Travel Illustrations
Observational drawings from different locations around the world. Capturing storytelling viewpoints, cultural experiences, and variating architecture and wildlife.
Through January and February 2024, I travelled around Australia and Bali with my partner and aimed to capture as much as possible from that incredible experience through illustrations.
We flew first to Sydney, spending a few days in the busy city exploring all of the hotspots. We then picked up a hire campervan which would be our home for the next 2 weeks as we drove up the East Coast. Stopping at beaches and rainforests, staying on rural campsites, swimming in waterfalls, seeing incredible wild animals, and exploring a little further afield to islands via boat. We then returned our rented van once we reach Cairns, and flew to Perth in West Australia for a week. We ended the trip with 2 weeks in Bali before returning to the UK.
This collection started as simply a personal project to tell a story of my own travel experience, however a few of the illustrations, perhaps with a more relatable perspective are available to purchase as prints from my website!
PVG > SYD Flight
The first of a collection capturing moments from our 7 week travelling trip. With lots of time to spare, my first illustration took place on our flight from Shanghai Pudong International Airport to Sydney! Featuring some questionable aeroplane food.
Sydney
This illustration aims to collate most of the parts of Sydney I was lucky enough to experience. In the few days we were in Sydney, we caught trains, buses, and ferries, and saw Sydney Opera House, Harbour Bridge, and the Botanical Gardens, and then walked from Bondi, to Brontë, and to Clovelly beach!
Van Views
3 out of the 4 weeks spent travelling the East coast of Australia were done in a van, I love so many different aspects of van life, and some other bits not so much… but this illustration aims to capture my favourite part. The ability to drive to basically any and every beach, park up right by the water with the best view, almost always having it entirely to ourselves, having a quick swim in the sea, and it being so hot but also nice and breezy, that your swimmers are dry again before setting off!
Peach Farm
Illustration capturing some of the feathery residents we got the pleasure of staying with at possibly my favourite campsite ever, Peach Farm!
Misty Moutains Shower
A rugged shower scene from a campsite in Misty Mountains, Kunghur.
WACA
Observational drawing captured on location at West Australia Cricket Academy.
I don’t do observational illustration half as much as I’d like to, and I don’t have any particular interest in cricket, but my partner Tom does, and convinced me to go by saying it was only a very small, casual game, and would be a relaxing environment I could draw in, and it was! I’m glad he did as I think it’s super helpful to mix up your process when drawing. I mostly draw from photos, which works a treat, but I always find capturing a live observation gives you a more unique perspective, and loosens the need for perfectionism.
We attended the WACA to see West Australia vs New South Wales. I barely paid any attention the sport, as I was much more interested in people watching in the audience. There were probably less than 50 attendees, and I’m pretty sure we were the only guests under the age of 60. Most of them, like me, had a book or a newspaper with a crossword to give half their attention to 🗞️
Lazy River
Lazy river illustration inspired mostly by my trip to Waterbom waterpark in Bali, but also just aiming to capture the exquisite, care-free feeling that comes with floating on a rubber ring amongst luscious greenery, an unmatched experience!