Sketching any time, any where, gets easier with practice. But planning for sketching helps, too.
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.
- 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.)
- 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.
- 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.)
Looking for handy sketching materials of your own?
I have the mini (toothbrush holder) kits available in my online shop! Choose from a lightweight paper-back sketchbook or a hardback sketchbook with multimedia paper; all other materials are the same.
I 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.
Bethann Garramon Merkle, MFA 
Yes always challenging to figure out what to take…my sketching often happens spontaneously when travelling so it’s a small moleskin pad pencil rubber and ink paint pen that are always with me😄😄