My Sketching Toolkit: What I Actually Reach For

I get asked about my sketching setup more than almost anything else — what pen, what paper, what's actually in the bag. So here it is, all in one place: the tools I reach for at home, on the road, and out sketching around NYC.

Before we get into the list, though, a caveat that matters more than any single item on it: good tools help, but they're not the thing that gets the sketch made. Imperfect marks on cheap paper are infinitely better than perfect tools sitting unused on a shelf. Start with what you have. Upgrade thoughtfully, when you actually feel the lack of something. Then draw boldly.

With that said — here's the kit.

Field Gear: Lochby

For carrying everything, I use Lochby's field gear. It's built for people who actually work outdoors, not just people who want to look like they do, and it's held up to years of being tossed in a bag and dragged around the city.

The Lochby Field Journal is my grab-and-go for sketching and brainstorming — the thing I reach for when I don't know yet what I'm about to make, I just know I need to start. The Venture Pouch is a clever dual-sided design that keeps your gear visible and untangled, which sounds like a small thing until you've spent five minutes digging through a bag for one pen. The Field Folio is where I keep ideas and plans organized in one rugged, refillable place. For pen storage specifically, the Quattro case is genuinely great — and I round it out with Lochby's A5 grid paper for planning pages.

If you want to try Lochby yourself, use code INKSPIRED for 10% off (rules apply).. Visit https://www.lochby.com/inkspired

Pens, Paper, and Paint: My Amazon Picks

This is the everyday stuff — the pens I refill without thinking, the paper I trust, the paints that punch above their price. As an Amazon Associate I earn a small commission on these links, at no extra cost to you.

For mark-making and detail work:

• Pilot Precise Pens (Black) — fine-tip rollerballs that give clean, precise lines, ideal for architectural detail.
• Pilot Precise V7 (Red) — my go-to for annotations, editing, and adding emphasis to sketch studies.
• Brusarth White Pens — different nib sizes for large-area coverage or accurate detail; blends well with markers, watercolor, and pencil.
• Sharpie Markers and Sharpie Creative Markers — bold, fast-drying, and expressive, perfect for confident mark-making and loose gestural work when precision isn't the goal.
• Zebra Sarasa Gel Pens — a 10-pack of assorted light and dark colors, great for adding flair to notes and journaling.
• Lamy Safari Fountain Pen — sturdy and smooth-writing, holds up to daily urban sketching use.

For color and texture:

• Prismacolor Colored Pencils — smooth, vibrant color that goes down beautifully on paper.
• Winsor & Newton Cotman Watercolors — student-grade, but with a tonal range that punches above its weight for urban sketching washes.
• Liquitex BASICS Acrylic Paint — dries fast, cleans up with water while wet, and sticks to almost anything: canvas, paper, wood, metal, stone, textiles.
• Art Graf Graphite Sticks — water-soluble, so you can sketch and wash in the same motion. Incredibly versatile.
• Art Graf Tailor's Chalk — an unexpected favorite for loose, water-soluble composition blocking.
• Bamboo Brush — a traditional brush that produces beautiful, varied line weight, great for expressive ink work.

For paper and sketchbooks:

• Fabriano Watercolor Sketchbook — quality cold-press paper in a portable format, my go-to for ink-and-watercolor field work.
• Moleskine Watercolour Journal — thick, acid-free paper that handles wet media well without bleeding through.
• Noodle Doodle Fiddle Piddle Book — a fun, low-pressure sketchbook for loosening up and building creative confidence through play.

Other essentials: a reliable pencil sharpener for tight detail work, a compact watercolor travel kit for the field, and the Osbot Meet 2 Cam, which is what I use for filming sketching sessions and tutorials.

Judgment-Free Paper: Uglybooks

Don't let the name fool you. Uglybooks make incredibly media-friendly paper wrapped in vibrant, no-nonsense covers — the perfect companion for daily sketching, rough drafting, and keeping creative momentum moving without the pressure of a "perfect" blank page. Their compact 5.75" x 4" sketchbooks are rugged and built for real, on-the-go work, without the preciousness of a formal journal.

*Save 10% off your first Uglybooks purchase with my link: https://uglybooks.co/theinkspiredlife

Start Where You Are

If you take one thing from this list, let it be this: none of it matters if it stays in the bag. Start with what you have, upgrade thoughtfully as you go, and draw boldly.

If you want a simple place to start, grab the free SKETCH Cheat Sheet — it's a quick-reference guide to get you sketching with confidence, no matter what's in your kit.

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