Symposium Sketching Supplies! (and Accidental Sketchbook Review)

I am so excited about attending the Urban Sketchers Symposium in Chicago as a participant! For the last several years I've helped organize the Symposium so, while they were all great, there was a lot more responsibility than sketching.

Here are the sketching supplies I'll have with me next week in Chicago...

This is a new bag I just put together of all of the things I like to be able to grab in a hurry.
(left to right)
• watercolor kit made by Peggy Wong and filled with my current favorite assortment of pigments
• Palomino Blackwing pencil
• red/blue Mitsubishi pencil
• Sakura Pigma Sensei C10 chisel pen
• Kuretake waterbrush pen
• Sailor Fude DE Mannen Brush Style Fountain Pen (This is new to me. I bought it for one of the workshops I'm taking.)
• My favorite! Sakura Pigma Graphic 1 (aka my fat pen)

This is my regular purse bag that keeps finding more things in it.
(left to right)
• two travel brushes (The bigger one is new to me. I bought it for one of the workshops I'm taking.)
• another fat pen
• Pentel brush pen (black, and like a fountain pen with a cartridge)
• brush pen filled with diluted sumi ink
• Pentel ink brush pen (gray, and it comes in the brush pen)
• white Uni-ball Signo pen
• Pentel Aquash waterbrush pen filled with Dr. PH Marten's watercolor
• variety of colored pencils, some watercolor, some not
• Palomino Blackwing pencil

• Kuretake waterbrush pen
Also along the top - a water cup, clips, and double-sided tape.

I'll also have a few extra things requested by instructors, like fine-tip pens, 6B pencils, and an eraser.

Sketchbooks... I prefer carrying one small sketchbook at all times, but I know I'll need to make larger sketches and some of the instructors specified watercolor paper, and some specified cheap paper for thumbnails. So I know I'll use the small Stillman & Birn Alpha (top left) for all-day everyday, and probably the Barcelona souvenir Moleskine watercolor paper accordion sketchbook. But, I love the Stillman & Birn Zeta (bottom left) - nice thick smooth white paper. Yum! Definitely the Moleskine Cahier journal that's under the Barcelona sketchbook, for thumbnails and such.

Stillman & Birn and Moleskine are two for my favorite sketchbooks. Stillman & Birn sent me some of the new softcover books to test out. It took me a minute to get used to the different format, but I love that they are lighter than the hardcover, and the paper is as good as ever. The way they open can be a little clumsy - they don't always want to crease in the right place - but that is not important to me. I like my sketchbooks messy as they are part of my everyday life and therefore not precious. The soft cover makes it easier for them to be everyday sketchbooks.

Moleskines are just good all the way around. I use a cahier journal every day - several actually, for different projects. For years Moleskine was my go-to sketchbook, but these days I prefer bright white paper.

My other favorite sketchbook, not pictured here, is Laloran. They are handmade in Portugal with high-quality paper, and are beautifully bound. I buy a few every year and pick them up at the Symposium, so I will have more soon!

Well this post turned into a sketchbook review, but what can I say - I do like to talk about sketching materials! Another reason I'm excited about the Symposium next week - it will give me a chance to share sketching tips and supply recommendations and to learn from all of the amazing sketchers from around the world!