The Inkspired Life - Sketching & Painting : Inking Out Loud

Hey, Becky, Chris, Heather, Dre, how are you guys doing today? Hope you're having a great, great Monday. It is Monday, right? Yeah, Monday. Sometimes it's all one big blur, but that's okay. It's all good. It's a good blur. Hope you guys are having an awesome day. So nice to see you. Just popping on here quick, a little random, uh, sketching going on. So yeah, thanks for tuning in. Some awesome, awesome artwork I've been seeing out there. You guys are amazing. I'm so blessed to be surrounded by such great talent. So thank you guys for all your inspiration. I appreciate it. Good, good stuff. Just putting on some tunes here. Let's see. So Chris, you'll like this. I have some Mr. Tom Petty going right now. A little Tom Petty, kind of wind down a Monday, busy, busy Monday. Well, winding my way down to maybe doing some homework, maybe. We'll see. I've got a bunch of stuff I need to be doing, but I just wanted to do a little bit of creating. Hmm, I'm using a watercolor crayon, I guess, watercolor stick, and some graphite right now. A little different. You guys usually are seeing me doing straight lines, so Wanted to play around with some curve, some curvy lines today. Mix it up a little bit. It's outside, spring's here, I'm feeling things are growing, flowers, a lot of nice curved shapes outside. This is kind of where I'm, where my brain's headed right now. It's just a little abstract kind of piece going on. Some sort of homage to the outdoors. Maybe some kind of flower blooming. I have some markers here, maybe I'll play with these as well. Some sketch markers. Yeah, yeah, Chris, I know you love Tom Petty, that's awesome. Cool. Sketch, yeah, organic, yeah, botanical. You got it, Becky, exactly. Good to see you. Good to see all of you guys as always. So I'm going to break out some color now. I think, I think, I think. This isn't— these aren't watercolor markers, they're just regular markers. Eh, we'll play around with these and see what happens. I'm not really sure. I'll have my water brush ready in case I want to try to do something with it. Just kind of experimenting with these markers tonight. Alright, that one's not so cool with water. Next. Next. Let's try this one. So I'm just playing around with these markers to see what kind of effects happen. Um, so it's kind of cool, right? Just kind of flipping it around, taking a look at it. Different perspectives, different ways. For instance, Jason's drawing, I'd probably flip that and make some sort of a hit with it and stick my gnomes in the doorway. There you go, yeah, that would be kind of cool. I see what you're saying, like a hut. Yeah, this could definitely be some kind of a structure here or a hut, like the A little doorway. Absolutely. I like that idea a lot. Um, almost has the shape of an onion, kind of the way it's coming up a little bit. Very organic. Yeah, I love it. I love the way you're thinking, imagination, looking at things differently. It's awesome, awesome stuff. So cool. Now you have me thinking. Now you have me thinking I should flip it the other way. Hmm. Hmm, hmm, hmm. So I'm using some watercolor ink right now, some fluorescent pink. There we go. It's got— it has some fun colors on it. Turn into a formal gown. Yeah, I could definitely see this being some kind of a gown. Absolutely. Love the colors and movement. Yeah, this is a fun piece. Again, it's something different. You usually see me doing very straight kinds of lines. Wonky straight lines. Again, I was inspired by outdoors, nature, flowers growing. I wanted to do something kind of curvy. I like the word organic. I saw that before. That's a great way to describe it. I love the way you guys think. A lot of, uh, great imagination out there. Very, very cool. That's cool. I think I'm gonna let it dry a little bit before I add any more to it, if I add any more to it. Just a kind of a cool, nice little warm-up piece. Cool. Yeah, so that's a fun little piece. I'm going to let it dry and maybe come back to it. I know the camera is not picking up, it is very fluorescent. See if I can get it— try to get a better shot on camera. I don't know if it's going to come out or not. Actually, if I turn it this way, you can kind of see what I'm talking about. I really like the colors in it. Yeah, it's artichoke-ish, definitely. How was school? How was school, Jason Nicholas Nicholas? It's like me asking my son, how was school today? I love that. Well, school was actually really fun today. It was awesome, good day. Even a little bit snarky, some snarky comments going on, but we got through it. But yeah, it was a pretty good day. Thanks for asking. I really need to finish my college certification stuff and that's— it's so hard to focus at the end of a school day. It's hard to come back and work on this really big assessment I need to be doing. But we'll see. I might just continue it in the fall. I think that's what I'm going to end up doing. I just need to hand a lot of stuff in next week and I don't think I'm going to have it done. It's the first time ever in my entire academic career that I've been late with something by more than a week. I'm like weeks behind. I'm trying, I've been trying. We'll get through it. Yeah, so cool. I like the art— I like the words artichoke. I like organic. I liked how I saw gown in there. I like, um, hut. So I love how you guys are seeing this from all different perspectives and angles. Really cool. You know, I could picture— I saw someone said Chris's gnomes. Absolutely, gnomes in here. I'm picturing even some kind of like fairies or something, you know, pixies or some kind of little creatures like that kind of inhabiting this as well. Good stuff, guys. I'm gonna do one more quick sketch tonight. I'm gonna end at 9. I'm gonna let this dry. Let me put it over here. Where am I going to put it? Right over here. What am I looking for? Paper, paper, paper, paper. I have tons of paper. Let me just grab some paper we have here. I have to really clean my stuff. I have some old— actually, this came out. Just want to look at this on camera. This actually is metallic copper. Actually, it looks very cool in person. Trying to get it to shine on screen. It's hard to show it on screen. I was trying to start to organize my stuff, so that's why those are there. What do I have? Do I have any pages in here? I do. I do have some pages in here. This might be the infamous giraffe sketchbook. I'm not sure. But we're not going to look for Mr. Giraffe. This was a sketch I did of Daffodils last year. Not that one. Here's my— I don't know if you guys ever saw my rabbit. This is my Cosmic Rabbit sketch I did last year at some point in time. Very, uh, I think I called it the Cosmic Bunny or something. I was just being really crazy and loose and abstract. Actually, there's even a fish on there. Did anybody see the fish on this? It's so funny, I forgot there was a fish on there. This is a fun piece. So there's a fish. I turn it this way. You can see the fish right there. The fish. Mr. Bunny hanging out. But, um, alright, I'm gonna look for paper. I have some. Here we go. I'll just use this piece of paper. It's okay if there's paint and stuff on it. We're just gonna play around. Let me just adjust this camera, I think it's a little wonky. There we go. Alright, what do we feel like doing? You know, I'm just gonna sketch with this watercolor stick, I think. Keep playing with this tonight. I'm going to stick with the watercolor stick. So, you know, this is water-soluble. You can kind of wet the tip if you want with water, dip it in water, paint with it, put water on the paper, however you want to do it. So we'll just play with some different techniques. Jason Nicholas. So I'm just going to put some random spots of water on the page, and as I'm sketching, we'll see what happens with the watercolor stick. Should just dissolve where I sketch over the water. I'm gonna just put it on here dry as well, and I'll bring the brush over water and we'll kind of paint around with it. Again, I'm just playing with, playing with this, just trying to get used to this. It's I'm not too familiar with how to use it. It's just practice, practice, right? Or just play, play, play. I went from that really organic thing to what am I doing now? My brain's all over the place. But that's the fun of creativity. Just embrace it and go with it. Go with the flow. Why fight it? I feel like it's a gift we all have and sometimes we just fight it too much instead of embracing it. I know it's easier said than done, but if you can just embrace it or if you have the urge to be creative, do something. Right, I'm not looking for perfection right now. I'm just looking for a little bit of a— just an outlet, a little creative outlet, a little zen time. I feel like I'm going to bring some color in. I'm going to play around with this fluorescent pink again since I have it out here. I'm just going to go dip my brush in there and we'll just— just listening to some music, kind of just going with it. So I'm not really seeing anything with this, not yet. That's okay if it doesn't turn into anything. Again, I guess if you set out with a goal, and my goal really is just to play around with this watercolor stick tonight, right, I can't really be disappointed if that was my goal. If I'm sitting here trying to do a portrait of a giraffe, it would be an epic failure, right? So this is no giraffe by any means. So sometimes if we start with some sort of expectation, maybe just to play with a certain tool or material or a color. Or if you just want to play with lines, just do straight lines or curved lines. Sometimes setting an intention is a great way to practice and walk away with just some kind of a lesson. Like, I'll walk away trying, you know, learning maybe how to use this watercolor stick a little bit better. And I may— or maybe I'll learn I don't like it. Maybe I'll learn I love it. Maybe I'll be wishy-washy about it and have to try it more. You don't know until you do it, right? I took my graphite stick out now. Hey, hope you're having a great night. So, um, cool metallic copper. Yes, that metallic copper is actually pretty cool. It's hard to get the shine or the metallic-y stuff on camera. I can kind of see it if I do this. Fun material. Cosmic Pony is way wicked awesome. Way wicked awesome, yes. Got a wicked! Whenever I get a wicked, that's a good sign, so thank you. Hey Chris, ooh, that's looking cool, very. Yeah, I think you're talking about this piece. It is looking kind of cool. I have to agree with you. Let me sharpen the focus a smidge here. Yeah, you know, it's, uh, I like the way it's drying. What was I just— oh yeah, I put some graphite stick. I was going to go over that with some water. Just want to darken some areas. Sometimes I'll darken things just to pull out some other shapes. I'll put dark lines around it. Trying to stay away from this area here because I want it to kind of dry. I'll try to get you guys some better shots. Hi Siri. I'm good Siri, thanks. I appreciate it. Siri is so awesome. Siri is always asking me if I need something. I'm good Siri, I appreciate it. Maybe make this, can you help me let this dry a little bit faster Siri? So I'm putting music on. I have Batman soundtrack on right now. There's a certain song I'd like to listen to. So I am— pardon me while I'm trying to find a tune here. Where is it? What the heck? Hmm. Anyone just saw my playlist? James Taylor, Mexico. That just popped up, which is weird. I really like that song. It's funny that it popped up. Who knows why? All right. Oh, on Inking Out Loud, you never know. You'll sometimes hear me talking about the musical selections on my iPhone and what's randomly popping up. You may even hear me get to talk to Siri sometimes. Yes, it's not just painting and sketching and creativity, it's inking out loud. Whatever's going on up here might come out on screen, so I hope that's part of the entertainment and what keeps you guys keep coming back. Hope you're enjoying that. It's— it is what it is, right? There's no script, no cue cards, I didn't rehearse this. My workshop will be interesting starting Saturday, we'll see how that goes. It should be a lot of fun. Try to be a little more instructor-ish, but can't change this, but the delivery I can change up a little bit. But it's going to be fun. Where'd it go? Now I'm trying to find the— now I have to listen to James Taylor, Mexico. That's so funny. That's my brain. Great, it's here, it is. Alright, Mr. James Taylor's on. We'll see how that affects the work here, the painting, the creativity. It's gonna slow my pace down a little bit, I think. It's all good. There's actually an architect I like. His name is Luis Barragán. Uh, he's no longer living, but Luis Barragán, I believe, was a Mexican architect, and he used a lot of vibrant colors. In his architecture. So, who knows, maybe that's why Mexico popped up. I'm using something vibrant. Maybe something you'd see in Luis Barragán's work. He did very architectural, very— how do I say it? Very clean, simple lines, very blocky kind of architecture. I remember him from back in college, really cool stuff. Ooh, I see like a little eyeball or something happening here. It's kind of cool. So I'm just trying to tie in the music with the color scheme, maybe. I don't know. Things happen for a reason, right? Sometimes we'll never— we never know the reasons. That's okay. It's called mystery. The mystery of life. On Inking Out Loud, sometimes we get very philosophical, and we also get fluorescent pink paint on our fingernails. This is kind of a cool piece because in this piece I see a lot of I like the composition. I like the energy of the colors. But I'm looking at little vignettes of things happening. Where's my frame? Let me get my frame out. Somewhere here I have a frame. That's too big. We could try this, but I think it's too big. Yeah, it's too big. I can do this. Just gonna make like a little viewfinder here. Let's try this. So as I'm looking at this, I'm seeing vignettes and some things happening. Just areas I like, nothing particular. Like, I kind of like this little area here that I'm blocking out. That strikes me as being a really cool area. This probably isn't the right proportion. Let me change this. I need a smaller grid. Here, let me do this. Even small slivers on here I'm looking at. I kind of like this little piece in here in this corner. I like this piece here. So as I'm working on this, I'm always in my brain looking at maybe smaller sections of it as well to see what's interesting. Maybe it's a certain pattern, certain colors, maybe the way it's bleeding. Maybe the texture of the watercolor stick. I like the way it looks here. It's kind of rough. It's not watered down. It's just dry on dry there. I actually look— I kind of like what's going on here as well. I love James Taylor, but I need something peppy. Peppy peppy. Uh oh, it's 9:01. Alright, I gotta wrap up. Hmm, one more song. Alright, I'm gonna put a little— some Peter Gabriel. I like this song, it's called "Steam," 1992. Uh, let's go back to the graphite. So I am seeing some— surprise! City skyline. I'm actually sketching— I'm sketching some really simple people down in the foreground down here. Try to get a little closer. Just to give some scale to what's happening behind them, I have some mini people, almost like ants going on down here. You don't usually see me add people in the scenes, um, but I thought this would be a cool one just to give some scale. I mean, I could definitely see some abstract city vibe going on back in here. Sidewalk area, street level here, and the city rising up behind. Siri, I didn't ask for you to come on this time. Siri is, uh, Siri wants to help tonight. Isn't that awesome? I have a helper in the house. Siri is now playing some Taco. Put It on the Ritz by the group Taco. If you guys know that song, it's a fun one. Put some people over in here. Ooh, my watercolor crayon there is really wet. I didn't want to put that size of a person, so we'll just kind of wipe it out. I'll just put a couple dots here. Actually, I'll just put some on the palette and lift it off. Do it that way. There we go, that's better. I'll hold this up closer before I leave and for the night so you can see what I'm doing down here. I know it's probably a little small on screen. This is fun. It's very therapeutic, putting these little silhouettes in here. Just trying to imagine what's happening, what are people talking about here. Got some little peeps, some tall peeps. And they're kind of like ants in this big cityscape, you know, kind of like ants marching along. Isn't that a song, "Ants Marching," Dave Matthews Band? Cool. Cool. All right, all right, I'll show you guys. Sorry, I know I was kind of in the zone there. Let me— yeah, feeling very urban. Hey, someone said, "Hey, Genie." Hey, Genie, how are you? Good to see you. Yeah, Drea, that's what I saw too, skyline. That's awesome. I see skyline with spires or steeples. Yeah, Genie. Yeah, yeah, yeah, what a cool— this is such a cool, cool, fun piece. Try to adjust the camera here. By the way, do you guys like the play-by-play? I'm like announcing everything I'm doing. And now I'm adjusting the camera. So I was teaching my CAD class this morning. I have 2, 3 CAD classes. I was teaching one of them this morning and one of the kids is on the golf team. So I was trying to get him to engage a little bit. So I started teaching the class like I was a golf announcer. I got a kick out of it. I don't know if anybody else did. And I'm like, "And now Alex is picking up his pencil, getting ready to draw a floor plan. His pencil touches the paper, it's going, it's getting closer to the hole." Kind of like that. I thought it was fun. Anyway, yes, I'm a wacky guy. So guys, if you see I hold this up, you can see down here I kind of have some, maybe some peeps happening down here. City sidewalk and above them is Metropolis rising up beyond in this kind of very urban environment. I was going to say post-apocalyptic, but that's not what I'm thinking. I'm thinking Blade Runner-ish, if you guys know the movie Blade Runner, that kind of a vibe, something sci-fi-ish going on here. I think just— I think by adding these just silhouettes here— it's not art unless you wear it. I'm wearing it. By adding the silhouettes, it gives a scale to, you know, what's happening beyond. I don't feel like I need to add any more colors. I don't— I'm gonna leave the white background. I was thinking about adding something a blue, but I don't think that would go with this. I like the industrial, the urban, the grunge, sci-fi. I have a lot of adjectives going through my brain. Sci-fi-ish kind of feel to it. So it's turned out to be a cool little piece actually. Awesome, awesome. Let me know what you guys think. If you like this piece, let me know. Put some hearts and some thumbs up out there in chat land. Out in the Inkling group. Inklings, you guys are awesome. Siri is feeling very lonely. I think Siri is lonely tonight. I am so sorry, Siri. I am here for you, for sure. Even Siri has feelings, right? Absolutely. Looks cool, thank you. Center pink area makes me get the feel of a statue. Center pink, ooh. Center pink area. So right in here. I love that, yeah. I could see some kind of a cool statue happening. Cool. Statue of Liberty-ish. Yes, Statue of Liberty-ish. Are you, uh, I could see that here. I could see almost some kind of sculpture or something happening in this area. Maybe you're talking about this area. This kind of could be Statue of Liberty-ish here. Torch being held up, head, kind of a gown, the gown area. Awesome, fine, guys. Oh, I'm sorry, I'm covering this up. Yeah, they are kind of like hair people, exactly. Just very simple silhouettes down there. Right? It's fun to imagine what's going on. What are they talking about? What's the hubbub these days in Inktopolis? I don't know. Other people in this one, it's new for you, at least in your online sketch. Yeah, Jeannie, it is. "It is new. I don't do many people in my sketches." That's why I agree with you. I think it adds another element, another interesting layer. Cool point. Jeannie, you're paying attention. You're paying attention. That's good. You get a gold star today. "Maybe they're lining up going to the theater." Yeah. What show would they be going to see? Right? Maybe there's some kind of a marquee happening here. Maybe up here is a marquee. Doors into the theater. What show? What show? If you guys go see a show right now, would you go see? Yes, Heather, the original Blade Runner. Absolutely. I am with you. I did like the new Blade Runner, Blade Runner 20— I forget the year, 2019. I forget what the year on the movie was. I did like it, but definitely the original Blade Runner. Hey, Dolores, good to see you. How are you tonight? Hope you're having a great day. I'm sorry, I just keep looking at this one. I'm just— I see so many cool things that are happening in here. It's okay to look at our art. You guys look at your art. I guess that's why we make it, to look at it. One of the reasons. Hamilton! Oh, Dolores, Hamilton, but you saw it already. My wife has seen Hamilton. I caught pieces of it on Disney Plus. I'll be honest, I haven't seen the whole thing. What I did see, I liked. I know she really liked it. She listens to the soundtrack a lot. Yeah, but Hamilton, right? I wonder when Broadway is coming back to life. When are they gonna reopen? That's a really good question. Part of me— I'm not going to do it— part of me wants to pop on some bright yellow here and there. I'm going to refrain from doing it tonight. Little Shop of Horrors! Seymour, was it Seymour the plant? Yes, let's go to Little Shop of Horrors. That would be a fun show to see. What was the last show we saw? I think the last show we saw was, I think we went to see Beetlejuice the musical actually. It was really good. We saw Beetlejuice. Gosh, when was that? That was before COVID obviously. That was a fun show. My art seems to look better after it sits for a while. Yeah, Jeannie, I hear you. Yeah, sometimes it's good to step away and come back. Mine always looks better with my eyes closed, so. You know, I'm just looking at it now, it looks amazing, my eyes are shut. No, but it's good to step away, you come back and you see different things, new appreciation for it. "So busy watching other people's art, so talented all." Dolores, I'm so glad you watch. I'm sure you are very talented as well. For sure. Cool guys. Alright, I'm gonna bring back the original piece and we'll take a look at it and then we're gonna wrap up. I am over my timeline. I set myself an 9 o'clock timeline, but I was having so much fun, I couldn't help it. Alright, so we'll keep this here. Let me get the other piece and see how it's drying. So obviously there's a common theme with the color schemes tonight, right? Let's turn it this way. I think the vote— you guys all seem to like it this way better, which I have to agree with you. Sorry, I can't put the whole thing on camera right here. Unless I do that, maybe. So we're using the same basic colors. We have some fluorescent pink going, some black water soluble or water stick, watercolor stick they call them. I guess it's like a water soluble crayon. And some graphite as well. So we kind of kept the palette really simple tonight. And I think simple is better. You guys know I like the quote, "Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." by Leonardo da Vinci, something I try to live by. That doesn't always happen, but I think tonight is a good example, refraining, you know, the palette and the different materials used. You guys can probably tell this is definitely more in my wheelhouse. This style is more me for sure, but it was fun and to play with more organic shapes. Based on spring and being inspired by flowers. So it's really, it's always cool, a cool idea, guys, just to mix it up a little bit, try different things. You know, we'll come back to this and maybe, who knows, maybe I'll just do a little quick abstract stuff on it and maybe we'll bring it somewhere, I don't know. Maybe not. Cool, but I'm going to save that for another time because I'm going to wrap up for tonight. Um, if you turn it sideways, you could make an eye. Yeah, so if you turn it this— definitely could be an eye for sure. I guess that way or this way, right? I think I like it this way better. Chris, yeah, I love that. I love how you're seeing things from different viewpoints. And that's one of the fun things about abstract pieces is you can flip them around, see them from different perspectives. Points of view, right? Cool. Hey, you guys are awesome. I am actually going to cut out now. I have some homework I should go do. I didn't say will, but I should go do it. You guys are awesome. Just let me know in the comments which— do you have a preference? Do you like either the more cityscape one or the organic one? Or both. I'm just curious to know what you guys think. You guys are awesome. Also, if you leave some feedback or comments or something you— a takeaway from tonight, that's always cool as well. Thank you for sharing this and hearts and thumbs and all that fun stuff. Those emoticons. Or a tulip. Yeah, so Dolores, when I started, I started this way. This is how I was originally painting it. And I like that. You see kind of a tulip shape. I was going for a flower, so it's so awesome that you saw that. Get that homework done. Yes, I know. Yeah, I know. Oh boy, this is more fun. This is homework for me. You know why? Because it's practice, it's fun, and this is where my passion is. We got to make time to do our passion, to do the things we love doing, right? We only have one life to live, and always make time to do the things you like to do. Hey guys, you're awesome. That's my takeaway for tonight. I appreciate you guys so, so, so much. The Inklings are amazing. You guys are setting new trends out there, so I like that. I hear some other people have been watching. They're not commenting yet, but they're lurking. So for all you lurkers out there, join in. Get in the crowd whenever you're ready. What an awesome group of inclusives we have out there. So positive and funny, and you guys are amazing. So thank you so much. Have a great, great night. Peace and live creatively. I have some Talking Heads on here and they're gonna help me wind down. Take care, guys. Have a great night.