I’m booked to travel to Europe in about 2 months’ time, and so I’m starting the process of thinking about what art supplies I will take and what my approach to sketching will be. This planning process is something that I love doing and at times have made it into a project of it’s own! –

See previous Trip Prep articles here.

Pre-2020, I was travelling and teaching overseas a lot (2-3 months per year!) and I had a streamlined approach – I used the same sketchbook, took the same watercolour palette, and the only thing that changed was a few pens.

But it’s been 6 years since I’ve been on a big overseas trip, and in that time I’ve done a lot of experimenting with different media, emphasising quick travel sketching. I have a busy schedule for this trip (with practically no solo time) and know that I’ll need some dry media options for the periods when I won’t have time to focus on my own sketching.

And so, going through a serious phase of trip prep is important this year.

I’m very excited about this, as preparing for a big trip is always so much fun! I’ve already started a dedicated Trip Prep book and spent time revisiting articles from previous trips, and especially my Reflections articles. (These Reflections articles are so incredibly helpful!)

As I have so many decisions to make, I’ve decided to do Trip Prep a little differently this year – in video format!  I’ll share the highlights/ summary pages here on the blog, but all the details and aspects of my decision process will be available inside my Sketching Adventure Community on Patreon, where we can more easily interact and have lots of materials discussions. 

Advance Notice: I’m also planning on doing lots of BTS video updates while I’m travelling, so if you have been curious about what goes on inside my Patreon, the next few months will be a great time to join us as I’ll be creating lots of bonus content. Find out more here.

To get on to the first topic that I considered….

Deciding on Sketchbooks

One of the biggest decisions is what sketchbook I will use (I prefer to use the same sketchbook for an entire trip). So, I did this calculation page to compare two options (A4 Moleskine and 8×10″ Alpha) and document how many pages I’ve used on a few previous trips: Europe 2019, Road Trip 2023 and Port Macquarie 2024. Please check out my Sketchbook section for more details as to why these two books are my favourite.

I also created a calculation page similar to this one to estimate the number of sketchbooks I think I’ll need. I’ve also started to think through the logistics of ordering books to pick up on the way and when to ship them back. For privacy purposes, I’m not sharing this year’s calculations publicly, but it looks like I will need 7-8 books for the whole trip.

Yes, this year’s trip is going to be big! It has turned out to be longer than I originally anticipated because, in addition to spending time with my sister, teaching in Germany, and participating in the International Urban Sketchers Symposium in Poznan, I’m also super excited to be an instructor for the Swiss Urban Sketchers Symposium at the beginning of September (find out more here).

As for which book I decided on… I’m not going to commit myself publicly yet – but my Patreons know more about why I’m leaning in a certain direction in the video I shared with them earlier today! 🙂

Please let me know in the comment section below if there is any aspect of trip prep you are particularly interested in finding out about.

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