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Sketching Tip: Being ready to sketch (or, how few sketching supplies you really need)

Sketching any time, any where, gets easier with practice. But planning for sketching helps, too. Here are three small sets of materials that I have tested and like to use in the field, when traveling, or just to have sketching materials that are light and handy when I'm going about town.

A small metal tin containing three watercolor pencils and a graphite pencil - all pencils are cut in half to fit into the tin. The tin also contains a half of a large, rubber, art eraser, a small pencil sharpener, a stub of a white pastel crayon. Alongside is a package containing a small waterbrush that could fit inside the tin.
My micro kit

Having materials ready means I can grab the appropriate (and/or most convenient) set-up and be ready to go at a moment’s notice.


And, having sketching materials along means I’m way more likely to sketch!


Along with some sort of sketchbook, I always have one of these kits in my pocket, purse, or backpack when I leave the house.

  1. Micro kit: small container with eraser, pencil sharpener, half-pencil, half-watercolor pencils in primary colors, mini waterbrush, and scrap of fabric for a blotting cloth (a corner of an old washcloth works well). This kit is 4 1/4″ x 1 1/4″ x 3/4″, smaller than the palm of my hand. (See top photo.)

  2. Mini kit: Instead of a small metal container, I use a travel toothbrush case. This can hold full-length pen, pencil, a small eraser, half-watercolor pencils, and a mini waterbrush. If I really pack it tight, I can squeeze in a small blotting cloth or a pencil sharpener.

  3. Medium kit: I use a Derwent watercolor tin that has a removable metal tray. This enables me to fill the bottom layer with a combo of full-size and half-size pencils, pens, full-size or mini waterbrush, eraser, sharpener, blotting cloth, and odds and ends. Sometimes that’s all I bring. But, I can also include the removable tray, and layer in a lightweight plastic watercolor palette, enabling me to bring quite a lot of materials in a fairly compact container. The tin I use, when filled and closed, measures 7″ x 4″ x 1 1/2″. (See below.)


Sketchbook open to sketch of a pine tree sprig and pine cones. A pencil rests in the open fold of the pages. Near the sketchbook are some fragments of old bones, sprigs of juniper, sage, and pine, pinecones, and small rocks. Also in the image is a larger tin (about the size of a pencil tin, but at least two pencils deep/high. In the tin are several short colored pencils, a sharpie, a gray, kneaded eraser, a water brush, a scrap of a washcloth (blotting cloth), and a palette of watercolors.
My medium kit in action
 

I also discussed a couple of ideas for planning in the April 2016 newsletter. Those tips focused on paring down your materials to essentials and sketching from photos so you’re a little more familiar with subject matter when you sketch it in real life. Click here to read those tips. In the March 2017 newsletter, I took those ideas a step further, and discussed what, exactly, to bring along. This post is a reproduction, with slight modification, of that newsletter content.


For additional info about the materials I recommend for a full-size kit, see this post.


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commnatural sciencecommunication research & practice Bethann Garramon Merkle

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