The Quest for the Perfect Travel Sketchbook Setup

(reason to keep a sketchbook, #2 - your sketchbook is a portable studio)

Another reason to keep a sketchbook is that becomes a tiny studio that you can slip in your bag and set up in a few seconds. My sketchbook has come with me to museums, city plazas, cafes, airports, and school playgrounds while I was waiting for my kids to finish playing. In museums, it helps me have a conversation with my favorite artists across time. In an airport it transforms the time I would have spent frustrated while waiting for my delayed flight into time that I spend making something, observing, and being present in the world.

So what's a good travel sketchbook setup? At its core, it's just having a sketchbook that you love, and something to draw or write with - I've travelled with a sketchbook and two pens (in case one runs out), and that was great until I began using color in my sketchbooks. Since then, my little portable studio has grown, as I've added materials in search for the perfect sketchbook setup. In my quest, "perfect" means something you can set up in under a minute, is small enough to slip in my bag, lightweight, and still contains everything you need for drawing and painting. You want your sketchbook practice to feel effortless, something you can do in minutes rather than hours, which means having as little barrier to entry as possible. Nothing that involves paint is as simple as pen and paper, but over time I've found the setup and materials that work. Here's a video of my tiny sketchbook studio, and what it contains:

• An artist roll from Peg and Awl - I got this as an early birthday present for myself this year and it's magical - It fits everything I need, keeps it organized, and the waxed canvas it's made of is both tough and a pleasure to touch.

• a drafting pencil

• two pens - these are both bic cristal .7, although one's in a fancy brass case

• one micron pen for fine details and writing

• two travel brushes from Da Vinci, maestro, series 35

• two flats (Kum memory point brushes)

• 3 small round brushes (the black one is the Kum faded series, the others are Kum memory point)

• a tube of white gouache and a tube of black gouache

• a watercolor set - it's a handmade palette made by a wonderful artist I met, I refill it with watercolors out of a tube a few times a year. I covered the mixing area with a layer of epoxy, and put some thin magnets on the back so it attaches to anything with a metal strip

• tiny gouache tubes when I want my paint more opaque and intense - you can actually do this just by adding white gouache to transparent watercolor, but since the artist roll has a zip up compartment and the tubes are tiny, it made sense to add them. (the gouache is from Horadam Schminke

• a perfume atomizer - this is to reactivate gouache and watercolor

• two binder clips - to clip down the pages I'm working on and make sure they lie flat

• a gum eraser

• a roll of washi tape for straight lines

• a little foamcore board with metal or magnetic tape that provides a base for the palette and water cup - you can make it yourself or get one here

• a bit of paper towel to dry your brush

All of this folds up into a compact roll, doesn't weigh much, and allows me to set up and clean up in under a minute. Here's a video of the setup process:

For anyone interested in beginning their sketchbook practice, I made a free guide with sketchbook tips and advice - you can download it below: