On the Road Again…

What's my "Ride-Or-Die" Drawing kit for when I’m out of the studio?

Gooooood morning, friend.

Hope you’re having a great weekend. I’m out on a road trip with my sister and her boyfriend for the next week around the Pacific Northwest. The RV is being held together by dreams and chewing gum, but by god it’s gonna get us from A to halfway between A and B.

As I write this, we’re driving past Amelia’s Sandwiches, Massage & Pawn Shop just outside of Tacoma. We caught up with my ol’ cartooning pals, Ann Telnaes and Michael Jantze for lunch at Ray’s Boathouse after our first day stomping around Seattle. The remainder of the trip sees us hurtling south through Washington and Oregon, and on to the Highway 1 down the California coast, screeching to a halt in San Francisco.

I’ve been sketching away wherever I can— taking inspiration from

Samantha Dion Baker

‘s new book “Draw Your Adventures”.

I’ll use whatever tools I have handy, but I did bring more than just a pen and sketchbook. My portable studio —my “Road Kit”— changes depending on the kind of trip I’m on, but for the most part, it consists of the following…

For those of you interested, the scribble above was with a Uniball Vision Elite. I use them a lot.

My Road Kit. (2025)

(Full disclosure: None of the links in this post are affiliate links. You’re already paying for this Substack. I’m also very lazy.)

This kit contains pretty much everything I’ll ever need for drawing while I’m away from the studio. I’ll go through each of the items below, but I want to let you know that this little kit only cost me about $27 on Amazon (and it contained a bunch of mechanical pencils!) It has survived many crazy travel stories and has yet to let me down.

What’s in the Kit?

Dip pen with a Hunt #101 Imperial Nib

1. You can read all about my discovery of this nib in this post, but this is the one tool I can’t leave home without. I snipped the top end off for better balance and wrapped it in masking tape in case I’m drawing somewhere sweaty. Yes, I’ll inevitably spill ink on my only pair of pants at some point, but I don’t care. Totally worth it.

   

2. My Nibbly Dibbleys (Spare nibs)

   One thing about bringing dip pen nibs is that sometimes they break, they bind up, correct care isn’t always taken in preserving them when I’m in a hurry, so I need to switch them out. I carry this little pill box for nibs— both Hunt #101 and…
   

   

   3. Dip pen with a Hunt #102 Crowquill Nib

   This thing has gone through a lot. I remember first buying it in Melbourne in January 2020 and drawing cartoons about the bushfires. While I was scribbling away, I remember thinking, “This is definitely the worst thing that’s going to happen in 2020.”
   

   

3. My magical nipple! (No, not that one.)
   This thing sits on any flat surface and keeps nice and stable, holding a tiny inkwell that I dip the abovementioned pens into. The ink I use is Higgins non-waterproof ink, just because it pays nicer with more paper stocks than the waterproof variants (and let’s be honest, I’m going to spill it. It’s easier to clean.) This is what it looks like with the tub in it: