layers now, which changed the whole dynamic. Before layers were introduced, you were stuck committing to every stroke permanently, which was fine for quick sketches but terrible for detailed work. Layers let me build a page the way I used to build a paper journal: background wash, then lines, then details, then corrections. First, a stylus. The Apple Pencil is the only tool I recommend because the latency is low enough that drawing feels natural. The second-gen model is preferred over the first-gen because the pressure sensitivity is noticeably better for sketching. A regular fingertip will work for writing but it ruins any attempt at realistic shading or texture work. Second, a good set of brushes. Goodnotes has built-in brushes, but they are basic. The ones I use are the fountain pen for writing, the soft brush for washes, the pencil for sketches, and the marker for quick fills. I don't use more than six brushes total. Having too many options paralyzes you, and you spend more time choosing than actually creating.

I keep my brush sizes fixed at three settings: small for text, medium for line work, and large for washes. This eliminates decision-making during a session. You pick a size and you go. The third thing is a template system. I create my own templates with a dated header, a small grid section for notes, and a blank area for whatever the page is about. The template file lives in a dedicated "Templates" folder inside Goodnotes. When I want a new page, I duplicate the template and fill it in. This takes about thirty seconds and saves me from staring at a blank page for twenty minutes, which is when most people give up.

The actual workflow

Here is how a typical session looks. I open the notebook, select today's dated page from the template folder, and the page appears with light gray guidelines already in place. I start with a light pencil sketch using the small brush setting. This layer is temporary and gets erased or painted over later. Next, I do the wash layer. I use a watercolor-style brush at medium size and apply color in broad strokes. The layers feature lets me adjust opacity and blend modes, so I can make the wash look translucent or opaque depending on the effect I want. After the wash dries — which in Goodnotes means you just move to the next layer — I add the ink lines with the fountain pen brush. I usually write my journal entry directly on the page, mixing printed text with handwritten notes for visual interest. The final step is adding any details like highlights, shadows, or small decorative elements. I keep a separate "decorations" folder with simple shapes, borders, and textures I can drag and drop onto any page. This folder contains about forty items that I reuse constantly. When a page is complete, I export it as a PDF and save it to a cloud folder. The export takes about five seconds for a single page. If I have a full spread, it takes maybe ten. The file size for a single page with layers and images is usually between two and four megabytes, which is manageable for long-term storage.

A problem I ran into and how I fixed it

About six months ago, I hit a wall with the export function. Goodnotes has a limit on how many layers you can have in a single document before the app starts slowing down noticeably. I had a single page with seventeen layers, including multiple image imports and hand-drawn elements. When I tried to export it, the file took almost four minutes to render, and the resulting PDF had visible artifacts around the edges of my brush strokes. I tried compressing the file inside Goodnotes, but the compression tool doesn't actually reduce layer complexity, it only downsamples images. The real solution was to flatten the problematic layers before exporting. I grouped related layers together, merged them into a single layer, and then exported. This cut the export time down to about forty seconds and eliminated the artifacts. It was a lesson in not overcomplicating pages. More layers doesn't mean a better result. It means a slower process and more opportunities for errors. The biggest mistake is buying a huge template pack and never using it. I see this constantly. People spend hours downloading templates with dozens of pages, then abandon the entire set because it doesn't match their actual routine. A template is only useful if it fits the way you actually think and work. My templates are deliberately sparse. I leave plenty of white space because I fill it differently each day. If a template forces a specific layout, I end up fighting it instead of using it. Another mistake is treating Goodnotes like Procreate. They serve different purposes. Procreate is for creating standalone artwork. Goodnotes is for combining writing, sketching, and light illustration in a single document. If your goal is purely artistic, use Procreate or Clip Studio Paint. If your goal is to document your life with a mix of words and images, Goodnotes is the right tool. The difference matters because the brush libraries, layer management, and export options are all optimized for different workflows. Trying to force Procreate-level techniques into Goodnotes leads to frustration and abandoned projects.

What Goodnotes actually can't do well

Goodnotes struggles with realistic texture rendering. If you want your digital watercolors to look exactly like real water on paper, you won't get that here. The app simulates the effect through opacity and blend modes, but it lacks the granular control that dedicated painting apps offer. It also doesn't handle large-scale illustration work well. Pages with high-resolution image imports tend to lag, especially on older iPads. If you are working on a project that requires frequent image editing or complex compositing, Goodnotes will feel limiting. For those tasks, I switch to Procreate or Affinity Designer depending on the project. Goodnotes is fast for simple pages and slower for complex ones. Know which category your current project falls into before you start. There are several sources for pre-made Art Journal Goodnotes For Adults resources. The most reliable are creators who sell their packs on platforms like Etsy or Gumroad. I have purchased about fifteen packs over the years and keep only the ones that survived daily use for at least a month. Cheap free packs tend to be low quality because the designers aren't iterating based on real usage. Paid packs from established creators are usually better because they have feedback loops. You can also create your own templates, which is what I prefer now. A good template takes about twenty minutes to build and can be reused indefinitely. The investment pays off after the first few uses. If you want to try this, start with a simple four-page weekly spread. One page for goals, one for sketches, one for writing, and one blank. Duplicate the template each week and fill it in over the course of seven days. Don't aim for perfection. The point is consistency, not polish. A journal that gets used is worth more than one that sits unfinished because the expectations were too high. I review my completed spreads every Sunday evening and export them to a cloud backup. The review takes about ten minutes and helps me identify which pages were most useful and which ones I skipped entirely. That feedback loop tells me what to adjust in the next week's template.

The whole system, from opening the app to exporting the final pages, usually takes between fifteen and forty minutes per week, depending on how much content you add. That is fast enough to maintain without feeling like a chore. Slower than that and most people drop it within a month. The key is keeping the process lightweight and the tools simple. Complicated workflows die quickly. Simple ones persist.