SKETCH Tool Testing : New Sketch Markers

Hey, it's, um, May 31st, 2026. How are you? I'm Jason Nicholas Nicholas with the Inspired Life. Good to be here on a Sunday night at 9:45 PM. It's late, but that's okay. I wanted to come on just for 10 minutes, and, uh, I'm gonna try some new markers I just bought. So hang with me for a few, we'll test these out. Never used them before, so I'm curious to see how they work. Hope you're doing a great day. If you don't know who I am, my name is Jason Nicholas Nicholas. I am an architect, a teacher, high school teacher where I teach architecture and CAD, um, and I'm an urban sketcher. I love just sketching architecture Um, yeah, just love sketching buildings. It's a passion of mine. So let's, uh, dive into some markers here and, uh, talk a little bit about what I got going. All right, uh, let's see. So I've been doing— let me show you an example. Where do we have it? Uh, show you in here. Zoom in a little bit. So lately I've been doing a real fun technique that I love where it's adding white gel pen on top of my sketches, on top of dark backgrounds. And here, uh, here's an example. This is a sketch I did yesterday at the post office, New York City, which is, um, part of, uh, yeah, it's a really cool facility. Moynihan Train Station is, is here. Penn Station. Really cool. So I went and did some sketching there with a couple of awesome people yesterday afternoon, and you can see here where I just took white gel pen and I put it on a dark background, and that was done with just Gelly Roll pens, which I love using. They're not a sponsor. And I mean, I love talking about just, uh, everyday gear that I like using. So that's kind of how this was done. So I thought we would try these new markers. Never heard of them, found them online, and I think it's called— I can't even read the script font on here. Holy cow. Brushworth. Brushworth. Isn't that funny? I can't read it. Uh, Breastworth. So white opaque ink pen set, different points in there. Uh, they're waterproof. It's acrylic brush markers. There's a duo acrylic marker and there's acrylic gel pen. So there's a whole bunch of different things in here. So I bought this on my own, no one gave it to me. I— let's see how they work. I have no clue. So that'd be fun to come on here and just do it live. Why the heck not? So we're just going to pull up a random page here in my, uh, Lockbee Field Folio, and we'll zoom in a little bit, and we're going to throw down some acrylic marker. We'll just grab a blue, throw it on the background here. We'll let it dry for a minute, and then we'll sketch on top of it. So I was sketching in New York City yesterday. I was in— I started my day off down at the High Line by the Vessel. Walked the High Line just for a little bit, and then went to a very fun workshop hosted by my friend Mel. Um, and that was in Manhattan West. Unfortunately, the weather was horrible. It was windy, a little bit of rain, cold. So most of the workshop was indoors, but it doesn't matter where you are when you're sketching and sketching with cool people. It doesn't matter where you are. That's the fun, and that's the beauty of it. All right, I'm going to zoom in closer. All right, so let's break these open again. Brand new, never used these markers, just bought them, saw them on Amazon and said, hey, you know what, let's just try them out. So here is what is in the box. Oops, there's something else in there too. Again, this is what's in the box. I'll zoom in a little bit. Acrylic brush marker, duo acrylic marker and acrylic gel pens, 1.0 millimeters. So that's cool. And the company is— I can't read that. I can't read it. It looks like it says Brush I can't read the name in script. Maybe if anybody's watching out there, looks like Brew Brush. Wow. Wash Brush Wash. I have no idea. Sorry, company, I can't read your script. I do not read script. Um, is it— say closer down here. There we go. Wait, let's zoom in closer. I could read it here. Oh, Brew Sarth. Brew Sarth. All right, that's the name. Hey, Edie and Gigi are in the house! OMG, so awesome to see you! I have missed you guys so much. I will be on more this week, I hope. It's been so crazy. Let's do it though, and then if you like, I will show you a couple of sketches I did yesterday on my NYC Adventure. Random, random order. I'm just grabbing and going. We're going to test these out. We're going to start off with an acrylic marker. Has a— see— dot end, which— that's kind of cool. I haven't seen a tip like that before. And then we have a brush tip here. I'm really interested, intrigued by this, this point. I've never had a brush with this marker with this point on it. Gigi says Bruce for short. I like that. We'll do that. Bruce for short. All right, I'm using this kind of dot end, which is interesting, kind of cool. Okay, just sketch with it a little bit. I'm just throwing in random lines here, nothing special. All right, I'm loving the dot end, that's so cool. All right, let's flip it over and use the brush end. Ooh yeah, I love, I love brush markers. You do kind of thin, and you can do thick lines. Thin, thick. All right, and I think there's two of these are the same, right? Yeah, so it came with two of these. These are both the same, and we'll skip to— I'm really curious to try the gel pen and see how it compares to the Gelly Roll, which I love the name Gelly Roll, and I always think of cinnamon roll. So I usually use the Gelly Roll pens. This is— this should be, uh, it's equal here. Oh my gosh, okay. You know what, let's, let's do Gelly Roll next to it. Uh, point— I have a 0.8 here. Let's see, I think this is a 1, right? This was a 1 millimeter. It's really hard to read the white lettering on the pen here. Yeah, this is 1 millimeter and this is a 0.5. Um, I like them both. I like them both. So I would say it's very comparable to the Gelly Roll. All right, and then the last thing we're going to try is the Acrylic liquid ink marker. Don't have to shake it. Oh, here's one thing I like about this. This is kind of cool. It has like a, like a measuring guide just to show how much ink is inside the pen. So this is kind of interesting. Looks almost like a thermometer, so it's like an ink gauge. That's cool. This goes down really nice and thick on here. I, I am liking these a lot right now. We'll see how they dry. Bruce, as GG said, we'll call them Bruce. I, I'm liking them. Yeah guys, this was, I think, a very good find on Amazon. So again, they're not sponsored. I just bought this randomly a couple days ago. Um, I like them, guys. Pretty cool. All right, let's dig into a couple sketches I did yesterday. A quick show and tell, then we're gonna wrap by 10 o'clock. Hey, Sketches and Some, great to see you. Sketches and Some is on Instagram. I'm about to show some of the sketches from your workshop yesterday. So, um, I sketched with Mel Barranco, aka Sketches and Some, at his workshop yesterday. Really, really cool workshop. I can't— I don't know where the building we did outside is, but here's a couple sketches we did. And I really like this one. This was done inside a Starbucks. Again, the workshop, you know, the weather was horrible yesterday, and I was saying before, it doesn't matter when you're sketching with really cool people. It doesn't matter where you're sketching, right? So this was in a Starbucks. This was such a fun kind of capture. Um, yeah, you know what I want to do? Let's try some of these new pens here on this sketch, but I need to put some dark color. So I'm going to throw down some dark here, and we'll, we'll try that technique again. We'll do it right, maybe on this wall. We'll throw down some, and I'll show you guys what it looks like. Yeah, so this was done in a Starbucks, and, um, it was just fun to kind of capture a scene, throw some people in there. And the idea is we were kind of just looking at the scene, observing it foreground, middle, mid-ground, and backgrounds on the sketch, a viewpoint, a focal point as well. So that was really, really cool. Hey, great, thank you so much. Edie says great sketch. Thank you, Edie, I appreciate it. All right, let's try. I'm curious to use this. This is the, uh, the marker, the acrylic marker. Yeah, I'm loving these markers, guys. Let's throw some gel pen on here too, just to get it kind of a consistent— I'm feeling like this pen is going down smoother than the Gelly Roll. Sometimes my Gelly Rolls kind of freeze up. This is consistently just going down nice and smooth, maybe because it's brand new. But you can kind of see, right, that effect right there. Love that. All right, let's, uh, let's add some more on here, then I'll show you the second sketch that we kind of did after the workshop, which was so much fun. And Shout out, thank you Mel again for that bonus time. It was great hanging with you and— oh, Mila. Hopefully I got her name right. Mila, she was cool as well. Um, I have to say that I think that was my favorite part of the day, was just kind of sketching and chilling. All right, we're gonna do the same thing on the ceiling. We're going to break out this one here, the Liquid Ink Acrylic Brush Tip. So this is really good for fatter lines. If I want really thin consistent lines, I'm going to go back to the 1mm, which is almost as thick as the acrylic. Actually, it's the same. Pretty cool. So this was a— the Starbucks sketch. Of course, Mel, my pleasure, anytime. And this was a sketch, uh, in the post office. And correct me if I'm wrong, this was Uh, it's part of Penn Station, uh, adjacent to the Moynihan Train Hall. You know what, in my sharp— my Gelly pen was gel— my Gelly Roll pen was dying yesterday. You can kind of see I was having issues, so we can put some fresh marks on here now. I love this sketch. This is, this is a fun one. There we go. Where were you yesterday when I needed you, you silly pen? If you guys are interested in seeing what tools I'm using these days, go to my website theinkspiredlife.com. I have a tools section on there you can check out. I have links to all the Lockbee stuff, yeah, and other items I use on Amazon. So check that out. You can see my latest tools and gear, and I think I'm gonna have to add these on there now because they're awesome. That's cool. And I want to see if I can find this other, other one I did yesterday. Here it is, it's in here. All right, and I'll show you one last thing we did yesterday. This was an exercise we did outside. Um, shout out to Legion Paper for sponsoring paper for the workshop. Right there. It's the first time I think I've ever used Legion paper, so shout out to them. Thank you for sponsoring, uh, Mel's Workshop. Really cool. And then here's a sketch we did. So we were in Manhattan West, and this is practice, not my best sketch ever, but that's okay. It was a workshop. Workshops are for learning, trying new things. Right, and getting feedback. That's the benefit of sketching with people, is you can get feedback. Um, being a creative, it's really important to have an open mind and listen and get feedback from other people, not take it as an insult or people dissing your work. Um, yes, there are haters and there will always be haters out there, but when you're with a group of encouraging motivating creatives with like mindsets, you can rest— be rest assured that their feedback is going to be helpful. So, and I got some really great feedback from Mel on this, which we're going to try to do right now. I'm going to cover over what we see and I'm going to break out one of our new pens and we're going to try to make this look more perspective. So we're looking up at the building. This is the edge here. So we're looking— sitting in Manhattan West looking at the edge. All right, let's cover this up and add some lines down, and this will be the last thing we do tonight. I hope you had a good weekend. Hope you have an amazing week ahead of you. Our school ends on June 19th. We have a lot of activities coming up the next couple weeks. So it's always a really busy time of the year, and I am looking forward to summer sketching. I'm going to get to NYC much more this summer. I have a workshop in Brooklyn August 1st at Stationery Fest. Link is on the description here, also on my website. Love to have you come sketch with me in Brooklyn on August 1st. All right, let's see what I— if I can get this to look better. Oh yeah, so more sketching this summer, and I have a really— some real cool architecture work I'm excited about this summer. All right, so here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna exaggerate these perspective lines looking up, so let me make some room. All right, we'll zoom in a little bit. All right, it's 10:04, so give me like— we'll wrap up in 5. Gigi says, very nice, love the blue. Thanks, Gigi. The Gelly Roll pens are notorious for hard start and stop. Thank you for that feedback, Mel. Yeah, and I don't like that. So these new pens, I am not finding that yet right now. So I'm going to exaggerate. The idea is we're looking up at this, so I'm just going to draw the window grid but really exaggerate the lines. And Mel, if you're online, feel free to give me feedback. I'm going to super exaggerate it. I'm having, I'm having no issues with these pens starting and stopping. I should exaggerate that more. And I'm going to actually brush out— let's do this, we're going to brush out some of this here. Just kind of COVID it over a little bit. When you're sketching architecture, don't feel like you need to do the entire building. You could focus on sections or even details that interest you. Sometimes we look at a building and we want to capture everything. That can be really overwhelming. So those are some good reminders from the workshop yesterday. Break it down into pieces, or maybe just find something you like. All right, so I'm tapering this on purpose, just covering this up. All right, let's see. And hopefully this is going to look— starting to look like it's more at an angle. Gigi says, love that statement. Thanks, Gigi. So here's an important thing: we have the lines angled up. I'm not sure what to do with the yellow part yet, but these are angled up and the windows are smaller at the top and they get bigger as we come down. So let's just— we're going to exaggerate it. Notice the rectangles are getting a little bit bigger as we come down, right? So the grid is getting smaller as we go up the page. And I think this is looking much better than it, it was when we started. I feel like we're looking more at it, and I also feel like now these, these lines really would have to be tapered as well. This is too straight. Uh, we're just gonna break out— uh, it doesn't matter— red. Let's just grab some red here. I'm gonna do the same thing with this piece on top. I think it has to be angled. I think one of the biggest statements yesterday was draw what you see and not what you think. That was my biggest takeaway. Draw what you see, not what you think, because your brain wants to correct— it thinks it's correcting what you're drawing. So notice I'm kind of tapering that top now as well. Mel says looks great. Thank you, Mel, I appreciate your feedback. You know that so much. I wish it was earlier because I would love to sketch for at least an hour tonight. I don't know how to— I don't know how to fix this part. We're just going to cover it. This is one of the cool things about these acrylic markers is they are transparent, but you can kind of COVID up some areas if you want and go back over it. And then one edge back here is— might be at a little of an— more of an angle as well. This is still— this is definitely still off, but I think it's better. I can't resist playing with these pens. Let's get that. I love the dot end. I think this is the biggest find. This dot end is really cool. I've never seen that on a marker. I'm just gonna play around. Let me check this out. This is, this is the ultimate therapy right here, throwing these dots. You can hit light, get small dots, right? Or you can bang it and get bigger dots. Dang, this is cool. Mel, you got to try these, they're really awesome. Uh, Gigi says paint it yellow again. Thank you. Yeah, Gigi, I agree. Gigi, what statement— you said, I love that statement. What statement did you— did connected with you? I'd like to know what statement resonated with you. See, I can go over this if I want a little bit. Now I'm just going to make it into a big mess. All right, cool. Um, I am not— I am purposely not showing the bottom on this. I don't really like this at all. So you guys know my like, you know, I'm sorry, you know the style, you know the look I like where my drawings just kind of fade off into nothing because it allows the viewer to use their imagination and kind of fill in the blanks, right? So I kind of often have my drawings taper or fade out around the edges. So I love— I kind of like the look here where it's just fading out and we're just focusing on this part of the building. So You know, if I just kind of crop it like this, now you can see it. Got some glare on there. Sorry, I got some wicked glare on this tonight. That's better. All right, and I want to do one. I'm, I'm going to go, guys. Not go, like, keep going on this. Sorry, I know I said I was going to wrap up. But, uh, I want to add a background on here. This is a great way for my brain to wind down from— I worked, actually worked most of today, so it's been a busy day. What color should we use? You know what, we're gonna throw orange in the background. I'm loving— I've been doing orange skies lately and they're so fun. Nothing makes a statement like an orange sky. Oh, my orange marker's dying. I just bought 3 new packs of Creative Markers, so I'm stocking up for me and for the workshop because I'm going to bring work markers to the workshop. So when I see them kind of on sale, I'll buy a bunch of them. I, I am burning through these Creative Markers like crazy. I guess that's a good thing, right? It means I'm using it— I'm using them. All right, and we will throw down some of the white again. What was the name of this company? GG said say Bruce. I like that idea. The Bruce Pens or the Bruce Sarth. Bruce Sarth, that's a tricky name. All right, I'll just throw down some of that gel pen on top. All right, cool. One day, one day I'll be able to sketch 24/7 and make money doing it. Wouldn't that be a dream? All right, I will do— I've been doing this in the skies too. I like just throwing some scribbles here. It's one of the cool things about mixed media sketches, it's just layers of different things. I like this because it breaks up the orange and it gives a little bit of movement and energy to the sky. So there you go, you can kind of see, right? See it? And that is very similar to— do I have it in here? Um, here's— where's the sketch that started it? The sketch that started that was— does anybody want to come organize my sketching stuff for me? I need, I need someone to desperately come and organize all of my sketching gear here, sketchbooks. My room is disastrous right now. I don't think I've ever seen it this messy in here. Creative brain equals stuff everywhere because I have so many things going. So that is a— if anybody else has creative brain out there, you understand that There's always so much going on. Yeah, here it is. I also got a new— we'll test this out another day, but I just got a new accordion journal. I'm trying to find different accordion journals. We'll talk about that another time, but here is the sketch that kind of started the whole orange thing out right here was the Madame Tussauds sign. So just kind of carrying it through a little bit. All right, GG says I'm down for organizing. All right, you're, you're signed up. Can I bring— I, I need so much help organizing. I'm not even kidding. I, I'm embarrassed to show a camera shot of all the stuff that is out here. It's bad. All right, I will officially sign you up. Awesome. We also need— we also should try to find a time to do that interview for a podcast. That would be so cool. All right guys, tonight was a lot of fun coming on here testing out these new, uh, markers, gel pens. I love, love, love the idea of adding white on top of color and really fun. It just has a cool look to it. So right now I would say yes, these are awesome. I'll keep using them, I'll report back on them, and, um, they'll probably end up on my most liked tools page. Awesome. All right, what else do we do tonight? We did this, we did this. Yes, I'm organizing my brain. Oh yeah, and I am loving this Moleskine, uh, sketchbook as well. Moleskine is probably my favorite. They're my favorite sketchbooks out there. And we'll end with a nice— end with a nice shot of Starbucks. Edie says, the messier your desk, the higher your IQ. Uh, that's going on the quote here. Hold on. All right, everybody, just take that in for a minute. Look at that note. Love that. Hopefully one day you'll do the bridge. Oh, can you remind me which bridge? I should know, and then my brain is fried, but which bridge are we talking about? Remind me of the bridge, that would be amazing. I love that quote, that's great. Is that a scientific fact, Edie? I hope so. That means I'm a— I'm a freaking genius. Um, I wish. All right, this is so cool. Love this Starbucks couch. This is— this is my jam. I'm jamming on that one. All right guys, let's put my stuff away and wrap up. We'll go to the heart-to-heart cam to finish. I am unkempt. We'll do it. Let's wrap up. Oh, you can see my playlist. Here's what I'm listening to. All right, let's change cam. I didn't do my hair. I have to reposition things. We'll see. All right, there I am. All right, cool. Can you hear me? Testing, 1, 2, 3. Move it around a little bit. All right, cool. Oh, the High Line near the unusual billboard. Yes, yes, that bridge I was at yesterday. I will definitely um, definitely sketch that bridge. It's, it's incredible. It's a timber frame structure, heavy timbers, and, um, love that bridge. It's so cool. All right, you guys can move the mic here. I just want to say thank you. It's late on a Sunday. I know there's work tomorrow, and I do appreciate your time hanging with me. It is really special, and and meaningful to me to get your time, whether you're watching, listening in the background, falling asleep to my voice, or throwing darts at my picture on your screen. It's all good. Um, I'm here to spread, to spread positivity through creativity, and we need to do that through community, and you guys are community. So thank you for that. This week's a busy week, but I'll try to pop on. I think I'm going to try to stick to Mondays, Wednesdays, and Friday nights. So that's my goal— Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. It might change depending on what's going on out there. You have been amazing. Sally for Art, good to see you on Instagram. Hope you're doing well. Um, I appreciate y'all. Sally, I'm about to leave, but I'm so glad you popped in. Go back and watch the beginning. We tested out some new pens here. Ta-da! All right, until we meet again, sketch boldly, live creatively, and embrace imperfection. I'll see you on the next one. As I— I'm trying to— I'm trying to nonchalantly find the finish button.