One or two, bright. A single red marker is the strongest version. More colours start to look like a designed system rather than like somebody with a pen.

Should the handwriting be legible?

The short words yes, the longer notes not necessarily. Partly illegible margin notes read as real, where a fully legible block reads as set type pretending to be handwriting.

What kind of photograph works best?

A plain, well lit, slightly boring one. The annotation supplies all the interest, and a dramatic photograph competes with it.

Marker Annotation

annotated photo
circled and arrowed
explainer overlay
handwritten notes

Circles, arrows and handwriting over a photograph, added to explain rather than to decorate.

Draw this style

Opens an image model with the prompt in it. The price is on the page before you sign in.

What it is for

A circle drawn by hand around part of a photograph says somebody looked at this and formed an opinion. It carries more authority than a caption, because it points rather than describes, and it reads as evidence of thinking.

How it works

An ordinary photograph is annotated with a thick marker in one or two colours. Circles are rough and do not quite close. Arrows run from handwritten notes to the things they name. Some words are underlined twice. Nothing is ruled or aligned.

When to use it

Use it for explainers, teardowns, case studies and anything that argues. Avoid it where the picture is meant to be beautiful, because the marks are deliberately ugly.

Told apart from its neighbours

Doodle Overlay uses the same layering to decorate rather than to explain. Storyboard Frame is a drawing with frame furniture rather than a photograph. Patent Drawing numbers parts formally rather than circling them by hand.

Where it is used

It suits a case study, a teardown, a landing page and any picture whose job is to make a point about itself.

Explainer content, case studies and teardowns
Advertising and editorial

The prompt

Replace the blanks with your own character, keep the rest. Then run it on an image model.

<character> photographed plainly, with hand drawn marker annotations added on top in one or two bright colours, rough hand drawn circles around the things that matter, arrows pointing at them from handwritten notes in the margin, a few words underlined twice, everything drawn quickly with a thick marker so the lines are uneven and the circles do not quite close, the photograph underneath ordinary and well lit, marks sitting flat on the surface

Run it

What goes wrong

A tidy infographic comes back with neat labels. Ask for a thick marker, rough circles that do not close, and handwriting rather than type.

Leave out

neat typography, straight ruled lines, a designed layout, shading, perfect circles, a decorative purpose

Watch for

It has to look fast. Neat annotation reads as a designed infographic, and the whole authority of this style comes from looking like somebody marked up a print in a hurry.

Questions

Neatness implies a designer, and a designer implies a sales pitch. Roughness implies somebody working something out, which is what gives an annotation its credibility.