Sketchpacking Again! Woohoo!

The day is drawing near (several weeks, actually) for my next sketchpacking trip! I might be getting ahead of myself and being a little ambitious, but I'm hoping to do some serious sketching, and hopefully compile the contents into a book when I get back (something quite challenging, I expect, since I'm traveling with 2 non-sketchers). Where am I going? Take a guess from the following photo:

Yes, I'm heading to the Middle Kingdom! (not Middle Earth. That's a totally different place).

I thought I'd try my hand at a little sketch-journalism and travel writing this time, so I'm bringing several types of sketchbooks for different purposes:

1. Stillman and Birn Alpha A5 hardcover sketchbook for the main daily drawings
2. Daler-Rowney Graduate A4 landscape hardcover sketchbook for big spaces and panoramas
3. Daler-Rowney Graduate A5 paperback sketchbook for writing (mainly) and the odd sketch
4. Moleskine A6 sketchbook for quick draws
5. A5 brown paper sketchbook for trip preparation and planning
6. A5 black paper sketchbook for night sketches

I probably won't be bringing all of them out at the same time (that means I'll leave the black paper one unless I plan to be doing night sketching, which would mean I might need to bring my colour pencils out).

In fact, I've already started using the brown sketchbook I bought from my friend (he makes them!). More writing and cutouts in them than sketching, but that might change soon. I did try out some Chinese calligraphy, as you can see, with some Pentel brush pens. Never formally learned it, but picked up some strokes from here: http://www.chinesecalligraphyinfo.com/instruction/basic_strokes.php

Since China has the famous "Great Firewall", I might not be able to update this blog from there. But then again, I might be able to get some VPN access, so cross your fingers and hope for the best! I'll try to put in some more updates before I leave.