In Travel Sketching Tips Part Two: Making Marks, we’ll have a look at the different ways a sketcher can create pictures on the road.

Once you have the right sketch book, or paper or watercolour block, ( see Part One ) you need to decide how you will be making marks – ie. what you will use to record pictures. Will you stick with the simplicity of a pencil? Will you use ink and wash, or will you paint direct with watercolour?

The best choice depends on how much you want to lug with you to sketch, and also on your particular skill level.

Pencil sketches will always be a simple classic choice – and all you will need is an HB pencil, a small pencil sharpener and a kneadable eraser. This is the ideal equipment if you are planning to sketch inside a museum or gallery – they will often forbid any use of wet media. Conte crayon and charcoal are also lovely for drawing, but can be messy.

I have a bad habit of pilfering the pencils that good hotels often leave beside your bed with little notepads. You can never have enough pencils! If you are truly engaged in the scene you are working on, take a couple of photos and you can add ink or wash or colour later.

Next level is an ink pen. There are staunch supporters of the classic nib pen with an ink reservoir, and I applaud all those who use them. The nib gives a beautiful expressive line and the varieties of inks and nibs are huge. But I am prone to spilling things and ink can be a disaster. My favourite instrument of choice is one of the Micron archival ink pens. They come with different nib widths and ink colours, and they are lovely to draw with.

Charcoal is lovely to draw with, and so expressive, but messy when you are traveling. A good soft pencil and kneadable eraser works much better.

One of the tools I have fallen in love with is watercolour pencils or aquarelles. There are several companies who make them and almost any brand will work. I use a set made by Moleskine that I love. The great benefit of these pencils is that they are easy to carry and very versatile. You can draw with them, and then use a wet brush to soften or spread the colours, or you can use a damp brush to take colour from the pencils and apply to the paper.

My best advice is to keep it simple. If getting your gear together becomes a hassle or the pack becomes too cumbersome, you may lose interest or find it is too much trouble to make it a habit when out and about. Simple and light is the way to go. You can always develop any of your images into larger works in your home studio.