my travel sketching kit | lightweight portable watercolor gear

I always try to keep my tools very lightweight and minimal, and I thought it might be interesting to share what I put into a travel sketching kit.
Mini field sketching kit (2020): • My mini sketching kit ...
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[@fannyfroeschl]

danke Julia, für mich ist das sehr informativ 🌷 Nicht weil ich plein air zeichne, sondern in der ReinInsKrankenhausRausAusDemKrankenhaus-Dauerschleife hänge. Dort kann ich mich natürlich auch nicht so ausbreiten wie zuhause sondern muss mich beschränken. Außerdem bin ich ziemlich neu "dabei" & weiß deswegen solche Profi-Tipps sehr zu schätzen 👍

[@NatureSketchbook]

Schön zu hören dass dir das Video hilft. 🌸 Alles Gute dir!

[@amandabartlett309]

I also pack a mini mister, one by Ranger. And in addition to paper towel I cut the foot off a tube sock and use in on my non painting wrist to clean/ wipe my water brush. Thanks Julia for sharing!

[@NatureSketchbook]

That's a great solution! I tried it for a while and wasn't so fond of the damp feeling on my wrist (I use a lot of water), but it's very practical indeed. :-)

[@paulinabm_]

Thank you for sharing! I like that you make your own sketchbook, that is a great idea to travel only with what you need. I also think that you manage to make it less preciuos so you can be less worried about it being lost, which is somehing that sometimes puts me off bringing art supplies with me. What I bring with me in my most minimal kit is a tiny art toolkit palette, the size of card holder, a small Mixmedia sketchbook, a waterbrush with water, and a mechanical pencil. But that's what I would bring in my purse . For travel I would use my folio art toolkit palettes with large wells, the same rest of items I mentioned before plus 3 travel brushes, an eraser and a black micropen. For water I try to find something to be reused or I bring my collapsible cup, depending where I'm going.

[@NatureSketchbook]

Your setup sounds very practical and compact. Those tiny art toolkit palettes look great, they're very hard to get here but I'd love to try them out one day.

[@GingahSnapsArt]

Lovely kit! Ooohh a leaky brush 100% dampens a mood. I've found the water brushes with the squeezy buttons (like Arteza) don't leak - and can even dry brush! - but they're notably longer than a standard short handle brush. The trade off would be no leaks, and much fewer refills needed -vs- big and clunky I often enjoy two water brushes (one flat, one round) in my bag.. And often, that's all I need personally. 😄

[@NatureSketchbook]

Ah, you're the second person to tell me about those water brushes with a button, I'll have to look into those. Thanks! :-)

[@elisacavaliere1446]

Hello Julia! Thank you for sharing your tools. I am an illustrator, but I find myself struggling with sketching, I always see it as something I somehow "should do right" and that feels stressful. I found out your channel today and your videos are really ispiring to get started. I was interested in the littke Kaweko fountain pen. It's so cute. May I ask how you refill it? Do you use a converter? And which ink is waterproof but also suitable/safe for pens to refill? Thank you so much! Greetings from Italy

[@NatureSketchbook]

Sorry I'm answering so late, I knew I wanted to get back to you Elisa. I know those thoughts and the stress about doing something the "right way" - I don't think there is only one way, especially in our field. If your current process isn't so focused on the sketching phase, that doesn't have to mean it's wrong - you still get a good end result. That's what matters. Another way through this is confrontation: just putting in a ton of practice until you feel more comfortable with the sketching phase. For me, I found it made my illustration work better, so it also helped me in the job. Whatever you do, be kind to yourself. Illustration is stressful enough as a job already.

[@elisacavaliere1446]

@@NatureSketchbook Dear Julia, thank you very much for the in-depht reply

[@ayokakaiser]

I have been wanting to get a travel palette from Art Toolkit for a while but they are quite costly so for the time being I sanded down some halfpans to about half their height and stuck them with blue tack into a palette similar to yours (same size). The good thing about that is that I can now fill the pans with very little paint (cutting down on weight quite a bit) without having to dig my brush into the bottom of a normal halfpan that’s almost empty. I really enjoy this new setup! Also I have invested in some water brushes from Derwent that have a rubber button to make the water flow so you can get more of a dry brush effect with them. Not like a regular brush but quite ok. I’ve not taken them out yet though as they are quite a bit bigger than the normal ones and don’t fit into my current pouch. So for now I make do with a normal water brush. 😉 For sketching I carry a TINY mechanical pencil made of wood from Muji, that I got as a present and a water soluble coloured pencil in light blue that vanishes when I apply water colour. I actually like to draw with a ballpoint pen when I’m outside as you can get different line weights with it and it’s waterproof and easy to write with as well. There’s also a retractable eraser and a really small correction tape „mouse“, a while gel pen, a ruler for measuring and a TINY lightweight pocket microscope for geeking out on details, and a mini knife by Opinel to cut things open. Sounds like a lot but is actually really compact and light weight. If I had to slim it down to the max. I would probably be able to make do with just the ballpoint pen, water brush and watercolour palette. And maybe that tiny pencil.

[@NatureSketchbook]

Dear Ayoka, it's so good to hear from you. :-) Gerstaecker offers an empty palette that's very similar to the Art Toolkit, I've recently gotten it but haven't filled it yet. But I find it's quite heavy (works with magnets). I think your solution is ingenious and now I want to try it out, too. I'm getting out my MacGyver tools. Great tip about those Derwent water brushes! The rest of your kit sounds really well-balanced, too. I too have a pocketknife around for all kinds of stuff, not just sketching.

[@ayokakaiser]

@@NatureSketchbook Ah, wow, cool - did not know that. Just had a look - it does look heavier than the Art Toolkit one seems (have not held one yet) but then the price is a LOT cheaper... My hack works really well except for the mess the plastic makes when you sand it down. I had my vacuum cleaner next to me and a damp kitchen towel as I did not want to wash all that micro plastic down the drain... A good thing about my makeshift setup is that my painting rag fits in the palette so I don't have a wet rag in my pouch.

[@NatureSketchbook]

Yeah, I was a bit surprised about that, too. Just weighed it: It's 130g empty (vs. 60g for an empty "standard" metal palette). I saw they also offer tiny replacement pans on their own, but those probably won't fit into standard palettes. You have to show me your setup some day!

[@ayokakaiser]

Wow - that’s really quite heavy. I’ll send you a short video about my setup via email. 😉

[@ladyhollman9534]

My latest : Subjective to where I’m going Same pallet. 1 Pentel Miini water brush 1 regular travel brush and that itty bitty brush which comes in the Sennelier 8 pallet. (That brush is almost a rigger and it greatly annoys friends needing to borrow a brush.) 😅 1 fountain pen 1 fine liner 1 mech pencil 1 WC sketchbook

[@NatureSketchbook]

That sounds like a great kit!

[@grafitocomico]

Me gusta llevar unas acuarelas Winsor & Newton, lápiz, libreta de dibujo Hanemule acuarela y Bruselas pena con depósito de agua. Además uso un calibrado .3. O .5 para bordes y sombras por rayado. Gracias por compartir tu set de dibujo.