Travel Sketching Kit
We've tried on a lot of sketching kits for size and have whittled down our list to the bare necessities for traveling. This kit is not too large, not too small, and easy to stash away in a bag or suitcase. When sketching on location, it doesn't require a lot of balancing or draw a lot of attention due to the size. We find that working smaller allows us to spend less time filling up the page and instead focus on the moment. When we have less time to complete a sketch, we switch to our trusty water-soluble black pen and water brush to focus on the shapes and values, sketching in a basic road map and coming in with the waterbrush to add shadows and depth.
1. The Bag
It's Blue Q baby! Made from 95% post consumer waste, these bags are perfect to keep all of your kit together. It's protected by the rain and if your sketch kit chooses to leak, it will be contained in this helpful pouch. Pick a bag to fit your materials.
2. The Sketchbook
Right now I'm loving the Pro Art Premier Hardcover Watercolor Sketch Books. These lay flat when open so we could choose to make long sketches or smaller sketches. The paper is 140lb watercolor paper that resists warping and bleeding.
3. The Palette
We love our Metal Watercolor Tin Palette Paint Case with 12 Empty Half Pans since it's durable and has lots of room to mix paint.
4. The Paints
Goodness we love traditional gouache (rhymes with wash). It looks like watercolor when watered down and can be opaque when you need dense pops of color. With practice it can layer (just don't scrub too hard or you can reactive the under layer). It has little to no waste since it is water soluble and can be reactivated after it has dried. And it dries quickly to a lovely matte finish. You'll receive four professional M. Graham gouache paints for easy mixing
- Quinacridone Rose
- Azo Yellow
- Phatho Blue
- Ivory Black
- Titanium White
5. Pens
- Pilot Varsity Fountain Pen, Water-soluble. The best pen for making sketches with juicey shadows and details.
- Micron Plastic Nib, for black lines that won't reactivate with water.
- White Signo Gel Impact Gel Pen, the best opaque white pen for adding finishing sparkle and highlights to sketches.
6. Waterbrush
- Niji Waterbrushes, We use a medium for a small sketchbook. Perfect for dipping into the river to fill up and sketch while hiking or fill up at a water fountain or sink.