Have you ever wondered how you can maintain your creative practice while on holiday? It doesn’t matter if it’s just a weekend in the city or a holiday by the sea. I love to travel, but when I’m away from home and able to work in my studio, I feel the need to continue creating. So over the last few years and on many trips, I have developed a creative practice for travelling that works well for me. No fancy materials and tools that take up space and need to be spread out. Just paper, sketchbook, pencil, fine liner, watercolour pencils, water tank brush – everything you can carry in your hand luggage and, most importantly, you can start put pencil to paper at any time. So here are 5 ideas with examples of how to stay creative while travelling using only analogue materials.
1. Sketchbook practice
Grab a sketchbook and a fine liner or pencil and make some sketches. Here are some ideas for subjects:
A landmark, architecture, landscape – anything as you walk around the city. It only takes a few minutes and is a much nicer and more personal memory than a photograph.
Afterwards, you could make your own map of your trip and the places you visited or things you experienced. Another option is to make a calendar of your pictures at the end of the year. Both suggestions are a wonderful way to capture your memories.
If you want to see how I turned my sketches into a map, check out this post: From a travel sketch to an illustrated map
2. Create an unique colour palette
You can create your own personal and unique colour palette from your trip. Just take some pictures of places and objects that interest you. Then take your crayons and make some colour blurs to match the colours in your picture. Alternatively, you can use your phone and Instagram to extract the colours.
For example, I used the colours of Madeira for my Garden Party pattern. For more ideas on how to choose a colour palette, check out my post Ten ways to choose a colour palette.
3. Develop your lettering skills
When I’m walking around a new place, I look for signs and interesting fonts. I simply take a picture and later practise drawing the letters in my sketchbook. This way I develop my lettering skills and expand my lettering repertoire at the same time. It’s a win-win situation.
4. Sketch your food
While you are sitting in a café enjoying a pastry, why not sketch your food? You could also sketch a recipe for a typical food or drink of the place you are visiting.
5. Be inspired by nature
Collect some natural objects such as a shell, a coral or a flower. You can draw them separately or try to make a composition. I often use these drawings for my artwork later in the studio.
For example, I have made a pattern out of the watercolour drawing below. For further reading see this post: From Sketch to Pattern
