We are back from Mexico but of course are already planning our next journey. I am trying a new thing as part of the planning process and thought you might like to see how it develops.
I have used the Notes App on my Apple devices for years, Evernote before Apple upgraded their app to the point that I stoped using Evernote. My goal is to be paperless, for a lot of reasons I won’t bore you with now. Along the way on this series I may show you how I use Notes, it works well, and so much better than searching for emails – but I digress.
As theTravelsketcher I of course sketch to capture the moments as we travel, what I am doing for this trip is to use my sketchbook and sketching as part of the planning process, a visual plan.
For our next journey will be heading to Europe, starting off with a flight to Helsinki on May 9 where we will spend a couple of days before heading off to Montenegro. So I sketched one of the iconic buildings in Helsinki, the Uspenski Cathedral.
I also wanted to give a couple of tips as to how to sketch loosely while still getting the shapes right.
Here is a photo of the Uspenski Cathedral. It is a slightly different angle from the photo I used as a reference but will work fine for this lesson.
When there are a lot of complicated shapes the first thing to do is simplify the major shapes, so using a ruler – yes it is legal to use them for measuring and straight lines – I laid out the basic shapes and sizes.
Next came the ink, using my TWSBI with Carbon ink. I did not worry about precise detail, that is just not necessary, remember I wanted loose.
When the ink was dry, I added color and a couple of notes, about the trip so far.
As more definite plans are made I will add sketches and notes, watch for them here. Of course I will keep the details in the notes app as I always do, but this will be a visual anticipation of the trip. Then when we are traveling I will add to the sketchbook as a we go, should be fun.
theTravelsketcher 
You make it look so easy 😀
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Travelsketching is easy, that is if one sets the proper, not unrealistic, expectations. So i tirelessly encourage folks to give it a try, even just a few scribbles can capture it. Thank so much.
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I love the effortless sketching…. We are planning out adventures too…I need a visual prompt to help me with colour coding of where we will be when 🙂
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Interesting I like the idea of colors, tell me more.
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For this trip, I have colour coded where we will be – blue for Sweden, green for Germany, read for Portugal and black travel – need to mark weekends/visitors now. I get a quick visual of where we will be when.
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Good plan.
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This is very helpful
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Thanks. I will hopefully show my complete travel system in the course of this. I like everything in one place, and as little paper as possible.
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Looks amazing. That’s quite the wild flight path to get to Montenegro. Maggie
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Well the tickets to Finland were quite cheap.
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A very interesting art lesson with quite a bit of up-and-down scrolling having been done. Helsinki is a great destination – ‘a couple of days’ won’t even get you near its feeling-world 🙂 ! I should know- was born just across the Gulf . . . Helsinki is not for how it looks, it is how it presents and feels and what it means . . .
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I am sure you are right about Helsinki, however the only reason we are going there at all is that our flights worked out that they would go there so we figured we would stop briefly, our ultimate goal is France, with a stop in Montenegro, Helsinki will be a bonus.
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Ooh, I’ve been eyeing up Montenegro for years. Jealous!
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