to travel drawing

Keeping a Travel Sketchbook: Ideas for Artists

Keeping a travel sketchbook is a great way to document your travels and discoveries. Track the places you went, the people you met, the experiences you had. Travelling is one of the most creatively inspiring things you can do, with constant new visual and sensory input.

It can also be a creative outlet for exploring new ideas and techniques. Here are some tips for getting started with your own travel sketchbook.

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Travel sketchbook tips

Here are some tips on how to approach keeping a travel sketchbook and some tips on how to draw and paint when you’re out and about!

Choose the right sketchbook

Look for a sketchbook that is small enough to carry with you everywhere, but large enough to hold all your sketches. Hardcover notebooks are ideal for travel sketching because they offer more protection from the elements. Stillman & Birn sketchbooks are lightweight, yet high quality.

Stock up on supplies

Before you hit the road, make sure you have all the drawing supplies you need to document your trip. Pencils, pens, watercolours, and travel-sized journals are all essential for travel sketching. If you prefer painting to drawing, bring all the necessary supplies to clean up afterwards.

Try using different mediums

Is graphite pencil your usual go-to medium? Try using charcoal! You can get some fantastic charcoal supplies , like powder charcoal that you can brush on the page.

Another great medium to travel with is gouache paint . Gouache is a type of watercolour, but is more opaque, so you can build layers of colours and highlights. It’s a versatile medium that is lightweight and easy to clean—perfect for travelling.

Read more about how to travel with different paint mediums in our travel art supplies guide .

Get inspired

When you’re on the road, be on the lookout for interesting places, and things to sketch. Take photos to reference later, or jot down notes about what caught your eye.

Don’t be afraid to experiment

Travel sketching is the perfect opportunity to experiment with new mediums and styles . Don’t be afraid to try something new, you might be surprised at the results.

Take a reference photo

You don’t have to complete a whole painting or drawing on location. Take a photo when the light is right and complete it later. That way, you can capture the essence of the scene with a sketch and spend time on it when you have time.

Vary your subject matter

If you’re used to painting landscapes, why not try painting or drawing a cityscape, or a building in the landscape. You could also diversify the subjects of your artworks by drawing a busy scene, including some of the people you see passing by, to give the artwork a sense of liveliness.

Note the date and location of your sketch

A travel sketchbook is like a book of memories. In it, you can document your interpretation of a scene, including the weather, people, atmosphere and main details you noticed. Even if you come back to paint or draw the same place again, no two drawings will look the same! Therefore it’s important to note the date and specific location of your sketch. Afterall the whole point of keeping a travel sketchbook is keeping a log of where you been and what you’ve seen in each location.

Let go of perfectionism

A sketchbook is a place to record your first response to a scene, to experiment and even to improve upon your plein air painting skills.

Let go of creating a perfectly polished sketchbook and instead focus on representing your sensory responses. The sketchbook page should trigger memories of the location, which you can even choose to make a larger canvas painting out of at a later date.

Store your sketchbook

If you use water based paints in your travel sketches, consider putting your sketchbook in a waterproof bag to protect it. So if you take it backpacking and it gets wet, your drawings and paintings will be preserved.

Travel sketchbook ideas

You might naturally feel inspired to sketch whatever you feel most drawn to on your travels. However, sometimes it’s difficult to know what to focus on! Here are some ideas for your sketchbook, so you can mix it up, make a theme and record as much as possible.

Draw the flora and fauna

If you spend a lot of time hiking or out in nature when you’re on your travels, you’ll know that one of the best things about it is spotting new animals and plants. Dedicate pages in your sketchbook to documenting your sightings, whether that’s birds, flowers or larger animals!

Draw the architecture of a new city

New city, new buildings! Whenever you travel to a new place, one of the first things you’ll probably want to do is explore the streets and take in the architecture. Whether you sit and draw La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, or some random buildings you found off of a main street, architecture is an art form in itself. It’s detailed, complex and tells a story of a city’s history.

Documenting this in your travel sketchbook will give you a fantastic visual record of your trip. You could even write some facts about the buildings you go to see. This can enrich your experience of a city, as you find out more about how it was built.

Paint a crowded scene

One of the hardest things to do when painting or drawing is to show movement. This can be even harder when you’re trying to do it on location! But by taking a few minutes to sketch a busy scene, you can practice depicting moving subjects.

This might sound daunting, but it doesn’t have to be. Focus on one thing at a time, such as the way a person is walking, or the way their clothes are billowing in the wind. By breaking it down into smaller chunks, you can create a sense of movement without getting overwhelmed.

Capturing the people and energy of a bustling city is just as interesting as drawing in nature!

As well as painting or drawing people, try to include some of the background too. This could be buildings, trees or even just the sky. All of these things add to the story of your travel sketchbook and make it more interesting to look back on.

Create a cover for each location

For each new place you visit, you could create a cover page, almost like a new chapter in a book. Add some lettering to the page to show where you are. You could even leave a page blank before your other sketches of the city, then come back to it once you have more inspiration of how to sum up the area you stayed.

Create a sensory piece

What can art do that photos can’t? Drawings and paintings can capture the atmosphere of a scene better, and therefore better elicit memories of your sensory responses at the time.

You could even include some of the local produce to colour your drawings. For example, you could crush up a flower petal into a paste to make pigment and paint it on the paper. Or do the same with the local coffee. If you create art with items you find where you travelled, it can strengthen the connection you have to the place.

Draw or paint a self portrait in each location

This travel sketchbook idea is less about the scene around you, and more about your reaction to it. What did this place make you feel? How has travel changed you?

A self portrait can be a way of representing these emotions. They don’t have to be literal portraits, they could be more abstract or even just a series of colours and shapes that you associate with your travel experience.

Whatever you choose to do, have fun and let your creativity flow!

Visit the national parks

If you’re touring the US, you could stop off in some of the national parks. Each park has its own distinct topography, flora and fauna. Capture the essence of this in your sketchbook.

Every country has their own national parks and areas of natural beauty. If you visit them, make sure to pack your sketchbook.

Paint a night scene

Cities can look totally different at night, it’s when most cities come alive!

Whether you’re painting your own rendition of Starry Night, or Cafe Terrace at Night, or painting something entirely different. Capture the glow of the street lamps over a cobbled, wine bar lined street in Italy, or the moon over the ocean in Hawaii.

Find the perfect viewpoint

This might take some trekking! Find a viewpoint that overlooks the city or area you’re staying it. Take some time to make your sketch, capturing the horizon. Equally, you could go and find the best viewpoint of a famous monument in the city. Find more sketchbook ideas in our guide.

Travel sketchbook kit

Now that you’ve got some ideas and know how to approach your travel sketchbook adventure, you need to make sure you have the right supplies!

The sketchbook you choose will depend upon your size requirements as well as the medium you use. If you like to work with water based media, such as watercolour or gouache, make sure to choose a sketchbook with thick pages.

The Stillman & Birn Gamma Archival sketchbook is a high quality book, with 150gsm thick pages that have a smooth vellum finish. Use this book with mixed media, such as pencil, ink, gouache or watercolour. The pages are stitched together, so you can make double page spreads. Stillman & Birn books come in a variety of paper types and sizes, so you can choose the best one for your needs.

If you want more sketchbook recommendations, check out our guide on the best sketchbooks for artists .

Drawing media

A couple of graphite pencils in different softness levels, an eraser and a sharpener is all you really need to start drawing. However, if you want to add colour to your piece, consider taking a set of gouache paints . You don’t need too many supplies for gouache painting , just a brush, a water cup and the paints.

Another way to add a splash of colour to your travel sketches is with coloured pencils . Watercolour pencils are a great option, as they remain dry until activated with water. So they’re easier to transport and less messy to paint with. You could also take oil pencils or pastel pencils to create coloured drawings.

If you do decide to take some paints with you, you’ll need some brushes too. Get a watercolour travel brush like this da Vinci Casaneo, which is a synthetic yet soft and absorbent brush that can render excellent details and create wonderful washes.

If you want to see our full review of travel art supplies , check the guide!

Painting en plein air

Painting on location, or en plein air as it’s also called is a big part of keeping a travel sketchbook. It’s the best way to capture a sense of place and the feeling of being there.

When you’re painting outdoors, you need to be quick because the light changes constantly. So it’s good to have a plan before you start painting. First, decide what composition you want to paint. Look for interesting shapes, colours and textures. Then, decide what colours you want to use. Once you have your plan, start painting!

If you want to learn more about painting en plein air, check out our guide here.

Have fun with it!

Your travel sketchbook should be a reflection of your own personal style. So have fun with it! Use bright colors, experiment with different mediums, or even add in photographs.

We hope you enjoyed this travel sketchbook guide and that it’s inspired you to get out there and start sketching!

What are you going to include in your travel sketchbook? Let us know in the comments.

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Home » How To Guides » Drawing » Travel sketching: Anne Desmet answers your questions

Travel sketching: Anne Desmet answers your questions

By Artists & Illustrators | Wed 2nd Sep 2020

https://www.artistsandillustrators.co.uk/how-to/drawing/travel-sketching-anne-desmet-answers-your-questions/

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Printmaker and avid sketcher Anne Desmet RA shares her travel sketching tips

Wondering how to sketch while you travel? Illustrator of Anne Desmet: A Greek Journey is here to help you make the most out of your travel sketchbook.

Why is it important to sketch when travelling?

Travel sketching, for me, serves many purposes. It provides a visual diary of a significant journey; I often find that, when I look back at my travel drawings, even years later, I can remember the mood of the moment – the sun, the breeze, some of the sounds or smells – quite clearly.

Because each drawing takes anything from 20 minutes to three hours to create, I get very absorbed in what I’m doing and that seems to fix itself more effectively in my memory in ways that simply photographing a scene does not.

Also, as an artist whose prints are highly dependent on my drawing abilities, I find it is really important to keep those skills fluent and that involves making the time to do sketchbook drawings just simply to keep up my drawing skills.

Why should I work in pen and wash?

It enables me to pin down the essential contrasts of light and dark in whatever I’m drawing. My most successful drawings tend to be those involving a lot of contrasted bright sunlight and deep shade. Those contrasts provide the excitement and life in the composition and suggest the three-dimensionality of the landscapes or buildings depicted. Those qualities are of great importance to me in my work as a wood engraver.

What should I have in my travel sketch kit?

My essential sketching kit comprises a bunch of sharpened HB pencils (preferably Staedtler) though I’ve also recently starting using a Pentel P205 0.5 mm HB propelling pencil, which is becoming indispensable too. I also use black fine line drawing pens: Uni Pin Fine Line with water-and fade-proof pigment ink, 0.1 and 0.2 nib size; and a Pilot G-TEC-C4 with a 0.4 nib size.

I also always carry a dilute solution of black Quink fountain-pen ink, about one-part black ink to at least six parts water – sometimes more dilute even than that. That provides my grey wash which can be applied in swift layers which dry fairly instantly – the darkest layers becoming a rather lovely blue-grey and the palest having a hint of yellow about them.

I also have four or five Pro Arte Prolene flat brushes for applying these washes, sizes 1/8” to 1/2”, a few Caran d’Ache watercolour pencils and a tin of Rembrandt watercolours.

How do I pick a subject to draw when travelling?

It’s difficult to analyse what draws me to a particular subject. It’s a combination of things. Strong contrasts of light and dark are important, as is a sense of drama – whether architectural or landscape. Sometimes it may be something as simple as a zigzag of sunlight on a flight of stone steps or the angle of light hitting the side of a building. Other times it may be a sense of sweeping panorama, so a drawing might start on one page and be able to sweep downwards or across to cover two pages with one long narrow drawing. Or I might just be struck by the beauty or the shape of a particular building and the way in which the sun sparkles on it.

There are also practical factors such as whether the view is something I feel I can do justice to in whatever time I have. That decision will factor in the sun as well because it’s much more comfortable to draw from a shady spot rather than in full sunlight when you’re liable to get too hot or even sunburnt.

What information do I need to get down first in a travel sketch?

It’s important to decide what you are most interested in about the view and ensure that particular bit gets included in the drawing. It’s very easy to start drawing one part of a view and then realise the bit you liked the best doesn’t now fit within the picture space because you haven’t correctly gauged the scale of your composition relative to the space on the page. So, ideally, it’s a good idea to decide, first, where to place the area of the composition that most interests you.

Another really important thing is to decide whether it’s a linear description that you’re trying to attain or a sense of light and dark. If the latter, then it’s important to try to get the essential elements of the composition laid down speedily so that you can get to work fairly rapidly on applying the wash, which defines the light and dark contrasts. You can always add more pen and pencil detail to the drawing later but, once the sun moves, the light will be in a different place.

How important is accurate colour mixing in travel sketchbooks?

I have never considered colour work to be my forte. When I was a student and made the earliest Greek drawings, they were made with Winsor & Newton coloured inks and watercolours . I think they were more impressionistic and quite playful with colour, but not necessarily especially accurate colour-wise.

However, with the latest Greek drawings, I found myself getting quite obsessive about trying to mix accurate colours that felt true to what I was actually seeing. I found that really difficult and challenging, though also really satisfying on pages where I felt I succeeded.

How do I choose what details to include or leave out?

I work fairly intuitively so I’m not sure quite how I choose what details to include or to leave out. My eyesight is less good now than it was 30 years ago and often I choose to sketch without wearing my prescription glasses because, although that means I can’t see some details, I get a stronger impression of the light and shade and the strength of a composition, overall – especially if I’m drawing trees, for example. Sometimes, having the benefit of perfect eyesight can be a handicap as it’s easy to get bogged down in tiny details and lose sight of the overall structure of what you’re drawing.

How much time should I spend on a travel sketch?

I don’t set myself time limits on sketches unless there are specific issues such as the sun will have moved in an hour or I have a ferry to catch. However long you spend, it is very important to stop when your concentration is flagging, because you tend to start improvising on a drawing rather than really looking at the subject matter – and the drawing always suffers if you do that.

What are the benefits of sketching rather than photographing a scene?

I do make photographs as additional reference material to my drawings, but I almost invariably find that the camera distorts or compresses a view so that the features that attract your eye – and which you try to convey in a drawing – are much less apparent in the photographs.

Light, too, is captured very differently by a camera lens than by the human eye and hand. Both photographs and drawings have their very useful places, but I don’t find either one a satisfactory substitute for the other. Over the years, some of my wood engravings have been created from photographs rather than from drawings but, overall, I would say that the use of light I employ in my engravings and the way in which they are composed is informed more by my drawings.

Should I note exact locations in a travel sketchbook?

My sketchbook drawings form an important visual diary and personal celebration of some of the places I’ve visited so it’s important to me that they are dated and the locations noted down. In one or two of my sketchbooks, over the last 30-odd years, I haven’t systematically added that information and, looking back on them now, that’s incredibly frustrating.

How has your travel drawing technique and focus changed over time?

My technique and focus changed considerably when I was a Rome Scholar at the British School at Rome for a year in 1989-’90. It was there that I became interested in the play of light on architecture rather than so much in landscape or portraiture, which had previously engaged me. It was then, too, that I began to sketch, primarily, in pencil and grey wash.

What should I record if I want to turn my travel sketch into a larger artwork?

I don’t generally sketch with a view to turning any particular subject or drawing into a specific print or collage. I work fairly intuitively, responding to what attracts my eye at the time, which I will sketch and photograph. Back in my studio, I will look at the drawings and photographs to choose what to work up into a new work. But sometimes I may select something from a decades-old sketchbook and sometimes something freshly drawn. I have no hard and fast rules about this. The drawings are very much ends in themselves, and may or may not be used for other purposes.

What practical advice do you have for creating a travel sketchbook?

I’ve found it helpful to carry very tiny sketchbooks – A6 or smaller – because they’re very portable and, if you work quickly, you’ll fill the pages very fast, which can be satisfying, and if, like me, you’re a slow worker, the page size is small enough to not feel intimidating.

It’s important only to sketch things that interest you and not to feel you have to draw this, that or the other because of some sense of what sketches ‘ought to’ be of. For instance, I know a wonderful artist, Peter S Smith, who makes gorgeous sketches of his shadow on train platforms, pavements, at bus stops and so on, yet it may well be that some of these were drawn within sight of famous monuments – St Paul’s Cathedral, for instance. A student might feel this “ought to be” the chosen subject matter if one is within sight of it, but in fact you need to draw what most interests you because the amount of interest you’ve got in a subject is always clearly represented in the drawing you make of it.

It’s also helpful to try to make at least one drawing per day on your travels (weather permitting, if outdoors) as you get better at it and it gets more fun the more of it you do.

• 5 top tips for sketching your travels
• 8 creative ways to fill a sketchbook
• Painting outdoors in mixed media

Find out more about Anne Desmet or for a monthly dose of art advice and inspiration delivered directly to you, subscribe to Artists & Illustrators magazine .

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• How To Travel Sketch? Tips, Tricks, & Techniques For Beginners

Travel Sketching is not only relaxing and rewarding but also an awesome family activity during travels.

In this blog post learn about what to put in a travel sketch kit, awesome travel sketching techniques for beginners and tricks to encourage kids to begin their journey of travel sketching.

How to Create Your Own Travel Sketchbook

Pausing to see the delicate patterns of lichen on tree trunks in the Nilgiri mountains.

Becoming friends with a 5-year old Vietnamese boy in a village without a word exchanged between us!

Sitting inside a bamboo grove, silently.

Watching a tour guide’s face light up.

Getting authentic local food and travel tips.

Being zen while waiting in airports and stations.

I’ve had all these experiences and many more through travel sketching.

And, that’s why I love sharing it with others and getting them started on their own sketching journey. Here’s my take on how to get started with travel sketching.

I have included step-by-step photos from a sketching session I did in Sirsi, Karnataka.

Travel sketching is an awesome family activity. It gets children to observe and remember a travel destination. And of course, you’ll have a unique souvenir for every travel

Travel Sketching slows me down, brings everything into sharp focus, and I lose myself in the moment. Sketching has truly enriched my life. Seema Misra, www.lighttravelaction.com Tweet

Explore these awesome washi tapes on Amazon

If you love slow travel, try your hands at Travel Sketching, Painting, even Yoga. The following 3 posts will keep you creative in your Sojourn.

• Are You Embarrassed By Your Painting Skills? Here’re Easy Painting ideas & Tips!
• Are you bored? Looking for ideas to fill in your blank journal? Don’t’ get intimidated by blank papers staring back at you. I teamed up with the talented artist Malabika Saikia and here are 15 of our favorite notebook ideas! 15 Awesomely Creative Things To Do In Your Blank Notebook.
• How about keeping fit while you travel? Here is a curated list of 10 Yoga asanas or postures that are as good for the beginners as for the advanced practitioners.

Travel Sketchbook ideas

People often say “I can’t even draw a straight line. Forget about sketching.”

I tell them, “ That’s great. You don’t need to draw straight lines.” There’s no such thing as a born artist. It is all about practice, practice, and more practice. 

Look for inspirations around. If you find your zen moment of producing a sketch on the spot, go ahead sketch it out. If not, look for small collectibles like dry leaves, ticket stubs to paste in your travel sketch book for inspiration to strike you later.

In the above image, we had hiked up a hill and it was absolutely beautiful and surreal there. There were prayer flags strewn all around. I picked up a few and pasted them in my sketchbook.

Click on Images below to Buy on Amazon

Putting together a travel sketch kit

A travel sketching kit must be a collection of the basic tools required for making a sketch. Also, I have found having limited supplies encourages me to be creative. Such as, mixing two different mediums.

Here’s what you will need:

• Black pens with waterproof ink
• Colour pencils
• Pencil sharpener

Yes, I’ve deliberately left out the ruler and eraser😊

You could also keep a box of crayons, some watercolor pencils, and a glue stick. If you have smaller children, avoid carrying watercolors. For older children, a small watercolor pan and some water brushes are perfect. Keep it small, simple, and light.

A5 size sketchbooks with thicker paper are a good choice – they fit in everywhere and are not too small for landscapes.

Pro Tip: I like to keep all my art tools in a sling bag. This helps me access my art kit easily.

5 Awesome Tips for Travel Sketching for Beginners

Choosing a subject.

Start with a tiny step – don’t try to draw the entire forest or city around you. Choose a small window of a house, a dry leaf on the ground, or an interesting branch.

Long waits in airports can be used to draw the people, bags, food stalls or simply the announcement boards. You could even draw maps to show the places you visited.

This is a small town in Sirsi, Karnataka . The blue roofs amid all the browns and reds interested me and I decided to sketch the road.

Outlining in pencil

Draw an outline of the object using a pencil. It does not have to be perfect – if something looks off, draw over it.

Forget if the drawing “appears correct” – the idea is to capture the object in your own style and have fun while doing it.

Adding in the details using a black pen

Now that you have a basic frame done, add in the details using a pen. Encourage children to add some text to capture the place, date, the sounds around you, or any other details.

You could paste things around your sketch – a ticket stub, a leaf, restaurant bills, bits of pamphlets.

Ask a local to teach you how to write a few words in their dialect on your sketchbook.

There were some changes from the pencil outline. However, I didn’t erase anything.

Click here to read 11 Commonly Asked Questions by Painting Beginners and also get 5 DIY easy painting ideas for Beginners Step by Step.

Adding the final touches with colours

Use a mix of different colours to add life to the sketch. If you are in a hurry, colour in the most prominent bit – the red bricks, a green tree, or that yellow dress. This will save some time while capturing the essence of the place.

You’ll notice I’ve added some blue in the sky which is not there in the photograph. As an artist, you can take liberties while making a travel sketch 😊

Doing art at home or at school is different than working in a public area.

When I sketch during my travels, people often stop to see what I am drawing and want to talk about it. I remember, when I started travel sketching, I’d worry that my drawing is not good. I felt people passing by were judging me.

Eventually, I stopped worring about all those things. I’d simply draw. And that is when I enjoyed outdoor sketching the most!

So, I’d say be kind to yourself.

Don’t judge what you draw.

Just go with the flow.

Drawing on different types of paper, like newspapers, can be a lot of fun.

Often the joy is in making the art and not worrying how it turns out! There is no perfect bird … just the one you have drawn. Seema Misra, www.lighttravelaction.com Tweet

Travel Sketching – Capturing the Feel of a Place

Marco Bucci shows the Process and gives awesome ideas for sketching places from life. See the video for the art of composition, color, focal point, feel, etc.

Travel sketching for children

Encourage children to draw from their observation. Drawing from observation simply means drawing what you see. And, it is the essence of travel sketching.

Breaking the object into smaller shapes

For example, you are looking at a majestic British building and your daughter is stumped where to start drawing it. Ask, “What does the building look like? Do you see a rectangle with a triangle on top? Do the windows remind you of a shape?

Have fun with colors and collage. The above sketch always takes me back to the greenery of a tea estate.

Focus on the process not the outcome

Even if a child fails to colour inside the lines or draws a circle which is more of an oval, it is absolutely fine. Encourage the children to experiment with colours and shapes – give them the tools to draw but don’t tell them what to draw.

Making sketching fun during travel

Engage with your little story teller and ask her to describe the picture to you. Who knows she might have an interesting tale behind the picture and the colours used. 

Last but not least, don’t forget to complement the little Picasos. It would be great if you could mention specifics, like “Wow, I love the way you have drawn that leaf.”

Do you find the thought of “Travel Sketch Journal” inspiring? Don’t wait for the next vacation to start travel sketching! Visit a park or museum this weekend, carry some sandwiches and try out your art kit! 

Video on Travel Sketching Tips from Travel Sketchbook

In this video,  Liz Steel  shares lots of travel sketching strategies and tips while going through her sketchbook from her recent trip to New Zealand.

PIN NOW TRAVEL SKETCH LATER

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6 thoughts on “How To Travel Sketch? Tips, Tricks, & Techniques For Beginners”

This one’s a lovely tutorial. My daughter is creative unlike me…haha…and she loves to sketch, paint and play with colors. I’d make her read this. Thank you so much for sharing.

Happy Sketching and happy traveling 🙂

I love this overview of your travel sketching. It’s another creative way to document your travels. You’re so talented! Thanks for the inspiration to start sketching (or at least improve upon my scribbles first).

Wow you are really talented. Travel sketching sounds awesome, but not many have the skills to create such beautiful pieces!

Thanks Sinjanag, this is a blog post and the sketches have been done by Seema Misra 🙂

This is such a lovely idea! I’ve never considered myself good enough to sketch a scene but you’ve broken it down really nicely, thank you 🙂 https://mcadventureblog.com

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Why & How You Should Absolutely Keep a Travel Sketchbook

In this post, we will explore what travel sketching is, why it’s awesome and how you can get started documenting your travels too, whether it’s travelling around your local area, your own country or across the world. 

What if you put your fears and concerns aside, get a sketchbook and a pen and start documenting your travels?

Can you imagine having a library of sketchbooks build up for you to look back on? Can you imagine how great your sketching skills will become if you sketch continuously? Can you imagine showing your friends and family sketches of your travels? And how much better than photographs they are…!

By reading this post I hope it will encourage you to either get started with travel sketching and just trying without fixating on the result. Or if you have tried travel sketching before I hope this post encourages you to keep doing it and to share your sketches with the rest of the world too (if you want to).

There’s nothing like showing your sketch to someone and seeing their face light up with recognition and delight at a familiar scene through the medium of your pen, paint and mind. 

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed about taking up an activity such as travel sketching but we all have to start somewhere. I remember the first trip I truly committed to sketching every single day, everywhere I went.

No one ever said anything bad about my sketches or the fact I was sketching, in fact, over 3 months and 6 different countries meeting people from all walks of life I only ever had positive encounters.

I’m not saying no one is judging, we are human beings, everyone judges but its exceptionally rare someone will come and be rude or negative to your face.

Committing to travel sketching and filling my first book with an adventure was a real turning point in my life. It’s where my obsession with sketching, illustration and travel really took hold. Over the following years, I have sketched more and more. Other people began to notice. As such, I have been approached by many people to paint buildings or places close to their heart, I have been asked to illustrate books, fabric patterns and all manner of other things. All from just doing something I really wanted to do and getting over the fact that I was not going to be good at it at first.

I still wonder if I am any good now, I’m not sure any of us really get past that thought. But learning to acknowledge that thought is there and just doing it anyway because its fun and you love it…that’s the key.

What is a Travel Sketchbook?

A travel sketchbook is a place in which to record your adventures through the medium of drawing, painting or both. You can use one sketchbook for each of your trips or have one book for all travels until it’s full and then start another one.

A travel sketchbook is like a photo album (does anyone remember those)?? It used to be so exciting getting your roll of film processed after a trip, receiving the physical glossy photos and then arranging them inside a faux leather album that looks like an old book to put on the shelf and pull out to show people or just to look back on happy memories. Well,  a travel sketchbook is like that but 1000 times more fulfilling to make!

The type of sketchbook you will need depends on what medium you intend to use. If you want to use “dry media” such as pencil, colour pencils, ink etc then a standard sketchbook will be fine. If you want to use “wet media” such as watercolour pencils or watercolour paint, it is best to get a watercolour sketchbook.

I have a post here on my advice as to which watercolour sketchbooks to consider .

My first travel sketchbook was given to me by work colleagues, it was so beautiful I knew I wanted to use it for my trip even though it didn’t have watercolour paper in it and I wanted to use watercolour paint. Luckily, I was only using light washes of watercolour paint and the paper was thick drawing paper, so it worked out well enough. 

If you want to use alcohol markers, such as Copics or Promarkers for example, make sure you get a mixed media sketchbook with thick pages. Even then you will want to test whether the marker bleeds through the page. If so, make sure you have a scrap piece of paper to put between pages and be aware you will only be able to sketch on every other page on both sides of the paper.

If you want to use markers but don’t like the sound of only being able to use every other page or want to avoid the issue of the ink bleeding through the page, check out water-based markers such as the Faber-Castell Pitt pens .

Don Colley uses these pens to amazing effect and he points out that they don’t smell or bleed through the page as alcohol-based markers do.

Why Start a Travel Sketchbook?

Something to do….

I honestly believe travelling solo is one of the most liberating travel experiences you can have and is actually predominantly how I do travel. If I waited for someone else to be in a position to afford or even want to go to the same places as me, I don’t think I would have been many places.

When you do travel solo, there are many times spent alone either exploring, sitting at a cafe or simply just waiting at a bus terminal or airport. As much as I love reading a book there’s nothing like pulling out a sketchbook to draw the things around you, compose a sketchbook layout, write notes around things you want to remember.

Mindfulness 

Following on from the point above, sketching while travelling is a fantastic way of practising mindfulness, i.e. being present. When sketching from life, you are focussing on your surroundings so much more. You are more aware of the small little details that you may otherwise not have noticed. By focussing on the activity of sketching your mind remains in the present and not replaying the past or anxiously fixating on the future.

For more thoughts on sketching and mindfulness, check out my post here .

Journal/record of your travels

Keeping a travel sketchbook is a great way of actually recording your trip: where you went, who you met, what you did.

If you’re anything like me then you cannot remember place names easily, so having them written down next to a little sketch of the place is super useful!

Some people like to keep a written journal while travelling. You can combine this and include written thoughts in your sketchbook too. Remember, it’s your sketchbook and just like a private journal, you are under no obligation to show it to anybody.

Great way to meet people

I found when I was sketching, people were more inclined to come and speak to me. I suppose this is because there was something tangible to start a conversation about. Again, if you are travelling alone, this can be a useful method of making new friends!

I met an architecture student who was also sketching while travelling. After starting up a conversation we ended up travelling together for the next couple of weeks as we were heading along the same route through Mexico. Having a shared interest automatically helps break the ice. 

It is also a great way to make contact with local people living in the area. Even if you don’t speak the same language, seeing a smile cross someone’s face when they see your sketch is universally understood.

Basic Materials Needed For Travel Sketching

Mechanical pencils are useful for travelling as they don’t need sharpening. Some people just prefer the feel of a traditional wooden pencil though. Use whatever works for you.

I like these Rotring mechanical pencils which you can pick up affordably on Amazon.

Just like pencils, you can use any pen you want. You could just use a ballpoint pen, like a Bic. You could use fineliner pens, otherwise known as technical drawing pens. They come in a variety of different line thicknesses. They are great at producing extremely consistent line quality. Many travel sketchers use Microns , UniPins or Faber Castell pens.

The great thing about all of these fineliner pens is they have permanent waterproof ink in them, so if you want to paint over the top in watercolour, the ink won’t smudge.

If you want to get a bit fancier, you could even use a fountain pen.

For more information on sketching with fountain pens, check out my more detailed post here.

You can watch me receive some new fountain pens and show you how to fill them up with permanent waterproof ink in the video below:

As discussed your choice of sketchbook will depend on what media you want to use in it but if you want an affordable sketchbook that you could use for anything, including light watercolour, then consider using a mixed media sketchbook. You can get a hardback book, a softcover book or a wire-bound book. This is entirely up to your own preference.

I prefer a hardback book as its easier to sketch in on your lap and is a bit hardier for travelling. A softcover book can get damaged more easily in your bag and you will need to find a hard surface to lean on in order to sketch in it. Pages can slip around a lot in a wire-bound book, perhaps even being ripped out by accident. While it can fold in on itself easily to make it a bit more compact, it also removes the option of drawing across the fold of two pages which I am personally a big fan of when creating sketchbook spreads.

Also, consider the format of the book you want to use: landscape, portrait or square.

For more information on which sketchbooks are best for travel sketching, check out my post here .

One of my favourite brands of sketchbook is Stillman & Birn, I have a post here discussing the differences between each series of sketchbook the company makes.

If you are in the UK, I think one of the best and most affordable options are the beautiful handmade sketchbooks by The Pink Pig .

For quick reference, check out these sketchbooks:

Moleskine Watercolor Album

Seawhite of Brighton Travel Sketchbook

Stillman & Birn Alpha Sketchbook  

Hahnemuhle Sketchbook

If you want to add colour to your sketches you could use a range of materials. The key thing to consider is portability. You do not want to be lugging a huge box of markers around with you, especially if you are on a backpacking trip or trying to travel light. This is one of the primary reasons many travel sketchers use watercolours. You can get a set in a small tin and you only need a few colours in order to mix the rest.

Pair a small box of watercolours such as this St Petersburg White Nights set of 12 with a water brush like this Pentel Aquash water brush and you have a super small portable sketching set up.

For more detailed information on watercolour sets for travel sketching, check out my post here .

Check out my ebooks with hundreds of ink & watercolour travel sketches from all over the world. Get some inspiration for your next trip…

Miscellaneous

Washi tape is a great method of taping in ephemera such as tickets, postcards and leaflets. It can also be used to tape off your page to make a nice clean border. They come in a vast variety of super fun designs as well.

Pencil sharpener (unless you have a mechanical pencil)

What Do You Put In a Travel Sketchbook?

Well, this is obvious but needed to be said. Sketch the places you have been:

• Architecture: monuments, churches, museums, art galleries, castles, stadiums
• Nature: animals, plants, gardens, parks, beach, ocean, cliffs, sunrises,  sunsets
• People: your family, friends, strangers, people you meet, new friends
• Machines: cars, motorbikes, agricultural machines, vintage trucks, boats, public transport, trains, buses, taxis, trams, bicycles
• Food: local dishes, recipes, condiments, drinks
• Doodle: let your imagination run wild

Do you want to learn how to sketch your own adventures in ink & watercolour?

Get 50% off for a limited time only.

I will show you my  exact sketching process in ink and watercolour . I have travelled around the world in the last 3 years and this is my go-to system of creating beautiful yet quirky illustrations to capture the magic of my discoveries.

We will work through  3 projects, step by step (pictured below), all of which are real-life examples of things I have sketched along my travels. I provide the photo references you can work from. We will start by choosing a composition, laying in the initial pencil sketch, adding ink lines, layering watercolour and adding the final touches. This and much more are included in my course, Sketch Your Adventures , click the button under the image to find out more!

Ephemera are the bits and pieces you collect along the way on your travels. Ever wondered what to do with that random flyer, free sticker, or ticket stub? They can all be added to a relevant sketchbook spread, or all at the front, or at the back in the pocket (which some sketchbooks have) – wherever makes sense to you.

Ephemera includes the following types of things:

• drawings or messages from your travel companions or people you meet

Urban sketcher, Captain Tom, has a polaroid-type camera with him on his travels and sticks in his photos as he takes them to add to his sketchbook spreads:

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Tomas Pajdlhauser (@captain_tom)

Titles and notes about where you have been, quotes that seem fitting, jokes you hear on the road, words or phrases in a different language you want to remember. 

When I was visiting Iran, I asked whoever I could (who spoke English) if they would mind writing the place name of where I sketched in Farsi (the language spoken in Iran). Even though I can’t read it, its lovely have this beneath every place name in my sketchbook. (You can see an example in the picture below, just under where ‘Kashan’ is written).

I also asked people I met or travelled with to write a little note, message or joke (whatever they wanted) in my book so I could remember them. It also makes that person more involved in what you are doing, they can be a part of it too.

Need some inspiration on adding lettering to your sketches? Check out my FREE class!

How to Start a Travel Sketchbook?

Facing a brand new sketchbook with all those blank pages, especially that very first blank page is a daunting prospect.  However, there are many strategies to get rid of that first blank page and overcome the fear of getting started.

I have an entire post on how to start a travel sketchbook here but in summary:

• Draw a map of the country or area you are visiting – I did this when I visited Iran and South Sudan.

• Sketch your art supplies – a great way to remember what materials you used in your book
• Make a colour mixing chart – this is such a great reference tool, especially if you are using a small set of watercolours and need to regularly mix colours to get the shade you need. I have a post here and a video below on how go about making a watercolour mixing chart.

• Reserve the first page for ticket stubs , leaflets and other ephemera. I sometimes like to tape in my boarding pass if I’m flying somewhere and on the final page of the trip I will tape in my departing boarding pass (after I have used it of course)! More recently my tickets have all been electronic so I do this less and less.
• Sketch the mode of transport you first take to start your trip. A great way to get started travel sketching is when, for example, you are sat in an airport waiting for your flight. I like to get a seat near the window and sketch the plane while the airport staff are preparing it for the journey. If you can’t get a view of the plane, of you are taking a different method of transport which you cannot get a view of, sketch the people around you that are also waiting. Most of them will be looking at their phone, laptop, book or will be asleep so they won’t notice you sketching them, perfect models to practice on!

I have an entire guide on people sketching, you can check it out here.

How to Keep Going

Sometimes you’re not going to be happy with a sketch or a page you’ve done and it will demotivate you from carrying on but persistence is key. You will never get everything perfect, but that’s the beauty of a sketchbook or journal.

Sure, you can be super neat but how about letting go? Make it your own graffiti wall, fill every space, overlap things, write notes all over the place – let go! I personally think these types of pages can be the most beautiful as they are so free.

My First Travel Sketchbook

I remember creating my first travel sketchbook on a solo backpacking trip to Mexico and Central America. I mentioned my intention to a few of my colleagues at the job I was leaving in order to take the 3-month trip. On the day I left I was presented with a leaving gift – a handmade sketchbook with a map of Mexico and Central America on the cover. I was completely overwhelmed at the thought that went into that gift.

It was the book I used for the whole of my trip, sketching in it and sticking tickets and leaflets from everywhere I went. I adore that sketchbook and love leafing through it now and again as a reminder of my trip, the experiences I had and the people I met.

If you would like to see it, I did a flip-through of it, it was the very first video on the Urban Sketching World Youtube channel ! You can see it here:

My point is, that no matter how bad some of my sketches were, I look back on that book with such fond memories. Just like some of the photos in my photo album are badly exposed or not in focus, not all of your sketches will reach your personal standards. I’m not sure they ever will, as you will always be trying to improve.

I would hate for you to miss out on the opportunity of creating a travel sketchbook just because you’re worried it won’t be perfect. You will not care about that at all in 1, 2, 5 or 10 years time when you look back on it. Let’s just enjoy the process and not concern ourselves with the outcome.

Some of my favourite online classes

• Travel Illustration: Recreate Your Favourite Place – Alex Green
• Illustrated Diary: Fill Your Sketchbook with Experiences – David Morales
• Daily Sketching for Creative Inspiration – Sorie Kim
• Urban Sketching: Create Expressive Cityscapes – Eleanor Doughty

Final Thoughts

I hope this article has encouraged you to keep a travel sketchbook when you embark on your next adventure. 

If you are new to urban sketching then check out my beginners guide with practical advice on how to get started.

If you are wanting to improve your sketching skills I have numerous articles that may be able to help but this post on things you can do to improve immediately may be a good place to start.

Perhaps you want to loosen your sketching up? In that case, try this post .

Or if you would like to focus on a certain subject, I have a post about sketching architecture here , a post about sketching cars here and a whole guide on sketching people here .

To stay in touch with me and get some behind the scenes information on urban sketching projects I’m working on, pop your email in the box below! 

Keep in touch!

Bullet Journal Travel Doodles

World travel doodles

Looking for cool travel doodles and items to add to your travel journal? In this post, you will learn how to doodle travel-inspired drawings. Super simple and easy-to-follow travel doodles for bullet journals and sketchbooks.

You may not know this but both Kirs and I (Thass) are travel addicts. In fact, we met each other online via our family travel Instagram accounts a few years back, even though we live on opposite sides of the globe.

However we don’t only have a common travel interest, we both also love capturing images with the camera, creative things and, obviously, planning!

During the summer a reader has requested some travel doodle tutorials.

Brilliant idea! So here I am compiling a list of my face travel-inspired doodle tutorials to help you decorate your travel journal or anything really that you want.

Love to doodle? Try our 10 day Doodle Challenge by signing up below.

So read on to find out how you too can draw these easy travel drawings on your bujo.

Table of Contents

How to make Bullet Journal travel doodles

So read below for these cute step-by-step travel-themed tutorials.

Supplies you will need to doodle travel icons:

• Drawing pen (I like the Sakura Pigma Microns )
• Pencil (set)
• Drawing paper, sketch book or bullet journal notebook.

That’s all!

So let’s get doodling!

Hand-drawn art adventure doodles

Airplane doodle.

Here’s how you do a plane doodle:

Compass doodle

We all need directions in our voyage adventures, right? Here is an easy way to draw a compass:

Beach sign doodle

Here is how to draw a beach sign:

This one looks rather elaborate but in fact, it is super simple. You just need to be attentive to give the 3D effect of the map folding.

Check below how to draw a map.

Vintage luggage doodle

Here you will just need straight lines. Draw this vintage looking luggage by following the steps below:

Hand luggage doodle

This is a different take on luggage, a carry-on bag:

Camera Doodle

Here is an easy step by step drawing tutorial for doodling a camera:

Postcards doodle

If you enjoyed these doodles remember to sign up for the 10 day doodle challenge!

More doodle posts you will like:

Hygge Doodles

Share this post:

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Bullet Journal Travel doodles

Travel doodles for bullet journal

Easy travel doodles

Step by Step travel doodles

Travel doodle art

Wednesday 12th of May 2021

These are perfect for my upcoming trip. I can't draw any thing, but your images make it easy. Thanks!

Wednesday 17th of May 2023

@Diary of a Journal Planner, these are very useful and + they are free thank u creator

Diary of a Journal Planner

Thursday 13th of May 2021

We hope you have a wonderful trip and have fun creating some doodles :)

Wednesday 2nd of October 2019

Very cool. I'm not usually good at drawing, but these are so easy that anyone can do them! I like it!

Thursday 10th of October 2019

Happy we could help Alberta! Happy Doodling. Be sure to sign up to our Free Happy Doodle Club so you can receive new doodles to your inbox each week. We have some gorgeous and super easy tutorials.

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Travel Sketching: Tips for Keeping an Art Journal

From 2015 to 2018, Ivan Chow made trips to and around Istanbul, Turkey, sketching many scenes along the way. In this excerpt from his upcoming book, “ Travel Sketching: Drawing Insights from Istanbul ,” he shares one of his favorite formats for drawing on location.

BY IVAN CHOW

Travel sketching, an ancestor of sorts to Instagram, has changed the way I observe the world. I have discovered that the act and art of converting visual observation into graphic representation has far surpassed the benefits afforded by digital photography. What I have learned and enjoyed from the practice of travel sketching has enriched my travel experiences as well as deepened my appreciation of different cultures and peoples.

A Fresh Approach to Travel Sketching

One of the most invigorating formats for travel sketching is one I have recently become more intentional about, and which has been received with a great deal of enthusiasm, especially when posted on social media in audio-visual form. On platforms such as Facebook or Instagram, posts of travel photos depicting scenes or people accompanied by captions attempting to describe said experiences are fairly typical. Posting travel sketches, however, is still unique and arguably more interesting. Adding written captions or commentary makes this approach of sharing travel experiences even richer and more memorable.

Enter the travel art journal. While not necessarily a new genre or form of expression, it has become for me a fresh approach to sharing experiences in an otherwise digitally saturated world. A travel art journal has the potential to transform travel sketching into a unique mode of expression, combining drawing with handwriting and composition to create a new “voice.” My forays into developing art journal sequences have been thoroughly rewarding, as I can combine my drawing skills with an interest in writing to communicate much more than either discipline can on its own. That’s probably why comic books and graphic novels have such appeal and why skillful cartooning can be so influential.

A travel art journal can be formatted in as many ways as there are personalities. My favorite format is an A5 size journal (about 5.5” x 8.5”), either in landscape or portrait mode, with sufficiently thick paper to stand up to waterproof ink lines and light washes. (80 lb. minimum, 140 lb. preferred) As with sketchbooks, an elastic closure strap and inside back cover pocket can be helpful. In addition to the usual array of tools I might have on hand for travel sketching, I would add a few choice writing instruments, such as a chisel-nib calligraphy pen or fountain pen.

As the name implies, a journal is a regular log of activities and events that occur roughly in chronological order. A travel journal might memorialize the daily travel schedule, places visited, people met, cuisine enjoyed, and souvenirs acquired. A travel art journal adds the element of artwork in the form of sketches, doodles, graphic illustrations, even glued-on collages using torn excerpts from brochures, tickets, receipts, and labels. I have found this last exercise quite a satisfying way of closing out a busy day of touring.

Travel-art journal entries are unique compositional challenges. In its simplest form, each page might contain a few sketch vignettes describing the activities of the day. Arranging the sketches on the page may require some foresight, consideration of the size, scope, and subject of each vignette and how they might tell the story of the day. Each entry becomes a graphic design exercise involving the layout of sketches, diagrams, titles, and text.

The addition of handwritten text to a composition of sketches is both an enriching enhancement and a potentially stressful endeavor. It is enriching because it adds information, flavor, and specificity to a sketch. Potentially stressful because, unlike the editability afforded by computer software programs, each phrase or caption needs to be somewhat thought through and composed before being physically written within the space available.

I love to write by hand and am constantly experimenting with different writing instruments with different tips, nibs, and inks. It’s almost an obsession with me, and I am easily disappointed when my writing falters. Having said that, I highly enjoy narrow, flat-nosed calligraphy pens for travel art journaling, especially used in a generally cursive lettering style. However, most fountain pen type writing instruments with reservoirs have no tolerance for waterproof ink, which tends to clog the fins and feed tubes. This often leaves me with little choice but to use the waterproof ink felt-tipped pens I used to sketch with for lettering as well. A real calligraphic treat is to use Speedball dip nibs with bottled India ink, although both have proven not to travel well.

This summertime sketch of the renowned Taksim Square (above) was completed in one sitting but from multiple positions. I had begun sketching seated on the pavement in front of the Taksim Mosque facing the square. Within 10 minutes, the local constabulary approached, ordering me to move. I continued the sketch while standing about 50 feet to one side, which required walking to and from my original position for reference, and back to the “safe zone” to continue sketching, clutching my watercolor kit and sketchbook in one hand, pages flapping in the breeze; brush in the other hand, pinky finger trying to hold down the page.

I ended up crossing the street into the square proper and finishing the 45-minute sketch seated on a low rail around the Republic Monument. Even under these conditions, I was pleased by how the sketch reflected the windy conditions, the movement of people and the “life” of this symbolic gathering place.

This interior sketch (above) was made while standing within the cavernous expanse of a 1,500 year-old Byzantine monument to Ottoman architecture and culture. The contrast from the warmth and bustle of the exterior to the hushed coolness of the inside almost mandated reverence.

This is where my Winsor & Newton professional watercolor travel kit came in handy, albeit restrictive. Being able to clutch both watercolor kit and sketchbook in one hand is a cultivated skill and immensely useful for situations like this. It was important to limit the scope of the sketches knowing that I would likely not be able to stand in place for much longer than 20 minutes at a time.

Do you keep a travel sketchbook or art journal? Tell us about it in the comments below!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Ivan Chow is an architect, author and award-winning artist. He was born in England, grew up in Southeast Asia, and has worked in the United States and around the world as an architect, educator and artist for almost four decades. He has practiced in design firms of various sizes; managed a private real estate company; worked in academia as a department chair and dean; and served as artist-in-residence at Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater. He has degrees in architecture from Harvard and Berkeley and a degree in theological studies from Gordon Conwell.

Facebook: @ivanchowsketches Instagram @qkkdraw

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13 comments.

Your lines are lovely! I carry a 6×8 WC book and fine line pens as well as a travel WC set. A film can (remember those?) half filled with water is all I need to complete hasty or slow drawings and paintings wherever I go. In a ziplock, it fits under a car seat or in an airplane carryon. The water is small enough to pass security. Thanks for posting your images. I consider my pages suitable to be Urbansketches.

Hello Kath, please excuse my 5-month tardiness in replying, but I very much appreciate your comment. I still have a couple of film cans around! Have you tried posting on Instagram? (I am @qkkdraw) I learn so much from following other artists around the world.

I love travel sketching! I use the same size book you do, and I’ve found Lamy Safari sketching fountain pens to work wonderfully with waterproof ink. I have a small (Altoids tin) travel palette, and often use a water brush to add a little paint to a small ink sketch.

Leslie, I’m only now realizing there were comments to this September 2020 article! Sorry about the delay in response. The Altoids tine palette is such a good idea. Although I have a handful of water brushes, I tend to get annoyed and how the colors get muddles when I forget to rinse properly.

I have 2 types of travel journals. The first is done strictly with sepia Micron Pigma pens in a Moleskine journal. I do line drawings on the spot, or later in my hotel room from photos on my phone. I annotate the day with text. These pages allow me to look back and remember details of my trip. The second book is done strictly with watercolor. I use a Moleskine or HandBook watercolor journal. These paintings are always done plein air and without text. I love keeping travel journals and they have become treasured keepsakes.

Hi Marian, thanks for your comment; my response is unforgivably tardy, but hopefully still relevant. Interesting idea to keep two travel journals concurrent; I never thought of doing that. Makes sense though – almost like mood-based entries. I’ll try that on my next trip, assuming Covid gets dampened(!)

I started travel journal sketching on a 3 week trip through England. London, to western most area near Penzance and with to the Lizard. Then up to Bath, followed by a week in the Lake District. Now, I take it whenever we travel — though there’s been damn little of that lately!

KL, sorry about this delayed response. I really miss traveling; we used to make any excuse to visit our family all around the US and internationally but now stuck looking at the world through a laptop… I spent some time in the Lake District decades ago, before I took up travel sketching, and aim to go back some day armed with my weapons of art!

I have notebooks that I kept while serving in Germany where I sketched various church steeples as I took various bus tours. Every two weeks tours after joining reserves, I sketched and took photos

Hi Dixie. Thanks for sharing and please excuse my tardy response. Have you posted your steeple sketches on FB or IG! I learn so much from following what other urban sketchers are doing.

Ivan thanks for sharing the details. I have several different sketch books but need to start using one and go through it day by day . I usually try to sit down so I can put my watercolor pallet on the ground and bring a spritz bottle to keep them wet.

Hi Bruce, thanks for your response; there are no excuses for my super tardy one. The thing about these plein air experiences is that every one seems to be accompanied by lasting memories: the sounds, smells, hapticity of the moment. And the need to come up with inventive ways of setting the right ambience for each little sketch can be such an annoying yet rewarding travel experience.

Hi Ivan, great sketches and tips. I’ve kept illustrated travelogues and journals for a few decades now. Smaller sizes work best for me. It keeps the sketching from being too detailed, they are quick and leave just enough space for minor remarks. They are also discrete cause I don’t like to make a show. Check out my IG-feed @ivanseymus or visit my portfolio on http://www.ivanseymus.com . Good luck and take care! Ivan (yes, that’s my name too!)

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Artist Spotlight: Charlie Hunter

10th annual olmsted plein air – it’s a wrap.

How to start a travel sketchbook

The great big beginners guide

This year, I started documenting my holidays and travels in a mini sketchbook. It’s just a small MUJI notebook but I’ve been loving translating my holiday into a creative outlet. Pairing sketches with little annotations and snippets of trips gives a much deeper, personal insight into travels around the world as well as those closer to home.

As you’ll know if you follow my blog or Instagram , I’m a huge advocate for documenting memories. Usually that’s art journaling or scrapbooking and using photos to showcase what I’ve been up to.

For a travel sketchbook though, you’re simply armed with paper and a pen. It’s simple, easy to carry when travelling and needs the most minimal equipment and outlay to start.

In this blogpost, I’ve outlined some pointers for starting your own, and shared some tips I’ve picked up along the way.

On location 

Drawing on location is amazing and memorable but not always possible. It might be raining, way too busy, too open, or you just don’t feel comfortable yet.

If you want to, go for it! Bear in mind that people love watching other people draw so you might have guests peering over your shoulder. It’s a great conversation starter if you’re looking to start chats with locals or test your language skills.

Use your photos

There’s nothing worse than feeling pressured to draw. Sometimes the moment isn’t right or you’re just having a bad drawing day. This sketchbook isn’t a replacement for your holiday snaps, so take photos and use them as reference.

I’ve often drawn from my photos in the airport waiting for the flight home, or in a coffee shop taking a minute from the busy tourist streets to draw the view I saw earlier that day.

Catch up later

And, with that in mind, you don’t even need to do your sketchbook while you’re on a trip. If you’ve got a packed itinerary and have no time, but you’d still love to create a sketchbook, do it after!

My Athens pages were done back in the hotel after each day, but my Barcelona trip still hasn’t even been finished in my sketchbook, and I visited in June! This is why it’s so important to still take photos and not put pressure on yourself to draw there and then. It takes the fun out of it, and there’s nothing wrong with creating your sketchbook later, using your own visual references.

They are still your memories, plus it’s a great excuse to relive it and go back through your photos a few weeks/months after the trip. It also means that there’s no time like the present to start a travel sketchbook! We all take photos and have albums for each holiday, so use those as a starting off point and go from there.

Take the minimum

A super thick, very heavy, large sketchbook is the last thing you’ll want to be lugging around in your bag. If you’re planning on drawing on location, or even if you need every space of luggage to bring back treats and souvenirs, I recommend a small, lightweight sketchbook and a pen or two.

I love the MUJI 0.5mm ink pens and it’s what I use for my travel sketchbooks, but you can use pencil or biro, or any other tool you prefer. I’d limit it though - you don’t need a huge pencil case full of tools that you’re not going to use. Likewise with colouring – you absolutely don’t need to take a bag full of felt tips, coloured pencils and tubes of paint.

You can get mini watercolour palettes and even sets specifically for travelling (with tiny brushes and a little bottle for paint water), but generally I find that if you want to add colour, it’s easier to do at home anyway.

I totally understand it depends on art style but I really recommend starting simple if you’ve not created a travel sketchbook before. You can always create more complex sketchbook pages as you get used to keeping them and become a seasoned pro as you go, but you don’t want to become overwhelmed and put yourself off by being too ambitious on your first try.

  Start small

On a similar note to the above, carrying around a large format sketchbook isn’t only impractical, but also a little daunting!

Even now I find the first page of any notebook or sketchbook scary, and I have hundreds of the things. A big white space is hard to fill as it is, let alone if it’s A3! I’m currently using an A6 one but I think I might upgrade to A5 for next year’s travels.

A6 has definitely been the perfect size for me to start off with but depending on your itinerary, it could be a little small to fit everything in. That being said, you could always fill multiple pages for each day instead of struggling to fit it all on one.

The sketchbook I use is from MUJI, is gridded and the paper is relatively thin, but it’s extremely lightweight and easy to carry. I’m only drawing on the right hand page anyway, but if you want to use every page of your sketchbook, then I would test it before you go to check if the pen you’re going to use doesn’t bleed through. I didn’t plan on making it a long term project at the time and I was surprised with just how much I enjoyed it, so next time I’ll definitely go for plain paper and a thicker stock.

The thicker the paper then the heavier the sketchbook, though you wouldn’t need to worry about this at all if you’re only planning on using pencil!

Add writing

I have a terrible memory, so even if I’ve drawn the prettiest cathedral in the world on the page, there’s no chance I know what it’s called! Annotations and little notes are the best way to keep track of where you’ve been and what you’ve drawn, as well as adding a huge amount of personality to a page.

You can write as much or as little as you like – either turning it into a journal or diary page, or just an annotated picture to remind you when you look back through the sketchbook later on. I find it really useful to take photos of signs and information boards while taking my holiday photos so I know exactly what it is I’m photographing and later, drawing.

We stumbled upon a beautiful church walking back from Parc Guell in Barcelona and I’d have no clue how to find it on a map or what is was called if I hadn’t taken a phone snap of the display board while we were there.

  Highlights only

Fitting every single activity, meal you eat and view you see into your travel sketchbook is going to be impossible. Highlight the places of interest, landmarks or buildings that catch your eye. If a particular place evokes a special feeling or is memorable, add that down. First time trying the national dish? Draw it! Add personal highlights as well as the usual touristy stuff. If you went shopping and found the perfect gift, outfit or trinket, you can add that too. This is your sketchbook with your memories, so curate it to suit. In years from now you may not remember these memories at first, and the sketchbook is a wonderful way to remind you.

Plus, one highlight may trigger another memory in your head, so don’t worry too much if you can’t get every tiny detail down. I like to fit each day on one page if I can, though if it’s a particularly full day and I have a lot of highlights to include, I’m happy to push it onto another page so I don’t miss anything out.

Page thumbnails

With Athens and London, I knew what I wanted to put on the page and where. With Barcelona though, there was so much I wanted to include and, again, I was a bit intimidated by the blank page. I didn’t want to mess it up and I also wanted to make sure I communicated everything I wanted to without running out of room.

Thumbnailing is a technique that is used by artists for testing the layout and composition before they start their ‘final’ piece. It’s a way of testing how things fit best and are simple thumbnail size sketches on scrap paper. They take hardly any time to do, and are a quick, easy way to test scale, size and location of all the different elements.

You don’t need to be super detailed here, just roughly map out the shape of the building or whatever it is you’re drawing, and see how it all fits together at various sizes. Create various thumbnails to see which layout works best before you then create the final page in your sketchbook.  (If you’re drawing in the sketchbook as you go then you can skip this step!)

I love my travel sketchbook, and hopefully this will inspire you to start your own too! It’s such a wonderful accompaniment to holidays – it’s not only a creative way for you to look back on your memories, but also something friends and family can look through, giving them a deeper insight that they wouldn’t see when flicking though a photo album alone.

If you decide to venture into the travel sketchbook world, I’ve love to see so please do let me know or tag me on instagram wherever you share your pages!

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Travel sketching: how to capture a place with paper and pencil

Apr 29, 2019 • 5 min read

Tired of snapping hundreds of photos, applying filters, and looking for your next wi-fi connection? You're not alone. Particularly while traveling, the endless cycle of shooting and sharing can be exhausting – not to mention that screen time pulls you out of the moment (and the place).

Luckily, there's another meaningful way to document your adventures. On your next trip, give your phone a break and bring a notebook. Not only will you enjoy any destination more when you're fully present, but you'll find that you have to truly observe a place in order to sketch it – whether you're trying to draw a picture of Machu Picchu or record the details of the unforgettable dinner you had last night in Paris.

The case for going analog

Back in 2008, when I went on my first research trip as a Lonely Planet author (destination: Patagonia ), Instagram didn’t even exist. I took photos of whales and glaciers, but they were for my own pleasure and personal record. I wrote everything down in a notebook – not only the information I was collecting for the guidebook, but also the details of what I ate, a funny conversation I overheard on the bus, snippets of interesting information from the indigenous museum in Tierra del Fuego , the ingredients of my favorite Chilean seafood stew.

A few years later, social media was in full swing. Like everyone else, I was snapping and sharing photos right and left; unlike most people, I was a travel writer, and my job took me to dazzlingly photogenic places on a regular basis. My Instagram feed was a colorful showcase of international destinations: waterfalls in Brazil , mysterious pyramids in Mexico , a castle in Spain , a crater lake in Nicaragua . After a while, finding the right angles and perfect lighting made me weary. I was burned out on all of the beautiful images – my own, and everyone else’s, too.

An experiment in Morocco turned it all around. Determined to get back to my writerly roots, I took a notebook and wrote down my observations. I started sketching things that were difficult to describe in words: the silhouette of a minaret, the shape of a doorway, an unusual pattern of zellige tiles. I was thinking again, not just snapping photos. And at the end of the trip, I had a unique and richly layered document of my experience.

My sketching experiment took on a life of its own. Now I make watercolor postcards, maps, and illustrations all the time – the process helps me to slow down, look around, and think. Here are some of my favorite ways to capture a travel experience with paper, pencil, and paint. Other media are optional. So is sharing on social media. The point isn’t to share it: the point is to make it in the first place, and to have it for yourself.

Make a map of the place

Sketching a map of the place you’re visiting – or a larger travel itinerary, if you have one – is a great way to familiarize yourself with a destination before you leave home. From a practical perspective, it’s also an excellent way to put together a travel plan, considering the distances between points A, B, and C, and the stops or detours you could make along the way.

The map could be relatively detailed, like this map of my itinerary on a Lonely Planet assignment that sent me to Grand Canyon National Park and parts of southern Utah, or simpler, like this watercolor map I painted quickly during my recent honeymoon in Spain.

Draw pictures of what you ate and drank

Who wouldn’t want to remember all the delicious dishes you tried on vacation? There’s an appealing bonus built in: if you choose to draw or paint pictures of food and drink, you’ll avoid being that mildly irritating person at a café or restaurant who’s overly focused on photo ops.

During a recent trip to Basque Country , I recorded the dishes we tried with a travel watercolor set. I’m glad I did: I’m sure I would have forgotten some of these details already.

Illustrate something you learned about a culture

Think of this option as an infographic that could serve as a how-to for other travelers. This format is ideal for practical or cultural challenges you managed to figure out – how to navigate the public baths of Budapest , how to behave at a milonga in Buenos Aires , how to order at a coffee bar in Rome .

Sketch an architectural or natural monument

Spend some time really looking at your subject before you get started. You can do this sketch in real time, or take a quick photo and base your drawing on the photo. I like to take a photo of my postcard in front of the monument (as I did here, at the base of the hike to San Juan de Gaztelugatxe ), but these work well as standalone sketches, too.

Choose a few details you love about a place

Think of all the little details of your travels – and how many of them are lost to time. This is a perfect way to remember the minutiae. Needless to say, it’s best to make this kind of drawing while you’re still in the place (or as soon as you return), while the specifics are fresh in your mind.

Capture scenes from the street

Another method for capturing subtleties that you might otherwise forget. The quirkier the details, the better. I drew this picture one day after a long walk through Buenos Aires.

Make a postcard series

This works especially well if you’re returning from a long trip with many destinations on your itinerary. You could also use the postcard format to record separate trips you’ve taken over the years.

Bonus for family travel: get kids involved

Either before, during, or after a trip, break out some art supplies and get the whole family involved in travel sketching. I frequently make maps with the kids in my life: in this case, ahead of a trip to Chile, I sketched a map of the country and my niece Isidora filled in details like the ocean and the mountains. We had fun – and we both learned a few things while working on it together.

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• INTELLIGENT TRAVEL

Travel Sketching: A Manifesto

The idea of documenting a trip through art isn’t a particularly new one. Aboard Captain Cook ’s second voyage to the Pacific was oil painter William Hodges ; artist Edward Adrian Wilson accompanied Robert Scott as he explored the Antarctic; even 22-year-old Jacqueline Bouvier and her sister Lee completed sketches of their European tour in 1951 (their illustrated journal is now available as One Special Summer ).

Three and a half years ago, I decided to give this tradition a try. I was studying in London at the time and had booked a solo weekend trip to Porto, Portugal. Despite the fact that I hadn’t had a single art lesson in a decade, I brought a drawing pad with me, along with a set of watercolor pencils. And it was there, on the edge of the Douro River—safely ensconced in a glassed-in restaurant—that I completed my first on-location travel sketch.

It was hastily drawn, with rows of capital Ls for windows and messy scribbles for trees, but I immediately noticed two effects the process had on me. As Robert Reid has noted , sketching slows you down, and helps you be present. Sitting in the same spot for hours on end in a new city was almost uncomfortable at first, but I learned such stillness has its rewards.

The second thing I noticed was how sketching makes your whole body pay attention.

I grew braver that weekend and began sketching in the open air—from park benches and riverbanks, feeling all of my senses swing into overdrive. With my camera in hand, I seem to run around recording everything while retaining next to nothing. Without a machine to do the remembering, I had to become the camera.

It was up to me to observe how the river changed colors under a setting sun, to listen to the crunch of gravel as a religious procession moved through the park   on a Sunday morning, and to note how the lines of washing hung from balcony to balcony resembled strings of Christmas lights. As though my eyes were the aperture and my mind a square of film to be exposed, I was absorbing a place more deeply than I ever had before. I was living in the here and now.

Since that first trip to Porto, I haven’t visited a country without completing at least one sketch, as a means of capturing my impressions of each place.

It was only last May, though, that I discovered my sketchbook’s third gift. I was drawing on assignment in Ho Chi Minh City , and arrived at the Bến Thành night market with plans to draw an overview of the scene. I set up shop on a median, but soon realized that with two chaotic lanes of traffic between the market and me, I would have little chance of meeting anyone as I worked. So I moved across the street and resumed sketching from a plastic stool right on the bustling sidewalk outside the market.

As motorbikes blazed past and vendors grilled bananas, I felt someone looking down at me. “Excuse me,” a voice asked. “You do with watercolors?” I looked up. There stood two local college students, Há and Nhan. Há was majoring in fashion design and asked if I’d like to sketch with him. We met the next morning and ended up spending the day together: feasting on Hanoi-style phở for lunch, sketching at an artsy, out-of-the-way café, and hanging out in 30/4 Park as evening fell, the entire square filled with students playing guitars and singing. My new friends revealed layers of the city I never would have found otherwise.

I realized that sketching does more than help us remember places—it opens doors and creates connections. I could write all day in my journal and no one would stop to watch or ask me what I was doing. It’s different when I have my sketchbook. There’s just something about art that encourages people to approach you, to peer over your shoulder, to look up at the subject you’re sketching and then back at your drawing to compare likenesses.

Sometimes the door is opened even wider. I’ve been invited into family homes in Bosnia, danced with union workers in a Dublin pub, and befriended young monks in Cambodia, simply because I happened to be sketching on location. These serendipitous encounters—and the global connections they engender—are now the reason I travel.

I may set out on each trip alone, but thanks to my sketchbook and watercolors, I’m never on my own for long.

How to start travel sketching:  

1. think of the world as your studio..

The beauty of sketching is how portable it is, and how any surface—from a table at an outdoor café to the desk in your hotel room—can become your work space. While all you really need is a sketchbook (look for paper sturdy enough in weight that it won’t buckle; 140lb, or 300 gsm, works well) and a pen, colored pencils or a travel-sized watercolor field kit will help bring your drawings to life.

2. See with your eyes, not with your brain.

Begin by framing your sketch and choosing the perspective you’d like to capture. Our brain often jumps to conclusions; for instance, telling us a roofline slants up when it actually angles down. These mental shortcuts are natural, but should be fought against. Take the time to really study a scene, and constantly compare what you’ve drawn on the page with what’s actually in front of you.

3. Make use   of all your senses.

Though drawing is primarily a visual exercise, flexing your other sensory muscles can deepen your engagement. What do you smell? What do you hear and which sounds stand out the most? With each observation, consider noting it on your sketch. “The air swirls with the scents of apple shisha, roasting lamb, and Turkish coffee,” I recorded while sketching in Singapore last spring. These annotations will help you create evocative mementos of the wonderful places you experience in your travels.

Candace Rose Rardon   is a writer and sketch artist with a passion for travel. In addition to running her blog,   The Great Affair , Candace saw   her   first book of travel sketches,   Beneath the Lantern’s Glow , published   in 2013 . Follow her   on Twitter   and   Instagram   @candacerardon.

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• Mastery Program
• Current Events

35+ Travel Sketching Ideas to Overcome Your Creative Blocks

Photo caption: Your travel sketching adventures can take you from Athens, Georgia to the streets of New York City. Photo by Ketut Subiyanto from Pexels.

Student sketchbooks may count as one of the most underrated tools that art students have at their disposal for overcoming creative blocks .

Within their pages, students attending any of the art schools in Georgia can try out their must-have drawing supplies for travel sketching and for developing ideas for school art and design projects.

However, students who aren’t used to keeping a sketchbook are sometimes heard lamenting: “I don’t know what to draw!”

At Milan Art Institute, we actually offer students a solution for overcoming creative blocks. As school founder and co-owner, Elli Milan, says: Always have something to paint (or draw).

More specifically, Elli recommends that art students at the Milan Art Institute have at least 20 sources ready to paint or draw at all times. 

Artists who take this advice never wonder what to paint or draw. They always have 20 pieces on the ready.

The MAI one-year professional certificate program, the Mastery Program , teaches students how to create all the painting and drawing sources they’ll need to work as professional artists.

That doesn’t mean, however, that art students who aren’t yet in the Mastery Program are out of luck. 

These aspiring art students can parlay their love of travel sketching into a sketchbook filled with an abundance of drawing and painting prompts. These prompts can inspire visions of amazing works of art that have the power to change them and to change the world.

Drawing Prompts for Your Travel Sketching

The good news is, you don’t even have to travel out of town to fill up your student sketchbooks. Places like Oconee Forest Park delight the senses in the fall. And they’re close by. 

These Athens, Georgia beauty spots are also filled with drawing prompts from the natural world. It’s the perfect place to practice some plein air painting and drawing.

Just a note to the students in our online art classes or who don’t attend a Georgia art school: These drawing prompts should help you fill your student sketchbooks, too, even if you don’t live in Athens. It just requires a bit of ingenuity and tenacity. 

There’s more on that later...

You can also do this exercise in more than one place. For example, start in a national forest or park and then continue the exercise in town or even at the local pumpkin patch. 

We do recommend that you draw anything that catches your eye while you’re out on your travel sketching adventure. The idea behind filling your sketchbooks with images from the natural world is to get you into the habit of really seeing the world around you. 

It’s also important for you to notice the images that tug at your heart strings. These represent the things you care about and are one of the key components to developing your artistic voice. 

If you do this, you’ll overcome your creative blocks and even have an overflow of ideas that you can turn into future art projects. 

However, to help you out in case you’re really stuck, we provide you with a list of prompts for your travel sketching. 

Traveling Sketching: Let’s Go on an Art Scavenger Hunt 

Let’s call this activity an art scavenger hunt to make it even more fun. Basically, we’ve created a list of items you’re likely to find in the fall of the year. 

The more of these items you find, the closer you are to fulfilling the requirements of the art scavenger hunt. 

When you find them, spend a few minutes drawing these items in your student sketchbook. If you want to create a special travel sketchbook or journal to capture the memories of your autumn scavenger hunt in Athens, Georgia, that’s great, too!

Ideally, this exercise will give you so many fall drawing prompt ideas that you eventually fill more than one travel sketch journal. If you do, you’ll never run out of ideas for your class or professional art projects again. 

Autumn Art Scavenger Hunt: Sketchbook Drawing Ideas List

Here’s a list of some suggested fall travel journal prompts for this exercise.

A List of Must-Have Art Supplies for Your Travel Sketching Adventure 

Anyone who attends an art school in Georgia - well, anywhere, really - should have the opportunity to try out a variety of art supplies. Every medium handles differently and produces a different effect. 

Anothing element that makes an artist’s voice unique is the art materials that a particular artist uses. The more you know about your supplies, the better chance you have at developing your voice.

We bring all of this up, because we’d like to recommend a must-have art supplies list for you to take on your adventures in travel sketching. Travel sketching gives you an opportunity to try new supplies in a fun, adventurous kind of way. 

We tapped one of our amazing art coaches and mentors, Esther Franchuk , to get a list of art supplies. Esther’s list includes sketchbook recommendations, as well as drawing materials suggestions. 

• Hand-book journal co. - WATERCOLOR SQUARE 8.25x8.25
• Talens Art Creation Sketchbook - Pocket size
• Paul Rubens Artist Watercolor Paints - Glitter Solid Colors
• Watercolor White Nights paint set, St.Petersburg, Russia
• Royal Talens C902 - ArtCreation Gouache set
• Refillable watercolor brush pens

If you can’t find brands above, just keep in mind that you might generally like to bring along:

• Pencils, erasers and other dry drawing media
• Watercolor pencils
• Colored pencils
• Watercolor paint brushes
• Sketchbooks made with watercolor paper
• Anything that’s easy to use in all kinds of weather
• Portable chair

One final note about your must-have travel sketching supplies: You may want to experiment with these materials in your student sketchbooks before you go out. 

It’s likely that you’ll gravitate toward some supplies more than others. Knowing what those are allows you to eliminate some of your art materials from your art travel pack. 

This keeps things light. It also reduces the number of supplies you’ll have to carry around with you when you’re out sketching on location. 

If you’re still not certain about what should go into your travel sketchbook or journal, this video that Elli and Dimitra Milan did about drawing and painting on location may help you. 

Photo caption: A trip to the museum fills your travel sketchbook and gives you a foundation in art history. Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay.

Art Scavenger Hunt Ideas If You Get Rained Out…

Sometimes, our best efforts get rained or snowed out. That’s okay. The fall art scavenger hunt is adaptable. Some urban sketchers take their travel sketchbooks to coffee shops and sketch the streets outside the windows. 

Really, you can set up your portable art studio in any building that has big windows. You may have to move around a lot if you want to try to get everything on the list into your books. 

(Remember, we also encourage you to find your own sources from the drawing prompts that nature provides for you, so it’s okay to abandon the list above. As long as you’re putting ideas into your sketchbooks, you’re golden.)

Finally, there is a creative alternative that you’ll probably like. 

Art museums are known for their scavenger hunts in some cities. Museum scavenger hunts encourage people to look closely at art, because museum participants are given a list, like the one above. 

As art scavenger hunt players wander through the art museum, they are encouraged to find items on the list in the paintings. 

You as art students can take this one step further by drawing the work of art (or portions of it) you found your scavenger hunt item in. They don’t have to even be full-blown drawings. Small sketches are fine to get you started. 

This activity does a couple of things. First, it allows you to put powerful and inspiring images in your student sketchbooks that can inspire works of art down the road. 

Second, it allows you to get some art history lessons in. Exceptional artists understand their place in art history. The artists that were and are most notable in history are culture warriors and influencers. 

Looking at and sketching these works allows you to peer into their creative processes and adopt a new way of seeing. By immersing yourself in their virtuosity, you subconsciously develop your sense of taste and ultimately improve your art.  

Third, seeing great art elevates your taste levels, which in turn, motivates you to continue to create art that has the potential to change the world.

Many museums allow art students to come in and sketch. However, it’s always best to find out ahead of time if you can come in and sketch. Always be sure to ask permission to bring your art supplies into the museum with you before you set out on your travel sketching trip.

Urban Sketching: Another Variation of Travel Sketching

The general gist of this blog post has concentrated on filling your student sketchbooks with images from the natural world. That said, you are not limited to staying on the hiking trails as you go on your art scavenger hunt. 

Urban sketching, that is drawing on location, often in the city, has increased in popularity of late. 

Here’s what the urban sketchers’ website had to say about the characteristics of urban sketching:

• It’s done on location and its purpose is to draw from direct observation.
• Urban sketchers can draw inside or out.
• Through drawing, urban sketching strives to tell the story of the places people live, where they travel and even about their surroundings closer to home.
• Each urban sketch captures a moment in time and is a truthful visual account of the scenes that the sketcher witnesses.
• Artists interested in urban sketching can use any kind of media: Individual drawing styles are celebrated!
• They share their work online, with the purpose of showing the world, “one drawing at a time.”
• Urban sketchers draw together and support one another in these efforts. 
• While you can sketch alone, taking up urban sketching is a great way to sketch on location with other people. If you’re interested in finding a local chapter of urban sketchers, check out the urban sketchers’ chapter finder . Or check out their website to find out if there are any urban sketching workshops near you.

Final Words on Travel Sketching for Art Students

As an art school in Georgia that embraces traditional, as well as modern art techniques, we believe it’s important that art students learn to draw from life. 

One easy way to develop this habit is to fill their student sketchbooks with images from cities, forests and even their own backyard. This practice sharpens art students’ technical skills. 

But more than that, student or travel sketchbooks filled with visual prompts from the forest, the streets of Paris or even the local coffee shop can become stunning works of art down the road. 

These images are powerful ways to help you get motivated and to push your drawing skills to the next level. 

For More Drawing Tips, Check out the Articles and Courses Below:

If you want to learn to draw quickly, check out the Drawing Essentials class or the Beginner Art Program .

How To Draw a Self Portrait

Milan Art Institute

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(updates effective 17/08/2020).

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A Voyaging Artist's Guide to Travel Sketching

The best way to learn about the world is to explore it. And the best way to explore the world is to slow down and appreciate your surroundings. One way to do this is by travel sketching.

Sure, taking photos and videos is quicker. But a travel sketchbook turns your experiences into tangible, lasting memories. 

When you start to sketch your environment, you appreciate the little things. Things you would’ve missed if you just snapped a pic and moved on. 

Keeping a travel journal may seem daunting for a beginner or casual artist. But it’s about the process, not perfection. 

Next time you plan a trip, don’t forget to bring a pen and paper . With enough practice, your art and worldview will evolve. Here are some tips and ideas to get into travel sketching!

What is travel sketching?

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Olga Ivanova (@adventures_illustrated)

Simply put, travel sketching is the art of capturing a place through pen and paper. It’s a form of urban or nature sketching since it involves drawing on location. You can sketch anything you find on your trip: interesting buildings, verdant landscapes, lively crowds. 

Through travel sketching, you hone your observation skills and see things from a new perspective. A travel sketch isn’t meant to be accurate. Just live in the moment and interpret what you see.

This type of sketching isn’t new. Many artists like Pablo Picasso, Georgia O’Keefe, Gustav Klimt, and Vincent Van Gogh were also travelers who used art to document places they’ve visited.

Upon the invention of the camera and the rise of social media, however, the travel sketchbook became a bit of a relic. Still, there are journal-keepers today who keep the art of travel sketching alive. 

What do I need to start travel sketching?

Pro-tip: Travel light. Only carry what you can. Be practical. Keep your art supplies relevant, multipurpose, and travel-friendly. 

Don’t take your whole studio on a four-day trip. Bring what you can easily stash away in your bag.

If you’re flying, don’t bother bringing oil paints and aerosols. Liquid paints should remain at home, or in your check-in baggage if in small tubes. But trust me, you’re better off with markers and watercolors. Less mess. 

Here’s what I usually carry in my travel sketching kit .

Mechanical pencil and eraser

You can’t start a sketch without a pencil and pen. To keep things light and to avoid the mess of sharpening them, I opt for mechanical, retractable pencils. 

I also like retractable erasers as they’re easy to carry and harder to lose than a regular or kneaded eraser. Still, you do you.

Drawing pens

I bring a few archival ink drawing pens for outlining my sketches and writing in my travel journals. You can also use a brush pen for lettering.

Usually, I bring drawing pens in sizes 0.5, 0.3, and 0.1. 

Bring pens that are waterproof and fade-resistant. They don’t smudge or bleed when you start coloring in your sketches.

Travel brushes

To keep things neat and practical, get a set of brushes made for traveling. Grab a water brush—featured in our Sereno, Allegro, and Prezioso palettes—which stores water in the handle. Or you get our set of four expandable watercolor brushes, which come in a handy leather case. 

An artist’s sketchbook 

Some traveling artists like to draw on large surfaces. Others prefer small sketchbooks. You do you, just make sure everything fits in your bag!

Recently I’ve found that a B6 sketchbook is my perfect size. It’s smaller than the A5 sketchbooks I’m used to but not as restrictive as an A6. We have a B6-sized sketchbook here on Zen Art Supplies that I never leave home without. You never know when inspiration will strike.

Designed for art-making on the go, this high-quality journal lays 180° flat. Its acid-free 120gsm pages can withstand ink and watercolor. The recycled leather cover is water-resistant and scratch-proof, with an elastic band to protect your drawings against the elements. 

Travel-friendly watercolor palettes

Palettes with dry pans of watercolor are part of my travel essentials. It’s the most practical art medium to take on trips, besides colored pencils and water-based brush pens. You only need the primary colors since it’s easy to mix and blend. 

Here are suggestions from our shop for watercolor palettes to pack on your next trip!

Espresso Palette : Watercolor that fits in your pocket

No luggage room for an extensive set? The Zen Art Espresso palette is the way to go. This essential palette was curated for travel, with 12 vibrant hues of primary colors. You can even use the tin cover as a mixing space.

Allegro Palette : Warm-toned watercolor travel set

Though larger than a travel-sized palette, our warm-toned Allegro palette packs a serious punch. It’s a watercolor studio on the go! With 24 premixed half-pans, you’ve got a full range of colors for outdoor scenery. The palette side has a sponge for better water control. The cover side has ample space for mixing. It also comes with a water brush and flat brush.

Virtuoso Palette : Curated professional watercolor sets

Our Virtuoso watercolor palettes are professional-grade and non-toxic. The full range features 48 colors in movable half pans so you can mix and match according to your needs. We recommend the Moderno or Classico for your primary shades. Add the Vista set so you can paint evergreen landscapes and azure seascapes.

Essential journaling accessories

These miscellaneous art accessories always come in handy for me:

A mini ruler . Mine’s made of thin aluminum, easy to store in the inside pocket of your travel journal .

Mini scissors and glue tape . For sticking mementos and paraphernalia like tickets, postcards, and polaroids. Small scissors, no more than 4 inches long, will get through airport security.

Binder clip . I hate when I’m sketching and the wind blows my pages around. So I started bringing a binder clip, attached to the cover of my travel sketchbook. 

Spray bottle or collapsible water cup . For watercolor on the go. I prefer spray bottles, stashed in my bag organizer. Easier to reactivate my paints when there’s no bathroom nearby.

How do you make a travel sketch?

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Sara Boccaccini Meadows (@boccaccinimeadows)

Drawing on location is the most authentic way to travel sketch. All you need to do to begin is find a subject, any moment or landmark that catches your eye! 

Pick a spot and observe your environment

Start your sketch by very well getting lost. Walk and look around. Search for ideas in an unfamiliar environment. 

Get a sense of your surroundings. What can you see, hear, smell, feel, or taste? What’s happening that interests you? Notice the little details. The people, their expressions, the colors of food, the curves and angles of a structure.

Frame your view. Find a good vantage point. And make sure you’re allowed to sit and sketch there. 

Start sketching in pencil—focus on expression over perfection!

One of the techniques you learn while sketching is how to see . We tend to draw based on how we think our subject should look. That’s where frustration arises. Instead, train your brain to break things down into lines and basic shapes instead of images. 

Figure out your perspective, point of action, and items of interest. Build up your sketches in layers: background, middle ground, and foreground. Then add detail.

Trust the process and don’t worry about making mistakes. Leave the photorealism to picture-taking. Just have fun and do things in your style.

You may also create thumbnail sketches before your actual drawing.

Start detailing with a waterproof pen

I like to refine my pencil drawings before finalizing the sketch with my archival ink pens. If you’re working with watercolors , use a pen with waterproof ink. 

You might even decide at this point to omit some objects or details. That’s okay! You don’t have to capture everything . 

Color it in

Coloring your travel sketch brings it alive. Your sketch begins to develop into a full image.

I usually do this back in the comfort of my hotel room. But a little plein air painting never hurts to exercise your creative muscles. The most practical medium for travel sketching, as I suggested, is watercolor . It’s easy to carry around and activate. 

Pay attention to shadows and lighting. In a hurry? Just take reference images or note down the colors so you can go back in later. Here’s where brush pens come in handy, too.

Tips for travel sketching

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Juan Carlos Figuera (@jc_figuera)

Create a routine out of travel sketching when you go overseas or out of town. Free up your mornings or late afternoons to draw during the golden hour. And take your time. Unless you’ve got company, then take reference photos. 

Here are some tips to make the most of your journey!

Respect the culture and rules

Art may be about breaking the rules, but that doesn’t mean you should on a trip abroad. Be mindful. Ask permission. Don’t upset the locals by disrespecting their culture and spaces.

For example, some areas like museums and landmarks don’t allow you to bring permanent writing or mark-making instruments due to the risk of vandalism. Sometimes you’ll want to sketch a curious-looking fellow, but they may not be comfortable. Keep a respectful distance from rituals and ceremonies. Some practices are so sacred that you’re not even allowed to document them. 

Add art-making to your itinerary

Skip the tour guides who rush through tourist spots. Go on a self-guided tour. Or sketch during your waiting time. Take your travel sketchbook on a lunch or coffee date!

If you’re planning an itinerary, leave a whole day free. No planned trips or reservations. I relish free days because they encourage spontaneity. Free days are for getting lost or sitting somewhere to people-watch.

Save your maps and tickets as mementos

View this post on Instagram A post shared by 🌙 belle 🌙 (@bellemaps)

This is what completes your travel journal. Plaster your journal pages with postcards, travel tickets, cutouts from museum guides, labels, postcards, and polaroids—tangible records and memories of your trip. Traveling builds experience and sentiment. One day, you’ll look back on your journals with joy.

Write about it!

Some travel experiences can’t be captured in sketches and line drawings. Sometimes you need to write things down. The dialogue you found interesting. A snippet from history. Fun facts you learned from your tour guide.

How did your visit to a different country change your perspective? What does it feel like to see a wonder of the world? Is there a local artist, architect, or cultural figure whose life you’d like to read up on?

Don’t use fountain pens on a flight

Once, I brought out a fountain pen to journal while in-flight. The air pressure caused the fluid ink to start bleeding out the nib. This also happens with certain markers. 

Since then, I learned my lesson. It’s fine to keep a fountain pen in your carry-on, just don’t use it when up in the air.

Practice, practice, practice!

As with any skill, you can’t get any better if you’re not doing anything. Travel sketches needn’t only happen on a trip abroad. Sketch a scene on your commute or the next time you take a walk in the park!

I’ve seen an artist so inspired by the moment, he used whatever was nearby and sketched on paper napkins. That’s why I never leave home without a pen and my journal. 

Where will your wanderlust take you next?

This is your sign to hop on the next flight and take your inner artist on a trip somewhere! 

Now we’d like to know: Where’s your dream destination? What art materials do you like to bring on your travels? Have you already started a travel sketching habit? Let us know in the comments below!

For more resources and help with art techniques, don’t forget to check out the Toolkit section in our blog!

- MEET THE AUTHOR-

Belle O. Mapa is a writer and artist based in Manila, Philippines. She believes that everyone is born with an inner creative spirit—we just need to nurture and discover it on the blank page. Currently, she lives out her passion: writing stories, hosting journaling workshops, and advocating for mental health awareness.

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An old way to see new: How travel sketching can improve your trips

See the world anew through travel sketching.

When I used to see people out travel sketching or examples from history, I had two responses:

1) That is so cool! and 2) I could never do that.

I was half right.

Travel sketching is meaningful because you capture a very personal view of what you saw. More importantly, you actually perceive the world around you in a whole new way.

To my second response, let me paraphrase Chef Auguste Gusteau in the film Ratatouille :

Anyone can draw.

You did it as a kid. You can do it again. But you have to try and you have to practice. The good news is that with travel sketching, you get to practice in some pretty remarkable places.

You just have to take that first step

Awhile back, I completed a trip to China where I practiced travel sketching each day in a travel journal. What got me over the “I can’t draw” hurdle was seeing my son do it and reading Danny Gregory’s, The Illustrated Journey where he profiles various artists and their travel journals. Major inspiration. Plus, when I first picked up one of Gregory’s books, I thought, “Wait a second. His drawings aren’t perfect. And he doesn’t care.” Nope. And neither should you.

Your goal with travel sketching isn’t to render perfect replications of what you see. Your camera can do that. Your goal is to have more fun and experience your trip  in a new way. Here’s how travel sketching can help.

The benefits of travel sketching

• You see things better . Much better. You appreciate the details and understand how various elements relate. You discover small visual treasures you’d otherwise miss if you weren’t travel sketching.

• You slow down. Travel sketching forces you to stop. And look. And look again. You not only perceive your subject in a new way, you get to know the place better because you experience it over a longer period of time.

• You meet people easier . They approach you. Everyone loves to see what you’re drawing. No one cares if it doesn’t look exactly like the scene before you. At least you’re trying. They’re not. You both know it. And that can lead to wonderful conversations.

• You get to choose what you draw . I am a rank beginner when it comes to drawing or travel sketching. But it doesn’t matter. I journeyed through China with my son who is a graphic designer and artist. He’d be tackling some complex building or—gasp—a person, and I’d settle for drawing the trash can. It didn’t matter. I liked that trash can. And I knew it wouldn’t be as hard as what Leonardo there was sketching. We both walked away satisfied.

• You improve other creative areas. I’m a better photographer because of sketching since now I’m more intentional about what I shoot. Plus, I can draw during the bright mid-day hours when the light isn’t as great for photos. I think I write better too because I notice more details.

• You experience a place on a deeper level . I now see things I never would have before,  plus I look for things I never would have previously. Every place is now a visual scavenger hunt. I see a completely new dimension of a place as a result. It’s like the artist’s trick of drawing negative space: to draw the chair, for example, draw the empty spaces between the legs and back slats and you’ll actually draw the chair as a result. You begin to see the “negative spaces” of life that before were invisible. And in that is an entire world of wonder.

• You learn there is no wrong way. Stop the self-judging. There are no bad drawings. Everything is a chance to practice and learn. Sure, the kangaroo I drew from a photo in the in-flight magazine looks psychopathic. And yes, that large round flower pot I drew in the Suzhou garden looks like a fallen cake. But so what? As an art professor once told my son, “You’ve got 2,000 bad drawings in you that you need to get out.” 1998 to go…

Not yet convinced?

Here are some other tips, resources for inspiration, drawing ideas and suggestions for how to get started with your own travel sketching.

To get started, just start playing with different media. Here I didn’t even sketch the outline first in pencil. I just started painting. Is it great? No. Was it fun? Yes. And that’s what matters.

• Find a style you like . Maybe one out of ten books I’ve read on drawing work for me. And I can tell by looking at a few pages. Most are too complex or photo-realistic. Others are too fussy. Still others are too messy. You’ve got to be like Goldilocks and find learning resources — books, online courses, websites or even classes — that work for you. Otherwise, I guarantee you want stick with it or likely, even get started.

I saw a pin of this image on Pinterest and re-created it. It would be blatant copying except that I am only using it to practice.

More recreations, this time from a Matthew Rice book using pencil with watercolor. It’s good to simply enjoy making the sketch and not worry if it is perfect. But it’s also helpful to learn from each one. For example, with the top castle, I really like the building on the right but the one on the left got a little wonky.

I’ve recently started using ink instead of watercolor since I still can’t make watercolor sketches quite the way I want. Ink reduces the learning to only dealing with shades, not colors

Here’s a very different style using pen and ink instead of pencil and ink. I think I like pencil better, but I still have a lot of practice ahead of me before I figure out my preferred style. So why not try both?

• Find resources that fit your needs . Just like finding a style you like, finding the right learning resources is a matter of evaluating a lot and choosing a very few. Start online with courses or tutorials. Or go to the library and look through all the options there. But you’ll know you’ve found the right one when it inspires you to want to try. If it doesn’t, keep looking. Here are some that have worked for me:

This is typical of the majority of my travel sketches where I make it quickly in ink alone, not worrying about so-called mistakes. As one artist put it, they aren’t mistakes. They are evidence of your personal style!

Sketches don’t have to be big to be enjoyable. I re-created these little people from a book on watercolors but now, I can make similar ones from real people because I understand the technique.

• Art Before Breakfast – While focused on being more creative, the emphasis here is on getting started doing daily drawing by providing drawing ideas and other creative activities you try so you form the habit sketching or doing something creative every day.
• The Creative License which teaches you how to be more creative in anything.

One thing I learned from Danny Gregory is that you’re never without subjects. A trip around the block will reveal all kinds of things to sketch.

• Keys to Drawing — It’s over two decades old but still one of the best for providing drawing ideas, getting started and progressing.
• Drawing with the Imagination —This is great if you want to learn to draw on your own without a subject before you. I’d start with Keys to Drawing first and then progress to this book. But check this one out just for the inspiration.

Anything can be a source of a practice drawing, even a photo of Betty Edwards on the back of her book. This is one of the few times I took more time to draw something more detailed in pencil.

• Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain
• Explorers’ Sketchbooks 
• The Sea Journal: Seafarers’ Sketchbooks  

If you’re making your travel sketchbook just for you, you can fill in blank (or smudged) areas even after a trip with, I don’t know, maybe Baby Yoda? As long as you date each entry, it doesn’t really matter the order of them.

You can see other examples and resources in my article on travel journals .

Sometimes you sketch things over and over just to understand what you’re doing. After that, your practice is both more fun and productive.

And in case you’re wondering about the sketches shown above, the older ones up to the “Not yet convinced?” section come either from the Smithsonian’s recent release of over 2.8 million images to the public domain or the New York Public Library’s digital collection which is also in the public domain. Both are great resources for old images. The newer ones are all mine just to show that anyone can do this.

Need more inspiration?

Here are some wonderful examples I’ve come across of different styles and approaches for your inspiration.

Why sketch a city you see when you can just make up your own ?

You can draw whatever you love. Especially food.

This will expand your perspective on using the medium of pastel.

Here’s a good overview of some specific sketchbook tips.

Finally, here’s a wealth of various travel sketchbook examples on a few different Pinterest boards. With Pinterest, it helps to search by boards because then you can get a sense of people who have similar taste to you. Or you can just search on pins and see a wider variety. These are four boards I enjoy (click on the image to go to the board), but your taste may differ, so go hunt down some boards that inspire you:

Wow! Fascinating read, and actually quite encouraging to those of us who are artistically-challenged to give it a whirl!

Thanks, Rick. I’m glad it is encouraging. I was going to say I expect to see some masterpieces from you. But that would defeat the point of this post. So how about this: I expect to see some great efforts soon.

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How Travel Drawing Enhances Your Journey

• January 8, 2024
• Travel Planning

Travel drawing has a whole new take on capturing experiences; it goes beyond the speed and efficiency of photographs by adding an element of soul to each work. This time-honoured tradition also leads to deeper connections with captivating landscapes, bustling street corners, or even a simple coffee cup in your favourite cafe. Instead of rushing from one destination to another, you’re encouraged to slow down, immerse yourself in the moment and plaster these dynamic impressions on paper. These sketches tell stories of beautiful scenes and hours spent soaking up the ambience and carefully observing details. Moreover, developing your artistic skills while travelling results in masterpieces that encapsulate more than just visual beauty- they capture feelings, moments and memories exclusive to you as an individual traveller. Every stroke is a whisper about the culture and colours experienced on your journey. 

Improves observation skills and attention to detail

Travel drawing not only captures moments, but it is also a journey that excels in honing our inherent observation skills and keen attention to detail. Sitting on a park bench in Paris and sketching the vibrant café scene or capturing the intricate patterns of Marrakesh’s markets can completely transform your perspective. Instead of passively observing surroundings, travel drawing pulls you into these moments, forcing you to see nuances, light plays, textures- every minor detail you ordinarily overlook. It’s like building mental musculature; every extra minute invested in scrutinising your model metamorphoses into this art form’s strength: extraordinary precision. Admiring an Amalfi coast sunset becomes an intimate study of how varying hues dissolve seamlessly into each other; marvelling at Bioluminescent may manifest as pinpoint specks amidst blackened ocean water mirroring star-splattered midnight skies. 

How to incorporate travel drawing into your itinerary

Travel drawing can convert treasured moments into timeless art, creating a vivid diary of your journey. You can incorporate this by designating a specific slot in your itinerary for sketching. This could be while lounging at a café or resting on a park bench after an exciting exploration. Choose scenes or moments that inspire you; whether it’s the beautiful architecture, interesting faces, or eye-catching landscapes – remember, precision is not as important as heartfelt interpretation. 

Use more than just visual cues to enhance this experience and bring an immersive quality to your drawings. Let other senses guide and influence your strokes; include specifics such as the ambrosial scent of local cuisine wafting through the air, chatter in an unfamiliar language playing like background music or even memories evoked by certain scenes.

Carrying around lightweight drawing tools will save you hassle throughout the trip, ensuring capturing live details will be manageable but exciting and fun instead! 

So indulge in travel drawing as it immortalises fleeting experiences by rendering them tangible mementoes—bringing back delightful feels every time you flip open those pages long after the journey has ended. You wouldn’t just travel to new destinations; you’ll explore creativity in its purest form.

Inspirations from famous artists who incorporated travel drawing into their journeys

Embarking on a vivid exploration of artistry in motion, we delve into the mesmerising pilgrimage of world-renowned artists who’ve incorporated travel drawing into their vacations. Among them is our first inspiration – J.M.W. Turner – known as the painter of light’; he transformed his worldly experiences into vibrant watercolours and sketches, breathing life onto the canvas with every voyage he undertook. 

His masterpieces created outdoors depict stunning landscapes whose elements shift subtly under differing sunlight angles. Emulating Turner’s prowess, French artist Paul Cézanne ventured away from Parisian studios to the idyllic countryside of Provence. Here, his fascination with Southern France’s rustic charm seeped into his artwork — visible through an impasto-loaded palette knife delivering sturdy strokes portraying quaint villages and serene orchards. 

Consider another notable personality: David Gentleman, a British illustrator whose eclectic sketches capture diverse cultures worldwide and infuse a sense of wanderlust in his audiences’ hearts. Please recognize that these artists found home in their geographical roots and expansive topography exquisitely imprinted in their travel drawings.

How Travel Drawing Can Enhance Your Journey

Travel drawing, the art of visually documenting your journeys, can deepen your engagement with the world around you. It invites you to distil complex landscapes and bustling cityscapes into simple lines and colours on a page. Every etched monument or swiftly sketched passerby serves as a tangible memento of fleeting moments of exploration that stretch beyond mere photographs. 

This artistic pursuit isn’t just about creating souvenir sketches. Still, it provides an opportunity to truly notice the nuances around us – from architectural flourishes that bedeck historic edifices to gentle ripples dancing on a calm lake surface. Our brains are tuned out for leisure during holidays; travel drawing flicks the switch back by encouraging mindfulness, soaking in details, and nurturing an appreciation for our environment’s aesthetic bounty.

Brimming with experiences unique to each journey drawer, this deeply personal process helps craft remarkable narratives that paint awe-inspiring tapestries of our explorations far richer than standard postcards. Life unfolds at its pace during travels; capturing it through drawing makes every adventure closer to home, even when miles away!

Why travel drawing is gaining popularity

Immersive and transformative, travel drawing has opened up a new facet to visual storytelling that’s quickly capturing the hearts of wanderlust souls worldwide. This art form provokes a slow travel approach, compelling travellers to see their surroundings and truly observe them— every brick in ancient architecture, every wrinkle on a local’s face, or every vein on a leaf.

The digital era has allowed individuals from all walks of life to share their picturesque travel sketches with the world instantly. From social media platforms to interactive blogs, our interconnectedness brings these intimate interpretations of shared destinations closer than ever. Through travel drawing – borders dissolve, horizons merge, and we can virtually share the joy of exploring new realms while surfing our digital devices from home!

Travel drawing isn’t just a hobby; it’s an immersive way to experience the world around us. This practice enriches our travel experiences, enhances our observation skills, and fosters a deeper connection with the places we visit. It transforms ordinary journeys into unforgettable adventures filled with beauty and discovery. Whether you’re an experienced artist or a beginner, remember to pack your sketchbook for your next trip. 

So why not start today? Grab a pencil and let your journey unfold on paper, creating masterpieces that will keep your travels alive forever.

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ART iful, get inspired to create

Free resources for artists, travel sketching basic supplies and techniques for beginners.

Travel sketching is a very enjoyable activity. I don’t consider myself an advanced sketcher, but I am really enjoying recording places and people while on vacation. I think sketches have a way to bring back vivid memories at least as well as a picture would, and they are more unique.

You might also be interested in:  watercolor and pen figure drawing

We traveled to Thailand for Spring break and here is what I brought with me. With these basic supplies you will be able to sketch while travelling:

You can make a small portable watercolor set from a box of Barklays or similar candy and chewing gum packaging.

Here are the colors I used for my travelling watercolor box:

Paynes grey, sap green, Winsor green, ultramarine blue, Turquoise blue, permanent red, Alazarin crimson, cadmium yellow, burnt sienna, yellow ocher.

I am a Blick Art Materials affiliate and I receive a small compensation for sales. That does not effect in any way the cost of the purchaser’s order but it helps me keeping the content of this blog free.

We traveled with a group and a local guide and the rhythm was quite intense so most of the opportunities I had to draw and paint were during our travelling times or waiting in hotel lobbies. I will have to use my reference pictures to make more drawings of the places we visited.

Travel Sketching techniques

For drawing, I recommend you use a fine liner or fountain pen to make contour drawings. I like it better than using graphite as it will forces you to draw with assurance, knowing you won’t have the possibility to erase.

Don’t try to make your drawings perfect, little inaccuracies in perspective or lines that are not straight are part of the charm of sketching. Try to not use a ruler as it will make your drawings look very starch and unnatural.

Adding watercolor to your sketches

For adding color, the watercolor travel box will be very convenient. You can also use the watercolor pencils with the water-brush.

Here is a selection of my drawings and some of my daughter that she made from imagination while travelling:

You might also be interested in:

Sandrine Pelissier

Watercolor and pen figure drawing, shooting art videos for your blog, website or social media, comments (6).

Excellent sketches Sandrine. Looks like your daughter is following in your footsteps hers are brilliant also.

Thanks Sonia, she will be very happy to read your comment 🙂

Endlessly creative! Some of the products are new to me but I promise myself a trip to Dick Blick in the very near future – so am adding to my shopping list already. The sketches are fun, Charlotte’s animals look great. I actually have sketch books almost unused – now I really must pack them when travelling, or even in the car. Thank you Sandrine.

Excellent! Thanks Eddi. I am sure you will enjoy sketching on your next trip 🙂

Sandrine you are a genius. I love the way you think. A gum box. 😀

Thanks Tracie 🙂 Maureen from our life drawing class gave me the idea.

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9 Best Travel Sketchbooks in 2020

• Published: February 1, 2020
• Updated: December 15, 2023
• Buying Guides , Sketchbooks

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. That means if you buy something, we might get a small commission at no extra cost to you ( read disclosure )

It’s hard to underestimate the importance of a good travel sketchbook. It doesn’t matter what you use it for – sketching and doodling, full-on drawing away from home, or just taking notes (journaling or travel diaries) . The quality and convenience of your sketchbook will influence the overall flow of your working process.

The choice of the perfect sketchbook will depend on your own preferences. It’s up to you, what would you use it for, how big do you want it, and which binding you like. But there are some general tips that you might like to follow if you’re new in choosing sketchbooks and don’t know what you like yet.

What Size Should You Get?

Size is probably the most important matter. It influences the weight of the sketchbook, space you’ll have for your creative ideas, and also space it’ll consume in the bag you carry it in. An A5 size sketchbook is the most versatile and popular option, but if you like even smaller formats, choose an A6.

If you need something bigger, you can choose among the A5 sketchbooks with the binding that allows you to lay them flat. This means that you’ll have A4-sized spreads.

If you still want something bigger and your luggage allows it, the hardcover or at least the underlay made of thick cardboard is a must. This will protect the sheets inside and help you draw on the go without needing a desk. A spiral-bound sketchbook can have a softcover because it can be folded over for extra hardness.

Paper Weight and Quantity

The thickness of the sketchbook depends on the number of pages and on the weight of the paper. The thicker the paper, the fewer sheets would fit into a single sketchbook without making it too thick and heavy to carry. So if your trip is going to be a long one, consider either taking more than one sketchbook or looking for the thinner paper (that would still be usable for your preferred media though).

Usually thicker paper is meant to absorb more water , so choose thicker one (from 120 gsm and more) for liquid mediums (except markers: they’ll dry too quickly on heavy paper). If the sketchbook is going to become a mixed media journal with glued-in tickets and photographs, the thicker paper would endure it much better. If you’re using your sketchbook simply for doodles, pencil sketches, or writing, then the regular thin printer paper would work well.

The color of the paper and the sketchbook orientation are purely the choices of your preference – whatever suits best for your drawing style. And when it comes to the price – don’t think that the cheaper ones are worse! We’ve made you a list of nice high-quality travel sketchbooks of all kinds that are very affordable and would make great travel companions for any artist.

Moleskine Art Sketchbook

• MOLESKINE ART COLLECTION: From sketchbooks and sketchpads to watercolor notebooks with heavy paper, to music notebooks with plain and pentagram pages, to storyboard layout notebooks, Moleskine's art collection of notebooks offer the quality you need.

Moleskine is well-known for its stylish and high-quality sketchbooks and notebooks. This journal is hardcover with a rubber closure, that ensures the safety of your drawings. It also has a cute sewn-in ribbon bookmark.

A pocket in the back of the sketchbook can be really useful for travelers for storing tickets, postcards, tea labels, receipts, and any other valuables. You might glue them in later or just leave them in the pocket as a reminder about your trip. The 165 gsm paper would work well with glue.

• Weight: about 5 oz (142 g)
• Perfect for: pencils and other dry mediums, pens, markers, glue.

Pentalic Traveler Pocket Journal

• DURABLE COVER - Flexible, water-resistant cover with an heavy-duty sewn binding.
• ACID FREE - Our paper is made by using alkaline paper making technology which prevents papers from fading or discoloring. Acid-free paper addresses the problem of preserving documents or artwork!

This sketchbook has a flexible cover , but it doesn’t make it less durable at all. The rubber closure will prevent it from opening and damaging the paper, and the back page pocket will be perfect for storing anything you’ll want to add to your journal. It also features a ribbon bookmark.

The amount and size of high-quality 120 gsm pages would be enough for a long time. The paper is acid-free and bright white for perfect interaction with any color you might use. If you want, you can also choose the paper to be ruled or grid for any kind of notes.

• Weight: about 13.4 oz (380 g)
• Perfect for: pencil sketches and drawings, inks, pens.

ARTEZA Sketchbook, Pack of 2

• More Art Paper, More Possibilities: You get 2 thick, large 100-sheet art books for drawing – 200 sheets in all – so you can draw, sketch, doodle and color to your heart's content.

If you want a lot, you want it all now, and for a reasonable price, this pack of two ARTEZA a4 sketchbooks is for you. They are thick, spiral-bound, with a hard back cover, which makes them convenient for drawing and sketching anywhere. They may take up some space in your bag, but they’ll be absolutely worth it.

The high-quality acid-free 100 gsm paper will endure your notes, sketches, dry media drawings, and even markers. It will also be easy to remove the pages if you want because they’re micro-perforated, but they can stay together as a bound sketchbook without any problems.

• Pages: 2 x 100
• Weight: about 4 pounds (1800 g) for both
• Perfect for: pencils, pens, pastels, markers.

MALEDEN Leather Writing Journal Notebook

• Blank Paper: No lined feature, you can draw mind maps, sketch ideas or write notes freely on the page.Perfectly work as writing journal, drawing pad, scetch book, travelers notebook, diary planner, coupon organizer, photo album and so on.

This a6 -sized notebook isn’t just a really aesthetic travel journal; it would also make a great gift. The cover is made of high-quality PU leather with embossing and retro pendants . A leather string will help you keep the journal closed.

Its binding allows the journal to be refillable , so you can just take an extra pack of paper with you on the road, which doesn’t consume too much space. You’ll also be able to remove the page neatly if you mess it up and replace it with a clean one. You can buy white or toned paper and create an exquisite diary of your travels.

• Pages: 80 (refillable)
• Weight: about 7 oz (200 g)
• Perfect for: writing with pens and inks, pencil sketches, stickers, and collages.

Unruled/Blank/Plain/Unlined Notebook by Lemome

• DURABLE HARDCOVER JOURNAL & PEN HOLDER -This blank notebook touched comfortably, cleanable, sturdy hard cover, protects your art for years. The elastic pen loop is always available for your pen and kept well.

This hardcover journal with blank sheets is everything you could dream of. It’s durable, safely closed with a rubber band, and contains the premium quality paper that goes well with pens, inks, and pencils. So, if you want a good sketchbook for taking notes and sketching on the go – this is for you.

It has a minimalistic, yet very stylish cover design. It also offers you a safe pen holder on its spine so that you won’t lose your pen inside your traveling bag.

• Weight: about 15 oz (425 g)
• Perfect for: taking notes with pens and inks, pencil sketching.

Soft Cover Spiral Notebook Journal, Pack of 2 by DSTELIN

• Perfect size: 19cm x 13cm/ 7.5 "x 5.1", perfect size for handbag, schoolbag or backpack, easy Blank take pages for running.

These small minimalistic sketchbooks can easily accompany you on a trip with the limited luggage space. Even though the cover is blank, you can easily decorate it however you like, since it’s made of cardboard.

The paper inside of the notebooks is cream white , adding a lovely warm hue to your drawings and making your writing look more aesthetic. It’s also acid-free, so don’t worry about your inks fading over time. The pages aren’t perforated, but it’s okay if you’re planning to leave the sketchbook completed.

• Pages: 2 x 50
• Weight: about 8.8 oz (250 g) for both
• Perfect for: pencil sketches and doodles, pens, markers.

Travelogue Square Drawing Book by Speedball

• PREMIUM HEAVYWEIGHT 130GSM PAPER - This sketchbook is made with a high quality buff colored drawing paper that allows for easy erasure. The subtle tooth makes it ideal for a variety of dry media!

Sketchbooks like this are available in different shapes, but this particular one is remarkable because it’s square . This format is dearly loved by illustrators and travel journal keepers, and it’s good for a change even if you’re used to classic rectangle format.

The sketchbook itself is hardcover with a secure rubber closure and looks really lovely with its rounded edges. The paper is 130 gsm thick, which makes it good for both wet and dry mediums, and you can also use glue in it. A bookmark is added for your convenience, and the inside pocket makes it an even more perfect travel journal.

• Weight: about 8 oz (227 g)
• Perfect for: light watercolor washes, gouache, and acrylic paint, markers, inks, pens, pencils and other dry mediums, glue.

Field Artist Rectangle Watercolor Journal

This beautiful in its simplicity sketchbook has a hardcover bound in thermo-PU leather . It also features such cool things as elastic closure, a ribbon bookmark, and a 4-panel panorama fold-out sheet in its back cover.

The paper inside of it is simply amazing, 200 gsm thick and textured , so it would be a wonderful watercolor journal. However, you don’t have to limit yourself to this, and it can easily be used with other mediums as well. The format is ideal for plein-air landscape paintings.

• Weight: about 6.4 oz (180 g)
• Perfect for: watercolors, acrylics, and gouache, dry mediums, inks, pens and pencils, glue.

Field Artist Masters Series Square Watercolor Journal

If you need a watercolor sketchbook with heavyweight paper for your travels, this one is for you. The paper inside is 300 gsm and will survive watercolor washes and wet mediums. The texture of the paper will also make it good for soft dry mediums, but consider taking spray fixative on your trip in that case.

The sketchbook also features a bookmark, a rubber band for closing it, and a fold-out panorama sheet . Its size is ideal for traveling or urban sketching.

• Perfect for: watercolors and other wet mediums (except markers), pastels, soft pencils.

Now that you’ve scrolled through all of these options, you might know better which travel sketchbook is best for you! Big or small, with heavyweight or thin paper – they all have their own perks for different purposes, so you have to define your purpose first. After that, making a choice would become so much easier.

And remember: no matter where you go and what kind of art (or journal) you create, don’t forget to take your inspiration with you! 😉

Looking for other sketchbook ideas?

• 12 Best Sketchbooks for Markers that don’t bleed!
• 8 Awesome Watercolor Sketchbooks
• 6 Dark Sketchbooks With Black Pages
• 10 Sketchbooks Perfect For Mixed Media Art
• Pen And Ink Drawing Sketchbooks
• 5 Sick Personalized Leather Sketchbooks

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Posted on October 7, 2019 by Jean Mackay / Drawn In

8 Tips for Travel Sketching

I’ve been wrapping up the sketches that I started while on my Great Western Road Trip — a 10 day drive from Boulder, Colorado, to Pasadena, California, via Arches, Canyonlands, and Bryce Canyon National Parks in Utah. This trip had a much tighter itinerary than previous vacations and it put me to the test in terms of sketching on the go. I thought I’d share a few tips gleaned from my experience in hopes that they help you on your next trip.

• Pare down to a few basic supplies . The more stuff you have the harder it will be to carry, set up, and break down quickly. I put my journal, pencil, pen, and paints into a large Ziploc bag that fits in my handbag or backpack.
• Seize the moment. Travel sketching requires a combination of seizing opportunities and making opportunities to fit art into your trip. It isn’t easy. This is especially true if you have a hectic itinerary or if you are traveling with non-sketchers, or both. Make the most of the time you have, whether five minutes while waiting for your traveling companions, a 30-minute airport layover, or an hour in your hotel at the end of the day.
• Create the moment. If you know in advance that you will be going somewhere you’d like to sketch, tell your traveling companions and let them know approximately how much time you need. This enables everyone to plan their time and spares you from feeling as if you are slowing the group.
• Start, even if you can’t finish. If you see something that strikes you, put down a line and take a photo for reference. Draw what you can in the time you have. You can always come back and finish later, but if you don’t start, you’ll lose the moment and the freshness of sketching live.
• Adjust your expectations and the size of your artwork. You’re not out to make a masterpiece; you’re out to record fun, interesting, and memorable parts of your trip. Work smaller if it helps.
• Mix it up. Sketch a variety of subjects, from landscapes to single objects to food. The more varied your pages, the more you will capture the essence of your trip.
• Incorporate artistic elements from the place. This may include colors, fonts, or designs drawn from the art or culture of the place you are visiting.
• Let enthusiasm fuel you. More than likely, there will be no ideal conditions for drawing or painting while traveling. You may not have great seating, weather, light, or time. Expect to be challenged and let your enthusiasm drive you. Your sketches may not be perfect, but they’ll convey a sense of fun, discovery, and excitement from your trip.

Workshop Opportunity: Travel Sketching in Watercolor Saturday, November 9, 2019; 9am – 1pm,  Art School of Columbia County, Ghent, NY Sure to be worth the trip, this workshop will focus on techniques and layout ideas for sketching on the go and capturing your travel experiences in watercolor. Register by emailing:  [email protected]

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 Category: Journal , nature      Tags: road trip , sketching tips , travel sketching , watercolor sketch

34 Comments on “ 8 Tips for Travel Sketching ”

as usual, inspiring, esp the long hikes and lovely sketches and GETTING SUPPLIES DOWN TO ONE ZIPLOCK!!!….pretty much impossible for me, just getting things to take to lifedrawing is huge, will you share what you actually got it down to?.. what splendid parents you are…lucky lad…thanks for all the tips..sandra

Sure- My 5.5×8.5 sketchbook, 2 Micron pens, one pencil, kneaded eraser, small set of paints, three Escota travel brushes (2,6,10; they fold into the handle), water brush, 2 paper towels, film-size container of water. And yes, we are all very lucky!

Thank you for your inspiring sketches and how you do them whilst traveling. I have similar experiences when I do my sketching. Very often I think my sketches are awful when looking at them on the spot. (You know, the 5minute ones when you partner is impatiently waiting). But later on (maybe a couple of weeks) they express a strange charme to me that a random digital photo can not. Sometimes I sketch whilst rock climbing (on a belay) or at a rest whilst mountain biking. Then I do mostly the outlines. So the lines are very shaky and very sketchy. Then I take a photo for reference and finish the sketch at home (mostly the coloring). I am glad that you also mention that. I used to think it as cheating, but have decided that I am doing this for my own pleasure and do not have to justify my method to anybody. I am keen follower of you blog and like your artwork a lot!

Regards James G. Skone Vienna, Austria

James- Sketching on belay takes it to a whole new level! You would be amazed at how wonky my initial pen sketches are. But, as you say, they are sort of charming and I can tighten up as I progress with color. As for cheating– I think of it this way: you’ve got a variety of tools in your toolbox, use them to your advantage. There’s no right and wrong way to do things. Make your own rules! Best, Jean

thanks for the item inventory, if you can get such magic out of so little, I’m there…

You bet! I’d go with a pen and my journal if I didn’t like color so much. Remember: the art is in you more than in the supplies.

Sounds like a wonderful trip! Wondering the logistics — did you rent a vehicle to drive out, then fly home? Thank you so much for sharing your wonderful art!

Greer Deneen 608.333.2101

Thanks! We flew to Boulder and drove my son’s car to Pasadena, then flew home. Believe me, it was not luxury driving.

Beautiful sketches! I love how you chronicle your adventures. I especially like your choice of script. The style fits. That’s something that leaves me in a quandary when I’m done with a sketch. Love the numbers page. But I love them all, really.

I seem to have a couple of “go to” font styles and then I look for something to add from the place. There were a number of “Western” fonts on signs/billboards so I chose one for the map.

Great suggestion. Thank you.

Stunning work and thank you for sharing! Could you write a post on materials you use? I love the pairing down idea. Thank you, Michele Quigley

Thanks for the post idea! If I handed you a Ziploc bag and told you that’s all you could carry, what would you put in it?

Great tips Jean. The ziploc idea is genius. I always carry a separate sketch bag but this made me realize I need to get things down to an even smaller kit.

I sometimes carry a separate sketch bag, but the Ziploc ensures that my journal will stay dry in case of a water spill or rain. You can also just pull out the Ziploc and carry fewer supplies when heading into a museum or on a hike or whenever you have to lighten up even more.

Thank you very much. I read this from the viewpoint of a photographer and I found that, other than the equipment involved, everything else seems to apply. I love all of the sketches, but the spread on the page that begins with Bryce to Barstow especially speaks to me.

Glad you like that spread Michael. I had to keep it simple because I drew the outlines while driving and by the time we stopped by dinner the light had changed.

I like the simplicity. A lot.

Excellent tips for those of us who travel a lot. I always seem to take more stuff than I think I need or want on my trips. Or even weekend local urban sketchers meetups tend to be overkill on the equipment that I take with me. I have a fear of leaving an important item behind. Again thank you for your timely tips, I appreciate them.

You’re welcome Rene. I left bigger brushes at home on this trip and really missed them. It was hard to get a decent large wash with paint that dried as soon as I put it down. Still, I’d rather travel light and be nimble.

Thanks – is your sketchbook watercolour paper?

Yes. It’s 180 gsm. It’s not as high quality as many watercolor papers, but it holds up fairly well. It’s a Stillman and Birn sketchbook (Beta).

Thanks for that Jean

Jean, I always look forward to your posts and all that I am learning from you. Finding the time to sketch during a holiday is a huge challenge. Thanks so much for the tips. I will continue to try…I’m making progress.

Hi Judy- Thanks for your note. I’m glad you see progress! Putting pen or pencil to paper, over and over and over, is key.

Excellent tips (Michael’s right, of course)! I love that you quoted Terry Tempest Williams. And you saw a Dipper – cool! Your desert night sky is magical…it’s all making me long for the desert. I spent time around Torrey, which you almost went through (it’s south of Loa) about 17 years ago and I still long to return. Thanks for reminding me of the beauty.

Oh…you’ve got to go back. It had been MANY years for me and returning to that landscape was just so great. Yes on Terry Tempest Williams– a perfect choice for Utah, and Yes- the dipper was cool. Hadn’t seen one before.

My partner found a dipper on a trip some years ago and I gave him a very hard time about it – he’s not a long-time birder like I am, so it killed me that I’d wanted to see this bird for years that he hardly knew about. He tried to get my attention but I was busy taking pictures. So funny!) Seriously though, thanks for the encouragement to return. That would be good. 🙂

Pingback: Two days in New York: tips for quick travel sketches | The Sketchbook

Wow! These are really cool. I just found your blog, how did you get started with this hobby?

Hi Pam- I’ve been drawing since I was a child. I find that keeping an artist journal is a way for me to not only practice and grow my skills, but record my experiences, connections, and learning. I love having everything in one place in a book format, and I love having a format that is entirely portable.

Beautiful! I love these! Sounds like a real fun road trip too!

Thanks Jason! It was a fun trip and certainly challenged me in terms of sketching on the go.

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13 Best Travel Sketchbooks for 2023: Perfect Gifts for Artists and Travelers

July 20, 2023 May 18, 2022 | Dee

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Last Updated on July 20, 2023 by Dee

Do you love to travel and sketch? If so, you’re going to want to check out this list of the 13 best travel sketchbooks for 2023!

These sketchbooks are perfect for artists and travelers alike, and they make great gifts for anyone who loves to explore the world.

Whether you’re a seasoned traveler or just getting started, these sketchbooks will help you capture your memories and experiences in beautiful detail.

Table of Contents

What is a travel sketchbook, you ask, best pocket travel sketchbook for pencil and ink, best vegan-friendly travel sketchbook, best travel sketchbook for colored pencils, best travel sketchbook for mixed media, best travel sketchbook for markers, best refillable travel sketchbook, best kids travel sketchbook, best vintage keepsake travel sketchbook, best mini travel sketchbook, best travel sketchbook for urban sketching, best travel sketchbook for graphite pencil or charcoal drawing, best travel sketchbook for watercolor painting, best pocket field travel sketchbook, paper weight, cold-pressed or hot-pressed, amount of pages, how do you make a travel sketchbook, keep your sketchbook close by, keep essential art supplies close by, release the desire to draw or make perfect art, commit to drawing/ making one page a day on your travels, annotate your drawings, 10 travel sketchbook prompts.

• [Best Watercolor Set for Beginners][Best Drawing Kit for Creative People][The Top Black Paper Sketchbooks][Gifts for Artists who Paint][Gifts for Artists who Draw][Art Journal Supplies]

A travel sketchbook is essentially a pocket-sized or easy-to-carry visual diary, usually composed of good quality blank paper, on which you can draw, sketch, doodle, paint, and make art during your travels.

Whether you are traveling for work, waiting in a queue at the bank, or sitting on a bench in your local park, having a travel sketchbook is a valuable asset to creative living. It provides an immediate outlet for creative inspiration and ideas.

**This page may contain affiliate links to products I have used or recommend. If you purchase something from this page, I may receive a small percentage of the sale at no extra cost to you.**

Below is a list of the best travel sketchbooks for 2023.

13 Best Travel Sketchbooks for 2023

Pentalic pocket sketchbook traveler journal.

Size: 6” x 8”

Paper Weight: 120gsm

Suitable for: sketching with pencil and ink on the go!

The Pentalic Sketchbook Traveler Journal was made from recycled, acid-free paper for professionals, students, and artists to sketch journals or draw art and their surroundings.

It is an everyday sketchbook! It includes an expandable pocket, an elastic band to close it, and a ribbon to mark your page.

Ricco Bello Art Sketchbook

Size: 5.5” x 5.5”

Paper Weight: 180gsm

Suitable for: Dry mediums – pencil, pen, markers, pastels, and light washes

Is the Ricco Bello Art Sketchbook worth it? Yes! The Ricco Bello Sketchbook is a high-quality, vegan-friendly sketchbook with a vegan leather cover, and it is perfectly square in shape.

These are the ideal dimensions for sharing on social media. It is also important to note that this sketchbook is a lay-flat sketchbook, making it easy to work on a two-page spread. It also has an elastic enclosure and a ribbon to mark your page.

Arteza 5.1” x 8.3” Sketch Book

Size: 5.1” x 8.3”

Paper Weight: 175gsm

Suitable for: colored pencils, pencil, pen, ink, markers, and pastel.

The Arteza sketchbook is high quality and good for use with most media and in fact is at the top of my list for the best sketchbook for pencil and ink. It includes a ribbon to mark your page and also an expandable inner pocket to hold your visual references, notes, and ephemera.

This travel sketchbook comes in a pack of 3 notebooks and is very easy to travel with. It also has a 100% satisfaction guarantee. If you aren’t happy with it, you can simply ask for a refund.

[Related article: Aesthetic Things to Draw]

Tumuarta Square Watercolor Journal

Paper Weight: 300gsm

Suitable for: Watercolor, acrylics, pen, pencil, markers, pastel, and more. It also tolerates firm pressure from using an eraser.

The Tumuarta square watercolor journal is composed of 25% cotton 300gsm heavyweight watercolor paper. It is cold-pressed and easily holds mixed media studies – great for wet media!

The paper is acid-free and stays vibrant over time without turning yellow or fading. Another great aspect of this journal is that the sheets are microperforated so that they can be easily turned or removed if you want to.

The paper tears easily along the micro-perforations, and you can remove a page in order to frame an artwork you created during your travels.

This is a lay-flat sketchbook which means you can work on a two-page spread at once. This sketchbook has a sturdy cover with round corners to protect you from accidental paper cuts, and it also includes a handy back pocket to store your reference images , photos, ephemera , and small items you have found along your journey.

Arteza 3.5” x 5.5” Watercolor Book

Size: 3.5” x 5.5”

Paper Weight: 230gsm

Suitable for: Watercolor washes, pen, pencil, pastel, ink.

The Arteza Watercolor Book is a wonderfully portable option for a travel sketchbook. It is pocket-sized and has the perfect amount of tooth for watercolor painting and mixed media studies.

This sketchbook comes in a set of three It is a dual-sided sketchbook and is perfect for beginners and more advanced artists to explore their creativity.

The pages are acid-free and are natural linen-bound. It includes an inner pocket to store reference images, photos, and small items, and it also has an elastic strap to prevent it from opening and getting damaged.

[Related Article: How to Start Drawing]

Leather Writing Journal Notebook

Size: 7.3” x 5.0”

Paper Weight: 80gsm

Suitable for: Pencil and pen.

This classic spiral refillable travel sketchbook has a nautical, vintage aesthetic to it. It comes with 160 pages which are mostly suitable for sketching and writing.

The sketchbook cover is made from durable man-made leather, and it’s a handy sketchbook to have if you want to add or remove pages easily.

Travel Journal Kids Prompts Sketchbook

Size: 6” x 9”

Paper Type: Crisp white paper

Suitable for: Pencil and pen

The travel journal kids sketchbook is a great place for kids to record their experiences while traveling.

It provides prompts to stimulate their writing, drawing and art-making. It includes activities, gratitude prompts, and sketchbook pages to draw and log each day.

Kids are prompted to log the weather, what they saw, what they ate, who they met, and what they learned about during the day. They are also prompted to draw or sketch any interesting sites they would like to include.

This journal is durable and lightweight to carry around. It also makes for a great birthday or pre-travel gift and can be used during pit stops, waiting at terminals, or on the airplane, bus, or train.

Leather Journal Tree of Life

Paper Weight: 125gsm

Pages : 120

Suitable for: Pencil, pen, markers, and colored pencils.

This traveling sketchbook is a beautifully crafted Coptic leather-bound and embossed journal with a vintage tree design on the cover. It is handmade from 100% genuine leather, and no two journals are exactly the same. Because of this, it becomes a special keepsake for your sketching, thoughts, and ideas.

The paper used is hand-crafted, recycled, tree-free and environmentally friendly. It is acid-free, and because of the thickness and the fiber of the paper, there is no bleed-through from pen ink.

This makes it great for wet media and also a beautiful and creative birthday gift or travel gift for a loved one. In the unlikely event you don’t absolutely love your sketchbook; you have up to a year to ask for a full refund or free replacement.

Your purchase will also be helping children in Zambia in Africa, as a percentage of the profits go to Tehila, a Non-Profit organization that promotes the prevention of child cruelty.

Arteza 3.5 x 5.5” Mini Sketch Book

Size : 3.5” x 5.5”

Suitable for: Pencil, pen, markers, charcoal, and colored pencils.

Arteza is known for its high-quality paper and sketchbooks that are built to last. This is a great travel-sized sketchbook with thick paper and is perfect for all dry media and light watercolor washes.

This traveling sketchbook includes an inner pocket to store your art reference images, photographs, ephemera, and small embellishments. It also has an elastic strap to hold the sketchbook closed and a ribbon as a page marker.

Arteza has a 100% satisfaction guarantee – if you are not happy with the product, you can request a refund or replacement.

Field Artist 4” x 4” Square Watercolor Journal

Size: 4” x 4”

Paper Weight: 200gsm

Suitable for: Watercolor or ink washes, acrylic paint, pencil, pen, charcoal, and markers

The Field Artist Travel Sketchbook comes in a square format, the perfect format for Instagram artwork posts.  

This traveling sketchbook contains high-quality, 200gsm thick paper and cold-pressed paper, ideal for watercolor or ink washes, sketching, and mixed media art. It is a perfect travel-sized sketchbook for artists who want to work en Plein air or carry it around urban scenery.

This sketchbook is durable and is hardbound in soft, gray thermo-PU leather. It has a panorama fold-out in the back cover for an elongated drawing surface as a cool extra.

[Related article: How to use graphite paper for drawing]

Moleskin Art Sketch Album

Suitable for: Pencil and pen drawing.

A very popular choice of a sketchbook, this Moleskin Sketchbook is pocket-sized and high-quality.

This is the best pocket sketchbook on my list because it is durable and is suitable for use with a wide variety of dry media. It’s is a pity that it doesn’t have thicker paper because then it could be used for wet media too.

[Wondering How to Find Your Art Style? Read this blog post!]

Strathmore 483-5 Softcover Watercolor Art Journal

Size: 8” x 5.5”

Suitable for: Watercolor, ink, pen, pencil, mixed media, and most other media.

Strathmore paper is high-quality with natural white color and is perfect for mastering ink and watercolor washes. Because the 300gsm paper has a good tooth, it is also ideal for mixed media artwork. This is a great sketchbook to travel with and has a velvety softcover.

Leda Art Supply Pocket Stitched Sketchbook or Field Journal

Paper Weight: 216gsm

Suitable for: Pencil, ink, pen, pastel, charcoal, and light washes.

Leda Pocket Stitched Sketchbook or Field is ideal for light color washes and most dry media. It fits easily into your pocket for easy traveling and sketching anywhere. It has 160 pages, so it won’t be used up too quickly and is bound in durable leather, which means it is ideal for the outdoors.

It has been tested by wilderness guides who take the Pocket Leda on backpack trips in the Rocky Mountains! It is the perfect field journal and a great gift for outdoors lovers!

How do I choose a sketchbook?

There are various factors to consider when you are choosing a travel sketchbook to buy.

What is the best-sized sketchbook?

It is important to reflect on your own artistic processes and artmaking. What size are you comfortable working on, and what size do you usually work on?

If you choose a travel sketchbook that is too large, it can be difficult to carry around with you on your travels. You really want a sketchbook that is easy to take out and do a quick sketch in.

On the other hand, if you choose a sketchbook that is too small, then you might feel frustrated by the limited space available for your artmaking.

However, this all depends on your style of art-making and what size you usually work on.

 It is good to test out some quick impromptu sketching or art-making on different-sized plain sheets of paper to get a sense of what would better suit your needs.

Spend an hour sketching someone at a café on a sheet of A6 paper, or sit on your balcony and draw a stationary bicycle on an A4 page.

Generally speaking, a travel sketchbook is a smaller and more compact than a regular sketchbook because it must be travel-friendly and easy to slip in and out of a pocket or bag.

A5 size or approx. 5” x 8” is my ideal travel-size sketchbook. It doesn’t quite fit into your pocket, but it is small enough to fit into a handbag easily.

I also find that working on an A5 page size means that I have a good amount of space to quickly sketch down something I see on my travels in pen, pencil, charcoal, or watercolor.

This is a really important factor because you want to make sure you have selected a strong sketchbook to weather the elements!

Your travel sketchbook is going to be slipped in and out of your bag or pocket often, it’s going to be placed on strange surfaces (like rocks, a grassy mound, or the sidewalk!), it’s going to be drizzled on, and possibly have coffee (or wine) spilled on it!

The best travel sketchbook must be well bound and have a waterproof protective cover to prevent the book from buckling and the pages from getting damaged.

It also really helps to have an elastic band or tie of sorts to hold your books closed. This will prevent your book from opening in your luggage and getting damaged.

Make sure to choose a travel sketchbook that has good quality paper-heavy paper.

A good quality sketchbook will have a cotton paper that is at least 120gsm. This is perfect for sketching and using dry media on paper. It will also tolerate you using an eraser firmly on the surface without tearing it.

If you want to work with markers or fountain pens, it is recommended to go for a heavier paperweight, – 200gsm or more. This means the paper is denser and won’t have ink bleed through it.

300gsm cotton paper is ideal for painting with watercolor and ink washes. You should also choose a travel sketchbook with 300gsm paper if you are looking for a sketchbook in which to work on mixed media art. This paper will easily hold various liquid glue and gel mediums without buckling or tearing.

A travel sketchbook can have either cold-pressed or hot-pressed paper. The cold-pressed paper has more texture to it and has a more pronounced tooth, whereas hot-pressed paper is smoother with almost no tooth.

The bumps and texture of the cold-pressed paper allow it to better hold and absorb liquid without buckling. This makes cold-press paper ideal for watercolor painting, ink washes, and mixed media art.

The hot-pressed paper doesn’t hold liquid very well and tends to buckle when washes are applied on its surface. For this reason, hot-pressed paper is better suited for dry media like graphite pencil, charcoal, pen, and colored pencil.

It is important to note that markers will work on heavier gsm hot-pressed paper, but bleed through will occur on thinner paper.

Choose a sketchbook that is lightweight and easy to carry. A sketchbook with too many pages can make it more difficult to carry around. Aim for a balance between a good amount of pages (at least 70) and something that isn’t too heavy.

One of the most important factors to consider when looking at the best travel sketchbooks is layout. It is good to get a lay-flat travel sketchbook if you would like to work on a two-page spread at once. This means that the sketchbook will open up and lie flat so both pages can be worked on at the same time. Essentially, you can create artwork that extends over both pages.

It is very useful to have a spiral bound lay-flat travel sketchbook if you are painting botanicals or detailed illustrations where you don’t want to be holding the sketchbook open all the time.

That being said, having a sketchbook that you can hold with one hand, and sketch in with the other is absolutely fine! In fact, that’s how most artists work!

You can make your own travel sketchbook from scratch by arranging sheets of paper into collections called signatures. You can then sew the signatures into a cover to bind the book. For more details on how to make your own sketchbook from scratch, you can read my article on Junk Journal 101 for tips on how to do this.

You can also make your own sketchbook by using a readymade old textbook, encyclopedia, novel, or another book with a firm cover.

You can remove and add pages and paper to the book and repurpose the book as an art journal or travel sketchbook. This is called an altered sketchbook or art journal.

[Related Post: Let’s Explore Pen Ink and Watercolor in our Travel Journals]

How do you sketch when traveling?

[Related Post: A List of the Best Junk Journal Supplies]

Here are some tips for sketching while traveling:

Have your travel sketchbook available in your handbag, backpack, or pocket for those moments when you are suddenly inspired by something you see on your travels. You really don’t want to be wasting precious time and energy rummaging around in your luggage for your sketchbook!

It’s a good idea to have a small pencil bag that can hold your essential supplies – pencils, pens, eraser, watercolor pans, glue stick, scissors, and markers. You can also get a travel-sized watercolor pan that is easy to whip out when the moment strikes!

Perfectionism kills creativity. Remind yourself that making art is much more about the process than the end result, and beauty is found in imperfection.

In order to reap the fruits of your artistic labor, it is important that you work consistently in your travel sketchbook. Just think about how great it will be at the end of your journey when you can look back over all the creative explorations and memories of your travel.

Consistently working on your travel sketchbook will also get your creativity flowing, and new sketchbook ideas and thoughts will emerge. You will also find your art-making skills will improve with this regular practice.

[Want to sketch better? Read my top tips on How to Improve Your Drawing]

Just because it’s a travel sketchbook doesn’t mean you can’t write in it too! It’s a great idea to write down notes about what you see and experience on your journey. Write about what you are drawing and what inspires your artmaking.

Here is some excellent travel sketchbook art prompts to start you on your travel sketchbook!

• Morning light
• Something New
• A Beautiful Stone
• An Interesting Stranger
• Music or Song Lyrics
• A quote from a book I am reading
• Landscape/ Cityscape
• Café/bar/restaurant scene

Other Art Supplies You Might Need …

[best watercolor set for beginners] [best drawing kit for creative people] [the top black paper sketchbooks] [gifts for artists who paint] [gifts for artists who draw] [art journal supplies].

If you are an artist who loves to travel or a traveler who loves to sketch, we hope that this list has helped you choose the best travel sketchbook for you and has given you some ideas for your next artistic adventure 😉

In the comments below, we would love to hear about your favorite sketchbooks and art supplies for traveling. Happy sketching!

Other articles you may enjoy…

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15 Best Pencil Cases for Artists & How you Should Choose One

[Looking For a Mixed Media Sketchbook? 16 Best Mixed Media Sketchbooks for Wet & Dry Media]

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Watery, Peaceful, Wild: The Call of the Mangroves

On Curaçao, visitors can explore the trees’ habitat, where colorful birds roost on tangled branches and trunks, and small paths through the greenery beckon.

The Curaçao Rif Mangrove Park offers guided tours, elevated boardwalks, programs for local schoolchildren and a tiered entrance-fee system for residents and overseas visitors. Credit... Frank Meyer for The New York Times

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By Elisabeth Goodridge

Elisabeth Goodridge is the deputy editor for travel at The New York Times.

• May 8, 2024

It was a sunny afternoon in February at the height of the high season on the Caribbean island of Curaçao, but my partner, Aaren, and I were far from lounging on a white-sand beach, snorkeling over a coral reef or strolling among the Easter-egg-colored buildings of Willemstad, Curaçao’s capital and a UNESCO World Heritage site — typical activities for travelers to this former Dutch colony.

Instead, on a kayak tour with Serlon St Jago, a guide from the Curaçao Rif Mangrove Park , we were learning about the country’s mangrove restoration, and the vital role mangrove habitats play in coastal resilience, protection for marine and bird species, and fighting the effects of climate change.

No poisonous snakes, alligators or large predators live on Curaçao, Mr. St Jago said, reassuring information as we paddled toward a forbidding wall of mangroves lining Piscadera Bay. Up close, the trees were magnificent and cheerful. Colorful birds roosted on tangled branches and trunks, and small paths under the green and occasionally yellow leaves beckoned us to explore. With our kayaks beached, Mr. St Jago pointed out fiddler crabs and mussels, and described differences of the local mangrove species — the red, white and black — and how they adapted to live and propagate where water meets land.

“There’s so much life here,” he said with infectious enthusiasm.

We were the only tourists on the water, but getting more visitors like us interested in mangroves, perhaps even persuading them to replant some of the vital trees themselves, has been a priority of scientists, activists, park rangers and tourism operators on Curaçao in recent years.

The island isn’t alone in its efforts: Similar mangrove-focused work has started around the world, in places like Indonesia , Australia , Belize and Florida , as fragile destinations balance tourism’s growth with the conservation — and restoration — of the natural resources that captivate visitors.

“Coral reefs get all the attention. But mangroves are probably a lot more important,” said Gabby Ahmadia , a vice president with the oceans program at the World Wildlife Fund who oversees the organization’s mangrove science and restoration programs. “My favorite analogy about mangroves is that they are Swiss Army knives, because they do provide so many different benefits and they can do so many different things.”

Though these forests are one degree of separation from the sights and the activities that traditionally draw visitors to the ocean, changing perceptions might be hard. To protect the environment, mangrove kayak tours can be — as are most snorkel, fishing and bird-watching tours offered in other destinations — limited by number, and visitors must be interested in the first place. With their summer reads and beach toys, family traditions and limited vacation days, most tourists might simply agree with the old saying “Life is better at the beach.”

A foundation of life

The twisty branches, trunks and distinctive aboveground roots of mangroves are a stark, complex repudiation of how a child’s drawing portrays a common tree. The roots can arch up, pop up spikelike from the water or form stilts above and under the surface. Adapted to oxygen-poor soil, high salinity and the ebb and flow of an intertidal zone, coastal mangroves thrive where other trees and shrubs would perish. Unless they are yellow, the leaves are green, and some, if you lick them, taste salty.

Mangrove forests can appear impenetrable, muddy, smelly and swampy. For centuries, they have been cleared for firewood, farmland, urban development, aquaculture and, yes, tourism. On Curaçao, mangroves are now found on only 0.012 percent of the island. Globally, more than half of the mangrove forests have been cut down or otherwise destroyed in the past 50 years. Deforestation has slowed — but not stopped — in recent years, and rising sea levels and increased storm activity have done further damage.

But coastal mangroves — there are some 60 species worldwide — are the foundation of life above and below the water. With intricate root systems, they act as nurseries for juvenile fish and other marine life. Mangrove branches and trunks make safe feeding and nesting sites for yellow warblers , tricolored herons and other bird species, reptiles like iguanas, and insects aplenty.

Those strongly anchored roots also protect from flooding, erosion and tidal surges by slowing down seawater and trapping dirt and debris. More crucially, mangrove forests are extraordinary for decreasing the effects of global warming, by absorbing and storing carbon annually at a rate 10 times as great as tropical rainforests. Mangroves, along with other coastal wetlands, “sequester enough carbon each year to offset the burning of over one billion barrels of oil,” according to the Nature Conservancy .

Surreptitious beginnings

Ryan de Jongh, a 53-year-old Curaçao native, activist and tour guide, is the living embodiment of regenerative tourism. He’s an important reason we encountered a lush, thriving ecosystem in Piscadera Bay, and demonstrates how one person can make a difference.

Mr. de Jongh grew up swimming in the bay and watched the area’s mangroves being cleared for fuel and construction. In 2006, he surreptitiously planted the first mangrove tree — a single seedling can mature in around 15 years and lead to an entire thicket — and now, he said, more than 100,000 trees are growing. He made similarly stealthy plantings at other inlets and bays, making himself a local hero in the process.

Mr. de Jongh, who gives kayak tours himself , now works on widespread government-sanctioned restoration projects.

His aim is to eventually plant 1.3 million trees on the island. “I have to transform literally a desert back to green,” he said.

The interior of Curaçao certainly looks like a desert, with a dry, dusty landscape of cactus and other succulents. Along with its closest island neighbors, Aruba and Bonaire, Curaçao is outside the Caribbean’s hurricane belt and receives minimal rainfall. People on the island drink desalinated seawater.

The trade winds bring cooler temperatures. In the 16th century, they also brought Europeans who enslaved and deported the Indigenous population and turned Curaçao into a slaving port. The colonists also planted oranges, sugar cane and other nonnative species, with varying degrees of success, and developed giant salt pans for export, but it was the construction of an oil refinery in 1918 and growing tourism that finally brought widespread jobs. The refinery shut down in 2019 — nine years after Curaçao voted to become a semiautonomous nation from the Netherlands — an event that only emphasized tourism’s importance for Curaçao’s economy. Last year, the island, only 40 miles long, welcomed 1.3 million visitors .

Aaren and I gladly did our part to support the economy: In Willemstad, that meant eating at Plasa Bieu , the Old Market, where individual vendors cook and sell local cuisine. We fought with each other over the fried wahoo and an arepa di pampuna — pumpkin pancake — but we were warned off the cactus soup. “I live here,” said another diner, “and I don’t even eat that.” We also snapped photos, like so many other visitors, while crossing the floating Queen Emma Bridge , and watched it open and close for marine traffic.

We waited in an hourlong, locals-heavy line at De Visserij Piscadera Seafood restaurant (“slaying and filleting” since 2017), where diners choose and purchase their fish fillets before sitting down; we drank oregano punch for the first time (think mint ice tea, but oregano and oh so refreshingly delicious); and we inhaled grilled shrimp and raw fresh tuna.

Further north, we ate “williburgers” — goat burgers — at Marfa’s GoodHangout in Sint Willibrordus, which overlooks an old salt pan that, sadly, the resident flamingoes absented that day, and delighted upon coming across a coral nursery while scuba diving right off the jam-packed Kokomo Beach.

Coral reefs are crucial to Curaçao’s tourism and fishing industries and valued at more than $445 million annually, according to a 2016 economic assessment published by the nonprofit Waitt Institute. And coral reefs, which support roughly 25 percent of all marine life, are enduring cataclysmic bleaching and disease brought on or compounded by climate change.

In the last 10 years, scientists have better understood the symbiosis between coral reefs and mangroves: They don’t need each other to exist, but proximity brings benefits to both ecosystems.

“Working in this field of conservation, you might come in from one entry point and then you realize everything is connected,” said Dr. Ahmadia of the W.W.F. “We can work on coral reefs, but we should be thinking about sea grass beds and mangroves, because they are all really connected. And then of course, they are connected to the human environment.”

One morning, Aaren and I walked through the 30-acre Curaçao Rif Mangrove Park , a short stroll from the center of Willemstad and a shorter one from the island’s cruise ship terminal. Open since 2022, the park offers guided and audio tours, elevated boardwalks, programs for local schoolchildren and a tiered entrance-fee system (guilders and U.S. dollars accepted) for residents and overseas visitors. Some 17,766 people came in 2023, an increase of 14,687 from 2022.

Manfred van Veghel is the new director of the Caribbean Research and Management of Biodiversity Foundation, which oversees the mangrove park and five other national parks. Working with the government of Curaçao, local travel operators and activists like Mr. de Jongh, Dr. van Veghel aims to expand park access, construct an elevated bridge and add a visitor center, among other goals. The efforts are part of his desire to transform Curaçao into more of a nature-based tourist destination.

“We had a record last year and they are pushing to get more,” Dr. van Veghel said of Curaçao’s number of annual visitors. Yet, he said, the beaches are getting full. “So we need to get activities other than going to the beach — and the mangrove park is an excellent activity.”

Mark Spalding is a senior marine scientist with the Nature Conservancy and lead scientist of the Mapping Ocean Wealth initiative , an online tool that applies economic value to coastal ecosystems.

Dr. Spalding said a draw of mangrove activities, like boating and hiking, is that “without having to trek through the Amazon for hours and hours, you can get that sense of wilderness and experience, and also the peace and tranquillity very quickly and very easily.”

“It might only be two hours of your entire holiday,” he said, “but it’s the thing you take home with you — the story you tell.”

Follow New York Times Travel on Instagram and sign up for our weekly Travel Dispatch newsletter to get expert tips on traveling smarter and inspiration for your next vacation. Dreaming up a future getaway or just armchair traveling? Check out our 52 Places to Go in 2024 .

An earlier version of this story misidentified an nongovernmental organization. It is the World Wildlife Fund, not World Wildlife Federation.

How we handle corrections

Elisabeth is the deputy editor for the Travel Desk at The New York Times. More about Elisabeth Goodridge

Open Up Your World

Considering a trip, or just some armchair traveling here are some ideas..

52 Places:  Why do we travel? For food, culture, adventure, natural beauty? Our 2024 list has all those elements, and more .

Mumbai:  Spend 36 hours in this fast-changing Indian city  by exploring ancient caves, catching a concert in a former textile mill and feasting on mangoes.

Kyoto:  The Japanese city’s dry gardens offer spots for quiet contemplation  in an increasingly overtouristed destination.

Iceland:  The country markets itself as a destination to see the northern lights. But they can be elusive, as one writer recently found .

Texas:  Canoeing the Rio Grande near Big Bend National Park can be magical. But as the river dries, it’s getting harder to find where a boat will actually float .

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Donald Trump takes the stage in Wildwood as thousands cheer the former president

WILDWOOD — In front of thousands of supporters, Donald Trump took the stage shortly before 6:30 p.m. Saturday, May 11.

Fans stood in a sealed-off section of beach near Lincoln Avenue, but the crowd and onlookers showed up hours before to take in the scene. Trump's Boeing 757 touched down shortly after 4 p.m. at Atlantic City International Airport from LaGuardia in New York. The plane made a pass over the rally and circled back to AC, according to data from the flight tracking app Flightradar24.

7:45 p.m. : Trump finishes his speech, but the crowd had thinned out considerably before it was over due to the cold and wind.

6:24 p.m. : Trump takes the stage to cheers and "USA!" chants.

6:21 p.m .: New Jersey's Joe Piscopo greets Trump supporters, minutes before the former president is expected to take the stage.

6:13 p.m. : "Y.M.C.A." is playing. Trump should be coming out shortly.

5:40 p.m. : The Trump motorcade appears to have arrived. The crowd, which became quiet during the wait, has started to stir. There was a big cheer, but wait! It's Doug Burgum, the governor of North Dakota.

5:17 p.m .: Music from the 1970s and '80s continues to play at the rally. Currently it's "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting" by Elton John.

4:22 p.m.: "USA!" chants ring out from Cap'n Jacks in the Boardwalk Mall across from the beach rally. The line to get in is moving quickly as supporters flood the rally area. The wind near the water makes it feel like the temperature has dropped. The high was expected to reach 56 degrees, according to the National Weather Service, which predicted an afternoon wind from the ocean of about 10 mph.

4:10 p.m. : U.S. Rep Jeff Van Drew urges Trump supporters to vote early, noting "Democrats win with it." Earlier, Drew Drew told a reporter, "This has got to be the biggest political rally in the history of New Jersey." A dentist and former Democrat, Drew is wearing an American flag lapel pin in the shape of a tooth. The lining of his blue suit is made up of multiple U.S. flags

3:29 p.m. : After 90 minutes of music, the crowd cheers as a Donald Trump recording says, “This is the final battle.”

2:55 p.m .: Ocean County Republican Chairman George R. Gilmore, who was pardoned for tax and banking crimes on Trump's last night as president, has a coveted seat in the bleachers behind the main stage. In 2020, Trump won more votes in Ocean County than any other in New Jersey: 217,740 to Biden's 119,456. No Republican has won New Jersey's electoral votes since George H.W. Bush in 1988.

2:42 p.m .: The single protestor who is holding the "No One is Above the Law" sign has been walking up and down the boardwalk for hours. While he won't stop to talk, he has been yelled at, cursed at, and booed.

2:15 p.m .: The Donald Trump campaign rally began at 2 p.m. with the audience cheering a video repeatedly showing the American flag and drawing cheers for law enforcement. An artist took centerstage to paint a flag on a canvas, then pulled a covering away to reveal an image of Trump, with notably muscular arms folded, wearing a "47" T-shirt. A large American flag waved overhead, and a banner plane carried a political message across the sky.

2:02 p.m .: Among the many supporters of Trump at the rally is Republican Jack Ciattarelli, who is making his third run for New Jersey governor. "This crowd has been amazing today," Ciattarelli said. "For so many to come and support President Trump, who I believe will win the election, has been great to witness."

2 p.m .: Jen Reiss of King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, was elated to be able to attend the rally today as she missed the last one Trump had in Wildwood in 2020. "It's been an amazing experience with a lot of laughter and joy," Reiss said. "You can feel the excitement swirling in the crowd and who can blame them? While I wasn't at the last one, I could feel that people were happy and not as anxious about being able to get into the rally. As we know, the 2020 rally was a certain amount of tickets given out. This time, I believe everyone will be able to get in and see the former president."

Crowds of people on the Wildwood boardwalk were wearing shirts supporting the 45th President. Ciattarelli could be seen meeting people and posing for photos.

1:18 p.m. : Gilmore said about 400 Trump supporters from the county were expected to attend the rally. He was on his way to the event before 1 p.m.

1:06 p.m .: Joe Sereday, the chairman of the Burlington County Young Republicans, is volunteering during the event and helping the crowd and supporters get to where they need to be. "This ... is a once-in-a-lifetime event for some, and being able to see any president, former or future, speak is a gift," Sereday said. "I think it's just an amazing event to be apart of. My friend is a Democrat who is coming just for the experience. Like him, if I had a chance to see former President Obama speak, ... I would jump on regardless of me disagreeing with some of what he has done."

There is a group of Proud Boys at the event, wearing masks. Some Trump supporters were seen arguing with them. Police were in the vicinity so it did not escalate into anything serious.

Trump's ticketed audience members waited on a section of beach not far from amusement parks with roller coasters and other attractions, and also not far from lines of portable toilets.

12:18 p.m. : The protest area is empty with not a soul in sight. Meanwhile, the Trump rally line continues to grow, Protest groups were to be restricted to an adjacent beach, separated from Trump and the crowd by an amusement park, according to Wildwood police.

11:51 a.m. : Alexander Costello, a waiter at the Cap'n Jack's across the way from rally on the boardwalk, was pretty excited about the rally. "Usually Memorial day kicks everything off for this season, but with this event happening, it's good to be back earlier than usual," Costello said. Customers were lined up at the door before the restaurant opened. "The people have been really awesome so far," Costello said. "You could say rambunctious,  but really kind and just having good time."

One couple from upstate New York, who did not want to be identified, said "whether you support Trump or not, being able to see a former president speak is still a gift. We came down to support the people of our great country as they use their rights given by those who came before."

A boardwalk stand sold Trump merchandise to the former president's supporters, many of whom formed a long line in advance of noon admission to the beach rally. There's also a car show going on.

By 10:30 a.m., people were lining up, laughing, sharing stories in anticipation of the rally. Someone costumed as a mythical figure held a placard declaring, "Wildwood Seaquatch for President."

Flags for the United States, Israel and Trump flew in a cluster outside the Wildwoods Convention Center. Not far away, a SWAT team vehicle rumbled down a street. Some boardwalk access points were closed off by police.

What you can't bring to rally: No beach chairs at Trump’s Wildwood rally; what else can’t you bring

The rally will provide a big change of scenery for Trump, who has spent recent days inside a New York City courtroom for his trial on hush-money charges.

Trump's appearance will be his second in Wildwood.

He spoke as president at the Wildwoods Convention Center in January 2020.

Metered parking in effect early: Going to see Trump in Wildwood? Don't forget to feed the meter

That rally, which drew about 7,000 people, came shortly after the area's congressman, Rep. Jeff Van Drew of Cape May County, changed his political affiliation from Democratic to Republican.

Van Drew, who is New Jersey chairman for Trump's current campaign, announced plans for this weekend's rally on April 17.

Jim Walsh is a senior reporter with the Courier-Post, Burlington County Times and The Daily Journal. Email: [email protected].

• Entertainment

Dublin Lotto player scoops whopping €3.8m jackpot during Saturday’s draw

A very lucky Lotto punter in Dublin has woken up this morning as Ireland’s newest multi-millionaire after winning the €3,796,062 jackpot on offer in Saturday night’s draw.

The staggering win marks the 4th Lotto jackpot win of the year to date following wins by players in Dublin , Louth and Limerick. 

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Story continues below.

The winning numbers in the Saturday 11th May draw were: 08, 16, 24, 27, 28, 42 and the bonus was 30.  

The National Lottery has confirmed that the store location where the winning ticket was purchased will be announced on Tuesday 14th May. 

Over 81,000 players nationwide won prizes across the Lotto and Lotto Plus games on Saturday with the Lotto jackpot winner taking the title of biggest winner of the night. The National Lottery are now urging all Dublin players to check their tickets very carefully as one player has a ticket worth €3,796,062.

The newest Lotto millionaire is advised to sign the back of their ticket and keep it safe. The winner should contact the National Lottery prize claims team on 1800 666 222 or email [email protected] and arrangements will be made for them to collect their life-changing prize. 

National Lottery spokesperson Sarah Orr has appealed to all Dublin players to check their tickets very carefully today: ‘While the entire country was enjoying our sunniest Saturday of the year so far, one Lotto player was also becoming the latest jackpot winner after scooping the massive €3,796,062 jackpot on offer in the weekend draw.

‘So far this year, we have seen the Lotto jackpot won by players in Dublin, Louth and Limerick with the latest winner now taking the title of 4th Lotto jackpot winner of 2024. We will be revealing the store location where the ticket was purchased on Tuesday 14th May but in the meantime, we are appealing to all of our players who may have purchased their tickets in Dublin to carefully check their tickets as soon as possible as one player now has a ticket worth a life-changing amount.” 

‘It’s a huge amount to win overnight so of course the winner is likely to be in a bit of a shock.

‘The first thing they should do is sign the back of their ticket and keep it safe. They should then contact our prize claims team who will make arrangements for the winner to visit Lotto HQ to collect their jackpot prize.’

Cork Lotto players urged to check tickets after life-changing Bank Holiday win

One irish lucky lotto player scoops life-changing sum in €26m euromillions draw, location of massive €500,000 euromillions winning ticket revealed, must read irish news.

More: Trending Irish News

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Israel fumes as Biden signals a harder line against a Rafah ground assault

Israel reacted with a mix of concern and fury Thursday to President Joe Biden's warning that he would cut off weapons to the U.S. ally's military if it moves forward with a full-scale assault on Rafah, the city in southern Gaza where more than 1 million Palestinians are sheltering.

The threat, which marked a shift in Washington's public approach to the war, came after the Biden administration halted a shipment of bombs last week amid concerns over Israel's plans to invade Rafah even as cease-fire talks continue with Hamas. The U.S. has long supplied weapons to Israel, and Biden's warning follows months of growing tensions between the two countries and as the president faces domestic pressure to take a harder line on the war.

Israeli officials appeared in little doubt that the fallout could have far-reaching consequences.

The country’s ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, said the U.S. pause was “a very disappointing decision, even frustrating.” He suggested in an interview with Israeli Channel 12 TV news that the move stemmed from pressure Biden felt from both Congress and U.S. college campus protests.

“Israel will continue to fight Hamas until its destruction,” Israeli Foreign Affairs Minister Israel Katz said on X in an apparent response to Biden's threat. “There is no just war like this one.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refrained from directly commenting on Biden's remarks, but on Thursday afternoon, he reposted a video on X from a speech he delivered earlier this week saying: "If Israel is forced to stand alone, Israel will stand alone."

Members of his far-right government were quick to express their outrage over the threat.

Right-wing National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir issued a short but scathing response in a post on X. “Hamas ❤️ Biden,” he said. His office did not immediately respond to a request for further comment from NBC News.

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who leads the ultranationalist Religious Zionist Party, accused Biden of an “arms embargo,” writing in a thread posted to X that Israel would “achieve complete victory in this war despite President Biden’s push back.”

“We simply have no choice as this war is an existential one and anything other than complete victory will put the existence of the Jewish state in danger,” Smotrich said.

The country's president, Isaac Herzog, sought to temper the backlash in comments appearing to admonish the right-wing ministers.

Thanking Biden for being a "great friend of the State of Israel," he said: "Even when there are disagreements and moments of disappointment between friends and allies, there is a way to clarify the disputes and it is beholden upon all of us to avoid baseless, irresponsible and insulting statements and tweets that harm the national security and the interests of the State of Israel.”

On Thursday, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, a spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces, reiterated his military's gratitude for the arms supplied by the U.S., and said they had enough weapons to carry out an incursion into Rafah. "The IDF has armaments for the missions it plans, and we also have what we need for the missions in Rafah," Hagari said.

Israeli military experts also expressed concern over Biden's announcement, however.

Kobi Michael, a senior researcher at the Tel Aviv-based Institute for National Security Studies, said he had "difficulty in understanding" Biden's approach.

"He is committed to the security of Israel by supplying Iron Dome and Arrow interceptors ... but not sophisticated 2,000-pound bombs that will enable to IDF to attack Hamas," Michael, who is also a member of the Misgav Institute for National Security & Zionist Strategy, told NBC News. "What does it mean?"

"Israel is allowed to defend itself only from its ground by intercepting rockets and missiles, but it is not allowed to defend itself by attacking the source and generators of terrorism in Gaza or other places?" Michael said Wednesday morning.

In a phone interview Tuesday before Biden's comments, Michael said the U.S. decision to halt a shipment of weapons was already a "troubling signal" that reflected the "depth of the tension between Israel and the U.S."

An Israeli official told NBC News there were deep frustrations within the Israeli government over the Biden administration's decision to withhold the shipment, which included 2,000-pound bombs the U.S. was concerned would be used to deadly effect in a dense urban area.

“Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs and other ways in which they go after population centers,” Biden said in his interview on CNN Wednesday when asked about the blocked shipment.

His administration has faced mounting scrutiny for continuing to send weapons to Israel despite the growing death toll in the enclave, and there has been little transparency in the volume of munitions the U.S. has sent to Israel since the start of the war seven months ago.

But Israel already has a significant arsenal, so the paused arms transfer would be unlikely to stop any expanded military offensive in Rafah, said Atlantic Council fellow and military intelligence expert Alex Plitsas. The decision was largely “symbolic,” he suggested in a phone interview Wednesday.

“It’s not really going to impact ground operations in Gaza,” he said, adding he believed the Biden administration ultimately wanted to “voice the displeasure” it felt over Israel’s plans. But he noted that if the trend were to continue, future halted shipments could have a more tangible impact on Israel's operations in Gaza.

This would not be the first time the U.S. has withheld military aid from Israel.

In 1982, President Ronald Reagan imposed a six-year ban on cluster weapons sales to Israel following a Congressional probe that found Israel had used them in populated areas in its 1982 offensive in Lebanon.

Wednesday's developments came as the Biden administration missed a deadline to submit a highly anticipated report to Congress on whether Israel is using U.S. weapons in accordance with international law.

It was not immediately clear when the report would be submitted to Congress or what impact it might have on Israel's offensive in Gaza, in which more than 34,900 people have been killed, according to Palestinian health officials.

Israel launched its offensive after Hamas' Oct. 7 attacks, in which some 1,200 people were killed and around 250 others were taken hostage into Gaza, according to Israeli officials. More than 130 hostages remain held in the enclave, with at least a quarter of them believed to be dead. 

Chantal Da Silva is a breaking news editor for NBC News Digital based in London. 

Create images with your words – Bing Image Creator comes to the new Bing

Mar 21, 2023 | Yusuf Mehdi - Corporate Vice President & Consumer Chief Marketing Officer

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Last month we introduced the new AI-powered Bing and Microsoft Edge, your copilot for the web – delivering better search, complete answers, a new chat experience and the ability to create content. Already, we have seen that chat is reinventing how people search with more than 100 million chats to date. We’ve seen people use chat in a variety of ways, from refining answers to complex questions to using it as a form of entertainment or for creative inspiration. Today we’re taking the chat experience to the next level by making the new Bing more visual.

We’re excited to announce we are bringing Bing Image Creator, new AI-powered visual Stories and updated Knowledge Cards to the new Bing and Edge preview. Powered by an advanced version of the DALL∙E model from our partners at OpenAI, Bing Image Creator allows you to create an image simply by using your own words to describe the picture you want to see. Now you can generate both written and visual content in one place, from within chat.

We know from research that the human brain processes visual information about 60,000 times faster than text , making visual tools a critical way people search, create and gain understanding. Based on Bing data, images are one of the most searched categories – second only to general web searches. Historically, search was limited to images that already existed on the web. Now, there are almost no limits to what you can search for and create.

For those in the Bing preview, Bing Image Creator will be fully integrated into the Bing chat experience, rolling out initially in Creative mode. By typing in a description of an image, providing additional context like location or activity, and choosing an art style, Image Creator will generate an image from your own imagination. It’s like your creative copilot. Just type something like “draw an image” or “create an image” as a prompt in chat to get creating a visual for a newsletter to friends or as inspiration for redecorating your living room.

Bing Image Creator preview will also be available in Microsoft Edge, making it the first and only browser with an integrated AI-powered image generator. To use Bing Image Creator in Edge, simply click the Bing Image Creator icon in the sidebar to create your image or invoke from Bing chat in Edge.

At Microsoft, our teams are guided by our Responsible AI principles and the Responsible AI Standard to help them develop and deploy AI systems responsibly. To curb the potential misuse of Image creator, we are working together with our partner OpenAI, who developed DALL∙E, to deliver an experience that encourages responsible use of Image Creator. We have ensured OpenAI’s safeguards, plus additional protections, have been incorporated into Image Creator. For example, we have put controls in place that aim to limit the generation of harmful or unsafe images. When our system detects that a potentially harmful image could be generated by a prompt, it blocks the prompt and warns the user. We also make it clear that Image Creator’s images are generated by AI, and we include a modified Bing icon in the bottom left corner of each image to help indicate that the image was created using Image Creator. We continue to work closely with OpenAI to build, test and review mitigations for our integrations.

Since making the new Bing available in preview, we have been testing it with people to get real-world feedback to learn and improve the experience. People used it in some ways we expected and others we didn’t. In this spirit of learning and continuing to build new capabilities responsibly, we’re rolling out Bing Image Creator in a phased approach by flighting with a set of preview users before expanding more broadly. We will initially only include Image Creator in the Creative mode of Bing chat and our intention is to make it available in Balanced and Precise mode over time. We are also working on some ongoing optimizations for how Image Creator works in multi-turn chats. We continue to believe the best way to bring these technologies to market is to test them carefully, in the open, where everyone can provide feedback.

New AI-Powered Visual Stories and Knowledge Cards

To support the growing demand for more visual search experiences, we are also making Stories and Knowledge Cards 2.0 available to all Bing users. Stories provide a more engaging way to search and interact with content, offering images and short videos. Also new to Bing users today, Knowledge Cards 2.0 is an AI-powered infographic-inspired experience that provides fun facts and key information at a glance. It’s been updated to include interactive, dynamic content like charts, graphs, timelines, visual stories and more. With these updates and more coming, our goal is to deliver more immersive experiences in Bing and Edge that make finding answers and exploring the web more interesting, useful and fun.

Availability

Bing Image Creator integrated into Bing chat will begin to roll out to Bing preview users on both desktop and mobile starting today. For those not in the new Bing preview, the preview experience of Image Creator is now available at bing.com/create for Bing users around the world in English. We will add more language support over time.

Bing Image Creator is also available in Microsoft Edge from the Image Creator icon in sidebar for both desktop and mobile starting today for Edge users around the world in English. We will also soon integrate Image Creator into Edge from the new Bing button in chat mode in the preview version of Edge.

If you’re not yet in the new Bing preview, you can sign up for the waitlist today. We’re adding more people every day. Thanks for your continued feedback and we look forward to sharing more updates soon.

Tags: AI , Bing , Bing Image Creator , Microsoft Edge , search

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