Tuesday Night Sketch and Chill

Hey, welcome to, um, The Inspired Life. I'm Jason with The Inspired Life. Yeah, this is not rehearsed. Um, it is Tuesday, November 4th, plus I have a sinus head thingy. Um, Tuesday, Tuesday, November 4th, 2025. I'm just popping on, doing some quick sketching as I wind my day down. It's been been a, uh, it's been a day. It's been a good day just resting up, all that fun stuff. So hopefully you're having a great, great day. Let me know where you're watching from. Um, I want to talk a little bit about what's coming up this month as far as, um, sketching, where I'm headed. I think we could always change. And yeah, so it'll be kind of just a short little short little, um, spiel, I guess, and then we'll do a quick sketch. Hopefully that's cool. Let me make sure I am live on the Insta. I like seeing the Insta, it just sounds so cool. And am I too close to the microphone? Um, let's see. And I hope that— by the way, this is my tired voice. All right, cool. I'm just sharing. All right, boom, I think we're all shared out. I'm back. All right guys, so happy November. It is— it's here. Um, this end of the year is getting so, so dang close, and in a blink of an eye it's going to be 2026. And I am not rushing anything, trust me. I, I want to savor each day of the rest of the year, but it is approaching quickly. So at the beginning of every month, I kind of have to do like a mind reset, a planning reset, kind of evaluate where I am, where things are at, um, you know, that kind of life stuff. And how— and that actually does affect my kind of my creativity and things I like to sketch, or yeah, I guess topics or categories of things I want to sketch for the rest of the year. Um, so you can see on my desk here, I— and this, this is going to open up some debate because we always have the debate, is it too early for Christmas music, yes or no? For me, it's not. I love Christmas music. It's all good. Um, although Thanksgiving is probably my favorite holiday of the year. Um, definitely in the top 2. But why am I bringing this up? Because I think I'm going to focus this month on starting to do some New York City-inspired Christmas tree sketches. So I'm going to just do a quick show and tell of some of the ones I've done in the past. Um, so you'll be seeing me, me work on these sketches this month, as well as some other topics and categories as well. I don't have anything planned down to the T, but I do know I want to hit these. So this is the iconic Wall Street Christmas tree. Um, I love it. I love these Christmas tree sketches because the city is really of just a faint backdrop— the skyscrapers, the buildings. Um, and the tree I want to be the star of these sketches. So let's take a look at a few of them. Pretty cool. Hey, am I see you? Good to see you. Hope all's well. Joy to early, it's Christmas time now. Yeah, Christmas time is upon us before you know it. Um, so that's one sketch. Here is— this is the Christmas tree in Bryant Park, NYC. You know, you'll notice the difference between the two. This one doesn't have any color, right? It's just black and white. Um, sometimes I like the power of black and white sketches, and it allows you guys, the viewers, to kind of use your imagination to fill in the colors. So I think that's kind of cool. And then probably the most iconic Christmas tree in the entire world is the New York City Rockefeller Center Christmas tree. I have a couple sketches here inspired from last year's tree, which I I was able to go see, so it was so cool. So I did some sketches based on pictures I took. So here's one of them. Again, notice the buildings are kind of just kind of their background. It's a backdrop. I really want the tree to be the star of this show. And in this one, I actually have some people kind of loosely sketched in the foreground just to give a sense of sense of depth to the sketch. And then the last one I have here is this one right here. This might be— this might be my favorite. Actually, I'm not sure which one do I like better. I don't know, I kind of like them both actually. Again, you can see the Rockefeller Center, the The buildings in the background faint, the trees kind of popping. I'm going to bring it closer. I try to make a glow, kind of a black— a back glow around the tree happening as well. Um, I don't know if you can see on screen, but I use a white Sharpie creative marker trying to make kind of like snow specks of snow flakes falling, maybe. I think you can see better on this one. So yes, I think that's where I'm going to focus, um, a lot this month, on those type of sketches. Um, tonight I am honestly— I have nothing planned. I'm just going to take a scrap piece of paper. I want to throw some color, some ink down, uh, and I just got to wind down from my day. I've been resting all day. I've been actually, uh, Been home today out of school with just a sinus thingy, so it's all good. Nothing, not contagious, um, but just sinus blah blah blah. But I'm feeling a little bit better. Hey, Chipson, great to see you as well. Hope all's good, man. All right, so let's just throw down some color again. I have no plans tonight, guys. I just want to take this— this is a scrap piece of paper Is it upside down? I think it goes this way. I think this was a— maybe I'm wrong. I don't even know. It goes this way. It's a traffic light. Um, when I was in Spokane, Washington last year, I think last August maybe, um, I did a quick sketch on the corner of one of the streets. I have like a signpost here, a traffic light, but in my brain this is scrap, so let's just throw stuff on it, some color, some ink. Let me know how you're doing. Let me know where you're watching from. Let me know if you have any questions, comments, thoughts. So I talked about doing some Christmas tree sketches, um, this month. Um, I gotta get my button gear and launch— I launched a Sketch Survival Guide. I have it available on my website at theinspiredlife.com. Version 1 of the Sketch Survival Guide. It's a PDF download. I think it's $4.99. But, uh, the reason I'm bringing it up, because I'm working on a new improved version. I have some feedbacks about— feedbacks— some feedback on the last one. I'm just gonna color while I'm talking, guys. I'm just grabbing and going here. Um, so be looking on the lookout for a new updated Sketch Survival Guide. And I gotta get my online course out there. I have— I've worked on it on and off for the past year, and it is time for me to bring that thing out and put it in the world. It's going to be just a basic how-to sketch loose style like I like to sketch. So be on the lookout for that. It'll be an online course. That allows you to get into my brain a little bit. How do I approach loose style sketching? Um, it also goes into some creative mindset, and we'll talk about some exercises that are in the course as well. I feel like I'm at a point in my creative, creative I'm going to call it a career. I feel like this is kind of a career, even though I do it— it's a passion, my creative passion. I guess I'm at a point where I really want to start packaging and putting, putting my knowledge out there, my experience out there. I get a lot of questions, and which I love, and if I can put them— put it all together in one like downloadable course, I think that'd be so helpful. But that's just where I'm headed, guys. So I told you tonight would be kind of just a little, just a little, uh, what's going on in my brain right now, what am I thinking, things are maybe coming up in the near future. Um, Chip, if Chip's on here, Chip is a— Chip has inspired me to actually work on a something very different type of series. And Chip, I, uh It is definitely going to be worked on, and I'll tell you guys more about what that project will be. I think Chip knows, he's— he talked to me about it a while ago, and I haven't taken action yet, but I'm ready to take action and just explore maybe a kind of a different style with using my style. I don't know if that makes sense. Um, and it'll have architecture in it. Yeah, it'll be fun. We have to step out of our, our comfort zone, guys, right? As creatives, push yourself, try different things, challenge yourself to sketch new topics, use new materials, explore new colors. Different mediums. And I gotta— I really want to start doing more of that, is pushing myself to— I'm not going to say the next level, but to a different level. Um, just different. Just, you don't know what's going to come out of creative exploration. And think of it as just playtime. Explore your creative world in different ways. And you don't know what results you'll get. Um, I don't want to— I feel stagnant sometimes. I feel stuck, like I'm doing the same thing over and over, and that for me could get boring. So that's why I really am in— I'm in a season, I think, now where I have to start stepping out and just trying different, different types of, um, creative exploration. Um, through sketching. I do love sketching. I don't think that's going to change, but how I sketch, what I sketch, um, you might see some different things I'm going to throw out there. I'm going to practice what I preach, guys. If I'm telling you to be creative and push yourself, I'm going to do it, and I'm going to show you what I'm working on. I'm talking a lot, sorry. Um, literally, I'm just coloring random stuff here, guys. Can you see this okay? Probably better. Sorry, I was off camera, I think off center. That's weird, my camera is like— I'm gonna have to adjust it a little bit. Why is it shifted? Oh, I know why it shifted. I shifted the center line of my camera over. All right, I got it now. I got it. Uh, I'm also starting to do more videos about just mindset, um, personal development, personal growth. You may have seen my hiking and walking videos that are kind of spur of the moment, um I believe in personal development and personal growth, and I'm exploring those areas more as well, and I'll be putting more content out for that stuff too. Am I gonna— what am I gonna grab here? Some blue, I guess. So feel free to ask me anything about art, creativity, mindset stuff. I'll probably be on till 9, so about 10 more minutes. This is actually fun. I'm just, I'm just coloring in this on-site sketch I did. I have the same kind of light in it. This must be a power line. I'm sure it's a power line in front of some kind of sign here. I don't remember what the sign said. I'd have to go back to my, um, photographs when I— my Spokane photographs. Sharpie, Sharpie, Sharpie. Do I have my Sharpies here? I don't have my arm. That's okay. I'm just grabbing and going. I, with whatever I have in front of me. I am tired, sorry about that. All right, I don't think I use this color too much. I have not— I have not used this color in a while, so here we go. Hey Andrew, good to see you if you're on still. Hope you're doing well. So this is kind of an abstract city. It's a street corner with a signpost. We have a traffic light here. I just honestly, my intention tonight was just to throw down some color on this. This was a scrap sketch that I just had hanging around. So instead of throwing it out, I said, let's do some coloring. I'm gonna make some— I don't know what the sign says. I really don't remember, so I'm just gonna— we'll just put the word in, I-N-N, because it'll fit here easily. Or maybe not. Hey Ryan, good to see you on Insta. Hope all is well. I'm doing well, just supporting the stream. Hey, thank you so much, I appreciate you doing that. You're awesome. I appreciate that so much. I'll be back. I'll be back tomorrow. Um. I'm curious to know if, Andrew, if you added color to that haunted house sketch you were working on. Did you add— end up adding color to that? I want to do a, a another like power line on here. I'm just going to use this since I don't have my other Sharpies. We're going to use this marker. Let's do some power lines here. I just wanted to look like a messy kind of power lines in front of this sign here, make it a little— look a little more urban. I don't know what else I want to add to that. I take— I like your idea of copying it, coloring the copy. Yeah, I, I think I would do that. Um, I really like the black and white. I think it's very powerful and Just be on the safe side, I think I would add color on a copy and see what you think first, because then you could always transfer— if you like it, you could always transfer the color to your other sketch. But I think the black and white is really, um, powerful the way it is, to be honest with you. I'm gonna zoom in so you guys can see this a little closer. All right, I might do that. Cool. Yeah, do it. In the end, it's your stuff, right? It's your sketch, your artwork. So whatever you feel is the right move, go for it. And that's good advice for everybody watching. Like, what you create is yours unless you're doing a commission for someone and they're paying you. You know, if they were paying me to sketch their house exactly like they wanted, that's a little different. But if you're creating for yourself, um, go with your gut. Do what you want to do. You're going to have a thousand different opinions. Everybody that looks at your sketch, your painting is going to have a different opinion, right? So you can listen with open ears, process it, but do what you feel is right. And it's taken me a long time to learn because I always wanted to make everybody happy with, you know, this, this scrap piece of paper sketch here. You know, if someone's telling me to make— oh, I don't like that, you should have purple there, you should have a big circle, put some triangles there— I mean, I would do it because I wanted to make people happy, but this is my own little bubble right now. In my bubble, this is what I want. I know I want purple. I don't know how much more I'm going to add to this. I kind of like— kind of like it. Yeah, I wanted to make that white. That didn't work. We're trying to pop this arrow out. I should probably use white. I'm going to zoom out. I think that's it, guys. This, this was just a simple— just want to throw color down on this scrappy sketch I found. Um, I feel good now. I feel better. Throwing down color is a, it's a game changer for me. Puts me in a good state of mind, especially before I go to sleep. When I do sketching, do some artwork, just one of my techniques for kind of winding, winding down a day. Awesome. All right guys, let me know if any final questions or comments as I clean up here. Um, again, thank you everybody who— thank you for helping me get to, um, 981 YouTube subscribers. I love it. Uh, got close to making 1,000. That was my goal, so we got pretty close. Um, I picked up a lot of new subscribers in the past week or so, so that was awesome. So thank you guys on YouTube or Facebook or Instagram, wherever you're watching. Thank you for sharing and putting it out there. Um, it's fun to see those numbers grow, and for me it's not really about the number, it's about the quality of viewer that watches. Um, but I just want to throw around— I wanted to throw a random number out there and see what would happen. Uh, just push myself to livestream every day. I think I did last week. I'm gonna see what would happen. So that was kind of fun. And you have a great night. Take care. See you. Be well. All right guys, thank you so much for watching. I'm Jason Nicholas Nicholas with the Inspired Life. Take care. Have an amazing rest of your day. We'll see you soon.