Sketching New Orleans: My Urban Sketching Trip

Apr 9

Why New Orleans of all places? This vibrant city had been on my sketching list for a while. It has a historic architecture, interesting museums, and lovely parks, making it a visually rich city to draw. During my trip, I spent my days exploring and checking off my list of places (I had too many!) while filling pages of my sketchbook.

I started in the iconic French Quarter. My first stop was in Jackson Square and St. Louis Cathedral.

It was a beautiful early morning. I sketched while people were walking around with their coffees, jogging, walking their dogs, and there was even a musician playing some music.

One of my favorite sketches from this trip was LaLaurie’s Mansion. I tried to capture the essence of this building and tried my best not to get fixed in the little details!

On my second day, I visited the Louis Armstrong Park first thing in the morning and managed to make two sketches that I’m pretty happy about. The first one is a beautiful bridge I found in the park, and the other one is about the Louis Armstrong sculpture. You can find a time-lapse video of the bridge sketch on my Instagram or TikTok.

Sketching at the Cemetery

Before finishing my trip, I wanted to experience a different side of the city. New Orleans has a lot of haunted and spooky stories, so I joined a tour of St. Louis Cemetery No. 1. It ended up being one of the most memorable parts of my time there.

Our guide, Rahsaan, brought so much depth and history into the experience—it made the space feel alive in a quiet, unexpected way. Since the cemetery is only accessible through guided tours, it felt even more intentional to be there, moving through it slowly and taking everything in.

St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 is one of the oldest cemeteries in the city, known for its above-ground tombs and layered history shaped by New Orleans’ unique climate and cultural influences. Walking through it felt like stepping into a place where time is held differently.

I took some time to sketch a few of the structures that stood out to me, including the pyramid-shaped tomb of Nicolas Cage—built for his future burial—which felt both unexpected and strangely fitting within the space. I also passed by the tomb of Marie Laveau, a figure deeply tied to the city’s cultural and spiritual history.

Sketching here felt slower and more observant. Instead of focusing on color and movement, I paid more attention to structure, light, and repetition—the way each tomb carried its own presence while still belonging to a larger rhythm.

Behind the scenes

If you’re wondering what materials I used on this trip, here’s a list of the ones I used the most:

Hahnemühle Watercolor Book A5 size (Landscape orientation)
Lamy Safari Fountain Pen
Sailor Fude De Mannen Fountain Pen
Pentel Graph Gear 500 Pencil
Daniel Smith & Winsor and Newton Professional Watercolors in a custom palette box

If you’re prepping for sketching outdoors on a trip, you don’t need to pack your whole equipment. You need to carry a small bag with the essentials, and that is usually one pen, one pencil, an eraser, and a color medium.