Thursday Night Sketch

Hey, it's Thursday, 2-12-12. Yeah. Hope you're having a good day. I'm Jason with the Ink Spired Life popping on just for a few minutes here. I didn't do my daily sketch, you may have noticed. I kind of tend to save them towards the end of the day, which is awesome because it's a great way for me to unwind before I go to bed. Thanks for joining me. I'm throwing down colors. I think I'm. I was inspired. I really liked. Let's see, I really liked this kind of abstract thing, so I thought I would throw down some color and we'll see what happens. And if the only thing I do is throw color down, that's fine because you know what color makes me happy. And on. During these long winter days, throwing down color is a great way to just kind of lift the spirit, lift the soul, take you to a sunny, warm place in your brain, at least. All right, feel free to ask questions, leave comments, and I'll be checking in. So I'm just grabbing some Sharpie Creative markers. I love using them. I love the colors. They're vibrant and they're acrylic markers. They dry really quick, which is awesome. All right, cool. So honestly, I am just grabbing and going with whatever colors I'm picking up here. And we're just gonna throw color down on pa. So I'm randomly just throwing in blocks, And we'll see what happens. I hope wherever you are, it's you're having good weather or you're keeping warm and dry. All right, I'm going to zoom in a little closer. Again, this is just random, random colors. And, well, I'm going to definitely turn into some kind of skyline, which is. I'm always in these abstract shapes. I'm always seeing city skylines. It's just the way my brain is wired, you know, I love architecture, love cities and cityscapes. So it's always fun just to kind of throw down blocks of color, pull out some shapes and see. See what happen. Pretty cool. So I've had this question come up before, a couple things. One is, how do I know where to add the blocks of color and how do I know where to put the lines? Really fair questions. I'll start with the color. Honestly, the color is. It's. I don't mean to sound snarky, but it's just random. I'm just grabbing, going with these markers and throwing down just stripes, blocks of color. Whatever I'm feeling, and I want it to be kind of random, I Don't want to pre plan this, but after the color goes down, I'll kind of look for shapes in the blocks. So I had this yellow thrown down here and I was visualizing the tip of a skyscraper maybe here happening. So I use the blocks of colors to sometimes inform what I'm going to pull out of the image. Let me do it down here. A little closer for face. Hello. In the comments or the chats, I see Chip is in the house. Chip, good to see you. Oh, I am so glad you love the book, Chip. I had a cool idea. I don't know what you think. I almost want to do a book club about that book. I don't have a copy here, but I showed some of you guys the other day online, the nature book. I'd love to do some kind of like, like an online book slash, slash sketch club based on that book. Let me know what you think. Hey, Jen's in the house. Jen, good to see you. I hope you're doing well. Always good seeing you as well, my friend. The Sharpies. The Sharpies having issues. Issue alert. Issue alert. I'm just going to grab this Sharpie rollerball pen. There we go. Where's my white? Here we go. I also got these cool jelly roll white pens here. We'll play around with these a little bit. I think it looked kind of cool on the blue and if you guys hear it running around or barking in my. They're playing with my pup. It's that time of the day. She's awesome. She needs to burn off some steam. And the squeaking is not my toy. It's. It's. It's Livy's toy. My pup's name is Olivia. So enjoy the squeaking toy. Background sound if you can hear it. I really like this. This white gel pen. It. Hey, Deborah, great to see you. Hope all's well. Great seeing you on the YouTube. Hope you're doing great today. Hey Jen. Yeah, you know, by the time I saw that CFOT was on, it was obviously the end of his stream. So. Yeah. But I hope, I hope things went well and in the. As far as the moderator part goes, sorry I missed it. So again, this is just about being loose, fun, throwing down colors, getting stuff out of my head, changing my vibe a little bit, being vibrant, just doing my 20 minutes a day for this month. Consistency is my. One of my words for 2026 and I don't want to let myself down. So I am being consistent with my sketch practice. What do you guys think? I know it's kind of loosey goosey, and that's awesome. I kind of want. I gotta find the Sharpie. I don't want the gel pen. Let's try this Sharpie as a gel pen bump. Chip says. What three points of wisdom for new urban sketches, urban sketchers would you give to start them out? You hear the squeaking? Great question. Three points of wisdom. Yeah, let's answer that. I think off the top of my head here, just in any random order. 1. Urban sketching. I feel like when we're out sketching buildings or cityscapes, we feel overwhelmed and frustrated and shut down because there's so much going on around us and we feel like we need to sketch everything. Or if we're looking at one building, we feel like we need to sketch the entire building. So, Pro Tip 1. Focus in on maybe a part of the building or a detail or even a doorway. Just narrow your vision down to a small section of the building. And don't worry about everything happening around you. Focusing on that one section. That. That kind of clarity or lack of. Lack of overwhelm. Filtering the overwhelm is a great way to kind of get started and not feel frustrated and kind of stopped in your tracks. Pro tip 2. Shapes. Shapes. When you're sketching urban sketching, you know, if I'm in New York City with my sketchbook and my markers or pens, I'm always looking at overall shapes of buildings. So start with big, kind of like I did here, Start with big, blocky shapes or blocks of color, and then you could always fill in those shapes. So that's pro tip two and. And pro tip three. Don't set yourself up for failure by trying to be perfect and sketch in a technical, precise, detailed way. Some people are amazing at it, but I feel as if you approach with an open mind and you just want to feel the vibe. Capture a vibe, capture a spirit. I think loose style sketching like I'm doing here keeps the doorway of creativity flowing a little easier than trying to be very, very technical, I would say. And people, you know, we all have different philosophies. I always say, do not use a ruler. Don't bring a ruler. Don't try to create perfect, beautiful, straight, clean edges. Yeah, Just be in the moment. Let the pen flow. My new saying. I love. I love. And I don't usually love things I say, but I love, I love the saying imperfection. Imperfection is perfection when it comes to sketching. For me, imperfection is perfection. And a fourth bonus pro tip to compare yourself if you're out sketching with friends. Don't compare yourself to your neighbors and what they're sketching. You can be inspired by other people, love what they do, but don't beat yourself up. Compare yourself to the point of shutting down. I call it the comparison trap. Do your thing for you and don't worry about what your neighbor is doing. That's the fourth tip. Hopefully that helped. Good questions. Cool sketch. Hey, thanks, Jen. Have I checked Johnny is there? No, I have not. I will check that out. Thank you for the pro tip. We will check that out. Let's break out. Where's. I'm looking for the white area. Good advice. Thank you. What is your fav color? Oh, that's a. That's a tough question. I like a lot of colors. Here's how I'm going to break. If I had to pick one color, if I had to only pick one color for sketching, it would be. I didn't take it out yet. It would be. That is not it. Where is it? Here it is. It would be turquoise, aqua, however you want to call it. I love this color. Whether it's the creative marker or I have the colored pencil version of it. It's called light aqua. This would be my fave fave color if I had to pick one, which is so hard to do. So I will commit to that one. A signature color I use a lot. Not a lot, but when I do use it is neon pink. So let's throw some down while we're talking about it. It's going to look. I don't know, how's it gonna look on here? Let's see. I love neon pink over yellow. It gets. Get a really cool orangey color from it. Yeah, I love a lot of colors, and I guess it depends on what mood I'm in as well. You know, if I'm trying to sketch industrial grunge vibes, which we should do that really soon online here. Do an old industrial type building. Going for rusted metal colors. I'll use aqua and oranges and yellows and greens. So it's a fabulous question. Love it. Love it. Why did you name your puppy Olivia? That's actually the name that she had when we adopted her, so we just kept her name. I love these questions, guys. All right, maybe we got a sky skyline happening here. Maybe it's on the. Maybe we've got some water here. Maybe it's on the water's edge. Right? So maybe we got some water happening here on there. For some yellow. Let's put Some yellow. Yeah. Olivia. She's awesome. We love Olivia. The power of having a dog is amazing. It's amazing how this pup. This pup has transformed our lives here in so many, so many different ways. It's. Yeah. This is the first dog I've had in my adult life being on my own. And she has been a. She's been a godsend, to be honest with you guys. Hey, Yun's Yoon on Instagram. Good to see you. Hope you're doing well. Hearing squeak beep. I love that gen squeak beep. Hey, Jeff Anderson. Great to see you. Hope all's well. Yeah. Turquoise ish. That's right. We got to add ish to everything. Hope you're doing well, Jeff. Thank you, guys. I love when you ask questions because it really makes me think about things in on a different level and helps me to be. Just to be a better communicator. This is looking cool. I'm like you liking it. Like you liking. Likey liking it. This doesn't. I still need a Sharpie. Let's see. I don't know what it is, guys, but my Sharpies used. They used to last so, so long. I'm finding Sharpies dying out so quickly, and I don't know what is up with that. I don't know if it's something I'm doing. I don't know if it. They changed the formula they use. It's crazy. Even. Like, this is crazy. Is it. Is it so dry in here because of the heat? I have no clue if anybody out there from Sharpie is watching. I'd love to know what is. What is going on? What am I doing wrong? I'm actually seeing a little cathedral down in this section. So I'm gonna make this and somehow make this into a cathedral. If you want to see an amazing, amazing piece of architecture, The cathedral in Barcelona, check out La Sagrada Familia. It's been in construction over 100 years. Designed by Antonio Gaudi, slated for completion this year. Ish. I think Familia Sagrada is an incredible spectacle, and not in a negative way. Spectacle is just it. It's begging to be looked at. Definitely check it out. We'll do some sketches of this year on the live stream. And I am going to be. I'm going to be blessed to be walking past it and hopefully going inside of it, praying for that. During my spring break, when I am doing my leading a group tour in Barcelona, Italy and Spain, I'm kind of like the group leader. Yeah. So I'm super Excited. That is a place that's been on my Barcelona and Italy. Barcelona especially has been on my bucket list for years. The architecture. I have goosebumps just thinking about it. It's gonna be really cool. I better bring a lot of battery packs for my phone. I'm going to be taking mega, mega pictures and obviously trying to fit in some sketching. We're cramming a lot of stuff in in 10 days, so I don't know how much actual time I'll get to sit and sketch, but I will try my hardest. So it's kind of a little cathedral kind of happening. What kind of puppy? I have a. A cockapoo. Oh, that's cute. German shepherd, Mini husky. Golden retriever. Love it. She is Google this. I'm gonna write it down. I didn't know what she was until we Google Photos helped identify. She is a mountain. Mountain. Cur. C U R Mountain Kerr. That's her breed. If you look up pictures, she. You will see, like a black and white one. Black and white one. That's what she looks like. She has, like, white legs with black spots in them. Almost dalmatian ish. But she's a mountain cur and I miss walking with her. This winter, we. We go for walks in the park, but we just have not been able to do it. So I cannot wait for the weather to change and we can get out there. What is the song this week? What is the song this week? You guys are on fire. Jen, you're on fire with the questions. I. I'm digging this. I have to say. Well, I'll show you. This is what. This is what I'm listening to this week. I listen to Gregory Gregorian. I love Nothing else matters. Another song I'm digging this week is Coldplay. We Pray. I love. There's so many different versions of it. I love the We Pray song from Coldplay. So that's been playing a lot this week. And. And let's see. I'll show you. Let's see. Let me just break up my playlist here. Here's some of my playlist stuff. But I love this song right here too. I've been playing this one a lot this week. Brilliant by Shinedown and Wonderwall. Wonderwall is a staple of mine. I'm gonna say I play it once a day at least. And also Bittersweet Symphony always playing that one as well. Good question. All right, guys, I think, see, 9:30. I'm gonna wrap this up in a couple of minutes. Hey, Gigi NYC is in the hoose hey, Gigi, hope you're doing well. What are some of the songs you're listening to, guys? What's some of the music inspiring you this week? What gets you through your day? Oh, man. Some of these songs are kind of hit you right here. I need a clock tower. I haven't drawn a clock tower in a while. Let's do a little clock tower. Maybe here. It. Where's the white gel pen? Zoom in close. A little bit closer, guys. There we go. It's. It. Half asleep here. Which. Which half is asleep? Which half is asleep? When people ask like what I am and I'm like, oh, I'm half Italian in British and German, they're like, which half is Italian? I'm like, oh, the good half. It's a good half. Which half is asleep? Well, thank you for. For joining in. I appreciate it even though you're tired. Thank you so, so much. It really means a lot. Thank you guys. Best dinner this week. Ordinary Zombie or Ordinary Zombie Aurora songs. Thank you, Jen, for sharing. I still have to listen to Ordinary. You mentioned that the other day. Zombie, yo. Yeah. Do you have a favorite version of a zombie? Zombie's amazing. Best day this week. It looks layered. Yeah. Thank you. Are you getting. Guys, are you getting city vibes from this? Best day this week. What's your best day? So I actually was home from school today. I took a sick day. Just honestly was feeling really run down so not too bueno. So I needed to rest up. I don't think I had a. I don't think I have a best day. I think I try to pull. Pull something good out of every day. I know we all have tough days sometimes, right? But if we can just find at least pull at least one good thing out of a everyday. A lesson or something fun or a brief moment or could be anything. Yeah, Just trying to focus on that. I gotta throw some red pen on here. I'm gonna. If you guys just give me suggest one last song, I'll put one more song on here and then I'll wrap up with just one song. Any suggestions for. I think this one's getting done. Getting close to being done. Weird. My ring doorbell just rang. My dog's barking. This is a very weird time for my doorbell to be ringing. What the heck? Thanks, Jen. Yeah, I'm feeling better. Thank you. Cranberries. Yes. 100 best version. Looks layered. Yes, it does. That's weird. I wonder why she was barking. Does Amazon deliver this late at night? Special. Special delivery. Hey, that's so funny. Oh my God, I'd be hilarious if. If those. If you guys are at the door, that would be either hilarious or really creepy. That'd be kind of funny. Oh, man, you guys are silly. Bark, bark. Yes, sometimes. Sometimes. Oh, they do come this late at night. That's interesting. I don't think I have anything ordered. I'm going to end with some bittersweet symphony. We're going to end our night with this song. Feel free to put it on your at home and listen along. I wish I could play it. I just don't want the video to be blocked. And as I'm wrapping up here, I just want to say thank you, guys. We are at 991 subscribers. So close to 1k. The big 1k. Yes. Not like anything magic happens. I don't start monetizing. I don't make any money on YouTube, but it just makes me happy to be spreading positivity through creativity. However, we can spread positive vibes these days. Let's do it, guys. This is like. I think creativity is my. This is not egotistical, but I think it's my superpower. My superpower way of just putting good out in the world is through my creativity and just being a positive role model and encourager. I love encouraging people to be the best selves they can be. And one of the most rewarding things about actually being a school teacher is, you know, just being able to become a mentor to some of my students is amazing. So what are your superpowers? What are you putting out there? What are you doing to put positive vibes out there? And it could be just as simple as saying hello to people, smiling at people. It doesn't have to be anything big, anything major. All right, we're gonna zoom out. I'm gonna put a frame around this, and we'll see what it looks like. I think this one is Dawn. We need a name for this one. Have a great night. Take care. We'll see you. Good night, Jen. Good night, Gigi. Have a great night. Take care. She is cute. Thank you. Have a good night, guys. Take care. I'm zooming out, and I'm gonna put a mat around it and I'm gonna wrap. Let's just put this mat around it. These are cool. These are really cool little pieces. Check that out. With a mat around it, Right? Looks cool. My imagination gets lost in these sketches. It's weird. I kind of shrink myself down to imagine them in the scene and what it would feel like to be in this kind of imaginary city. And there's the full version. Very cool. All right, guys. I appreciate also so much, gg, thank you. My students are lucky to have you. Oh, you are way too kind. I appreciate, appreciate you saying that. And I'm lucky to have you guys watching me and supporting me and being positive over there on the YouTube. YouTube is picking up. Jeff, awesome seeing you. Have a great, great night. Deborah, thank you for watching. I appreciate it. I hope you have a great night. Nice. It's NYC. You know what? This could definitely be NYC. 100%. This. This is Empire State Building is on the left. You guys are awesome. Gg, thank you for popping in. I know you're tired. I hope your other tired half. Wait. Yeah. Well, I don't know what I was going to say, but have a great night. Appreciate you, Deborah. And Jen, you guys are awesome. I appreciate you guys watching live. Jen, thanks for handling that wrench in the chat, the mod. I know it's super busy in that chat and I appreciate you keeping up with the thousands of influx of people spamming the chat. So thank you. And Chip was over on the Facebook side of things. Chip, I. You know how I feel about you, Chip. You're amazing and talk. Maybe we'll give you a call this weekend. That'd be awesome. And if I missed anybody, I'm sorry. But I appreciate y'. All. Until we meet again, sketch boldly, live creatively and inspire endlessly. See you soon. That was a very cheesy ending. Let's take two. Until we meet again, sketch boldly, live creatively and inspire endlessly. Yeah, I think that was less cheesy. I'm out.