Annotating in general: I don't do this, but I love highlighting and adding notes on my Kindle. I imagine for plenty of people it's just a thing that they like doing!

Annotating beautifully: Uh, aside from some people just having nicer handwriting, I think this is just one of those "Instagram isn't real life" things.

I'm not familiar with the pictures you're referencing, but annotation should be second nature if you're an active reader. Books should not be one-way conversations. In the course of the argument/explanation, you should be analyzing the turns taken or connections made.

That's probably the most common reason for annotation for me, it makes it easier to go back and analyze the text. Other major reasons: allusion/reference, relation, disagreement, paraphrasing.

Basically, annotation is your side of the conversation with the book, created in the course of reading.

They make it into a hobby that's worth their time. A friend of mine spends his down time being a costumed re-enactor in a roman legion as a scribe.

He makes his own papyrus, his own ink, his own period accurate tools for doing all of that and he writes the re-enactment group's documents with a feather.

For a quick and sloppy job that looks like museum quality calligraphy to me, he spends 8 hours on a single page. For display work, he can spend days just penning one or two pages.

It's just worth the time investment to him.

I love to annotate, but a lot of my friends see it as "time consuming" or "ruining the book" or even "ruining the experience". I don't shed any doubt on any of these claims, as annotating a book is often for analytical purposes.

But, I want to assure you that by no means because you don't annotate do you not understand the book on the same level as these aesthetic book account owners do. In a world of hyper consumption and overwhelming sharing of content, it can be easy to compare something as personal as a reading experience to someone else's and feel lesser than for enjoying the same piece of content in a different way. From an annotation-lover... enjoy books as you always have, and never feel lesser because your reading experience doesn't look like someone else's.

I'm a historian so I annotate all my books, tabs (collorcoded) hi-lighters(color coded) and pen markings(using symbols and sometimes color coded) none of it is pretty its functional.

I annotate on my kobo or in messy scribbles in actual books

You know how people use filters and the pictures they post are basically lies? So are their annotated books. Stop tying yourself in knots over posers

I've always felt that was a right brain thing. I'm very left brained, so it's never interested me at all. I've always felt like right brained people just naturally find time to add beauty to things.