What's in My Travel Sketch Bag? A Simple Page Idea for Your Journal
A "what's in my bag" page is one of the friendliest ways to start a travel sketchbook: the things are close, they hold still and they say something about the trip. Here's how to draw one, and what I'd actually carry for a day of sketching.
How to draw the page
- Lay the things out. Put everything from your bag on a table: palette, notebook, pen, camera, a snack.
- Draw the biggest thing first, usually the notebook or the bag. Everything else is placed around it.
- Keep each object small. Four to seven items fill a page.
- Add a frame. A porthole, a window or a simple border gives the page a setting. A "window seat" page, with an airplane window above the objects, works especially well.
- Write a short caption: the place, the date and one line about where you're going.
Ideas for the objects
- A small watercolour palette
- An instant camera or a phone
- The notebook itself
- A pen and a pencil
- A bar of chocolate for the long flight
- A bottle of water
- A ticket or boarding pass
What to carry for a day of sketching
- One small sketchbook that fits in a pocket.
- One pen that doesn't smudge.
- A thin watercolour set, a brush and a bottle of water, if you like colour.
- A small piece of cloth or a tissue.
- Your phone, for a photo of the scene and the place name.
That is all you need. The lighter the bag, the more likely you are to take it out.
Draw it, then pin it on the map
Start the trip with this page, then add the rest as you go. In SketchMap Atlas, a free app for sketchers, each sketch gets a place and a date and goes on a world map, so your bag page is the first pin of the journey.
More page ideas to follow it
- The window view from where you're staying (don't share the exact place if you post online).
- A ticket page, with a tiny scene next to the ticket.
- A café-table page, with the cup and one detail of the place.
After the trip
The bag page is also a good last page: draw the same bag at the end of the trip, with what you brought back. Compare the two.
SketchMap Atlas also has an ideas chest for places you want to draw next, folders for each trip and the option to hide any page from the shared map. The free plan keeps up to 30 works and 3 folders, and you can browse the map without signing in.
More to explore
- 10 Travel Journal Ideas to Copy: pages for every city you visit.
- the route-map page guide: draw the way you travelled.
- the gallery: sketches by well-known artists, free to study.
Questions
What's the minimum I need for travel sketching?
A small notebook and a pen. Everything else is optional.
Do I need watercolours?
No. A pen sketch already works.
Illustrations in this article are AI-generated (Google Flow).
