Here’s my current sketch kit that I keep in my daypack as of fall 2021. I have another kit that I use at camp, more on that soon!

Note that my sketch kit changes often as I’m always updating it depending on the season and where I’m headed.

Paper & Support

In my daypack I have a Coroplast support board that folds up into a book and serves as the cover for a DIY sketchbook that I folded from a single sheet of Arches 140# cold press paper. Check out this video for how to fold a book from a single sheet of paper. I keep these two in a ziplock bag in case they get wet.

Paints & Pens

Then I have a green pouch that I keep the rest of the supplies in:

Clockwise from top left:

  • Juice shot bottle for water
  • Shop towel
  • Pouch with binder clips
  • Gold gouache (stored in a container that ear plugs came in)
  • Washi tape for preserving white borders
  • Blue and Sepia Copic Multiliners, 0.3 mm size
  • Pilot G-2 .5 mm mechanical pencil, the lead holder part completely retracts in this one so it doesn’t poke through my bag
  • Small Pentel water brush with a large brush tip (I think I combined two brushes here in one)
  • Bunny pouch with with travel brushes from Bookhou (I keep the shop towel and the little red pouch in here as well) — this pouch makes me smile every time I see it!
  • Eraser nub (since the eraser on the mechanical pencil is pretty small)
  • White gouache
  • Art Toolkit Pocket Palette and Demi Palette (see below for colors)

Now for the colors — I use a mix of brands including Daniel Smith, Winsor and Newton and DaVinci. I’ve used the Daniel Smith color names in the list.

Colors in the Pocket Palette — this is my “main” palette that I updated for fall: Cadmium Yellow Pale, Quinacridone Gold, Raw Sienna, Quinacridone Rose, Permanent Alizarin Crimson, Pyrrole Orange, Cadmium Red, Cobalt Teal Blue, Phthalo Blue (green shade), Cobalt Blue, Indanthrone Blue, Perylene Green, Transparent Red Oxide⁠⁠

Colors in the Demi — these are extra colors for a trip to Big Bend:⁠⁠
Buff Titanium, Hansa Yellow Light, Naples Yellow, Winsor and Newton Smalt, Lunar Earth, Sedona Genuine, Deep Scarlet, Carbazole Violet.

Let me know if you have any questions!

Categories: Gear

2 Comments

CM · March 20, 2022 at 11:49 am

On the pictures of your palettes, you have some pans that are used as mixing pans but are the size of the large pan which doesn’t seem to come in a mixing pan surface. How are you turning these pans into mixing pans?

    Lisa Spangler · March 25, 2022 at 1:11 pm

    Hi! They are indeed the large pan (Maria calls them the double pan). I use them for mixing areas even though they are silver in color — I’ve used the colors in my palette so much that I kind of know what the mix will look like. If in doubt I swatch it out. Hope that helps!

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