Illustrator Jonathan Edwards on how his travel sketchbooks are bringing back memories of places and experiences
On family holidays, my parents would give me a book of A4 paper to keep me quiet. I’m drawing in every holiday photo! Actually, I’ve drawn every day for as long as I can remember.
I’ve always taken a sketchbook on my travels … and a major part of my work as an illustrator is based on travel drawings. I see what catches my eye, then sit on a bench or at a cafe window and stay for about an hour. I take two sketchbooks: an A6 one that fits in my pocket and an A4 watercolour sketchbook that I use if I have more time. In Britain, no one pays me any notice. In, say, Japan, people are more likely to come and talk or to stand at a respectful distance and watch.
My tools are usually just a grey brush pen and a black brush pen. With pencil, you know you can rub it out if it goes wrong and in a similar way, grey ink seems to fool the mind into thinking it’s not permanent. I go over the sketch in black ink later. Continue reading...
