I've always wanted to try sketchbooking and journalling. It's something I used to do as a kid; drawing about the places and things I've seen instead of just writing about them and I didn't know it's something you can develop and make a skill out of. Even if it's not some great work of art, it is still an essential part of the process of loosening up, studying textures, lighting, and shapes, and also just having fun.

The artists featured in this collection had some interesting takes. I got some good tips out of it, some of them just sounded really snobby about their sketchbook art, some...had a weird choice of word usage (see: offensive) to describe places and stuff and some had opinions that just pissed me off

So here are some tips that I personally found creative or useful and maybe you would too:

Introduction
I discovered that when I drew something, I remembered it in deepest detail. I remember the way the light fell on the building, the sounds birds made as they flew overhead, every item in a shop window, conversations I overheard, and life all around me became richer and more vivid because I was doing this simple thing: drawing with a pen in a book.

Chris Buchholz
There’s something cool to me about being able to fill your brush with water from a beautiful fountain in Italy and then paint that fountain.

Nina Johansson
I don’t think that much about composition, I just begin with the most important item, put it where I want it on the page, and continue from there
(good advice for drawing complicated scapes)

Andrea Joseph
I actually lay the object on the paper and draw around it. My friend says it's cheating but I don’t think so. The thing I like about this method is that the drawing is the actual size of your subject. And, in some way, I feel the object and the drawing become even closer. The object becomes part of the drawing, more entwined.

Kolby Kirk
Sometimes I’ll take out my GPS and write down the coordinates

Steven B. Reddy (he had some really good advice and stuff instead of just bragging about stuff)
I still do a gray ink wash version first, then “glaze” the watercolor on top of that. It’s more work and takes more time, but painting in gray first helps me make sense of the overwhelming amount of data I’m looking at. Then, once I know where the darks and lights are, I can put in a little color.

When I draw, many things that happened while I was drawing get “locked into the picture.” I don’t mean in a figurative sense, like, “Oh, that was a beautiful day …,” but very specific details: the conversations I had while drawing, the song I was listening to on my iPhone, the TV show that was on the background. It’s weird, but I’ll look back at a drawing of a cup of coffee and Mad Men will pop into my head. Or a glance at a drawing from a Chinese restaurant will elicit a shouted, “Laoban! Laoban!” because I heard a patron call out to the waitress while I was drawing.

Asnee Tasnaruangrong
Sometimes I also get a very effective result by adding soft pastel (the type used by professional pastel artists) very sparingly over dry watercolor sketches.

And some are just funny or interesting quotes

Tommy Kane
Tommy Kane is a squirrel who grew up on Long Island and now lives in Brooklyn with his wife, Yun.
My name is Tommy Kane, and I am a drawaholic
My wife and I make a good couple because she has lots of ideas and I nod my yes to all of them head

(You have these artists swearing by Moleskins and then there's..)
Miguel “Freekhand” Herranz
I don’t like Moleskines. They are the worst and most expensive standard sketchbooks in the world, an example of a great marketing strategy selling a poor product

Hannah Hinchman
I like interacting with people when I’m drawing, generally. The most common comment is “I wish I could do that.” They can, of course.

Some artists are really all snobby criticizing their companions for seeing places and taking photos (yknow that's what being a tourist is about) instead of sKeTcHiNg because "you capture memories better that way" and then there's...
Olivier Kugler
When I am traveling I don’t want to spend a lot of time sitting on my bum or standing around sketching—I want to get out there. Explore!

Bryce Wymer
Working in a sketchb617-1ook or writing in a journal is a physical and mental exercise. It’s not necessarily meant to be hung on a wall or handled with white gloves. It’s one of those rare places in this world where on one page you can totally geek out and experiment with abstraction and on the next page you can work through a refined portrait where there will undoubtedly always be something wrong with the fucking nose (lol!)

Then the old man yells at cloud artists. Like why can't they chill about artists choosing to draw using photographs? I get the point that nothing prepares you for Plein air sketching other than the experience of it but it's okay to finish stuff or enhance them back home using photos like it's not a big deal. Do art the way you want to. You shouldn't have to conform to too many rules and good photography is a skill in itself. And If you're traveling then enjoy the sights too. It's okay.

Introduction
Unlike those who hide behind a pudgy mystery novel and a piña colada while plopped in a poolside lounge
(it's okay to relax once in a while like chill)

Ken Avidor
A lot of people sketch buildings and streets without people. What a mistake.
(ken seems to have missed Bob Ross' memo)

Kolby Kirk
A book seems much harder to destroy than art created in Photoshop or a video.
(Umm nope. when will traditionists stop putting down digital art)

Virginia Hein
I have to remind myself that it’s OK to make bad drawings! If the sketchbook becomes too precious to experiment in, then it’s not a good sketchbook.
(i mean the first parts ok but it's okay for sketchbooks to be treated preciously, to plan compositions, etc doesn't mean it's a bad sketchbook. some artists in this very book would agree)

Liz Steel's whole rant about cameras too (meh) and there were more but I got bored of them

And the weird:

Fabio Consoli
Africa has its own smell and forest sounds. I’d like to imprint them in my notebooks forever; this is why I often use food or fruits like coffee, wine, soy sauce, some fresh herbs, berries or tomatoes for coloring. This is some way, even for a short time, I can infuse the smells into my drawings; this gives my Moleskine a nice garbage smell.

Jean-Christophe Defline
Asian trips are my favorite travel experiences. There are so many amazing subjects to draw on the continent that I feel like an oversexed guy in a harem, as Warren Buffet would say.

An Illustrated Journey
"The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.” (yeah sorry Saint Augustine but not all of us have the means)
For those who want to sketch but can't travel watch those tour videos on youtube, use google street view or even just sketch what is out your window, at different times of the day, year, or month. sketch your pet, your tools, the rack of condiments literally anything. It's okay to do what you want.