“Have fun, make mistakes and create what you want to see!”
— Max Romey

Founded by Alaskan artist and filmmaker, Max Romey, Trailbound Sketches is a production studio and a community.

Here you will find our films, online watercolor tutorials, digital wallpaper downloads to welcome the magic of the outdoors into your homes and offices, gift cards, and on occasion — beautiful products inspired by Max’s colorful artwork.

Impactful filmmaking…

Ocean Plastics Recovery Project / Story Teller

2020-Present

Working to develop creative solutions to share the complex nature of the marine debris crisis, its environmental impacts, and inspire constructive converstation.

Dynamic storytelling and having a positive impact is at the heart of all that we produce.

Here are a few of our recent documentary shorts and keep an eye out in Spring of 2024 for our new documentary short ‘FOOTPRINTS ON KATMAI.’

Nnormal / Ambassador -  Advocate

2021-2023

Filming, illustration, animation, story development, and produced No Lost Shoes Film

Painting The Solstice / Creator

2023

This short film was a year in the making. A collaboration with fellow Alaskan filmmaker Lindsey Gerlach of Forget Me Not Films. Made possible by the support of our Trailbound Sketches Community.

Salomon Skiing/ Producer & Film Maker

2022

Working with Salomon skiing to bring the imagination of skiing across a blank white landscape, by showing the importance and beauty of what lies below. 

When signing up for a tutorial, you will be asked to create an account within our website, if you don’t already have one, BEFORE proceeding through the check-out process. This will make all your tutorials accessible in one location. Once signed up you will have lifetime access.

Featured online tutorials…

If your are an enrolled student and/or educator, please contact us for a student discount code.

Winter Solstice Watercolor Tutorial

WINTER SOLSTICE WATERCOLOR TUTORIAL

$25.99
One time

24 DAY WATERCOLOR SKETCHING SERIES

$130.00
One time
“I had a blast doing this. I don’t have much experience with watercolor and so it was really cool to see just my confidence change throughout the 24 days. I felt more ease in just holding a paintbrush, letting things not be perfect, and letting the paint just go where it needs to be.”
— Molly P.

99 SKETCHES WEEKLY SERIES

$395.00
One time

The latest on the blog…

Featured
Max Romey X Susitna 100
Jennifer Langille
Max Romey X Susitna 100
Jennifer Langille

If you have been following the “sketchy” story of Max Romey, then you may already know he has an innate curiosity and a healthy sense for adventure. He never leaves home without a sketchbook and small kit of watercolor supplies. Furthermore, if it’s winter, he is almost always on his kicksled!

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Jennifer Langille
Student Stories : Susan Johnson
Max Romey
Student Stories : Susan Johnson
Max Romey

We met Susan through our 24 Day Watercolor Series that was designed to be a fun take on an advent calendar. But instead of a counting down to Christmas with a daily dose of candy, we thought it would be fun to sketch and paint small paintings that would fit together to become a bigger painting by Christmas.

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Max Romey
Student Stories : Elsa Worth
Max Romey
Student Stories : Elsa Worth
Max Romey

With no further ado, it’s my please to share with the virtual world Elsa Worth who calls The Granite State of New Hampshire home. She is an active Trailbound Sketches participant, having signed-up for ALL of our tutorials, which is amazing! Her story stood out when she started sharing pages of her sketchbook while working on the 99 Sketches Series.

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Max Romey
Following My Grandmother’s Footsteps
Max Romey
Following My Grandmother’s Footsteps
Max Romey

My grandmother Lu shared her love for sketching with me when I was very young. Teaching people to be curious and create what they want to see was a passion of hers. Therefore, following in her footsteps feels like I’m sharing her joy for drawing and painting with you!

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Max Romey

Travel with Max Romey @MAXROMEY

Excited to share that some of my sketches are part of the @runthealps virtual tour! It can be easy to forget that there are so many ways to explore the trails, even if your feet never touch the ground. 🎨
I don’t speak German, but everyone speaks sketchbook. This was an afternoon watercolor while filming in Munich during the filming of the #wallrun . Being in a foreign place can be uncomfortable but I received so many smiles and comments from pe
If you can’t paint fast, find a subject who will stand still...
I am not sure if you will every be able to capture the movement of a trail run on a price of paper, but it is fun to try!
Behind the brush 🎨 I had some requests to share a painting from start to finish. Here is a moving time-lapse from above Eklutna trying to capture the blues of this incredible spot! What do you think of the spinning time-lapse?

Sketch With Max @TRAILBOUNDSKETCHES

Without the marine debris these Oyster Catcher eggs would be perfectly camouflaged. The ornithologist (bird biologist) on our boat @vmpadula shared about all the incredible shore birds that live here in Alaska. She studies the way ingested plastics
Marine debris does not break down, it breaks up. Even a bucket like this is no match for the surf and sun on the Alaskan coast. We have a limited time to remove these ocean plastics before they are small enough to work their way into the ecosystem.
In the next few month I hope to release the film about us sketching, bushwhacking and enjoying the 150 miles of the Southern Trek. But to be honest I feel really nervous to show my artwork and personal experience in this new way. When it comes to sha
So fun to follow along as friends gave it their all in Colorado this weekend at the Hard Rock 100.
Plastics don’t break down, they break up. Something I learned while out on our latest clean up was just how quickly the Alaskan environment can reduce marine debris to dust. But unlike dust or sand, plastics are not inert, they work their way u
I should have been painting the landscape around me, but all I could see was the marine debris. Katmai Alaska is supposed to be as remote as it gets, yet every 100 feet you could find enough marine debris to fill a page like this. No one lives on t