Learn how to turn a simple holiday into an artistic journey! Keeping a journal while you travel will help you connect with the places you are visiting uniquely, recording your experiences and providing new inspiration when you look back at your sketchbook.

This Skillshare class is going to focus on keeping an art journal using pencils and watercolours, as they are a portable, easy option to carry around even if you are backpacking. You will learn which materials you're going to need, how to spot the perfect location for some quiet sketching, how to set up your workspace in cafes, bars and even outdoors. Most importantly, we will explore together some of the reasons why you may want to keep an art journal during your travels and how this could benefit you not only to remember a precious holiday but to grow as an artist!

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There are several ways to keep a travel journal - one of these is to create an on-the-road project, like a set of handmade postcards from the places you have visited, or a collage of keepsakes and artwork. Each one of these is valid and by exploring them you'll be able to figure out the best technique for you.

I took the footage for this class over half a year ago, in November 2019, when I went travelling in Thailand for three weeks. Since then, many things have changed following the Covid19 pandemic - however, I think that this is the best time to remember that holidays aren't about exotic destinations - but rather about what we can learn from any experience. Summer 2020 may not allow us to go abroad, or in some cases even to leave the house, but a 'staycation' can be just the same as a backpacking journey if approached with a curious and adventurous mind.

Keeping an art journal can help us find and connect with the extraordinary in our daily life, in our city or a foreign country: it's about how we observe and actively elaborate the world around us.

This class will touch the basics of drawing and is suitable for absolute beginners, as well as advanced watercolour artists who wish to explore the concept of keeping a travel journal.

Some of the concepts explored in this drawing tutorial are below:

Gathering references
Workspace set-up and tools (portable waterbrushes, portable watercolour set, additional watercolour palettes, sketching pencils)
Composition
Sketching
Watercolour technique with Pentel Aquash waterbrushes

My name is Maria, I'm a digital illustrator and character artist - you may have already taken some of my classes here on Skillshare like Turn a photo into a Cartoony Artwork with Procreate (or its Photoshop edition), Hairstyles 101: Draw and Colour Hair for Character Design or my best-selling Marketing class Start a Successful Art Account on Instagram.

*EDIT* I've recently changed my Instagram handle - you can find me here as @art_bymemo

You can learn more about me and my work as an illustrator on my website: www.mlmillustration.com or at my Skillshare profile page!

Preparing this class has been an amazing experience as I don't usually work with traditional media - and has helped me evaluate and remember my own backpacking holiday from last November. I'd be delighted if you wanted to join me on this artistic journey, so grab your sketchbook, pencil, brushes and let's get started!

Geri Kinstler

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