Scribba
Art history lectures happen with the lights down and an image on the screen. The professor talks about one painting for ten minutes, clicks to a cathedral, then puts two sculptures side by side. If your notes are just words, you end up with "note the contrapposto" and no memory of which statue it was about.
The fix: every note needs to stay attached to the image it describes. Here's how to build notes that do that, and how to study them for the two things almost every art history exam asks for: slide IDs and comparisons.
Know what the exam will ask
Before you design your notes, look at the syllabus and any sample exam. Most survey courses test some mix of these:
- Slide IDs. An image appears, and you write the artist, title, date, medium and sometimes the location or period. Some professors give partial credit for each part.
- Comparisons. Two images appear side by side, and you write a short essay on how they relate: same subject, different period, or a shift in style.
- Unknowns. An image you haven't seen, and you place it by style, period or likely artist, then explain your reasoning.
- Terms. Short definitions, like chiaroscuro, sfumato, tympanum or impasto.
Your notes should feed all four. Each artwork needs an ID block, a few lines of visual description, and the reason the professor showed it.
Build an ID block for every work
Make the identification the same every time, in the same order, so it becomes automatic. A good block looks like this:
- Artist (or "unknown," with the culture or workshop).
- Title, the way your professor's image list spells it.
- Date, as precise as your course expects.
- Medium and size, if your course tests them.
- Location or period, such as the original site or the movement.
Under the block, write three short lines. What you see: composition, color, line, light, material. Why it matters: the idea or change it represents. Link: another work it connects to. That third line is your future comparison essay.
Tip: copy the ID details from the professor's official image list, not from your lecture scribbles. Misspelled titles and wrong dates are easy points to lose, and the list is what the grader checks against.
Put the artwork on the page
Words like "diagonal composition" only make sense next to the picture. Your professor's slides usually include every image, and many courses post the slide deck or an image list after class. Use what your course provides.
In Scribba, there are a few ways to get the image beside your notes:
- Import the slide deck as a PDF, as a new notebook or into your class notebook, and write right on each slide. Pull past the last page to add blank paper. See how to annotate lecture slides on iPad.
- Add a photo to a page from the camera or your photo library, then move and resize it so it sits at the top of the page with your ID block below. This works well for one work per page.
- Turn photos into pages when you want a full-page image to draw on, for example to trace the lines of a composition.
Once an image is on the page, draw on it. Trace the triangle in a Renaissance altarpiece, circle the light source, arrow the direction of a gaze. Hold the Apple Pencil still at the end of a stroke to snap a straight line or a circle, which keeps these overlays clean. More in adding photos to iPad notes.
Keeping notes during a dark lecture
When the room is dark and the slides move fast, don't try to write full ID blocks. Write the slide number or a short title, and two or three words about what's being said. Fill in the full block from the image list after class, the same day. If your professor allows recording, recording in Scribba links each stroke to the moment in the lecture, so tapping a note later replays what was said about that slide. Ask first; see is it OK to record lectures?
Write comparisons as you go
Comparison questions reward students who have been thinking in pairs all semester. Don't wait for the study guide to tell you which pairs to know. Professors often put two images side by side in lecture; those pairs are likely exam material.
Set up a comparison page with a line down the middle, one work on each side, and the topics running down the page:
- Subject: what each work shows.
- Form: composition, space, color, line, scale.
- Material and technique: fresco versus oil, carved versus cast.
- Context: who paid for it, where it was seen, what it was for.
- The point: one sentence on what changed between them, and why.
That last line is the thesis of your exam essay. Write it in a complete sentence now, so you don't have to invent it under time pressure.
In Scribba, you can put both images on one page and write between them, or open the slides in their own window with Split View beside your comparison page.
Study for slide IDs with your own images
Looking over your notes feels productive, but testing yourself is what makes IDs stick. That's active recall.
On a page with the artwork and its ID block, cover the ID and look only at the picture. Say or write the artist, title and date, then check. Scribba's study tape does this on the page: drag tape over the ID block, look at the image, and tap the tape to peek. Covering the image and leaving the title visible works the other way round, for describing the work from memory.
For terms, a Vocabulary page works well. Scribba reads your handwriting on Vocabulary and Cornell Notes pages and turns each row or cue into a flashcard, with spaced repetition bringing cards back over the following weeks. Review the words it read before you save, since names like "Caravaggio" may need fixing. Read more about spaced repetition flashcards.
A few habits help IDs stick:
- Study in chronological order first, then shuffled. Order builds the timeline; shuffling is what the exam does.
- Group by period and bookmark each period in the page sidebar, so the notebook's table of contents mirrors the syllabus.
- Say why, not just what. If you can explain why a work belongs to its period, you can handle an unknown.
When you remember a detail but not where it is, search: Scribba searches handwriting, typed text and PDF text, so searching "Bernini" finds every page where you wrote it.
Frequently asked questions
Can I put pictures of paintings in my notes?
Yes. In Scribba, add a photo from the camera or photo library to any page, or import your professor's slides as a PDF and write on them. Use the images your course provides.
What's the best way to memorize slide IDs?
Test yourself with the image only, and check the ID afterwards. Covering the ID with study tape and peeking only after you answer is a quick way to do it on the page.
Can Scribba make flashcards with images of artworks?
Scribba's flashcards are text: made from Vocabulary and Cornell Notes pages, typed by hand, or written from a page or lecture on iPads that support Apple Intelligence, with it turned on. For image practice, put the artwork on a page and cover its ID with study tape instead.