Wednesday Sketching

Hey, hello, happy March 25th. It's Wednesday, 9:43 PM. I'm Jason Nicholas Nicholas with the Inkspired Life, where I love sketching, especially sketching architecture. It's I guess it's a way of life for me. I just love sketching. It's powerful. It's a great tool for, uh, making me feel happy, uh, getting me revved up, calming me down, capturing a moment in time, brainstorming, and just having fun. So join me tonight for this quick— it's gonna be pretty quick livestream tonight. I, uh I'm exhausted, and I meant to come on like an hour earlier, but time got away from me. Hope you're having a great day today. Feel free to say hello in the comments, and, uh, I will check in. I, uh— hey, JLM! Wow, that was quick. Good to see you. Hope all's well. Kiko, good to see you on Instagram. I hope you're doing well, man. So good to see you. Um, I, I usually don't know what I'm going to sketch when I pop on here. I have less than an idea of what I want to do, if that makes sense. I have no idea. I— my brain is like, it's like, uh, I want to say Jell-O. I don't know if that's the expression. It's mushy. It's so so overwhelmed. And, you know, I'm trying to get ready for this trip. There's a lot of, uh, behind the scenes paperwork, organizing. Fortunately, I have a great, great, uh, chaperone who— he is helping me so, so much. Uh, that, wrapping up school this week before spring break, packing, doctoring, life stuff. And I'm not complaining, it's just saying there's a lot, lot going on. And yeah, I could have went to bed right now, but I need this time, this kind of meditative time for me to drain my brain, get it kind of in a chill state before I go to sleep. And if I'm rambling, I am sorry. All right, like I said, I don't even know what I'm— we're just going to start scribbling and that's going to be fun. And I just had an idea before that, so Uh, let's just go with the flow like we always do, guys, and I'm just going to grab and go and create. Uh, I think we're going to use this book here tonight, so I don't know if we're not going to do any NYC sketches. Um, I do want to say thank you. I've been getting really— I've been getting a lot of good feedback about this Grand Central Terminal sketch, so it's always cool to hear, um, that people are enjoying these, these sketches. All right, let's just pull out this book here. Yeah, I'm glad I've got help too. It's— I definitely, definitely couldn't do it alone. It's a lot of work, but, um, I am— like I said, I'm not complaining. It's, uh, something I want to try and be this group leader, and I have support from my chaperone and from the tour company that we're going through, and they have been— they've been amazing. But here's what I wanted to do. I just wanted to throw— I saw this sitting here, I want to throw some of this on here. So I haven't really played with acrylics and on this craft paper, so let's give it a try. Why not? Let's go grab paper towel. Alrighty. So packing's a bear. Uh, no, I'm not packing a bear. Packing is a bear. It's, it's just tough trying to figure out, you know, what we're going to— what I'm going to bring. And I mean, I don't mind packing light, traveling light, that's no worries, but I have some paperwork, paperwork I got to carry, so the kind of sling backpack thing I wanted to take, I can't bring because I can't fit the papers in it. So it's just like troubleshooting, right? And that's cool. So let's throw some acrylic ink on— this is actually gouache— on, uh, this Soho craft paper. I thought it'd be, you know, just play around with this paper. See what we can do, how far we can push it. It's pretty thin, so it's gonna definitely buckle up on me. And I should have done this before I came online because now I have to wait for it to dry. But while it's drying, we'll do something else. Yeah, I probably shouldn't have done that. All right, we're gonna go to alternate plan because I don't really have time to wait for stuff to dry tonight. So we're just going to grab this, uh, this sketchbook here and we'll see what we can throw down on it. I kind of actually just kind of had an idea of what I want to do, right? And I did— idea just popped in my head. Let's— I'm going to be brave and we're, uh, I'm gonna do a really quick Chrysler Building sketch. I haven't sketched the Chrysler Building in a long time. Um, I definitely want to put it in that calendar I'm working on. So let me just pull up a picture I've taken and let's just do a quick, quick Chrysler kind of sketch, see where it comes, how it comes out. So I'm just looking for some pictures I've taken. Yeah, I like this one. All right. I'm going to pull this on screen. All right, boom. So that is the Chrysler Building. Um, love, love the Chrysler Building. It is iconic for sure. This is an interesting view, a cool perspective, kind of looking up at it. Um, let's have fun and just kind of lay it down. And you know what, you know what, guys, I see— I told you, this is Inspired Life. I'm Unplanned, unrehearsed. We're just gonna wing it. We're gonna go for it. I just changed my mind again. And you know what, we're just— we're gonna sketch it in our calendar book. Why not? Let's just go for it, guys. Um, let's do it on— let's try this page here. So I'm going to turn off the image. Let's just have fun, throw down some lines. Uh, actually, I want to do— let's do this page. So we're going to use a Sharpie. I like starting these acrylic abstract things, uh, using— I've been liking the white, so let's start with the white on here. All right, feel free to say hello if you're watching in the comments. Let's do it, throw down some lines. This is a really interesting perspective I kind of picked here. Well, what's really cool about the Chrysler Building is, well, it's Chrysler because of the car company, right? Or— and some of the details on the building are inspired by, by cars. Um, if I remember correctly, some of the iconic things we'll see, uh, for example, they're like these gargoyles hanging off the corners, and they are representative of hood ornaments, which is kind of cool. What else do we have? Uh, there are some details that kind of are representative of car tires. So it's just a cool building to kind of look at and kind of take in the details of. So if you're ever in NYC or just online, just check out some pictures of it. Look at the details. It's a very cool example of Art Deco. And I'm trying to remember my history, and someone out there can definitely correct me. I am trying to remember if the Chrysler Building came before the Empire State Building or not. I'm going to say, I'm going to say yes, it did, but I'm not 100% sure. First, kind of being loosey-goosey. So the top looks really small because we're looking up at it in perspective. Again, I don't— just playing around, practicing. I don't know if this one's going to make the calendar. I might do it again if I'm not happy with this one, but we're just getting kind of the iconic top. We have these beautiful curves happening. Um, yeah, let's keep going with it. So in my brain, I'm still trying to figure out what, what am I going to take with me as far as like sketching. So I think in my brain for my trip, I'm really picturing it— so I'm not going to have time to really sit down and sketch. It's going to be a whirlwind trip, move, move, move. So I'm really looking at it more as a travel log. It'll be like a travel log/journal. I'm just going to kind of capture moments in, in words, photographs. I'll do some probably really quick sketches. So it'll be a good experience for me to travel minimalistically for sketching but capturing the essence, you know, what I feel like the vibes are I want to capture. So stay tuned, um, and I'll share some of those adventures. I think it'll be a lot of fun. See, I'm gonna just pull out some of these shapes a little bit more with this purple kind of outline. I'm also loving purple in this sketchbook. It seems to work out really well with the other colors. Uh, at some point you'll want to glue a few pages— glue a few pages together for thickness, and clear gesso as a base for wet media. Awesome. Yeah, um, so I actually have some board. I've just bought some birch plywood panels here. I've never painted on plywood, um, so I have gesso as well. So I'll be entering that world really soon and just kind of playing around with those materials and see how I like it. Or it'll be fun to experiment for sure. You guys know I'm all about like just trying. Let's do ours. This is— I use this technique on Grand Central last night. Throw it in just a block of dark color and I'll come back over it. We'll add some scratchy white lines on top of that. You'll kind of block that out as well. So I'm trying to simplify this a little bit, the building itself, going for more of just a logo or an icon kind of look to it. Okay, get the gargoyles in there, right? What is, what is this building without the gargoyles? Sounds like a rhyme, like a joke. What, what is the Chrysler Building without gargoyles? Um, I don't have a punchline. Again, this is— Chrysler Building is not one I sketch often, so if I can capture a vibe with this, that's awesome. And you don't know until you try, so we're just going for it and throwing something on paper. And this was the last thing I would— was expecting to do. I really was just going to come on and scribble a little bit tonight, uh, but you know what, I'm gonna just keep practicing and working on my skills here. You know, art is like anything else, it's a skill. You got to practice, practice, practice. Creativity is a skill. You can keep building it and working on it, so don't expect immediate results unless you're one of those fortunate people that is just totally amazingly blessed. But most people like me have— I gotta— this— I have to work at this. This is a craft that I have to work on, and it's something I want to work on. So you really have to want to do it. There we go. So I pull those arches out more. There we go. Cool. So hopefully you're getting Chrysler vibes. Eh, it's okay. Right now I'm in the ugly duckling stage. Well, not me physically, personally. I feel like every single sketch I do, sketch painting, um, has the ugly duckling phase where you're just like doing stuff and you're like, oh my God, what, what, this is horrible. But that means you're doing something right. That means you're creating something, you're throwing it down, you're giving yourself some feedback. If you hit that ugly duckling stage, push through and see what forms, what happens, what results. Um, there will be a transformation. And I like to tell this story, like when I was like 7, 8, 9, Bob Ross. I would go come home from school, put PBS on— God, I love PBS— and watch Bob Ross. And here's the thing that I— to me, Bob Ross was not an artist. He was a magician. He took a blank canvas, and as he was throwing his colors down on the canvas. I was like a young, young kid sitting there watching this happen. Um, at first it didn't make sense, you know. I'd watch the episodes, I'm like, what is happening? But there was always a point. Every time I watched him, there was this magical turning point where his paintings transformed into something recognizable and really, really amazing and cool. And for me, I felt like that was like he was doing a magic trick. So Bob Ross, to me, obviously he's an artist, but he, for me, is a magician. And as that young boy watching him, it really resonated, connected with me. So, you know, he had the ugly duckling phase in his paintings where they didn't make sense, but at that one magical moment, it would transform. So stick with your art, guys. Whatever you're throwing down, stick with it. Um, there will be a transformation. All right, let's check in. Hey, uh, Edie's in the house. Edie, great to see you. Hope all's well. Great seeing you. Uh, you think the gargoyles are impressive? You should see the lobby of that building. Yeah. You said that the other day, and you know what, you have, uh, you piqued my curiosity. So I am seeing a field trip to the lobby of the Chrysler Building, so I have to check out— like, I don't know if it's only open certain hours to the public, but yeah, I, I love that you, um, I love that you said that. So definitely it's on my list, 100%. Definitely want to see it. Oh, I'm liking that scratchiness. You know what, I might add more of this scratchiness on here. See what I want to do on this side. Yeah, I guess we can kind of see those white. I have to be honest with you, red, red just popped into my brain. I don't know why, so I'm going to change these to red over here. Um, you know what, we're going to use red creative marker. There we go. This is, this is a tricky building, especially the perspective I'm looking at. Wowzers. Especially when my brain's tired too, trying to capture this. But I'm not giving in. We're going for it. This building is definitely breathtaking in person. Seriously, if you go to NYC, you, you have to just check out this building. So go to Bryant Park, NYPL, New York Public Library. Uh, you can get some good views of it from there. I don't know, can you guys— can you be honest with me? Can you guys tell this is the Chrysler or not? I'm always open for feedback. Um, the Chrysler Building, people enter like gods. Oh, that's deep. I like that. You have to feel pretty dang special walking into this place, right? I love that. Watching Bob was similar to watching Polaroid pictures to materialize. Oh, that's a good analogy. Yeah. Just waiting for it to develop, right? Um, that's a really good analogy. I like that. All right, so, um, I'm taking the Chrysler Building. I kind of like it. Let me know if you guys have any questions or comments. I love the chat going on here on I see happening on YouTube. Now, if you guys are watching on Facebook or Instagram, I love that, that's awesome. Feel free to comment as well, or come on over, join the YouTube side of things at YouTube at The Inkspired Life. It's always awesome to have people there as well and share the stream out. So if you're watching on YouTube, please give it, um, that— smash that thumbs up button for me. Share it out there. Let's, let's spread this. You know my mission, right? I want to spread positivity through creativity, and you guys really help to make it possible for me. So thank you so much just by sharing and hanging out and spending a few minutes with me. I appreciate it so much. So where— for you guys that have, you know, go to NYC or live in NYC, what are some of the places you like to visit and hang out in? Like some spaces that you think are really kind of cool? Um, one of the spaces I think is cool, I'm forgetting the name of it, so please help me out. It's, um down 34th Street, down towards the ferry terminal. I'm drawing a blank on the name. It's a, it's a indoor arboretum, like a garden space with full-out trees. Um, dang, I can't remember the name of the building. It is such a cool space inside there. I love going in there, although I think now you have to reserve a time to go in. I think I was reading that somewhere. When I went, you could— were able just to kind of walk in, but I don't think they do that now. Um, but it's like an— it's an office building, but you can go into the atrium, the arboretum, in the, you know, inside. It's just— it's a cool place just to get out of the noise and chill and kind of be quiet. So that would be a cool place to go and do some sketching, I think. You know, we think of New York City as this incredibly busy, busy place, which it 100, 110% is, but it has pockets of solitude, pockets of quietness. Um, the Arboretum is an example, or, um, St. Patrick's Cathedral. I will— I pop in there whenever I can. I love going in there. It's just peaceful. They have music usually playing. Um, good place to kind of slow down, chill out. Um, Central Park. I mean, it's beautiful. There are places in Central Park you can kind of just get lost in the moment and kind of a little bit of solitude. So, you know, that's one of the really cool things about New York City is it has all kinds of vibes, from frenetic, crazy, frantic to tranquil, peaceful, and chill. I'm liking the Chrysler. Uh, the purple makes other colors and lines pop. Yeah, 100%, I agree. Hey Missy, great to see you. How are you? Thank you for bringing your sparkles my way. I appreciate that. Always great seeing you. Uh, looks like my favorite Art Deco Chrysler building. Hey, yes, thank you so much! I'm glad you guessed what it was. I'm doing something right. I love it. Am I talking about the AT&T, um, Highboy building? I know I don't think it's the AT&T building. I don't think it's AT&T building. Dang, it's 30— I believe it's 34th Street, all, all the way down towards the ferry terminal. Oh man, I'm so sorry guys, I'm drawing a blank on the name. Um, I have to Google it. I'm gonna Google it. We interrupt this broadcast for a quick Google session. This is not sponsored by Google, but I kind of need it to look this up. Um, let me see, how do I do Arboretum building in NYC, 34th Street? Um, oh, I got it. It's the Ford Foundation. I just lost it. The Ford Foundation building. So yeah, I think it's the Ford Foundation. Missy says thank you. You're welcome. Oh, thank you. It is so delightful. Do people still say that? Delightful. It is so delightful to see you. And I lost my picture of the Chrysler. There it is. All right, cool. So I'm liking the Chrysler building. I want to pop some lines out here. Let's— I want a dark color. Let's just grab a blue Sharpie. It's staring me in the face. Yeah, did you know that? Did you guys know Sharpies can stare you in the face? Sharpie's staring me down. And I just want to put a little bit of darkness. If I had a purple one Sharpie like this, I'd use that, but we're just going with what we have. And just to give a little bit of depth— no one there— no one said that we can't use blue, right? So I'm debating in my brain if this one is going to be calendar worthy, and I think it might be. So this would be number— is this number 10 for the calendar? Still trying to think of a name of the calendar. Maybe I'm overthinking it, um, but I would— I guess I would have to put it out for sale when— when do people buy calendars? October. So put, uh, try to get it out maybe September, October, and it'd be so cool. It's the first time I've ever tried like doing a calendar. Thank you. You're welcome. Oh, I read that. Um, how about Yankee Stadium for a sketch? Oh, you know, I've never sketched Yankee Stadium. That could be interesting. Are we talking about like the current stadium? Is that the one that has like giant baseball bats out in front of it? Yeah, guys, I always love the suggestions, so thank you. I don't know if Yankee Stadium will make this calendar, but it'd be something where it's just sketching and trying for sure. All right, what time is it? All right, I'm gonna wrap in a few minutes here because I, I'm tired. I have school, then I gotta come home, I have to pack, do some errands, blah blah blah blah blah blah. Once my, once my butt is on that plane Headed to Rome. I will take a deep breath. Um, this is cool. I want to make this point. I want to make— yeah, I want to bring that point up a little bit. Where's my cap for this? Pretty cool. So, Mizzy, I'm so glad you came in and said the Chrysler Building. So thank you so much. That just kind of helps reaffirm that the vibe is happening that I'm going for. So thank you for your validating that. So I want to just pull these arches out a little bit, so I threw some purple on there. It's a little wonky at the top, but that's okay. Again, right, when I sketch, I'm never sketching for perfection. It's all about capturing a vibe. There should be— this should be round 2. There we go. Uh, I read that calendar sales are dead after March. Oh, Edie, thank you so much for I appreciate the feedback. So basically, yeah, I guess, yeah, I got to start like in September. Um, so my other plan is, you know, these— I'd like to put these in the calendar, but I also would like to sell these as prints. I want to sell them as prints. So a couple of options. And thank you for that marketing feedback. I so much appreciate that. I, um, it's Chrysler-ish. Definitely this side could definitely be worked on different, um, in a different way, but I think I captured my goal of what I wanted to do. Let's put a frame. Do I have my frames here? I have this one, you know, if I was to frame it up. I just love throwing the frames on here. It helps make the colors pop a little more. Uh, NYC has some amazing architecture. Yeah, Missy, 100%. It— 100%. I— that's one of the reasons I love NYC. It's just, it's a mecca of architecture from old to new. Covers— it covers it all. So, you know, as an architect, um, designer, creative, I never ever— you guys see me break this in the comments a lot— I never ever get tired of this city. Hey Em, how are you? Hope you're doing well. Hope you're feeling better. I, I responded to you earlier today. It's Great to see you. Hope you're, uh, hope you're doing well. Um, they would look great on birch panels. Oh yeah. Edie says no, it looks like the Chrysler U. That's good. So yay or nay in the comments? Let me know, guys. Should I put— should we include this one on the calendar? I was talked into the Brooklyn Bridge one. I'm still last night. I'm— people, you liked it. So all right, let's just go through and count what we have so far. So here's the rundown, here's the lowdown. Oh, thank you, you love the sketch, awesome. Did you sketch on the painted papers? No, I, I did not get— I, I would say it was such a crazy day, I did not Um, I didn't get to do that yet. All right, so we have number 1, Brooklyn Bridge. Not my fave, but I'm just being hard, a hard critic on myself. Um, all right, so Brooklyn Bridge, Bridge 1. Um, also, please guys, can you do also do me a favor? This is how we'll wrap up tonight. As I go through these, I would love to know what— or just maybe tell me your top, maybe your top 3 favorite sketches in here that you like. I'm just want to take a quick survey. What do you guys like? What are your top 3? Okay, um, so we have the Brooklyn Bridge, 1. Brooklyn Bridge. Number 2 is the Oculus. 3, the copper building. 4, Lincoln Center. 5 5, St. Patrick's. 6, Manhattan Bridge. 7, Domino Sugar Refinery. 8, Empire State Building. 9, Chrysler. 10, uh, One World Trade. And 11 is Grand Central. So we have 11 so far. Let me know your favorite. Be cool if you let me know your favorite 3, just trying to get some feedback. And, um, uh, yes. Oh, you're welcome, M. No problem. Edie says sure. So yeah, so sure, I should include the Chrysler. Thank you. Yeah, I think I'll include it. Missy also says yes. Amazing. I don't know, I remember see the sparkles in the chat, it just makes me smile. So love the sparkles. Um, of course, M, no problem. Uh, all right, so I got some feedback on the Insta. 2, the Oculus is a dove meant to represent peace and love and hope. Cause of 9/11 and the Trade Center are your top 2 fave. Emily, I am so impressed with your response about the Oculus building. I love that you remember the facts about it, 100%. All right, so you like— Emily likes the Oculus and and World Trade. Two faves. Awesome. So JLM likes 3, 4, and 10. Oh boy. All right, what was 3? All right, 3, 4, and 10. 1. So 3 is the copper, 4 was Lincoln Center, and 10 is, uh, One World Trade. Awesome. Missy's like numero uno. Brooklyn Bridge, 5. Uh, was that St. Patrick's? And then 9 is Chrysler Building. Awesome. Yeah, we all need— yeah, we all definitely need more positivity out there, so thank you. That's what this show is about, guys. This is about creativity for positivity. You know, and, uh, I think it's working. I'm getting some really positive vibes from you guys, so thank you. Cool. And with that, I just have maybe one more to do for the calendar. Maybe I'll do a few more. And I think I've been getting— I got a couple of requests for the Pepsi Cola sign. Pepsi Cola sign, Long Island City. That's gonna be a tough one, but I think maybe we'll hit that, hit that one soon. Today's Wednesday. Um, I definitely will not be on Friday night. I'm gonna try to pop on tomorrow for a little bit, tomorrow night. And we'll have— we have this page to fill out, and we have— is that the last page? No, or this one. So we got a couple of pages And I'd like to maybe get one more done before I— before I'm gone for a week. Awesome. Um, yay, we got a yay in the comments. I love the yay. Thank you. All right guys, it's almost 10:30. I will turn into a pumpkin Um, well, I turn into— actually, what would I turn into? I don't know if I turn into a pumpkin. Uh, I'm thinking of a bowl of ice cream, but I would not turn— I would eat that. I wouldn't turn into it. Who the heck knows? I'll turn into something. That would be cool, the Pepsi sign. Missy says, yeah, thanks. So Pepsi sign, I think it is, and Hopefully, uh, I think it writes in script cursive, so I'll have to do— that might be one I practice somewhere else before I do it on here because I don't think, guys, I don't think I've ever sketched the Pepsi-Cola sign, so that would be a first. Uh, on Instagram I got, you should sketch the Prudential Center MSG next. Yeah, those could be interesting. Madison Square Garden could be, um, cool. That's a good option as well. Have a wonderful night, everyone. Thank you. Yeah, guys, everyone say thank you so much. I'm gonna head out. Um, this has been awesome. I always appreciate your time and your feedback and positive vibes in the chat. Uh, if you're on YouTube, please share this out there, give it a thumbs up. Let's spread this. We're getting new people watching, which is super, super cool. Uh, if you're on Instagram, just like it if you can like it. Facebook, if you're on there, like it as well. And it would mean a lot to me, guys. Until we meet again, sketch boldly, live creatively, and inspire endlessly. Edie says you would turn into An NYC sketch of your favorite building. Hmm, I have to think about that one. I have a few. I don't know why, guys, but the Copper Building always pops in my brain. That might be my favorite. So hard to pick. Just like ice cream, it's always hard to pick your favorite flavor. All right guys, good night, take care, we'll see y'all, be well.