Sketch Fearless: Loose Lines & Architecture

Hey, how are you? Testing 1, 2, 3. I haven't been on in a while, so I am— I'm back. Yeah, it's been— it's been a hot sec since I have not been online live. Gosh, Friday night maybe. I don't remember when last time I was here, but it's good to be back, guys. It's been crazy. I am so glad to be back here sketching live tonight on this Monday, May— boom— 18, 2026. I'm Jason Nicholas Nicholas with the Inkspired Life. If you don't know me, here's a quick, quick intro. I'll give you the short version. Um, I'm an architect, a high school teacher where I teach architecture and CAD, almost like a product design class. And I am a passionate sketcher, architectural sketcher, urban sketcher. I love sketching the built world around us. I mean, it's everywhere, right? For me, architecture impacts me on so many different levels— mentally, physically, spiritually. It's The built environment is so powerful, and I love capturing it with sketches because sketching is also a great tool for capturing a moment in time, for changing state of being, for brainstorming, um, for just having fun. So join me for a little bit tonight. It's 9:18. We'll be on, I don't know, maybe 20 minutes tonight. It's kind of late, but it's good to be here. Let's start with a couple things. I have my Lockbee folio here, my go-to carrying my EDC, everyday carry gear, for sketching. It comes pretty much everywhere with me. I love it so much. So we'll do maybe a quick sketch in here. I also want to show you another thing. Tonight might be a mix of some sketching and a little bit of show and tell. I'm gonna zoom in a little bit. Boom. There we are. Hopefully that's better. All right, let me put, uh, comments on here. So how are you today? How is your day going? It's Monday. It's your week off to a good start. Did you get something accomplished? Did you— I don't know, did you rest up, do anything fun? Let me know in the chat. I always like to know what you're up to and how your day's going. All right, get the comments on. Cool. All right, um, oh, let's talk gear for a second. Sketching gear. So I'm going to show you a few things. We have the Lochbie folio. Let me show you. I'll show you the one that started it all, and then we're going to go to this cool little EDC here. Let me zoom in a little bit more. All right, cool. All right, so the first product that ever introduced me to the world of Lockbee— you'll hear me talk about them a lot on all of my shows. Um, I love them so much that I'll know, uh, I'm an ambassador. So if you use my discount code on the screen or in the information on the stream here. You can get a 10% discount, but I really love their products. This is what started me on Lockbee, is their, um, field journal. You can see this has been well loved. It's aged, it's patinaed. Um, I just love this thing. It's— it has pockets for all kinds of stuff in here. Um, journaling, sketching, field notes, pens. It's just really, really cool. And one of the reasons I went from this and to the Lockbie folio is I like the folio because it zips. So I can zip this closed and carry it around without anything falling out. So that's the main reason I use the folio instead of the Field Journal. Field Journal has this really cool— look at these details. I love the buckle on here. And the stitching on here, this thing is real, it's real quality. Trust me, this has been— this has so many miles on it, it's incredible. Um, yeah, but then this is the folio that you see me using now. And this, I love this. This is a cool little pocket journal that, um, I'll carry in a pinch with me. Sometimes I just leave it in my car. I went to a Chorus concert over the weekend And I always— I like to bring this to Chorus concerts because it's small and I could just kind of sketch while I'm watching, um, the shows. So I sometimes get weird looks when I'm sketching like, uh, at a show. It helps me to focus, lock in. I love hearing music and I process things differently. So at a Chorus concert, it's fun for me to sketch when I'm listening to the music. Um, let's see, I'm saying omelá, I don't know why. So here's a— here's just a quick sketch I did while I was there at the choral— at the chorus concert. Real quick, it was in a church and just some, you know, the people here singing. Real loose. I actually take some notes and brainstorm as well. Um, yeah, so this is a really cool, very nice size, convenient, easy to fit in my It's not, uh, it does fit in my front pockets, but it's just so cool. So I love this as well. So that's just a quick, real quick run through on some of my favorite Lockbee gear that you guys might see me carrying around. Um, yeah. Hey, Gigi's in the house! Good to see you. Yeah, so guys, I was, uh, I think I had Lyme disease, or I think I have Lyme disease, but I'm feeling really good now. So I was offline for a while. Um, taking medication, got tested, and test came back negative, but I think it was taken too soon. It takes 3 to 4 weeks before results show up. But anyway, I know I had it because I've had it before, so it kind of knocked me out, to be honest with you. So I was exhausted at night, but I'm back. All right, cool. Yeah, let's, um, do some chatting here. I don't know why I'm saying the word um, guys. I have no idea. It's crazy. What else do we want to talk about? Some gear. I'm kind of hyper, all over the place, so bear with me. And tired at the same time. It's a hyper tired. Also want to share this with you guys. I will be posting a link to this hopefully in the end of this week or a weekend coming up. I'm working on a new revised sketch Survival guide or cheat— this is a cheat sheet that's going to go with the survival guide. So I'm going to be publishing this probably as a free PDF download on my website, so stay tuned. It'll walk you through my sketch framework, which ties into August 1st. You can now buy tickets for my sketching workshop at Stationery Fest. It's going to be in Industry City in Brooklyn. My workshop is on August 1st, uh, from 11:30 to 1, I believe. There's a link here in the comments, in the notes, so check that out if you want to sign up, get a ticket, and join me for some urban sketching. We'll be sketching New York City-inspired things, and I'll be walking everybody through my sketch framework here. So sorry if it seems like a lot of commercials here, but I want to— these are pretty cool announcements. This is like, I'm really nervous and excited about this event. I have never— it's gonna be a pretty, pretty big event, so I'm hoping I sell out my tickets. So if you guys can share that, that'd be awesome. I'll post some links, uh, you'll see more social media stuff about that real soon. Cool. I I'm talking a lot. Let's sketch. And I think I do want to work on an NYC sketch tonight in our continuing saga here, sketchbook saga. So if you have any suggestions for an NYC building or structure, let me know in the chat because we'll be sketching something tonight and I'm open for suggestions. Cool. Gigi, it is amazing to see you. I hope you're well. I've missed you. I hope everything's going well for you. It's always, always great to have you watching in the chat. You're awesome. Here's a sketch I did. Let me move this down a little bit. There we go. My camera's a little off. Uh, this was— this is a sketch I actually did in the doctor's, the cardiologist's office last week. So this is based on a photograph I took looking at the Radio City marquee. I like the way it came out. It's just all ballpoint pen on this. So just a fun perspective looking towards the Radio City marquee here. I was thinking about popping— I'm gonna pop some— I'm gonna pop red on here. I don't think there's red on the sign, but I feel like throwing red down. You guys know how I feel about color. I just kind of go with whatever I want, my gut feeling. So don't be mad at me if the Radio City Music Hall sign does not have red on it. I want it to have red. Edie is in the house. Hey, how are you? So good to see you. So yeah, so I'm on the antibiotics for the Lyme disease. I'm feeling so much better. Thank you for asking. I have to say, it really— last week was not good. It knocked me on my butt big time. I, I couldn't even think. I literally— I don't know what Lyme disease does to the brain, but it affected— it really affected my brain. I couldn't— I, I had one, one morning I had trouble typing. Yeah, I was in school and I couldn't type. I was— all these typos were happening and I, I couldn't figure out what was going on and something wasn't processing or connecting in my brain to the keys. It was very— it was kind of scary, um, but I, I do believe that was— goes back to the Lyme disease. It really, it does something to my brain. I had it, I don't know, 15 years ago and It still comes back once in a while, but yeah, it was— that was a rough year when I had had it. Right now, right now I'm feeling really good. Cool. So I just want to put some red on there to pop the letters out. You need to share, uh, the link with the Walking Family. I'm sure lots of viewers would like to participate. Meet you. Oh, GG, I'll do that. Yeah, um, yeah, I'd love to share. I don't— obviously I don't want to share on— on— I haven't been on the chat in a long time and I feel bad. It's just been— the timing hasn't worked out for me. I'm usually eating dinner or taking my pup out and stuff, but I would feel bad sharing my link on— on CFOT's channel. I would— I can ask him first and see what he would say. He's awesome, very supportive. But I would love to share it. So if you have any other way of me connecting with other people, I would love to know. Let's just keep adding. I don't know, guys, I'm gonna keep adding some color to this. I like this little sketch. Yeah, I would love, I would love to meet some of you guys for sure. It would be so fun. Let's just throw some color on here, guys. So Stationery Fest is, um, 3 days. It's Thursday, Friday, Saturday. Saturday being August 1st. It's going to be cool. I'm actually going to stay— be going Friday and just stay overnight so I'm there ready to go Saturday for my workshop. Uh, I actually, before I even signed up to do a workshop, I bought tickets— a ticket to go Thursday and just be a— go around and see all the vendors and all that stuff. Um, it's pretty popular. It's a pretty popular deal. So, uh, it's going to be a whole Brooklyn kind of weekend. I'm excited. So if any of you guys are around the area, let me know. I might have free time. We could meet up. That'd be kind of fun. Event— the event's happening in Industry City. You guys see this okay? Hey, thank you, Edie. Yeah, I appreciate it. On Airbnb? No, um, uh, actually I'm staying at a hotel. Very within walking distance of Industry City. So I'll, I'll literally be right there. I've never— I have never been to that part of Brooklyn. Have you guys? Let me know, have you been to Industry City? I have not been there in that part of Brooklyn yet. I wish it was a closer walk to Dumbo and all that, but it looks like it's a pretty far walk. I'm going to say like a 2-hour walk to Dumbo from Industry City. Unfort— that's the only unfortunate part. GG, I might have to hit you up for some subway tips before I head there. Cool. All right, let's keep throwing down color. And also let me know in the chat if you have any NYC building suggestions. We'll jump to the other sketchbook. Uh, what am I looking for, guys? Oh wait, wait, I brought my markers with me the other day. Let me just grab them. Yeah, I brought my markers out when I was went for a walk in case I stopped to sketch. Squeaky chair. Got a squeaky chair here. Okay. I am not— I am not seeing my, uh, lock be, uh, quattro with my markers. Okay, keep moving forward. What does Dory say? Keep swimming forward. I'm gonna— I'm Dory today. I'm gonna keep swimming forward. So this picture I originally took on a rainy day, so you'll see some umbrellas here and the sketches in the sketch. It's kind of driving me a little batty. I don't know where the heck— I thought I took them in my, uh, bag here the other day. Ahi chihuahua. Okay, no bueno. Don't know where they are, but that doesn't stop me. Let's keep sketching. Have you seen pictures, or maybe you've seen it in person, the, uh, the Flatiron Building lit up at night? It looks gorgeous. Oh my gosh, I've been seeing pictures all over Instagram. It's Wow, what a gorgeous building at night, right? If you haven't— if you have not seen pictures, definitely check out, um, the Flatiron Building at night. What a, what a surprise. It's incredible. I love this color red pen, makes me really happy. Just like scribbly scratchy, scratchy lines and make me happy. This is cool, I like this sketch. I think I want to do just a gray background down here, that'd be kind of cool. The man says as he looks for Gray, we got some. Hip hip hooray! 9:36. Where does the time go? Drink some water. Okay. That's kind of cool. I like the gray background. Alright, cool. This may even be a fun one to bring into, um— why is my palm so itchy? Does it mean you're gonna get into a fight when your palm is itchy? Or does it mean you're gonna win a lot of money or something? I hope it's the latter. Not, not— I hope I don't win a ladder. I mean, I hope I'd rather get money than get into a fight. I'm not really a fighter. I'm hoping it's not poison ivy from walking outside. Now they keep scratching it. We'll find out. All right, so this is the latest background I have in the NYC Sketchbook. Let's see, I don't know if I'm gonna hit that, guys. I don't know if I'm gonna hit that tonight. I might just keep sketching in here. I only have a few more pages in this sketchbook, so let me look up another perspective scene. I like the way this came out. I will— you will receive your fortune. Well, I am rich with friendship. A little cash wouldn't help. Let me— wouldn't hurt. Um, yes, thank you, I appreciate that. All right, let's do another cool little— Edie says, uh, NYSE, New York Stock Exchange, or Trinity Church. Oh, it mean— it means you're going to get some money. Yes! I keep itching my palm. Does it look swollen? No. Um, all right guys, I love the suggestions, they're awesome. It's 9:40. I think what I'm going to do is I'm not sure which one. I like them both. Um, I think I'm gonna go for the NYSE. Maybe if you guys join me tomorrow night for a live stream, because I— Wednesday night there's an art show at school, so I don't— it won't be online live Wednesday. Um, Thursday night I might be going to a meeting, so I'm gonna be live tomorrow night and I will, I will sketch the NYSE. Thank you for the suggestion. I will do it here. I had a vision to use both of these pages. Oh, what's up with my zoom? Yeah, there we go. I had a vision to do one continuous sketch across both pages here, so maybe we can do that with the NYSE building. Some kind of perspective. I want to take pictures of it. That is, that is one another area I have never— I have never— is that true? No, I was— I've been there because I took pictures of the Christmas tree. Yes. So I've only been by the NYSE once. All right, all right. So tomorrow, make a Post-it note so I don't forget. I'm that guy. Does anybody else out there have to make Post-it notes to remember stuff? Do you make a Post-it note to remember your Post-it notes? So the N-Y-S-E. Thank you so much for the suggestion. Another thing I was thinking of adding in here in this book was, um, I'm gonna make a list here while we're online. I think I'd like to do Little Island in here. I love sketching Little Island. I love being there in person sketching Little Island. I love that location so, so much. Um, let's see, NYSE, Little Island. I'd like to sketch something down by South Street, that's an area I've not been to yet. So South Street, Seaport would be cool to sketch something of. Yeah, so those are 3 things I've been thinking about adding in here, and I love the way the last— I love this Brooklyn Bridge. I think this came out really cool. All right, and I believe we're up to 18 sketches in here. 18. So we definitely have enough for one calendar. And thank you guys for being on my journey, uh, creating this. It's been so awesome having you aboard. Not bored. I hope you're not bored. A board. All right, so here's how I sketch this, guys. This was originally, originally sketched with just ballpoint pens sitting at the doctor's office. So let me— let's find another perspective quick and I'll sketch it. Be a rapid-fire sketch. Let me know if you have any questions or comments. Andrew, I see you on Instagram. Hope you're doing well. Um, maybe sketch something from each borough, Gigi says. That's actually a really cool idea also. You guys are creative geniuses, do you know that? I love your suggestions. All right, let's see what we have. NYC. Oh, you know what? Let's sketch the Madame Tussauds. Let's do this actually perspective. How do I stop it? Pause, pause. Here's a— I'm going to do a sketch of this based on the Madame, uh, is it Tussauds? Tussauds? How do you say that in French? Madame Tussauds. The wax figure place. Kind of a cool, creepy place. Andrew says, what's up, Mr. Nick? Hope you're having a good night. Hey, Andrew, I am. I'm exhausted, but I'm having a good night. I hope you are as well, man. I'm so jealous that you guys have a delayed opening tomorrow. You are so lucky. Well, you guys, while you're all sleeping in, I'm going to be doing an AI presentation about using AI in the design process. So it'll be fun. I like doing that kind of stuff with my fellow teachers. This will be a fun workshop. Madame Tussauds is a really interesting place. I think I've been in there twice. One time was during Halloween, and maybe it's a permanent exhibit, I don't remember, but they had a really creepy section with like all the horror characters, and they actually had like a little haunted house in there with people, live people in costumes, and I think I boycotted going through that part of the exhibit. But yeah, it's a pretty interesting, uh, place for sure. I'm thinking too much. I want this to be more rapid fire, so I'm not thinking too much about it. I just want to throw ink on paper. That's the fun part of doing these quick sketches. Um, here's one of the things I like— looking up at the buildings in New York City, you get these really cool perspectives, all these angles, right? That's always a fun thing for me to sketch, is that geometry. I think my— I think my friend Mel is, uh, doing a workshop next Is it next Saturday or this coming Saturday that I signed up for? I have to check my calendar. I think I'll be in NYC sketching Saturday. Trying to remember where the heck the workshop is. I don't remember. I signed up for it. What's the temp— what's the temp going to be in NYC on Saturday? Does anybody know? Gigi says it's going to be 90s tomorrow. Wow, yeah, it's going to be crazy. This weather is insane, right? This weather is insane. I can't believe— didn't leave enough room on the sign, but I won't tell if you guys don't tell. We'll just do that, pull the sign down a little bit. We'll make it fit, no problem. That's what we do, guys. That's what loose sketching is all about. We're not being perfect, we're capturing a vibe. M-A-D-A-M-E. Yeah. A, M-E-D. I can spell this in— so I ran out of room at the top, but here's what we're gonna do. Look, boom, we're just extending it so I can fit the M. Don't be afraid to sketch, guys. It's only paper, it's only pen. This isn't about pristine perfection by any means. All right, cool. Let's switch some colors. Let's switch it up. Andrew says, I'm gonna try and get all the sleep I can get. Yes, sir. Rest up, man. I hope you're feeling better. I'm hoping I don't fall asleep tomorrow in class. I could never fall asleep in school. First of all, I probably would get in trouble, and second of all, I don't have my— I don't need comfy chairs in school to fall asleep in. No comfy chairs. Yes, this is a fun sketch. I'm gonna just pull out some Creative Markers and just throw some blocks of color down. We'll wrap up. This will be the last sketch we work on tonight, and then tomorrow I'll hit the, uh, NYSE sketch— New York Stock Exchange. Oh, I didn't like that. Yeah, so this 90-degree day— we're supposed to have— I think we're supposed to hit 90 here tomorrow also. It's just a taste of summer, right? Kind of bummed that I don't know where my other markers are. Here's what we're going to do. We're going to throw some blue, and I'm going to probably come back over this with white. And we'll just write the letters. All right, this is one of the sketches that will start taking shape. Right now it's not looking like much. Just zoom in. I kind of like this color. I wish I knew what it was called. It's one thing about these Creative Markers, they don't have the color names on them unless— I don't know, I haven't been able to find the names on here. I want to do orange. Yeah, let's throw this on here. I just— I love the colors on this one. It's kind of fun. I wish I had my turquoise marker. I'm going to look one more time. It's not in here. Okay, I think the markers are wherever my green jacket is that I lost about 4 months ago. Oh my gosh, this is insane. Alright, I'll just pull out the, uh, light aqua color pencil. This will work. All right, pull out a white gel pen, and I think we'll wrap after I just write on the sign here. Yep, Green Jacket gone. Markers gone. Let me zoom in closer. That's as close as I can zoom in. Okay. Sanity gone. I'm just kidding. It's— well, That's cool. I like the white gel pen on the blue background. All right, little scratchiness there going on. I like the scratchy lines. So Madame Tussauds, this is along 42nd Street. I used to love walking on 42nd Street. Not so much anymore. It's, um, it doesn't— for me, it doesn't have the same vibe it used to. We'll just say it's one of those, one of those streets that I, I get a headache walking down and nauseous because of some of the, um, some of the smells. Not to— I'm not trying to diss NYC, but there are different, definitely areas I cannot walk through or stay in too long because I just get really sick. And 42nd Street happens to be one of them now, and Times Square is definitely on that list. It's so sad. Oops. All right, this marker is not working. Let's try this black Sharpie gel pen. Here we go. Oh, this is really working. It's darker than I thought it would be. I'm gonna put a little bit, a little bit of geometry on these buildings here, some windows kind of happening. That's cool. I hope chatbot is behaving tonight in the chat. All right, it's 10:00, my light just went off. So that's a closeup. No longer a tourist spot, honestly. Times Square has been Disney-fied. Yeah, yeah, talking about 42nd Street, no longer a tourist spot. I would agree. It's really, it's really sad. I used to love walking down there and, um, I'm sorry, I don't want to— I don't want to diss NYC, but you guys, you know what I'm talking about. You, all of you that live there, you know what I'm talking about. It's just kind of sad more than anything else, but there are plenty of amazing locations That's what we focus on, right guys? Focus on those amazing spots. And there are so many places to choose from that there is something there for everybody. Yeah, see how this is starting to come together as I'm adding some layers to it? I went— it had the ugly duckling stage. And if you saw it while you're watching, you can tell me in the comments, or maybe it's still there for you. But I feel like it's turned the corner. I had the point where I'm like, ugh, this looks horrible. But now I'm starting to kind of like this as I'm just pulling out some of the details here. So you have to be patient, right? Some things get better with age, right? They say what, wine gets better with age? I think I'm aging. I think I'm getting better with age. I like to think I'm aging gracefully. So you just gotta hang in there, don't give up. Never give up on yourself. Trust your gut. Trust your instincts. I don't know why I can't get closer with the camera tonight. Usually my zoom is pretty close. Usually it's— I can get like up to here, but it's not magnifying anymore. In a petrifying way. Are you talking about Times Square? Yeah, that's another area. Um, some people love, love it. I, I can't— I can't— Times Square doesn't do anything for me. I literally try to walk around it I know I'm probably a bore, boring to people, but I just— yeah, been there, done that. Which is fine, let all the people gather in Times Square and free up some of the other locations. All right, this one might be a wrap as I'm just looking for some yellow highlighter. And I always say I'm going to wrap up and it takes me an hour later. That's just my thang. I, I am missing an entire pouch because I remember I put it in my backpack when I took Olivia to the park on Saturday or Sunday, whatever day, because I had put my markers in one of these and I put my some colored pencils in the front pockets. With the neon yellow. I— Chihuahua. Where the heck— I can't lose sleep over that one. I think I have a smaller neon yellow in here. Here it is. I love me some Coldplay. They're so good. We just need a pop of freshness on here. And I will hold it up close one more time before I leave so you can see how it kind of ended up a little bit. As I'm wrapping, I just want to say— well, we'll switch cam, we'll go to the heart-to-heart cam. Give me a thumbs up if you want to do heart-to-heart cam, or just put in the chat, say heart to heart, or show some emojis, and we'll switch over to the other cam. I'm just warning you, I did not do my hair tonight. Did not do my hair. Not that I ever do. All right, cool. I kind of like this sketch. It needs a little more energy, a little more cray cray. Throw a little bit more cray cray on here and then we'll— there we go, a little more cray cray scribbliness. This is how I like to get energy on my sketches, kind of these scribbly lines. Boom. Got some feeling. We're feeling the energy of the wax statues here. Like a picture of The Rock right now standing out front. Well, his statue out front. I don't know if The Rock is still out front, or I don't know who is now. I've seen Samuel L. Jackson out front and Michael Jackson and The Rock. Just some of the— just a few of the celebrities that have all grace the front of Madame Tussauds. And with that, we're done with our sketch. I'll show you a close-up. All right, we're gonna go to the hard cam, but just check this out first. I, I like the way this came out, guys. This was definitely an ugly duckling sketch. I was Not loving it. Now I kind of like it. Edie, have a great night. Take care. Good seeing you. All right, let's wrap up. Switch cam. I just like to connect with you guys a little face to face before we leave. I can move the microphone. All right, let's switch cam. Probably dark in here because the light went off behind me. Oh, there I am. All right, hopefully, hopefully you guys can hear that. I'm looking there. Boom. Um, I also like this camera because you can see the cool artwork back there, so some of my fun sketches. All right, awesome creation, but simple but intense. Hey, I'm gonna put Gigi, you're making the comments with that. I'm going to post it. That comment is not for me. That's not about me. It's about this. I should have put it on when this is on screen. So Gigi is talking about this right here. All right, cool. Hey, um, this has been fun. I appreciate you. Look at the camera. This has been fun, guys. Thank you so much for, for joining me tonight for a little bit. It's great to be back online after having some, uh, well-needed rest time. And, uh, let's just talk from the heart for a second here. Um, here's one— here's what I want to riff on, just something that went through my brain today, and you'll see a video about this. Um, don't— for me, this is more of a lecture for me, but don't put the pressure on yourself to feel like you need to keep up with the people and things around you. That pressure is real. It's part of simply being human. But don't feel like you need to try to keep up with everybody Go at your own pace. And here's how this got into my brain today, walking my dog. She's amazing. I think she smelled a deer or— and rabbits, and she was pulling and pulling and pulling me along really, really fast. And that's when, in my brain, it, it— something kicked in and said, hey, in life. Go at your own pace. Don't be pressured by the pace of the world around you. I want to leave you guys with that. I hope this show brings a little bit of peace, a little bit of calmness. I know I'm a little cray-cray sometimes. Hopefully it, um, just maybe slows down your world for a little bit. It allows you to savor, soak in, and be part of something different. And if I can encourage a little bit of positivity through creativity, my job is done. And I couldn't do it without you watching. So I really, really appreciate your time, your energy, and your politeness, and your encouragement, and your just being fun. Until we meet again, sketch boldly, live creatively, and embrace imperfection. See you soon.