Sketchbooks are one of the most underrated tools that art students have at their disposal for overcoming creative blocks. Students who aren’t used to keeping a sketchbook are sometimes heard lamenting: “I don’t know what to draw!”
Some supplies you might generally like to bring along:
- Milan Art Institute Sketch Journals
- 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
Some other supplies you might generally like to bring along:
- Pencils, erasers, and other dry drawing media
- Watercolor pencils
- Colored pencils
- Watercolor paint brushes
- Water
- Markers
- Sketchbooks made with watercolor paper
- Anything that’s easy to use in all kinds of weather
- Umbrella
- 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.
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.
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