Takayama is a lovely location to sketch, with its Edo-period style streets. I made sure to have a day there for that reason! The photo is a bit misleading due to overexposure of the sun in the background, it was periodically cloudy vs not cloudy.
23/8/25 Witch's house in the Lower Macleay trail, Portland, Oregon, USA. (Photo I took on location unfortunately cropped that title out.)
Both the landscapes and the interiors of the train. Even with all the shaking, there's something calming about it.
For my newest live sketchbook (sketchbook 4! It's been quite a journey), I figured I had to make some changes. So I've been adding in a ton of memorabilia like bills, packaging etc and drawing over it.
This still remains one of my favourite urban sketches till date, even if I'm more than 500 sketches deep :P. I work using uniball light grey, dark grey and black brush pens!
Hi folks! I'm a first-timer spending a month in Japan from 19th September to 19th October this year. I am an urban sketcher who loves capturing streetscapes, historical buildings, everyday living, some natural landscapes, etc. I like to draw on the spot in a journally way (adding bills, stamps, etc), and I love solo sketching. I normally sketch 2-4 sketches a day, with a day off sometimes to rest. I don't like extremely packed itineraries, and want to have 2-3h in spaces to sketch. I also love train travel and will be confined to public transit only. With this in mind, here is my proposed itinerary:
Tokyo 3d, staying in Ueno. Places such as Milkland Hokkaido Tokyo, Nittele tower, Ghibli Museum if possible, Teamlab Planets and Borderless, maybe the railway museum in Saitama? (Places to be clubbed with (8)).
Hakone 3d. Places such as the Hakone Tozan Railway and cablecar, Open air museum and glaee museums and just chilling around lake Ashinoko.
Nagano 2d, day trip to Togakushi. Mostly doing this for the Togakushi day trip.
Kanazawa 4d, day trips to Shirakawago and takayama. Places like the castle district and mount utatsu.
Kyoto 10d, day trips to Ine fishing village, Ikoma Nara, Tsumago-juku, Katsuoji temple + Minoh falls, Fushimi Inari Taisha, and Kifune shrine. Places such as the different moss temples, kyoto tango railway.
Aizu 4d, day trip to Ouchi-Juku. Places such as Tsuraga castle, the different sake breweries, Higashiyama onsen.
Matsushima 2d to chill by the bay.
Tokyo 1.5d (souvenir shop)
Happy to hear suggestions, especially for any replacements/reductions of places such as Kanazawa and Matsushima. I hear good things about Kamakura and Nikko, but not sure how I can fit that in. Kyoto looks fun and is a great base for day trips, so don't think I'm changing that up.
Thank you :))