Sketch Fearless: Loose Lines & Architecture : 2026-05-12

Hey, um, it's Tuesday, May 12th. Hope you're doing awesome on this Day. Jason Nicholas here with The Inspired Life. If you haven't seen me before, I love sketching, especially architecture sketching. Is a way for me to process the day, to change my state of being, to, uh, brainstorm, capture a moment in time. It is a very, very powerful tool for me in my toolkit of life. So, um, Thanks for joining. Feel free to say hello in the comments. And, uh, it's 9:01 PM, so I think tonight I'm going to start off with a Statue of Liberty torch sketch, and then we might end up throwing down some color in my bag down here. Did I say bag? I meant sketchbook. It's been a long day. I'm tired. I hope you guys are doing well. All right, so we're on the desk cam. Um, always great seeing you guys. So if you— I like to do these Liberty Torch sketches. Yes, the hard cam was on. Yes, we should go back to the hard cam because I forgot to switch it. All right, we are back with the hard cam because I started off with the hard cam and forgot it was on, so I was looking at the wrong camera. So I didn't mean to be rude to you guys. You're awesome. I appreciate you so, so much. Hope you're having a great Tuesday. It's been— I'm exhausted. I am just super exhausted. We'll leave it at that. Um, but I'm gonna sketch because it's what I love doing, and I love connecting with you guys and checking in. So I'm gonna check in. Check in with me throughout the chat. Let's go back to the desk cam. I need desk cam music. All right, let's start off with some Liberty Torch sketches. I need to stock up on these. Summer's coming up, that means New York City visits are— will definitely be happening more frequent, and I just love handing these out to people. Yeah, although I'm gonna— I'm gonna look up, I think, a picture of the torch because my flames at the top have gotten out of control. They look they're having a bad hair day like me. Like, this is just not the way the flames should look. Not that I go for realism, I just want it to be a little more symbolic of the look. All right guys, let's start sketching tonight. I am, I am actually just going to use, uh, let's use a pen. Let's just sketch with a pen to start with, and we'll sketch right on this beautiful yellow background. Kiko, good to see you on Instagram. Hope you're doing well, my friend. Always good seeing you. Gigi, I hope you're having a great day. How are you? Always great seeing you, my friend. I hope you are doing so, so well. I, uh, I always appreciate your time. You're an amazing human being. And Kiko over there on Instagram, Kiko is amazing as well. Kiko, hope you're doing good. All right, I'm just looking up a picture here. Just bear with me a sec. Um, it's really— it's only Tuesday. It feels like it's been a long week. I, I'm exhausted for some reason. I, I don't know why. I really don't know. I actually went to, uh, get checked— a checkup— not checkup, but, uh, to the doctor today, and we'll We'll see, uh, we'll see. But yeah, I'm like not complaining, but if I seem a little— my voice sounds tired, it's because I am. And it's okay, we're allowed to be tired. It's part of life, right? It's part of simply being human. So being tired, we need— we just need to know when to slow down, to recover, to rest. Um, so yeah, just— it's a sign for me just to figure out what's going on. All right, I was still looking for a picture. I am horrible at multitasking. I'm not even going to look for one. We are literally just going to go and sketch because that is what we do. All right, sorry guys, it's just taking a while to get going here. Um, I'm tired, my brain is really tired as well, so pardon my slow brain today. Usually I have creative brain, it's all over the map. I'm having trouble just thinking today and processing. Sketching, you know, is great for me. It's just a great tool and it's just so fun. Yeah, we're going to keep the top simple, I think. So let me know, you guys doing anything fun this week? Anything exciting happening? Let me know what you're up to. I always love checking in with my fave peeps out there. You are on the list. So I want to keep this very loosey-goosey. And this is just a, you know, just a ballpoint pen. I love this pen because it has multi-colors. It has what, 1, let's see, 1, 2, 3, 4, uh, 4 colors. Did I count that right? 1, 2, 3, 4. 4 colors, plus it has, um, lead, pencil lead. So it's really, uh, Versatile, simple to carry around, which I like. It fits in my bag nicely. Hey, M, I see you. M, good to see you on Instagram. Hope you're doing well today. Hope you're doing well. I will, uh, I'll be seeing you tomorrow. I'll be back. I'll be back tomorrow. It's good to see you. Hope you had a great day. I will never get tired of sketching this torch. It's almost— it's almost become like a signature for me. Um, I need to think back when— when did that happen? Why did it happen? I just think it's such an, uh, universal icon. And you know, it's so universal, so easily identifiable. We kind of know what it reps, and I just— I think it's just a powerful symbol. And that's one of the cool things about drawings. Um, simple, simple drawing, simple icons say a lot, right? Think about the icons on your phone or the emojis on your phone. You know exactly what that emoji is saying, right? What feeling, what emotion— I guess that's where emoji comes from— emotion it, uh, is expressing. So it's so just so powerful. They say a drawing can sell— a painting is worth a thousand— what's the expression? A thousand words or something. Um. And of course I'll bring out some creative markers on this because we just want to add some pops of color. So let's dig in, let's dig in. Feel free to ask any questions or leave comments in the chat, guys. I'll be checking in. Um, let me wrap up at 9:30 the latest tonight. Hopefully my audio— let me know if my audio is okay as well. Being tired is a productive day. You did good today. Hey, GG, you are so positive. I love that about you. Thank you so much, my friend. Oh, time for a new yellow marker. This one's kaput. Where's my list? I was starting a list of uh, supplies I got to buy. Where the heck did I put it? Here it is. All right, we got yellow to the list here. Yellow. Uh, today was kind of productive, although I did not— I did not go to school today, um, because I had to go— go to the, um, doctor. But I guess that is productive, right? Getting checked out. So I got checked actually for, uh, potentially Lyme disease because the tick bites I've been getting. So that could be explaining why I'm so tired and fatigued. We'll find out. But you guys don't— you don't want to hear about my issues. That's not why we're here. We're gonna be creative. Let's bring the joy, guys. Bring the joy. All right, cool. So we're just throwing down some color here. I'm thinking too much about the colors I want to throw down, so I want to be looser. So for me to be looser, we're just going to grab, go, create, throw down. And can you guys see that? I'm sorry, I keep pushing the picture out of frame. I'm one of those people, like, when I sketch, I'm always moving the paper. Which actually, I just reminded myself, note to self, um, I gotta figure out what I'm gonna do for this workshop in Brooklyn on August 1st. How am I, how am I gonna demo this? Hmm, do I bring an easel? I would like to do like a cam, like an overhead camera or something. All right, I need to look into the logistics of that. I'm in trouble. It's looking cool. I think the light is washing this out a little bit. Oh, M, hey, I see you on YouTube. Good to see you, hope you're doing well. Thanks, thanks for joining us. Can you guys see this okay, or is the, is the light washing this image out? All right, we'll spend a couple more minutes on this and we'll move on. What am I looking for? I'm So when I'm thinking too much, that's a sign of I'm out of the flow. So I need to get back in the flow, stop thinking. I don't like to really pre-plan my sketches, especially the torch sketches. So I just grabbed these pens. We're just going to pick up some random pens here, some colors. I don't know, let's grab this one. Hey Kara, good to see you. Hope you're doing well. I see Kara over on Instagram. Hope you're doing well tonight. Statue of Liberty torch, yes. Yeah, I am sketching the Statue of Liberty torch, M. You got it. This is, uh, my signature sketch. I love— so you guys, I love handing these torches out when I go to New York City. I give these torches out to people, or not just NYC but lots of places. And what's cool is I've given torches out to, uh, some of the Shake Shacks I've been to, and it's cool because I connect with the people. So when I go back, they recognize me. Um, Dough Donuts by Rock Center— shout out to them, I love them. Um, I connected with 3 of the employees there just over handing them a sketch. So whenever I go in the city, I try to stop in there, and they know me by name, I know them by name. So it's just a really fun way to connect by just handing out these sketches. It's so fun. You know, my students— some of you guys out there are going to relate to this— they don't like sketchbooks, and I get it. It's okay. But there is so much more power. It's, it's not meant as a homework assignment. There is a meaning, there's a connection. This is a language for someone like me that grew up having not really being able to express myself or feelings. I was very shy. I'm still actually very introverted. Um, drawing was a great way for me to connect with people, you know. I would give them a sketch. Um, it was just a way for me to talk when I was very shy. So I'm just trying to teach, you know, through sketching. It's another language, it's another voice that we all have, right? So Any of my students out there, you're probably just like, oh yeah, Mr. Nick, whatever. But guys, there is much more to what I'm doing behind the scenes that I know we take things at face value, but there are sometimes deeper reasons for things that are being done. Just put it out there. But yeah. So we're all having a great day. So I love seeing you guys. Uh, we had Kiko and M and Kara over on Instagram. Thank you so much. Feel free to come over to YouTube. We're on YouTube as well. There's some chat going on in YouTube. I got Gigi on YouTube and M is on there now. Gigi, how are you? Did you, did you hear about the, um I guess the expansion they're doing over at Lincoln Center. I think they had the groundbreaking for it. It is going to be— it looks cool. It looks really cool, like an amphitheater performance area. I don't know too much about it. I just saw some quick photos, but it looks interesting. All right, cool. So you can see as I'm layering this, I'm actually loving this more and more as I'm adding to it. I kind of like its busyness. Uh, I need a red pen. I took some today. Where are they? Let me grab one of my fave red pens here, which is in my bag here. There we go. Boom. I just want to throw some of my favorite red pen on here. So these scribbly lines are just kind of a way for me to— it's kind of just energy, like it's a vibe, right? And M says, oh my gosh, not sketchbooks. What? What's wrong with them? Come on. It's okay. Very cool. I'm actually liking this. This is kind of looking cool. I like the colors on it. It's fun. I know you don't like sketchbooks, I get it. All right, we're not here to talk about that, even though I just did. Okay, I think this one's almost done, guys. I kind of wish I had purple creative marker, but my— I'm pretty sure this one is, um, Let's give it a try. This one might be trash. Uh, it's got a little bit of— got a little bit of life left in it, but unfortunately I think this one has to go bye-bye. And there's one last thing I want to do on here. Yep. All right, so bye purple, bye yellow, in the garbage. All right, there's one last thing I want to do on this. I need my— I need a gel pen, a white gel pen. You like this? You like the torch? Thank you very much. Gigi says yes, I love it. Thank you guys, I'm glad you like the torch. All right, here they are. My gel pens are right there. Uh-oh, I think I have to add gel pens to my list. Where the heck are all my stuff? All my stuff is, um, I guess it's a good sign. It means I'm using my pens and markers. So I love, I just love the white gel pen. Looks so cool. Yeah guys, I like this one. This is actually kind of— this kid's pretty cool. I'm debating whether or not I should do the background. I have like kind of on— oh, sort of on this one. So I don't know, should I color the background like we've been doing on the hillside, the hill town sketches? Here, I'll show you an example. Um, shout out to Gigi because Gigi suggested it one night and I'm like, yeah, let's try it. So right, you see how these backgrounds are colored? The sky, it pops the building out. You know, I'm wondering if I color the background here behind the torch, if it pops. But what color would I do? Hmm. So let me know in chat, say yes or no for coloring the background in of the torch. Um, do the background but do it light pink with a mix of blue and red. Do the background, background, but we'll do it with light pink and a mix of blue and red. Let's see, so I could, I could do that. Let's see, uh, I probably would stick with Creative Markers tonight since I have them out here. I think I have a pink in here. Let's see. Yeah, I actually have a pink in here. We could try that. Gigi says blue. All right, so dark blue and pink, maybe. I don't know, let's just try it. I mean, we'll do both. Let's give it a shot, guys, and see what happens. Alrighty, GG, how is life in the Big Apple? How are things going? Emily, thank you for the pink suggestion. And Gigi, I think we'll do blue on the other side, maybe. Emily, you're, you're a good artist. I always like to see you creating your paintings and stuff, so keep that up. Oh, I like that pink. That actually looks kind of cool. Yeah, I like Emily. Good suggestion. I've never used the pink on the background, so I appreciate that. And then we're going to take Gigi's blue. I think I'm going to go with the dark blue. All right, so let's pull out the blue here. This might be the blue, one of these blue. Yeah, this is the one. This blue has like a lot of like marker juice. I don't know what you call it, but yeah, this is— we gotta be careful. Let's color it in. Just gonna go for it. And then I have an idea how we're going to pull that. Actually, I'm gonna leave a white space around here. Oh, I'm going to come back with a white, uh, pen anyway, just to keep the top of that round part of that torch pulled out. I wanted to leave a little space between the blue. Let's do the same thing here. I'm always having good ideas. Well, you're definitely always having ideas, and that's good. Always keep the ideas coming. For sure. That goes for everybody. Oh, have the ideas, just don't be afraid to put them out there and try things. You might not always like the result, but you don't know until you try, right? So I didn't know if I was going to like this or not, but I wanted to try it. It's only paper, it's only marker. I could definitely do it again if we needed to. So don't be afraid to, uh, throw down different colors, different line techniques, sketch different subjects. There we go. So that's the pink and the blue. This actually looks— I like it. It's very interesting, very different. I'm gonna do— I do want to do something on the background. Let it dry for a second here. I want to soften it up a little bit, so we're going to throw down some scratchy white lines on top of it, and we're going to wrap up in a few minutes. So this time always flies by so fast. Alright, let's do it. I just want to do a scratchy background to kind of graffiti, quote-unquote graffiti it up a little bit. I think the blue was too like in my face blue. In your face blue. I like that name for a color, in your face blue. And sometimes we have In Your Face Red, which we're going to break out right now. We'll wrap up with a wrap with the red, I think. But here you go, take a look at it, see what you guys think as we're getting home stretch here. I just have a drink of water. Alrighty then. All right, we're going to throw some red on here and this I think will be finished. I kind of like the red on top of the pink. That's another color combo I've never— I don't think I really ever tried. So this has been a really fun, um, episode tonight, guys, just throwing down different colors I would never really think about, thanks to you guys and your input. So I appreciate that. There we go. I want to just— I want to intensify some of this with some serious pops of red here. Why not, right? Why the heck not? Yeah, I love this. I love that red on the pink. That looks so amazing. So cool. I need to give a little contour to All right, just gotta write my saying on here. Thanks, shout out to my friend Chip. Chip, who came up with, uh, the saying, be the light, be the light. I really like it, so we're gonna put it on here. And of course I gotta sign it with my name. 2026. Boom. And usually on the back— do I have them on here? Let's see. No, I didn't. I usually write my TikTok and YouTube and Instagram stuff on the back, and I actually have stickers with a QR code I think goes to my Instagram page. I gotta stick those on there. Um, I think this is a cool one, so it'll be fun to see who ends up getting this one. I'd love to be able to track them around the world. That'd be so cool. Well, I'm exaggerating. Maybe not around the world, but, um, in New York. One day, maybe one day they'll be around the world. People will be enjoying Torch Sketches. But that's okay, it doesn't matter. My goal is just to bring a little bit of positivity through creativity, and you help to help— you help to help make that happen. All right, let's put these next to each other and let me know if you have a favorite. Let's do a vote and then we'll end up All right, let's do a little vote here. Let me take them off of there. Boom, more desk space. Let's throw them down here. My head's in the one— that one, but that's okay. All right, all right, let me know if you had to pick which one do you like. We have— we'll do 1, 2, 3, 4. So 1, 2, 3, 4. Let me know if you have a favorite in the chat. And I'm going to add some yellow because I need some yellow on these. So 1, 2, 3, or 4. These definitely just a little uplifting pop of yellow on here. This one as well. There we go. All right, 1, 2, 3, 4. Let me know in the chat. I would write positive quote on the back. Um, I like that idea about the positive quote. That's awesome, awesome idea. Yeah, that's a really— that's a cool idea. So I like that a lot. So I'm wondering if maybe I would write the quote on the back when I give it to the person, right? So maybe we would— I would, uh, kind of personalize it a little bit, write a quote on the back when I hand it to them. So I like that idea. Me likes it, me likes it. I'm sorry, I keep— you guys might see me fussing off camera. Here's what I'm fussing with, with— I'm fussing with my New York City prototype. And I keep knocking the building over here, so that's why my arm keeps reaching in front of the camera. I keep trying to fix it, it keeps falling over. All right, Tim, good to see you. Thanks for joining us live. If you— well, I guess if you were joining us not alive, you would be a ghost. Or maybe— are zombies alive? I don't know, I'm not a zombie man, I don't follow zombie stuff. I don't know if zombies are considered alive or not. I don't— I have no idea. That is not my forte. All right, I see votes coming in. We have, um, 2 and 3. I like the colors. All right, so Tim likes 2 and 3. Awesome. Tim says 2. All right, cool. Gigi's going for 3. All right, it's a toss-up between 2 and 3. Let me see, if I had to vote on one— let me see, if I had to vote on one of these, my two— my top two would be— hey, Lori Jean, how are you? Good to see you. Zombies are walking dead. All right, so they're dead. So zombies are not alive. Gotcha. So zombies would not livestream. How do we— how the heck do we get on this topic? Um, all right, if I had to pick my favorite two, I would pick one. I love the scribbliness, the energy of the lines in one. So here's my close-up. I love the scribbly, frenetic NYC vibes of this. Just loose. I could tell when I did this, it was just like— this may have been— this could have been a bus sketch. I tend to sketch these on the bus when I go into NYC. Um, and then I like— I like 3. I like 1 and 3. I gotta check out the flames though. I gotta start working on flames a little bit. Um, I think my favorite part about 3 is I like— I just like the— it's an interesting color combination on it. Those are my votes. Lori Jean says 3. 3. All right, looks like, guys, looks like 3 is the winner. So who, who will get 3? Hmm, we should do next time, we should do a maybe a drawing, random drawing for people watching. I don't know, I think I owe Gigi, I think I owe, I think I owe you 2 sketches. But we'll think about it. All right, let's go to the heart-to-heart cam wrap up. Let me move the microphone so you can hear me. Last time we had sound issues because I didn't move the mic. Let's move the mic and we'll wrap up. All right, let's see, let's do a sound check. Sound check. Can you guys hear me on the heart cam? I'm moving the microphone. You can see the mic right there. Uh, hopefully you can hear me better than last time. All right, so it's Tuesday, May 12th, 2026, and I'm— this is the most energy I've had all day. Um, I was, as I said earlier, I'm exhausted. I don't know why. Uh, fatigued, I would say fatigued. But me having a chance to come online for a little bit with you— yes, you— and just connect, talk, communicate. We even collaborated together over a sketch. A sketch isn't right. Sketch here, nothing more than lines and color on a piece of paper. This piece of paper has amped my energy up, has put me in such a different vibe than I was a half hour ago. That for me is why I do this stuff. This is why I keep talking about this stuff all the time. It is a powerhouse tool in my— not only my creative life, but just life in general. Um, I'm passionate about this, guys, and I thank you so much for watching, supporting, sharing. So please give a thumbs up, you know, like, subscribe, tell your friends about this, because I just want to keep spreading— not sprouting, I'm not a potato. Maybe in my former life. Um, I want to keep spreading positivity through creativity. You guys are amazing. Gigi, you're a powerhouse, always there in the live streams. Appreciate you so, so much. You're awesome. I'm looking forward to one day when we actually meet up in person. That'll be so cool. Tim, so great to see you back on the radar, uh, and I'll keep moving forward with your creative endeavors. I had M on, and M, you're M, you're, you're fantastic. I appreciate you. And who else was watching live? Lori Jean, thank you for popping in and clarifying the whole zombie dead or alive thing because I had no idea, but now I know. And if I missed anybody else in chat, I'm so sorry, but thank you so much. Until we meet again, sketch boldly, live creatively, and embrace Imperfection, guys. These are not perfect, beautiful sketches. They're imperfect. That's my style, and I love it. See ya.