Travel Journal: Illustrate Your Reality
A course by PowerpaolaPlastic Artist, Cartoonist, and Illustrator
A course by Powerpaola, Plastic Artist, Cartoonist, and Illustrator
Capture the moment by combining drawing and storytelling to create an unforgettable travel journal
Losing yourself in the city streets allows you to observe daily life and surround yourself with images, colors, and sensations that you can pour right into a travel journal. Well-known plastic artist, cartoonist, and illustrator Powerpaola records everything she comes across, from people and places to thoughts that arise along the way.
In this course learn how to compose a travel journal of texts and drawings based on what you see around you. Begin a journey to capture reality exploring different illustration and writing techniques, whether around your city, neighborhood, or even your own room. Pack your bag and let's get going!
What will you learn in this online course?
11 lessons & 18 downloads
What Is a Travel Journal?
15 minutes, 5 seconds
Materials
7 minutes, 23 seconds
Text and Image Ratio
11 minutes, 13 seconds
Drawing and Writing
8 minutes, 37 seconds
Spaces, Buildings and Houses
10 minutes, 37 seconds
Plants and Flowers
10 minutes, 3 seconds
What's included in this course?
Start the course by getting to know Powerpaola as she talks about her extensive career as a plastic artist, illustrator, and cartoonist. She talks about why travel is a recurring theme in her work and shares her greatest inspirations.
Explore the literary genre of travel journals. Study different composition options for each page discovering how to combine text and image to create something altogether new.
Let the adventure begin! Leave all your preconceptions about what a "good drawing" is at the door, overcome your fear of putting pen to paper, and start experimenting with different techniques. Discover your unique style through close observation of your surroundings: spaces, buildings, houses... Collect a selection of leaves and flowers for drawing plants, and then Powerpaola shows you how to capture the essence of the people you cross paths with.
Go through your sketchbook page by page and take a more detailed look. With some tips from Powerpaola, retouch, add or remove bits where necessary. Get ready to share your travel journal on social media!
What is this course's project?
Go on an adventure and make a journal narrated and illustrated by you, whether around your own city, neighborhood, or even your room.
Projects by course students
Who is this online course for?
Anyone excited about drawing, writing, and experimenting.
Requirements and materials
Powerpaola encourages drawing whatever your level, so no experience is required for this course.
In terms of materials, you need a notebook, pencils, watercolors, markers, colored pencils, ink, an eraser, and a ruler.
Reviews
- 3 months ago
nada interesante
- 3 months ago
Powerpaola ist einzigartig in ihrer Fähigkeit sowohl ihre vielen aufregenden Reiseerfahrungen als auch ihr Innenleben in einer sehr berührenden Art zu beschreiben. Unbedingt zu empfehlen!
- 4 months ago
I have been practicing urban sketching by myself for several years, and have finally come to a point that I find sketching is a kind of meditation and connection to the object and the location. This course is the exactly what I need now. It taught me to slow down and sketch quietly. Paola is a cool teacher. Thank you!
- 6 months ago
Me encanta la paz que transmite Paola. Su obra es maravillosa. Explica muy bien, muy pausada. Me resulto muy divertido el curso
- 6 months ago
Me encantó la simplificación de lo que consideramos "viajar" , realmente me inspira a dibujar, a salir a la calle y dibujar en diferentes cafés o bares con la regla de conocer un lugar nuevo cada semana. Son ese tipo de reglas que por más que parezcan sencillas a veces es difícil llegar a ellas. Dibujar no debe ser algo que requiera ciertas condiciones determinadas... las reglas las pone uno. Gracias Paola siempre fan nunca infan. (No se si este texto tiene sentido esta tarde y estoy cansada
Additionally, she was artistic director of the animated feature Virus Tropical, based on her eponymous graphic novel. She produced more than 5000 cartoons for the film over a total of 5 years.
Content
- U1
Introduction
- About Me
- Influences
- U2
Preparation
- What Is a Travel Journal?
- Materials
- Text and Image Ratio
- U3
The Journey
- Drawing and Writing
- Spaces, Buildings and Houses
- Plants and Flowers
- People
- U4
Rewrite
- Back to Travelling
- Reflecting and Sharing the Work
- FP
Final project
- Travel Journal: Illustrate Your Reality
What to expect from a Domestika course
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Enjoy learning from home without a set schedule and with an easy-to-follow method. You set your own pace.
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FAQs
You’ll learn how to create illustrated journals and autobiographical fanzines by blending drawing, text, and collage to tell personal stories and travel experiences, using mixed techniques and a variety of materials.
This is an intermediate-level course, perfect for those who already have basic drawing skills and want to dive deeper into graphic storytelling and visual experimentation.
You’ll need a notebook or sketchbook, pencils, markers (like Rotring or Pentel), watercolors, gouache, scissors, glue, and collage materials. Feel free to adapt based on your preferences and what you have available.
You’ll learn how to select, edit, and arrange pages from your notebook to turn them into a personal book, fanzine, or graphic novel, following editing and visual storytelling processes.
Yes, the course explores gestural and experimental drawing techniques, direct observation of people, architecture, and nature, and how to blend these with imaginative and textual elements.
Yes, you’ll study journals and works by contemporary artists to inspire and guide your own approach to creating illustrated journals and visual narratives.
The course teaches you how to balance text and image, playing with layout, visual rhythm, and the integration of words and drawings to create compelling graphic stories.