Travel Sketching With Limited Time
How I travel sketch and why it's never the same twice.
Travel sketching is a highly romanticized activity for us sketchers. We have these dreams of leisurely walking about and soaking in a location, eating, visiting and chatting…all while sketchbook and supplies are close at hand to capture the moment.
Sure this happens but I found my perceived success rate varied vacation to vacation because of the expectations I had for this activity. While I find sketching to be a relaxing activity its also a brain draining activity. At some locations I have a long and leisurely amount of time to draw. Other times it’s quick and there’s not really time to see and sketch. If the location itself is new and interesting, I tend to want to soak it all in with my full attention and not be looking up and down thinking about colours and how I want to create this layout.
I’m also usually travelling with my partner. We both have busy careers that don’t always sync up schedule wise. This is a time for me and him to spend time together, slow down, be in the moment and share the experience together. If I’m nose in sketchbook the entire time then I’m not really on vacation.
The last couple years I’ve adopted a leisurely approach to my travel sketch journals. I usually bind a book specifically for the trip. I decide ahead of time how big and how many pages I want to haul around. This isn’t as hard as it seems. The trip plans usually make this decision easy. I carry a sketchbook and small supply kit with me most places so this informs a lot of what I am willing to tote around. This is also a great time for me to test out a new binding and see how robust it will be before I sell it. This book will go in an out of my travel pouch, sit on many surfaces and experience all types of weather. It definitely gives me a great idea of how the materials will hold up over time.
I should also say that I like to use my travel sketchbooks as a pictorial diary of what we did on the trip. If you’re the type that likes to draw a thing here and there then you may have a completely different approach and desired outcome for your travel sketch journal.
So what’s my process?
When we are on modes of transportation I have plenty of time to draw. On planes, in airports, on trains. Those drawings I will complete in my sketchbook on the day in the moment.
When we are on hikes, or walking around a city, I take photos. I would be anyway so I take a few extra if there is something I really want to focus on and draw later. When we stop for a rest I’ll do a quick layout on the page with pencil. Block in a layout plan, do a quick sketch of an angle I was thinking of and the leave it to finish later. This takes no more than a few minutes to five minutes.
At restaurants, or more accurately restaurants with pubs, I can spend time finishing up those drawings as we sample food and drinks. If it’s not that kind of place and they want to turn the spot around I do the small quick sketch or layout method I just described. Sometimes this stays as is and a make no changes later on.
Occasionally, we’ll call an early day and head back to where we are staying early. I may decide to finish a drawing there or not at all. Sometimes the brain needs to just veg and watch some mindless tv before falling asleep. Also a good time to remember I’m there to relax not stress!
This approach has been working for me lately. It satisfies my creative desire to sketch while on vacation but doesn’t turn into a full time job finishing off my spread for the day. It has helped me be more efficient in my sketching choices so I work quicker to achieve a finished idea. Economy of line was something a sketching instructor once told me. It’s stuck with me for years and applies to both line and colour in my mind. I don’t always succeed but the sentiment is always there in the back of my mind.
When I get home I often have a half finished sketch journal but all the ideas are still there captured in small ways. This next part can be tricky depending what your day ate day is like. I try and find time, at minimum once a week, to draw if not more. With that in mind I then finish off those unfinished layouts over the next month or so. It means I’ll spend more time on some spreads than others but that’s ok. It’s important to remember that a sketchbook is supposed to be a playground. The only the rules are the ones I impose. I can also change those rules at any point.
Here’s a video flip through of a finished journal from a trip taken a couple years ago. I was testing out my larger, light weight, coptic journals at the time. This was a road trip so lots of driving between locations. I completed probably 30% of the drawings while on vacation and then spent the next 2-3 months finishing it off. Mostly because I decided I needed to draw every dinosaur I took a photo of. You’ll see what I mean. :)
If you’d like to try one of my sketchbooks for yourself check here. If I don’t have what you are looking for currently in stock, you can always get me to make you one by going here.
Tell me how you travel sketch. What works? What doesn’t? What are your expectations?
