SKETCH and Chill : Monday Night

Hey, happy, um, Monday, July 7th, 2025. I'm Jason Nicholas Nicholas with the Inkspired Life, where I love sketching architecture and urban sketching. Uh, hope you're having a good Monday night. So I'm gonna be on for maybe 20 minutes or so that we do a little sketch and chill on this Monday night. Um, I love sketching, especially at night before I go to bed. It's such a great way for me to unwind from the day, just to get my mind kind of emptied out. Um, yeah, just put me in a different, you know, uh, mindset timeframe before I head off to bed. Hopefully that makes sense. Um, so tonight I want to do a couple things. One, just a quick show and tell of a few sketches I did over the weekend, and then, um, we'll do a sketch together tonight inspired by the steel stacks in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, gearing up for an upcoming virtual workshop I'm having on July 26th. Check out the information on the screen here or in the comments, and we'll just do a really quick, quick kind of loosey-goosey sketch. All right, let's dive in. Uh, hopefully you can hear me and see me okay. I think my internet signal looks a little wonky tonight, but I'm gonna keep, keep moving ahead. Um, darn that tech, you're not stopping me. All right, so quick show and tell. I— Saturday, Sunday, Sunday, yesterday. Wow, sometimes it's all one big day. Did you ever have that? Um, yesterday I went to the New Jersey Botanical Garden, um, in Ringwood, New Jersey. A really, really cool, beautiful place. I've talked about it in the past. Um, I'll do another— I'll do many more shows on it, and I'll just focus on the gardens, and I'll show you some pictures and stuff. But tonight I'll just show you a few sketches I did while I was there. So I brought, um, my trusty Lockbie Field Journal. Love, love, love, love you, Lockbie. Um, they do not pay me to say that, I just love their stuff. And I had a Sharpie with me, and I also brought some colored pencils and creative markers, but I really just focused on keeping it simple with a Sharpie and my paper here. All right, so let's do a little bit of show and tell. Let me zoom in on that camera. Zoom, zoom, zoom. Where is my zoom thingy? There we go. I think you guys can see that better. All right, so let's go to— so here is a very, very quick sketch I did. There's a building there called the Lodge Building, um, this property, at least the current structures on the property, date back to, I think, 1924-ish. Um, this is one of the small buildings on the property. Notice the lines here, really, really loosey-goosey. This is not technical, not an architectural precise blueprint type of drawing. It's just me had a few minutes to sit down and sketch something really, really quick. Um, and I was sketching it at an awkward position because I was kind of holding it up and had a camera pointing and then sketching in the air. So one of the challenges of urban sketching is sometimes finding, um, a comfortable or a good location to sit down if you don't bring a portable seat with you, which I did not do. Um, I'll show some behind-the-scenes pictures of that on upcoming posts. You can see kind of how I figured out where to sit and how to sketch. That was one sketch I did. Here's another very, very quick sketch. It's a small part of the building. I liked it because it was an outdoor seating area. They use this facility, they rent it out for, um, banquets, weddings, things like that. So they have a nice terrace kind of area set up there. And then here, this is a Probably my favorite sketch of the day. So the main manor house there is a, um, Tudor Revival style architecture. Um, Tudor— you can kind of see the timber frame here. It's really cool. This building is actually made out of steel and concrete, but it has like an old appearance to it. Um, I loved that. So you can see kind of like the timber exterior framing that gives it that, that, um, that style. Cool, right? All right, so that's just a quick show and tell. These sketches were done fairly quickly. I tend to be a sketcher that'll move from place to place fairly quickly. I rarely will sit down in a place for more than say 20 minutes, I feel like I just need to get up, move, get up, move, get up, move. I take lots of pictures so I have stuff, references I could use when I go back if I want to revisit a sketch or, or just be inspired from that day. So I kind of think of my sketches as vignettes or snapshots of something that captured my attention. Maybe it was something that I like the feeling or vibe of. Maybe it was a door, maybe it was part of a building, maybe it was a Here there are umbrellas on the patio. They weren't red, I added red. So when you go and you're looking for something to sketch, be, be curious. Pretend you're Alice and you're going to Wonderland and you're going to explore, um, with an open mind and run into— you don't know what you're going to run into or see, but you have to be open to it. So that's just a mindset tip. All right, cool. All right, so let's do a little sketching. Um, I see Mr. Chip Fur. Hey Chip, how are you? Good to see you, man. Chip is awesome. So we're gonna do a SteelStacks-inspired sketch. Um, SteelStacks is in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Do I have an image? I think I have an image I'm going to pull up on screen, kind of a reference image. Boom. Uh, this is a huge facility. I think it was decommissioned in— I could be wrong, but I think 2003. A steel manufacturing plant. It manufactured steel for places like the, the, uh, Golden Gate Bridge, and I also believe the Empire State Building. So pretty cool facility. It is now old, rusted, decrepit, but it is turned into a Uh, what's the word I'm thinking of? Not treasure, but it's there. It's been preserved as kind of a monument, a historic monument facility. You can go walk around the outside. It's— I love this place. I love rust. I love the colors. I love the weathering, the aging, the history that buildings and structures can tell, especially after they've been sitting there. Um, over periods of time. So such a cool facility. So my next workshop on July 26th, I'm going to be focusing on doing some sketches inspired by the steel stacks. I want to kind of walk you through my process of how do I take something so complicated and break it down into a fun sketch. Um, here's kind of this— I did maybe last year or 2 years ago. This was a sketch I did inspired by the image you see on screen. So it's kind of cool. You can see the existing and just— you can see my take on what I saw there. Hey Jennifer, cheers from Lake Tahoe! Hey, cheers from New Jersey, Jennifer! It is awesome to see you. Hope all's well. Um, so anyway, so I thought we'd do a quick sketch tonight in my workshop. We're going to be— this is kind of the process. I'm going to give you just a real, uh, this is a very, very quick thing tonight. I'm not even going to add color, I don't think, right now. All right, got some paper, Sharpie, boom. That's enough to get started. All right, who out there, who out there is thinking, come on, come on, Jason, stop talking and start sketching? I know, I get hyper. All right, here's what we're gonna do. I'm looking at the 3, I'm looking at— there's a lot of vertical stacks here, so I'm looking at those stacks. My goal, my goal is to never duplicate or replicate, is to be inspired by. And it also helps if you have a Sharpie that works. Well, we'll work— we'll go with this actually. Hmm, Sharpie, Sharpie replacement, Sharpie replacement. I, I burn through Sharpies like you have no idea. Let's see, you know what, we are— we're going to use a gel pen, Sharpie gel pen. Mix it up a little bit. This is a cool pen, it's a Sharpie rollerball pen. So I'm sketching these kind of vertical stacks we see in the picture. If you also— if you look at my photograph, I love to take pictures of buildings and structures at weird angles, like looking up at things. I like the distorted perspective. Uh, for me it just makes things a little more interesting, a little more wonky, and I am all about capturing the wonkiness of the built world. Kind of have this metal piece that does something like this. Is my scale matching the picture? Nope. And I, I am very cool with that. I see a big circle— circular, cylindric cylindrical— it's a hard word for me to say— cylindrical shape here. Boom. So some kind of tank thing happening. Got some kind of pipes going back here. So I'm just breaking things down into lines, right? We have this kind of shape here. We have these tanks coming down. We have pipes. Um, I'm just gonna throw a color down just to show you guys so things pop out a little bit. So this is not a finished sketch piece at all. I'm just going to use this color so you can kind of see. We have like a pipe coming and doing something like that. Um, we have this kind of connecting piece up here. Let me just grab some other colors. Maybe red we'll throw in. We have this kind of pipe. So to get the pipe kind of curved look, I'll do a separate piece here. We have straight lines, and then I'm literally just curving the end. So you see that curve? And if I wanted to look more cylindrical, I like to add, um, what I call contour lines. So contour lines, I'm just curving like this, and it kind of gives the idea that this is a round shape. Let me zoom in closer. That's better. So you can kind of see, right? I'm exaggerating the curves here. So that's a kind of just a cool trick to get, uh, something looking round. I do the same thing with lighthouses. I'll do this with the towers, these kind of, uh, stacks here. So we'll do it with— I will just use this. I have this in my hand. Right, so I'm kind of exaggerating the curve of the top, and then we can add some contour lines here. I'm just coming to— it's going to shading on there, and again, it just helps to get that curved look. You can see this is my, you know, the more detailed kind of sketch. You can see what I did here. Hey, Noel's on. Well, great to see you. Hope all's well. This is located in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. It's called the SteelStacks. Incredible facility. Linda, great to see you. Hope all's well. Linda's in the house. Linda, I have some green on here just for you. I know you love your green. Um, So there you go, you can kind of get the idea of the contour and how things are kind of looking curved. You can see I kind of did something similar with this pipe here. I added some curved lines at the bottom to give it shadows. Also here you can see those contour lines. So just really— here's another example from the SteelStacks. You can see, see the same thing here. And what's cool about this technique lighthouses. Same thing. If I want lighthouses to look round, I'll do the same basic tools. Same basic tools. Stay tuned, I have a quick, quick, uh, just short course I'm going to launch on line types and how to use lines to create stories in your sketches, how to bring life to your sketches just through simple lines. An example are the contour lines here, or hatch— hatching lines, right? So here I have these vertical hatch lines. Oops, I can't see my finger there. Right here. And then here's another sketch inspired by the steel stacks. Um, here's a— this is a good example of where color comes in handy. You guys know I love neon pink, but I don't like to use it all over. I'll use it maybe in 3 places at the most on a sketch. So here was a really good opportunity to use the neon pink just to pull out this kind of pipe. Otherwise it may have gotten lost. So that kind of just, uh, it pops it. I like that pop. And then I also have the neon up here as well, and then I have another splash here. So usually it'll be in 3 places. Cool. All right, so let's go back to this. So this is just kind of, just kind of giving you guys examples or of some techniques. Let's break out that Sharpie pen again. I'd love to have you guys join me for the, um, it's called the Rust and Render Workshop. It's gonna be virtual on July 26th. It's a Saturday night from 8 o'clock PM to 10 o'clock PM Eastern time, and it would be fun to have you join me at the workshop. I have, I have one person signed up so far, so that's awesome. And I think it's a special bonus, you know, for the first 10 people that sign up, I am gonna give away a copy of my Sketch Success Survival Guide PDF. Which I— it's here. I'm not— this is the promo for that, but this is a really cool PDF that I, I love this thing. So it's $9.97 to download it, but for the first 10 people that sign up for my workshop, I'm just going to let you have free access to the download. So, um, who signed up? DB signed up. So DB, you are going to get a free copy of that. So you can see I'm just kind of adding these lines and it's starting to just add some character. Honestly, I'm not even looking at the reference picture. I am just adding some diagonal cross bracing here. Uh, let's do what I was talking about here. Let's kind of add contour lines. One of the cool things I like to do with these steel stacks, or any kind of, um, like steelwork, I like to show rivets or some kind of rivets. So you see those dots there, right? Rivets. That should show how the sheets of metal are connected together. Just a simple detail. Just pop some here. And this could also help you make it look round depending on where you put the rivets. I know, it's riveting, right? Riveting experience. So you got some rivets there. Let's just, for the heck of it, let's throw down some— I have a neon yellow colored pencil. Let's just throw some yellow on there. So on these here, you'll see a lot of different media. You'll see Sharpie, which is the black. I have ink on here, I have watercolor on here, I have colored pencil on here. A new tool that I've been using a lot are the Sharpie Creative Markers, so I'll be playing with these during the workshop. But I'm just literally grabbing and going with what's on my desk in front of me. Chartreuse. This is for Linda. Linda loves her green. Chartreuse has made it to my favorite colors. Um, I think I made it like last year or the year before. So I love, I love me some chartreuse. I need a t-shirt that says that. What do you guys think? Should I get a t-shirt that says I love me some chartreuse? The only thing is, I'm thinking if they— if they're gonna charge me per letter if I get t-shirts made, yeah, that might cost a lot of money because I think— I don't even know how to spell Chartreuse, but it sounds like it has a lot of letters on it. What else do we have out here? I gotta actually have a purple Pilot, purple Pilot Varsity pen. If I had a— I do have an Aqua Brush. I'm going to bleed some of that purple. Linda says, would love to be, uh, love to come to class, but we are out of town. I know it will be fun. Oh, awesome. Hey, no, no worries. I totally get it. Um, what I might— what I may do is maybe I'll make— maybe I'll make the recordings available for a, uh, maybe to download for free. I'm not sure, but that could be an idea. Or maybe for a small, just a small cost, because I got to pay, I got to pay that Zoom, those Zoom people money to, uh, have my recordings saved. Darn those Zoomers. Everybody wants to make money, it's all good, I get it. Cool. Yeah, so I am just bleeding some of that purple. Look how cool that looks. What's fun about these, these are about layers, these kinds of sketches for me. So I probably— there's probably 3 layers on here. First is usually the Sharpie outline, then I'll either hit it with watercolor or ink, um, the last thing I'll usually do, or Second to last will be maybe the colored pencil, and then I'll come back and add some more detail with like a Sharpie. Not always in that order, but more or less. Do I have any yellow in here? I don't think there's any. I think this is empty. Oh no, yeah, he did it! I just totally shook the ink. This is my favorite way to use this, this, uh, Preppy Yellow, is right out of the tube like you saw me do here. Literally just shake it on there and I'll kind of blow it sometimes. Usually I have a straw around here. I do, it's over there, but we'll just do it this way. So I just kind of took that That yellow and just— it's kind of cool, right? It almost looks like, like fire. This sketch is fire. All right, cool. What time is it? 9:57. I'm gonna wrap at 10. So you guys know I'm a teacher, school, high school teacher. Um, school is out for the summer, but I, I'm actually still, I'm still working with the school district over the summer, and I'm helping with the, um, the tech department. So yeah, this teacher, school may be out, but this teacher is working this summer. Sometimes we got to do what we got to do. I am very lucky to work with nice people. I want to pull this out. Um, I'm going to get in my bag here. By the way, shout out to Lockbee, guys. Lockbee, this is a new color they put these bags out in, this honey color. Oh man, I'm in love. This— I love, love, love this color. Um, I pulled this out because I'm gonna grab a thick Sharpie here. Super, super fun color. I'm gonna take this Sharpie and watch the magic. I just want to pull out these shapes a little more. So you can see, just kind of, just by using the thicker Sharpie, I can pull things out more. Throw some red on here. I, for my reds, I love to use, um, a Pilot Precise red pen, or this is a Pilot V-ball. I don't know if this is the new Precise or it's a totally different pen. I have to research that. I just happened to pick this up in the— in Brooklyn a few weeks ago when I was sketching there, but I'm loving it. So that was the— that's the Pilot V-ball. Um, I like 0.7 size. 0.5 I use also. Anything less than 0.5 is too thin for me. But my usual go-to is a 0.7, uh, pen. It's not too heavy, not too thin. It's just, just right. Who was that? Was that Goldilocks? Was there a part in, uh, Goldilocks where, where she's like trying out different pens. I mean, it's a different version of the story. It was a Goldilocks who sat on the— right, right, Goldilocks and the Three Bears. She sat on the different chairs and one broke. So I'm just throwing in some of that pink to add some whimsy. Again, this is really just quick, loosey-goosey, just throwing down some lines. And is that a wrap? Maybe, maybe not. I feel like it needs— this is going to be weird to say, I don't think I've ever said this— I feel like I need more black on the sketch. Like, just usually use a little black, heavy black to outline things, but I think I need space in here. Let's see, I'm not sure. Maybe we'll just put some in here. This is where you really just got to get the courage to be bold. One of my new sayings is to sketch boldly. Don't be afraid, be bold when you throw down those lines. And they don't have to be dark, heavy, bold that way, but just be bold to throw any lines down on paper. And you could do fun things. If I wanted to carve out maybe something in here, some kind of shapes. Alright, cool. Alright guys, I think that's a wrap for this Monday night sketch and chill session. So what are some takeaways from tonight? One, is if you're looking at a complicated structure, don't be— don't let it intimidate you. Either just look at a part of it. I like to look at the shapes. So when I look at that photograph you see on the left, I'm just looking at the, the tall cylinders, right? So I wanted to capture those, um, and just start with that. Start with the big shapes. Don't feel like you need every single detail. I did not even show I, I did not show a lot of the detail you see in the photograph. Again, we were just being playful, and that's my intention. Have fun, just be playful. This is, this is a sandbox for me to play in. We all have our sandboxes, right? And, uh, some of us build sandcastles, some of us, uh eat sandwiches and some of us like to sketch. That, that would not make a good t-shirt. Um, all right. Hey, D-Rays in the house, great to see you. Didn't think it was a rap. Oh yeah, you guys know me now. I'm rapping, I'm gonna rap, I swear. Um, then this is— I've been using a brown pen to sketch with, then black where needed. Linda, so here is what I did. It's funny you said that. I've been using this pen a lot. This is brown. I bought this in— I was out in Brooklyn too, same day I bought the red pen, same place. Um, so I actually used the brown pen on this yesterday when I wanted to pull out the timbers. I just went for the brown. I did— do I have any sketches in here? Let's see, I don't know if this is the same sketchbook I brought with me. Yeah, so I had— I used some brown on this one here. So yes, that's a really good point. I love that you said that. No one says we have to use black ink to sketch with, right? Love that. And honestly, guys, I, I've been going back to just sketching with ballpoint pens. Um, I have a few here. Another one. So I, I love— I'm loving it. I don't— you can travel lightly, you know. I'll bring that, I'll bring some colored pencils and some Creative Markers, and 7 times out of 10 I'm only using the pens, or maybe even 8 times out of 10. So, good point. Love it, love it. Let me know if there's any last questions or comments. Hey, there I am, covering my beautiful face. I'm just kidding. All right guys, have fun, be playful. Yes, DeRay, I'm going to add— look at this, look what I can do, DeRay, just for you. You ready? Ta-da! There you go. If you guys ever say anything cool, I could have the ability to pop it up on screen. Can I move it? Look at that, I can even move it. How fun is that? I could also get rid of it. I have the power of the mouse. Alright guys, thank you so much for watching. I'm Jason with the Inkspired Life, where I just love sketching architecture, um, and urban sketching, and capturing and processing the world around me one stinking line at a time. I'm just trying to sound cool. I don't know if it's working. Um, capture the world around me one stinking line at a time. All right, guys. Oh, wait, whoa, wait, wait. Linda says, you find— you say that I have an entire sketchbook dedicated to ballpoint. Hey, Linda, love that 100%. Yes, I, I love it, love it, love it. I, I'm going simple. I— yeah, ballpoint pens are awesome. All right, I gotta dedicate— I kind of want to start focusing a lot on just pens and stationery stuff, but that is a conversation for an entire different day. You guys are awesome. I love you all. I love your support. I love being here and sharing with you. Um, I'll be live again this week. It's just so much fun. All right, I am cool. Thank you. Take care, guys. Peace out.