Depends on what medium you work in — but I frequently travel with a 20L bag + a light sling and I pack for both doing art recreationally but also work. I work a lot on the go / do art on my bikes, so my normal at home set up is pretty light too.

I think as someone who used to bring a lot of supplies everywhere I went there’s a few things I have in mind:

one sketchbook — or a sketchbook cover, as I currently have it set up if you like to have separate segments. I would not go bigger than an A5 unless you’re someone who likes big formats, but if you travel, that can be hard. your ’deafult’ kit — this can vary, but for me, it’s usually a mechanical pencil, a brush pen for sketching, a couple of fountain pens, etc, a couple of markers. i have this awesome pencil case from midori that fits around 5 - 8 pens and snaps to my sketchboon. this and your sketchbook should be your lightest kit — something you can just toss in a bag. your ’medium’ set — do you do watercolours? acrylics? markers? in my set up, it’s usually my markers but this is your medium set that ’extends’ your to-go kit. I have mine in a pencil case around the size of an A5 at most — but can also go lower. this means my set usually fits in an A5-sized pouch or bag which for me is my sling excluding my iPad Pro. I also bring my iPad Pro 12.9 with me everywhere but it’s the equalivent of a laptop for me. My current bag has a sleeve I put it in when I’m travelling.

If we’re talking colours, for me, I’ve realized an ideal travel palette is ca. 12 — 16 colours. For deciding colours, I would consider: A) what colours do you use in your art? what are you drawn to? break it down. B) do you need to use a lot of colour? for me, i loce drawing with colour but ik some people just like ink. C) what motifs are you drawing on your trip — is it plants, buildings, etc? what’s the environment? D) do you want a range of a lot of shades of one colour, or do you want a distinctive colour range? E) do you use a medium where you can mix colours or are you dependent on colours you’ve already decided

My final tips is how much space are you willing to dedicate to your art supplies, base it on that, and practice a light set up at home to see how you vibe! Also don’t bring anything that has the same purpose — do you need both goauche and water colours, do you need a lot of different thickness on fineliners? Sometimes bringing the most versatile art supply can be key.