On documenting travels in a sketchbook
[Artists] want to see the world through their own eyes… They want to stop and drink it in, refresh their eyes and minds, dismiss preconceptions and replace them with wonder. They know that to truly see the places one has traveled so far to see, one need only pack along a pen and a sketchbook.When we document a journey in a sketchbook, we discover the difference between vacationing and traveling; we become adventurers, discovering new worlds through a thousand tiny details. Unlike those who hide behind a pudgy mystery novel and a piña colada while plopped in a poolside lounge chair, the travel journal keeper clears his mind, refreshes his eyeballs and builds a cache of enduring memories.
[D]iscover the differences and particularities of each destination through drawing: the unique flow of every city, the specific lines that make up each city’s signature, the way people dress and park and eat and shop.
[T]o talk about art and travel is to talk about life — to learn people’s stories and their loves.Keep a travel journal and draw the things you see every day on your trip. The point is not to create works of art that will hang in galleries or museums but to form a permanent record of your experience, one that you can return to when you want to recapture the nuance and the revelations you discovered on your trip. Don’t worry about the quality of the drawings… Make your own images, and you will make your own memories.
from An Illustrated Journey: Inspiration From the Private Art Journals of Traveling Artists, Illustrators and Designers* by Danny Gregory