my 5 TOP tips on travel sketching

Full sketchbook tour video, sharing my materials, things I draw, best location to draw, best timing to draw

Hey readers!

I have been travelling for three weeks in Japan in February. Apart from consuming unlimited amount of delicious ramen, sashimi, convenient stores sandwiches and onigiri, of course I filled my travel sketchbook with random people, drooling food and amazing architecture around Japan. In this post, I’m going to share my 5 top tips for sketching while travelling.

You can find my sketchbook tour video at the end of this post!

1. Things to draw

You can usually find either observational life drawing or travel journalling/ sketching from memories in my travel sketchbook.

Life drawing is quick sketching on site while I have at least 5 minutes to draw. I put down whatever I see in front of me on the page, without thinking much. This allows me to pay attention and observe more. This process is like a mindfulness practice to me. Compare to taking a quick snap, I remember many more details about events happened around me—I mean school kids chasing after each other, random uncles chilling in the park, passenger falling asleep on train, etc. Observational drawing is not about having a perfect final artwork but capturing what you see. It’s about enjoying the moment you are sketching. Even if I made a “mistake”, I just let it be and keep drawing. To me, these “mistakes” are the beauty of life drawing. Life drawing sketches tend to be more lively and dynamic compared to drawings created from memory.

Travel journalling/sketching is drawings created from memories. Most of the time, we are not alone while travelling and we couldn’t stay in one spot for too long to do life drawing. I often use my phone to capture the moments and draw it afterwards. Adding descriptions and personal feelings next to those sketches is something I love to do—this is why I called it journalling. It makes the sketches more valuable and personal. Sometimes, it may just be somethings memorable —I love including scrumptious food I have eaten and I draw them all out on the same page, add descriptions and reviews next to them like a food critic!

observational drawing

travel journalling/ sketching

2. Materials

What do I usually pack with me? You can find watercolour travel kit, 20 colour pencils, 10 pencils, 20 crayons, 20 brush pens, etc in my bag but to be honest, I only use 5% of what I bring maybe?Arghhhh. I wish I can change this bad habit of overpacking one day. That’s my goal in 2025. I always, always stick to my staples—

• Graphite/ charcoal pencil — I love adding details or quick sketch using pencils with softer texture as they allow me to loosen up easily. The fact that they have softer texture makes them smudge easily. But I don’t mind having dirty fingers and cleaning up my sketchbook pages afterwards so that doesn’t bother me. Sometimes, I use colour pencils to substitute pencils if I want to add some colour on the page.

• Water brush pen — I filled it with ink and water. I used it to fill up larger area on the sketchbook. Painting with this allows me to use washes on the go with minimal items and without making a mess(except on the flight as the pressure in the air makes ink water leak a bit). This brush pen has changed my LIFE. It becomes my go-to sketching material. One of the disadvantages is the drying part. I often walk around with my sketchbook open in my hand just to let it dry. Tombow brush pen is a good substitute if you don’t have the patience.

• Gel pen/ fine liner — I used it to write if I want to include some notes or do journalling in my travel sketchbook. This is a great way to keep personal memories of the trip. My favourite brand of gel pen is Muji gel pen.

• Glue/ masking tape and scissors — these are specially for travelling as I love including ticket stubs, receipts, name cards, food wrapping paper or lovely leaflets. Incorporating them into my sketchbook makes my trips more memorable.

• Sketchbook — the one I used this time is Daler Rowley A5 hardback Artist’s sketchbook. Use whatever sketchbook you fancy—watercolour paper, hardback or leather cover, square or rectangle, thick or thin. This basic sketchbook from Amazon is one of my favourite too. My biggest tip is choose a budget one! When I use a high quality, expensive sketchbook, I feel too precious to even make a single mark on it! You can read more here about my relationship with sketchbooks.

3. Location

For this section, I’m referring to life drawing. Where should I draw?

There is no model answer for this. I have drawn on train, on wavy sea (I mean when I was on a boat!), under the rain, at the corner of the street, at the cinema, on the car—you name it! I stop and sketch when something catches my eye. I can draw whenever I’m not moving a.k.a standing or sitting.

As I mentioned before, it’s not about how perfectly your drawings are, it’s about be fond of the moment and have fun! Use less materials is an important trick to draw on location too.

4. Importance of pockets

Why on earth is pockets important? Here I am talking about the accessibility of your drawing supplies.

Imagine you saw a gripping scene in front of you and you wanted to sketch it out. It took you 5 minutes to get out all your supplies because you put your pencils, brush pens, crayons and colour pencils all in separate bags and your backpack is locked with a padlock.

What I mean here is accessibility—how quickly you can get your supplies. I find jackets or pants with pockets are essential. I can have my sketchbook and materials ready in my hands within 10 seconds with the help of pockets. Alternatively, you can put them all in an easy accessible tote bag or crossbody bag, you get my point!

5. Best timing to draw

Sometimes, it is difficult to find time to draw when I’m not travelling alone. You don’t want others to stand there and wait for you to draw.

After trying many different ways, I have come to a conclusion that waiting time(a.k.a waiting in a queue, transporting, waiting for food in a restaurant) is the best time to sketch. Even if you are travelling with somebody, there’s a huge chance they are using their phones, chatting away or doing their own things while waiting. My advice is — don’t be shy! Take out your sketchbook and draw. People might nosy about what are you doing for the first time but trust me, they will get bored after seeing you do that for few times.

So, have fun sketching!

Here’s a sketchbook tour from this Japan trip — hope it inspires you to do the same because travel sketchbook is always the best souvenir for myself!