Korea Travel Sketchbook

Korea Travel Sketchbook
by Nove Wong

At the end of September, I visited South Korea with my friend Anna for two weeks to travel, to draw as much as we could, and to attend AsiaLink Suwon at the end of it. It would be the first time we ever attended such an event since we only got into urban sketching one year ago so we were very excited.

Being in Korea, we wanted to draw the traditional architecture first and foremost. So although we stayed in the sprawling urban city of Seoul for the first two days, we visited places such as Unhyeongung Palace and Changdeokgung Palace to draw.

The drawing at Unhyeongung took three hours or so to complete but it was so peaceful and serene that I could paint there all day. Changdeokgung Palace, on the other hand, was much more popular with tourists. I was quite tired at this point so I did a single page sketch playing around with negative space, getting away without drawing every detail.

For the next five days, we stayed in Jeju Island. It was my first time visiting Jeju so I didn’t know what to expect. However upon arrival, I already began to fall in love with its quiet, sleepy towns and beautiful ocean views. Our first accommodation was near Seongsan Ilchulbong, also called the ‘Sunrise Peak’. It’s a tuff cone formed by hydrovolcanic eruptions about 5,000 years ago. 

I only found out much later that it was a UNESCO World Heritage Site so it was no wonder that I was so enamoured with it at the time — the view was simply breathtaking. I tried to capture the scale of it in my sketch. A local man saw us drawing and approached us. He told us how beautiful the view is from the peak at sunrise and urged us to hike up there to see for ourselves. He couldn’t speak English and we couldn’t speak Korean, so his warm insistence through Google Translate must have meant something.

Hiking is not in our usual routine, nor is waking up at 5am to do it in the dark. At the end of the 30-minute hike, our calves were burning and our clothes fully soaked. But the view was ultimately worth it; everything just looked resplendent in the early morning light.

Next stop: Seogwipo. Seogwipo is the second-largest city in Jeju, located on the southern part of the island. I remember the day was scorching hot and we were still exhausted from the hike that morning. But the spirit of exploration remained high so we headed to the Jeju Olle Trail. Beautiful pine trees still in their late summer greenery towered over us on the footpath. Partly because I was attracted by their spindly trunks, partly because the afternoon sun was burning through our backs – we left shortly and I never painted the greens in.

The next day, we went to Saeseom Island, a small island off Seogwipo accessible by foot. This time, we were smart enough to bring our umbrellas. Shaded by trees and caressed by a constant breeze, we settled on a bench and sketched the trail. I painted with mostly Perylene Green and Indian Red, two colours which I rarely used from my palette and which I wanted to explore. 

Just like that, our time in Jeju came to an end. We flew back to the mainland, to the port city of Yeosu. Yeosu felt similar to Jeju with its small town charm and beautiful coasts. During our short two-night stay, we visited the famous Hyangiram Hermitage. It was very busy, especially since it was Chuseok, a major three-day Korean harvest festival and holiday. 

From here, we took the train to Jeonju. We stayed in the hanok village, which has rows and rows of streets lined with rustic traditional houses. It was also a walking distance to local landmarks such as the Jeonju Hyanggyo, a Confucian school established in the 15th century. I’ve heard that the old gingko trees here turn into the most brilliant shade of yellow in autumn so I was a bit sad that I couldn’t see it. But the light looked just as dazzling in early October so I painted it and injected a bit of yellow-orange in the trees back there.

At this point in the trip, my friend and I felt exhausted physically and creatively. We thought maybe we pushed ourselves too hard to draw all the time (though it was hard not to when you get to travel to such amazing places). We strolled around the village, not intending to pick up the brush, and happened upon Jeondong Cathedral. It stuck out amongst the other traditional Korean structures in a good way. Soon enough, we started sketching again… this time, I took on a more stylised approach. I tend to draw a bit differently when I feel I’ve been doing things a certain way for too long. 

Last stop: AsiaLink Suwon

My first impression of AsiaLink was that there were so many people. It was exciting being around other urban sketchers and seeing their all-round enthusiasm. People greeted each other like old friends and sketchbooks were exchanged almost as if they were answers to “how have you been?” (because many of our stories are recorded in our sketchbooks)

On the second and third day, my friend and I attended SeungBin Jeong and Hyoju Ban’s workshops, which were eye opening. It’s always amazing to see how other people work in person. We also joined the Sketchwalks, where we fumbled to sketch quicker because we were so used to taking our own sweet time (haha)

All in all, the four days at AsiaLink was a great experience. In hindsight, I wished I went out of my comfort zone and talked to more people as I think these events are as much about meeting new people as they are about sketching together. I hope to attend the next Symposium!

Nove Wong is an illustrator and graphic designer based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. You can see more of her work at her Instagram and website.