Sketch Packing

Hello, my name's Stuart Loughridge. I'm gonna talk about the process of carrying sketchbooks out and packing these sketchbooks and how best to do that and which sketchbook packs in which bag and how I prefer to do that. So the first sketchbook I carry around, a pocket book, just meant for drawing. Can just be placed into a jacket pocket. If it's cold, you'll be wearing a jacket. But if it's a warm day you might just carry a small shoulder bag and put your small sketchbook into that shoulder bag with a little bit of water, a bottle cap to put the water into and mix. So paper towel, and perhaps a small pallet for some pigment and pulling this out of your side pack can just be setting up the paper and doing the one hand hold and standing, probably not even sitting, just standing. If you wanna sit, you can. Sometimes it helps to sit when you're putting your pigments out in the little bits of water. But for the larger kits or longer walks, I prefer a medium size backpack to a larger day pack. The medium pack is, such as this. This is a stool pack, so it goes on the backpack, goes on the back and then could be fold out and you can sit. I encourage, advised to bring a towel and put the towel here to sit onto it. That way you won't get too sore. And then in this pack, I'll just carry with me a bottle of water, some lots of paper towels, just keep lots of paper towels in there, keep tossing them in and my sketch kit. And then often to a packing board of some sort just to keep your back from bumping into too many items you have in there. And maybe some padding wrapped up on there and I can have different, I could have my pencil sketch in there, even a little lunch and a snack. And that works well for carrying around a light pack for sketching. For the heavier packs, for the long walks into the woods, I'll carry a pack like this, an internal frame pack, easy on the shoulders, easy on the back. Has the belt buckles, has the chest buckles, upper pack, has the bottom pack for jackets, windbreaker, rain jacket perhaps, umbrella, that's always handy. Then I have a tripod attached to the side and in the pack I have varieties of paper that I keep in a Ziploc bag. Also have a sketchbook in here. And all this paper and I wanna keep it in the Ziploc bag just to keep things from getting messy inside the pack, keep things away from any water that could be moving around, any leaky bottles perhaps. I have my sketch kit in the day planner. I also keep that in a Ziploc. And then I have the tripod top that slides in there. This is a just custom made for this one specifically that I picked up at a thrift store. And then some cardboard, generally two pieces of cardboard in these big ones. That way I can create separation almost like a file system. And then always with me in my pocket or in a separate bag is my, the Doctor Martin's Bleed Proof White and that can be kept in each bag separately or in a pocket. But it's good to have a few of these jars just floating around in the backpacks. And then always of course, the paper towels floating around everywhere. And if you keep this in the Ziploc bag, it's just much easier to set down, say you're sketching by a river or it's in a drizzle and you wanna pull everything out and get set up. Well, you can pull everything out and set it out and have it in Ziplocs first before you begin setting up and nothing gets wet. And then it's quick to slide back in. You don't bend things when it's in the Ziploc and that makes for easy storage, easy transportation and everything stays safe. So I hope you find the right backpack for your sketch kit.