It’s time to start sharing sketches and pages from my recent Melbourne trip. It’s always such a big job to scan and publish blog articles after a sketching trip – but it’s always worth it!

This time, I won’t be sharing all of my sketches as many of them were done and filmed for my upcoming Travel Sketching course. But you will still get to see most of them! And even when I wasn’t specifically creating demos/examples, I was still using the techniques that I’ll be teaching in the new course.

This trip had zero quality solo sketching time. I did do a few sketches when I was on my own, but on these occasions, I was always rushing to meet up with a friend. So the lack of dedicated focused sketching time was perfect for creating a similar situation that a lot of you find when you travel with others.

I filled a hardcover Stillman and Birn Alpha 9×6 sketchbook during the two weeks. This size book was perfect for the type of sketching I was doing – convenient size with enough pages – but I did struggle to fit the flags on top of buildings on my page at times as I’m more used to square or portrait format books.

Enough introduction – let’s start with the first sketch on the plane…

Travelling to Melbourne

I haven’t been on a plane since 2019, so it was actually quite fun to do a plane interior sketch even though the Qantas colour scheme is really boring these days – just dark grey and no accent colours. Note: I don’t really enjoy sketching plane interiors but it’s something that I always do to start documenting a trip.

Adding watercolour using a waterbrush was much easier than getting out my dagger and water container. By the way, I always use my fountain pen on flights, and I have only once had a minor leakage. More about flying with fountain pens here.

Here is the full spread, with the inclusion of a new MYKI card that I purchased at the airport (not the easiest thing to do as the MKYI machines are placed in obscure locations.)

First day in Melbourne

On my first full day of the trip, I went into the centre of Melbourne to catch up with a friend. I sketched the palm trees at Seaholme Station while waiting for a train (asking myself: how much could I do in 4 minutes?) and then did my first Flinders St station (FSS).

I stood outside St Paul’s Cathedral and did this sketch in 15 minutes.

The secret to being able to sketch this building so quickly was starting with a few loose shapes. I’ll be sharing more about this in the new Travel Sketching course, but it’s also my favourite way of Minimal Setup, which I explain in Foundations Lesson 6.

I was meeting a friend at Victoria Markets (a good 30-minute walk away), so I started weaving my way through the famous laneways of Melbourne. It’s been 8 years since my last visit – it was fun to go through them again.

I had 10 minutes before meeting up with Lynnette, so I sat down in the middle of a busy intersection (on a grass median strip) to do another quick sketch. Once again, I started with a few loose watercolour shapes (using a waterbrush and my small palette).

I was very pleased with the end result – lively but not rushed.

It was great to catch up with Lynnette, who moved to Melbourne at the end of last year. We were talking so much that I wasn’t able to focus on sketching my meal. When I sketch food, I typically do it in two passes – the first is a quick outline or a few shapes. I  take a photo and then start eating (I refuse to let my meal go cold for the sake of a sketch). Then, towards the end of eating, I return to sketching using the photo when needed as a reference. I didn’t do this last step this time and decided to leave the sketch as it was. But I did manage to paint my first Melbourne coffee for this trip.

We then got into a conversation about our work and what we want to develop. I asked Lynnette a few questions about her favourite sketches and that led to a discussion of sketching with ESV – edges, shapes and volumes. (The core concepts from my Foundations course – and in fact all my other courses – and the basis of all my sketching!)

I did these three sketches to explain the differences between the three using the objects on the table.

And then another ESV example using the stairway balustrade.

Next, we started discussing how to sketch the view from our table – which we both agreed wasn’t an ideal composition.

I did one example, starting with a shape for the timber way and then doing an open-ended continuous line for the coffee counter.

Then, I did another version connecting the foreground, middle ground and background.

It’s always very special when I catch up with a friend and we start talking about art concepts. It was a good reminder of how empowering it is to be able to sketch with edges, shapes, or volumes.

On my way back to Flinders St Station (I ended up walking the whole way), I stopped to get some parsnips from the markets (and sketched them when I was back home).

I just missed a train, so I crossed the road to Fed Square and did a second sketch of FSS.

Here are the full double-page spreads from the afternoon…

What a great first day!