Friday Night Sketching : Perplexed by Paper for Pencil

Hey, Jason Nicholas Nicholas here from The Inspired Life. Happy Friday night, May 16th, 2025. Hope you're doing well. Um, yeah, it's been a rainy week here in New Jersey, um, which is good. We need the rain. My irises have bloomed. OMG, um, my most favorite, favorite flowers ever. Let me grab something off the desk here. Let me show you something. Boom, there we go. So every spring Um, I love doing iris paintings. They're mixed media— ink, watercolor, colored pencil, highlighter, a bit of this, a bit of that. And I kind of just move this over, you can see, so you can see a little bit better. Um, so here's my first iris painting of 2025, and it was fun. I did something different on this. I, um, I cut it out. And to be honest, I cut it out because something happened in the background, um, as I was painting it. I didn't like what happened. I think I splattered, um, color or something. I can't remember exactly. So I said, you know, let me cut it out and see what it looks like on black background. And then I remembered I had these mats, so I'm like, all right, let's put a mat on it. So I'm kind of doing it like this. Boom. I wasn't really digging it, and then I'm like, why don't I just kind of have the iris come out of the frame a little bit so it adds a little, a little bit of depth? Actually, I had an angle so it looks more interesting. So, you know, it's kind of popping out of the frame, adds more interest, more depth to it. Um, this is a cool little painting. I love it, and I'm going to be doing more like this. Um, now that they bloom— today's the first day I've actually seen them out blooming. I did a little video which I'll post probably sometime this weekend or next week, so you can check that out. But yeah, fun piece, fun piece. All right, let me check in on here. I gotta go do— click some tech buttons. I think I'm over on Instagram. So if you're watching on Facebook, Instagram, or YouTube, you're awesome. Feel free to say hi in the comments. I would love to talk to you and Jason Nicholas, see what you're up to. Cool. All right, uh, my desk— I'm just moving things around. I might have a kind of a new setup happening in here, so you might see me clicking some buttons, moving around a little bit here and there. Yeah, so this is a— this was a really cool iris painting Um, it's probably— I've probably done about a dozen of them over the past couple years. I've sold a few, which has been awesome. And if you're interested in this one, let me know. Send me a message either on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, wherever you are. Just put a comment or message and let me know. I'd love to, to see this iris go to someone's house. It's really cool. All right, I'm gonna put the iris aside. I'm only gonna be on for about 10 minutes. Here's what I wanted to kind of talk about a little bit tonight. Tomorrow I'm headed to, um, New York City to a museum, and it's gonna be fun. We're getting a tour inside the museum, and I want to sketch something. You know me, I always have to have a sketchbook with me. It's just a habit. It's, it's part of who I am, part of my nature. So I was on the website for the museum and I was reading that they don't allow— they, they do allow sketching, but pencil only. And I think the paper has to be— I don't— I think it's 9 inches by 12 inches or smaller. So it's really important whenever you're going to sketch at a museum to go to their website or call them and see what they do or do not allow about, um, you know, sketching while you're there. Um, so I'm glad I did that. So it's going to give me a challenge, which is a really good challenge. I rarely ever sketch with pencil, so I broke out my mechanical pencil set right here. I'll show you guys this in a sec, but I don't know what paper to sketch on. I haven't sketched with pencil in a long time, so I don't know, do I want to do it on rough press paper or cold press paper, which is rough? Do I want to do on a smoother paper? So, uh, it's kind of— this is kind of just me talking out loud tonight. I don't know if I'll do much sketching. And just going through my thought process of what I'm thinking about. So I'm limited on— I know I need pencil, and I know the size has to be 9 by 12 or smaller. So let me start with the pencils. Um, I have this really cool mechanical pencil set. I really like it. They have a nice weight to them, a nice feel to them. They're, I believe they're metal, probably aluminum, and they have different size tips on them. So if you hold this up, this says 0.5, so that's a 0.5, um, millimeter lead inside there. So I think, I don't know if these are in order. The smallest it looks like is, yeah, I don't know, the smallest I have might be 0.5. And then the biggest one I have is 2. So this is the 2mm, and I think I'm going to bring the 2mm because I like the— that the tip is a little bit thicker. We're going to put this so you guys can see it better. We'll just, uh, let me just hold this up here on the sheet. There you go. So I like the, the 2mm tip. Um, it's thick, won't snap as easily as the other points because I— you tend to push hard sometimes. Um, so it's a lead holder, right? So the lead comes out. I have refills for it, which is convenient, so I can pack a refill so I have plenty of lead with me. Does have an eraser. I, I rarely erase when I'm sketching, so I don't even know if I need an eraser, but there is an eraser. There are replacement erasers too if I wanted to bring them, um, bigger erasers. And little pencil sharpeners. So I got this little mini pencil sharpener that you can kind of do this, sharpen it. The only thing is when I sharpen it, I have to make sure that I'm sharpening over something, not the floor. So maybe a little container or something I could pack. So I'm definitely going to bring this pencil. I do have two in here, I just need one. So I'm going to grab this and this. I'll grab the sharpener as well. So that'll come with me. And I'm gonna grab a— I'm gonna probably bring a Lockbee Quattro. I mean, we'll be— we'll bring a blue one tomorrow. So I'm gonna bring a Lockbee Quattro that I can throw this stuff in. So just put those— no creative markers tomorrow. I'm gonna, I'm gonna challenge myself. I'm gonna leave all my markers home, leave the watercolors home. I'm going to bring the pencil, and I'll bring a Sharpie also, um, because I will do sketching outside of the museum, um, probably in Central Park tomorrow, maybe a couple— another one or two places depending on the weather. But yeah, so I'll just kind of keep these in here. I'm gonna put the lead in the front because this— just so I can get that out easier. And then the sharpener It's a good question. I don't know where I'll put this. I'll stick it here for now, but it might end up going somewhere else, right? So I have that, which is perfect. So we'll bring that tomorrow. Um, so my, my dilemma is I don't know which paper I want to sketch on. I'm used to sketching, um, either, you know, the Fabriano or in my Lockbee. I usually like to use the Lockbee plain paper or Moleskine paper. So let me— I figured I'd just kind of maybe test this out for a minute or two and see which paper I like the best. So here's the challenge. If you're just joining me, welcome, good evening. I hope you're doing— having a great night. I'm Jason Nicholas Nicholas with the Inkspired Life, where I love sketching architecture and urban sketching. So here's the plain paper. You can see— oh, this is a sketch I did. This is a sketch I did at a concert the other night at our school. This is the chorus singing, you know, and with the curtain behind them. But that was Sharpie. So we're just gonna doodle a little bit and with the pencil. I'm just scribbling. I'm not, I'm not sketching anything in particular. Maybe some shapes I might, you know, see and want to sketch tomorrow. Maybe some arches, some points. We got some triangles happening, maybe circles. Do some hatching and shading. So I really— I'm liking the way the graphite is going down on this, um, Lockbie paper. So that might be a possibility of bringing this paper with me tomorrow, uh, with the graphite. So I also wanted to try it on a little bit of rougher paper. So let me just grab something. I have some sheets, sheets of pre-cut cold press watercolor paper here. And let's just see how I like, you know, using the graphite on there. You know what, you know, actually, I might just sketch. I've been wanting to sketch more Liberty Torches. Um, if a few weeks, maybe 3 or 4 weeks, I'll be headed to Central Park and, um Maybe try to sell some torch sketches. So maybe I'll just practice with the graphite and see, see how I like it. Kind of just do this really quick here. I have a, I have a creative friend out there, DB. DB, she is a pencil master. Oh yeah, she does incredible pencil work and such detail work. It's really awesome stuff. It's kind of fun. I'm liking the way the graphite is feeling on this cold press paper so far, so no, no complaints. Let's see, we got that. Let's draw kind of the flame up here. Alright, so this is just a kind of a quick kind of torch. So I do like the way the pencil feels on the rough paper. My only issue with pencil at all is I know it smears easily, especially when I'm left-handed. So that's something I have to think about. So we have that, and let me actually sketch a quick torch on this paper. Hey, D-Ray's in the house! D-Ray, great to see you. Hope all's well. It's always great to see you online. Hope you guys can see this okay. I'm going to zoom in, I think, a little bit closer. And then after I do the graphite, stay tuned because I'm going to go in a 180-degree direction to— with what I'm thinking is another option for tomorrow. So stay tuned, I'll, I'll be talking about that in a couple of minutes. Let's do a torch sketch on here. I'm gonna just zoom in closer. Alright, hopefully you guys can see that a little bit better. Alright, let's do it. I'll never get tired of sketching the Liberty Torch. It's so fun. I never do— it's never the same sketch twice. Each, you know, each one has its own unique personality, which is great. And it's just an iconic, you know, uh, such an iconic statue, right? Representation. I'm hoping to get back to the statue maybe this summer and just hang out there for a day. I think I was there 2, 2 or 3 years ago, I don't remember. I'd like to see if there's, uh, bus trips that go to, um, Liberty State Park in New Jersey. And then there's a ferry terminal. This is a ferry terminal. I can't remember if it's a ferry terminal, or you can definitely take like a cruise from there that brings you to the, um, to Ellis Island and to the statue as well. All right, cool. All right, so this is just another quickie sketch. So honestly, I think I'm liking sketching better on the smooth paper, um, with the graphite. So that's kind of winning me, winning me over right now. Um, it would be fun to add a wash of color, either watercolor or ink, on these to see what happens over the graphite. But I'll— I will do that another time. Tonight I just want to test graphite by itself on paper. Cool. So you can see them kind of side by side there. All right, so here's where we are so far. If you're playing along at home, I'm going— I need to use pencil at the museum, so I know what pencil I'm taking. Boom. Um, I'll put links to this in the comments. Also, if you go to my website page, there's a link in the comments already to my sketching and materials page. Um, I have a lot of the stuff on there I like to use, and you can find links that bring you to Amazon where you can buy this stuff. So you'll, you'll see this on there. Lockbee, you have a discount code if you use the discount code Ink. Spired. It's right there on the screen. You'll get a 10% discount on your purchase. Well, um, rules do apply. All right, that is a plug for Lockbee because I love them. All right, so this is coming, this is coming, boom boom boom. Um, here's my next question. Um, I probably will bring my Lockbee folio because I love it. It zips up, and if I bring the folio I don't even need this, this actually. I can put everything right in here because I've decided I'm not bringing any markers tomorrow, and I might just end up putting all my pencil stuff in here. Easy breezy carrying. Um, that's cool. So I have this and this. Another option is I could bring— travel really light and just carry my pocket journal with me. Which I have some paper in there. I have, uh, Field Notes. I love Field Notes stuff. I also have a Moleskine sketchbook in here. Another torch. I'm always working on different torches, and it's convenient. So this could be an option too, and this fits in my pocket easy peasy. All right, so I'm not sure which one of those yet, but here's the 180. And before I get to the 180, check out this cool view I set up. Let's see if it's working. Boom! We got the gallery wall view going today. I figured out how to do that with my iPhone, so it's pretty cool. I got a lot of awesome sketches happening back there. All of them, all of those are New York City inspired. You can actually see the Statue of Liberty in the top left, the back view of it, and a bunch of other sketches. Brooklyn Bridge, Manhattan Bridge, some, uh, theater marquee sketches, the Guggenheim Museum, my favorite building, the Copper Building, which is kind of towards the bottom. You can see a couple of them down there that we one that looks like an H. If I have time, maybe I'll go over there and just sketch. We'll see. Oh, the possibilities are endless. And I have my New York City, um, Christmas tree-inspired sketches— Rockefeller Center and Wall Street. So I think it'll be really cool to show you guys that view. I love it, love it, love it. This is so much fun. All right. Hey, Noel, good to see you. Um, if you are watching on Instagram, you can't see the camera view of my wall, can you? Yeah, you can see part of it. Cool. All right, so that is the gallery wall view. I need a cooler name. How about the rogues gallery? No, I think that's— is that from Batman? I don't know, do you have any great ideas for what we could call that wall? Ah, let's see. All right, quick— this is how my mind works. Just gonna do a quick brainstorming sketch— brainstorm session, not sketch session, brainstorm session. Um, uh, Wall of Creativity, Sketch Wall, the, uh, Wall of Inspiration, um, uh, line, line by line, um, wall, wall gallery, um Let's see, the, the, the, the travel board, journal board, the, um, escape plan. Some of this stuff won't make sense, I'm just talking off top of my head. Um, how about some of the word ink for inspired, inspirational, um, inking out loud, the inking out loud board, or been there inked that wall. Oh, I kind of like that, the been there inked that wall. That's sticking so far. Um, so the being there, Ink That Wall is pretty cool. Um, Inkling, the Inkling Wall, um, lines, um, the lineup. It's kind of funny, the lineup. Oh, you get it? Like lines, sketching lines. All right, we got a few. That's kind of a quick peek of how my brain thinks. Just kind of, I like to do rapid-fire thinking. Spit things out. Some stick, most do not, but it's all good. And that's part of the thinking creative, uh, process, right? Cool. All right, here's, here's the 180 I'm going to throw at you guys. The 180. Let me change my desk view or camera view. Let's go back to the desk. Ta-da! I have down here something I've been using for a year. I had an older version, this is a newer version, so I've had the newer version 6 months maybe. I custom laser engraved the COVID kind of cool. I did that at, uh, at school with our laser. But anyway, I might sketch digital tomorrow. What did he just say? Digital? Yeah. I mean, since I can't use pens or markers in the museum, only pencil, I might go digital. So, um, this is not a plug. No one paid me to say this, talk about this product. Um, I'm just doing this because I use it. This is, um, this is the Remarkable Paper Pro tablet. I love this device. I'll do a whole nother show or series of shows about this, but how cool might it be to sketch on this tomorrow? Let me show you some sketches I've done on it. So that is definitely an option. Let me pull it off camera here so I can log into it. Let me show you, and then we'll do— I have a sketchbook on here. Let me see if I can open it. Here. All right, so this is a really cool device. You can set up folders in it, organize things. It stores, uh, things in the cloud. It's a distraction-free device, meaning you can't really download any apps on it. You can, you can put— download PDFs on here or ebooks, so it could be like an ebook reader. I love, love, love this. I use it for my planner. I use it to take notes at school. Um, it's great. Anyway, here's, uh, here's my favorite sketch I've done on here. So I love this sketch. This is my— this is probably my favorite Brooklyn Bridge sketch I've done, and it's on the tablet. So that's a— that's an example. What else do I have on here? Oh, that's cool. You can see that I didn't make it to that. You can swipe through layers. All right, um, here's a cool one of the Domino Sugar Factory, which I'll be headed to in about 2 weeks. I'll be headed there. So this is a really fun device, so maybe I'll take this with me. Let's add a— let's add a page. I'll just do a quick sketch on here. I know there might be glare from— let me hold it up because there's glare from the light. But, um, you get different brush settings on here. Now it's on paintbrush. Let me just go to— it's called calligraphy pen. Um, colors on this are interesting. They're not vibrant, really. They're not bright, kind of dull, and I don't mind that. All right, let's just— let's try the Statue of Liberty, um, sketch on this. That I have, I have not done digital version yet. This is the pen, Syl, that comes with it. Remarkable tablets are known for their paper-like quality, so when you're sketching and writing on them, it's supposed to feel like you're writing on paper, which to me it does have, it does have that feel to it. Um, I do love this. I do love this tablet. All right, I'm definitely going to bring it with me tomorrow and I'll give it a try. I'm curious to see how it looks outdoors, you know, if it's bright out, how the screen's gonna look, if I can see it okay. So I, I'm gonna pack this with me along with, um, the Lockbee. I think I'm not sure. I think I'm gonna bring the folio, the bigger one. I'm not sure yet. I'm so indecisive. Oh my gosh, is anybody else out there indecisive? Oh, I'm not really focusing. All right, this one, this went really wonky quick. It's okay, I'm having fun. It doesn't matter. It went a little wonky on me, but I think you get the idea. So that's kind of the torch on the tablet. You can copy and paste on it. So let's say I want another torch. I'll use that tool. We'll do a little circle around it. We'll go to copy, and then we'll go tap here maybe, and you see it got instantly— I got another torch. Ta-da! And we could scale it up, we can make it smaller. Oh, maybe I need to do that with the pen. There we go. So I can scale it down. So it's a really cool device for quick layouts. Maybe you're not sure how you want to compose something on a page. Sketch it on here. You can move things, resize things, copy, paste them, cut them. So pretty interesting, right? It does lag sometimes, so you get used to it. It's not— it doesn't go as fast as my brain. Um, but it's okay. Sometimes it's good to have things force you to slow down. All right, oops. And there's, uh, highlighters. You can have two different presets. I'm not gonna go through it all, that's a whole different show. If you're interested in seeing more videos or learning more about this tablet, let me know in the comments. Say yes, more about the tablet. And you can see I just switched colors here. You can add layers on top of layers also. All right, so cool. All right, so that is the reMarkable tablet. So tomorrow, guys, I am headed out, uh, do— to do some sketching, to get a tour of a museum that they just kind of refurbished and, uh, be checking that out, do some sketches in there. And I'm going to travel light, bring the reMarkable and either one of these two. I'm not sure about that yet. And definitely I'll have a Sharpie. I can't use it in the museum, but it'll have it with me. I'll do sketching outside as well somewhere. And I got a pencil for inside. And that, my friends, is a wrap for tonight. I hope, hope you have an amazing rest of your day. Um, I love doing this stuff. I get excited, as you can tell. So if I go fast and get hyper, that's just, that's just me showing my love for sketching, which is a great way for me to escape, a great way for me to focus, a great way for me to capture and savor and embrace moments. Um, sketching is kind of like, uh, hmm, I want to say miracle, like modern medicine. I don't know what I'm trying to say, but dang it, I love it. It's good stuff. All right guys, we'll leave with one more view of the, uh, I just love this camera view. We'll have it on more Ta-da! The lineup. There you go. That is the current lineup. Original sketches are always available, guys. If you're interested, let me know. Send me a message. Also, there's a link in the comments. You can go to my online shop. I have— don't have— I'm working on putting things in there. I only have a few things right now, but whenever you see something you're interested in, whether it's a live sketch or something in the background, let me know, or something I post. Just message me, email me, DM me. Guys, you're awesome. I appreciate y'all so, so much. Thank you for your time. D-Ray, it is always awesome seeing you live out there. Thank you for your, your notes and comments. You're a pleasure, and I hope you're doing well, my friend. I appreciate you, and I appreciate everybody out there watching live or replays. All right, I've been, uh, I've been— yeah, I have been. Have you been? I've been Wow, it's been a long week at school. I've had a lot— a couple late nights for good activities. I love supporting my students, but my brain's paying the price. All right guys, take care. Um, until we see each other again, keep using your creativity for positivity. I'm Jason Nicholas with The Inspired Life, and maybe I'll join in with a little live streaming from NYC tomorrow. Take care.