Sketching On The Go: A 5-Day Challenge to Build Your Daily Sketching & Journaling Habit

1. Introduction: Just haven't got the time. Just haven't got the time. Do you ever feel like that you just don't have enough time in your busy day to day work life to sketch or to journal? How can you find a small pocket of opportunity, a little window to do a bit of sketching, journaling, in your busy day to day lifestyle? Well, that's the question that I'm going to answer in this class. Hi, my name is Imran. I'm a graphic designer and illustrator and welcome my new class sketching on the go, a five day challenge to improve your daily sketching and journaling habit. In this class, I'm going to be taking you with me on a five day journey in my lifestyle, so you're going to get personal with me. This class is a little bit different from my usual classes. It's a vlog style class where you'll see how I prepare to sketch on a daily basis through a five consecutive working day week from Monday all the way to Friday, and how I make the most of the opportunities as they appear in my busy schedule. As I go through my day, I'll share tips, advice, and reflections and how sketching can help with positivity and well being. You'll see how simple preparation can make a huge difference and will give you the tools to really maximize on those opportunities that come along your way. The purpose of this class is for you to be inspired and motivated by watching me go through my five day challenge where I do sketching and journaling, whether it be planned or unplanned. Sometimes things work out the way you plan, sometimes they don't, and you'll find out in my daily routine. And then you can really utilize the things that I go through and implement these in your daily schedule or lifestyle so that you can maximize on these wonderful opportunities that are already there in your day. This class is for anyone who wants to jump into the wonderful world of sketching and journaling on a daily basis to improve their well being. So it doesn't matter whether you've watched my previous classes or not. You can jump straight into this class, and then you can have a look at the series of classes that I've done on daily sketching to improve your well being through creating this daily habit. So once you watch this class, if you haven't watched the others, watch them, if you've already watched the others like my pocket pages and sketch journaling classes, then you're all set to go. So what you're waiting for grab yourself a ice drink, get yourself a nice couple of treats, get some simple supplies ready. Sit back, relax, and let's get started with the class. 2. Class Project: And welcome back. Let's quickly go through your class project. As we mentioned in the introduction video, it's really simple. All you've got to do for your class project is watch my five day challenge over the week that I go through, watch the tips and tricks and kind of the advices that I go through on my day to day routine, see how I maneuver myself in the kind of challenge of the activities that I have in my kind of schedule, and then learn from that, take note of a few ideas and tips, and then most importantly, get your supplies ready, and then you can start this challenge, this five day challenge where you need to sketch every single day, short sessions. They don't need to be long. They can even just be one or 2 minutes each as many times as you can, finding those opportunities in your day, it might be that you don't have any opportunities at all. Maybe just do a quick little at night before you go to sleep on those type of days where you just haven't got the opportunity. But after watching me in my hectic lifestyle, you will absolutely be able to find those little pockets and windows of opportunities to maximize on. And remember, it's only just a few minutes quick sketching and doodling, quick little thought journaling. So all you need to do is do the challenge from Monday to Friday for five days, try your best to do it in your busy working weekday. That's the whole point of this class to give you that kind of energy and momentum to really get going with sketching on a daily basis and writing, using your hand muscles and those memory muscles that you're going to build over these weeks to really give yourself that hard core habit that you can take along with you every single week, and then you can really push yourself at the weekends. If you watch my everyday pages classes, then do your everyday pages bigger projects over the weekend because what will happen is the Monday to Friday five day challenge that you've done here, this will give you that warm up, and that's all it is a warm up to keep that momentum going. So do your five day challenge, and then, most importantly, take pictures of the sketches and journals that you're able to in the days Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, you don't have to wait for the whole week. You can upload those images into the project gallery on a daily basis, if you like, or if you want to wait until your challenge is complete and upload them all at the end, it's entirely up to you, but please do upload your images so that we can all see the progress that you're doing. And it's just a nice way to see how far you've got. So upload your images, complete the challenge. And then, most importantly, second most important thing to do is to leave a review on the class so other lovely students like yourself can find a class and learn from your experience. And that's it. Nice and easy and simple five day challenge to get you all warmed up. Let's now move on to the class supplies that you're going to need, and they're only going to be a few. 3. Class Supplies: Welcome back. Let's now quickly run through what class supplies you're going to need in order to complete your five day challenge. So let's look at number one. Number one is some mark making tools. So, yes, you just need a pen or a few pens that you have lying around. They don't have to be anything fancy or ballpoint pen will do, or if there's a specific pen that you really like to use or a pencil or a marker, then absolutely go for that and get it prepped up and ready, so it's on your desk it in your bag or it's even in your pocket pages wallet. So that's it, a mark making tool. And then, number two, you need something to draw on or sketch on. This can be a small mini sketchbook. You don't need anything fancy. Keep things nice, small, cheap and simple cause that's all it is. It's a five day challenge. You're not creating beautiful works of art. You can leave them for the weekend for your everyday pages, if that's the class that you've already taken or some beautiful work of art that you're planning. So Paper, any type of paper will do if you've just got some cards. So if you have revision cards, I tend to use revision cards, which you will see in the videos that are yet to come. My children usually have these like revision cards with lines on them. I like to use that for this challenge because it's just accessible, and you can put a few in your pocket or have them scattered around in your office or wherever you are. So paper, grab hold of the paper that you want to use for this challenge. And that's pretty much it. If you have a bag, then this is going to be really handy. So a side bag as number three, have a side bag or a carry bag that you've got that you can take some paper, sketchbooks and pens with you wherever you go, because ultimately, this class is sketching on the go. And what you don't want to do is just be in one place where you have all of your items, where you're limited to the resources when you go out. So I would recommend maybe have a pen, a mini sketchbook, a cheap sketchbook or just a wad of revision cards or just small pieces of paper in a small bag that you take with you when you go out and have some at home or in your workplace, wherever you work at the office that are easily accessible, and you can grab hold of them when those opportunities arise. That's it. That's all you need. If you have some colors, watercolor markers, or any dry mediums like colored pencils, then they would be handy, too, because you can go ahead and make things nice and vibrant if you have the time. But again, we're not creating beautiful gradient work or beautiful saturated artwork. We're just doing quick sketching to keep that momentum going and to improve on our daily sketching so that's it. The things that you would need. I would say, if you want to have more than this, absolutely fine. Get everything prepared, ready and accessible. And that's it for the class supplies. Let's now move on to the main stuff and get started with my day one of my sketching on the go. Challenge. 4. Day 1: Monday Morning Routine: Okay, ok, welcome back. So today is Monday, and I'm running a little bit late, just dropped off my son at his school in his high school, and my daughter was just stepping outside the house to be dropped off by my wife. So we're a little bit behind, so I need to quickly get ready and set up my work, so I need to set up my machine for my graphic design job today I'm working from home, and most importantly, what I need to do now is grab myself an ice coffee, so I'll make myself a coffee at my lovely little coffee station. Okey doke, so I have made my coffee now, so that's my usual ritual in the morning after dropping off my son and my daughter, who I haven't dropped off today because she's working from home as well, she's got her exam in college. Then usually is to just make myself a nice coffee and then quickly set up for work. And start going through all the emails that I have and just working my way through them. And unfortunately, I wasn't able to do any sketching in the car because usually I tend to do my sketching in the car with my pocket pages when I drop my son off. But because we were running late, I didn't want to hog down all the other parents' cars. So that's how it is. What we're doing is we're just making sure that we use our time effectively and find those little opportunities that we might not be able to find every day, but as long as we keep looking out for them, that's going to set the day for the remainder of our motivation so I'm going to sip on me coffee now and do a little bit of work and then see at lunchtime and see if I can squeeze in a little bit of a journal and sketch. So I'll see you when I'm there. Oh, do you know what a terrible coffee that is? I don't know. What's going on with my grinder? It's a little bit out of sync. It's all horrible and all bitter, so I do need to sort that out. I think that's part of my emergency for the day. So let's sort out the coffee machine. But just generally, after having a quick look at my emails and all the priority jobs for my graphic design job, the good news is that I think I might be able to nip out for lunch and do a quick little sketch because I don't have any scheduled meetings today, so I do need to get on with that. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to work on my big job, design job, and then hopefully nip out and see if I can do a quick little sketch, maybe 10 minutes sketch. I go out when I go out for me walk. So again, I'm looking out for opportunities where I can get the sketching in. Not going to be able to do some long sketchbook journaling today or even some everyday page planning, we just sketching on the go. So find the opportunity in the day, whether you're at work, in your lunchtime. Again, if you're making a quick coffee, have a small book with you, I actually should have really done that, but because I'm videoing this, it's difficult to draw and video at the same time, but just generally have those opportunities ready and set for you so that you don't have to wait around and you don't kind of, like, regret on those missed opportunities. Again, my morning session in the car is usually a good one, but as I mentioned before, we were running late, so I couldn't do my morning session in the car when I dropped off my son. So hopefully, I'm going to make up for that at lunchtime unless I get an emergency job coming in that kind of you know, makes things go all over the place, but that's just. You've got to adjust accordingly. You can't plan perfectly. That's what sketching on the G is all about. So I'm going to finish this horrible bit of coffee, get on with my big job, and try getting it done before lunch, and then I'll see you on my walk outside. Hopefully, it's not raining too much. Weather is absolutely miserable, especially for June. But hey, welcome to the UK and welcome to Manchester. So I'll see you then. 5. Day 1: Monday Lunchtime Sketch: Okeydoke, I'm now ready to go for my little walk at my lunchtime. I've only got around about 30 minutes in total. What I'm going to do is I'm going to try doing a little sketch quickly walk to the park. It's not too far from where I live. So in this kind of, like, perfect window of opportunity, I don't need to take my bag with me. So I usually have this bag over here, which has all of my sketchbooks in it. So I have a quick look. We've got my kind of medium sized sketchbook there. Then I've got a coffee shop style sketchbook, then I've got a smaller one, and they've even got me pocket pages over here. So this little pocket pages is over but I'm not going to take this with me because I'm just going for a quick walk. This bag is mainly for when I go out in the car or where I've specifically planned to go during the day, so that's ready to go. But for occasions like this where I'm just going to go for a little walk in my lunchtime or I might just go to the shops, then for this, I need something separate that I can keep in my pockets, in my jacket or wherever I've got with me. So I'm going to go ahead and grab hold of my mini little wallets over here. These are my pocket pages, wallets. So if you watched the pocket pages class, you would have seen these before. And these are ready to go. I've got a pen in here. I've just got a basic pen, and I've got a little kind of self made book. Again, if you watch a class, you know what this is all about. But this is really to kind of make the most of these opportunities that you get on a day to day basis where you're just going out for a walk or you're just going to the shops. So if I get a chance to do some sketching, then I'm ready to do it. And I'm going to have this in my pocket. Over here, so it goes in my pocket so that I'm all fully equipped and there's no excuses, and you can take the kind of maximum benefit of these opportunities as they come along. So I'm going to quickly go. Don't want to waste any time. My lunch times already getting wasted. I don't want to get in trouble, so let's stay on time, and let's go now. Okay, so just enter the park now. I hopefully can find a little space. It shouldn't be too busy because the schools are back on, and there won't be that many crazy people in the park. So I'm just gonna find myself a nice little bench and get my pocket pages out a little bit of sketching, a few thought journals, and it should be a good one. So let's get back to the walker. I've just found a nice little spot on the bench over here. I got some kind of troublemaker type people on the corner of the park, so I don't want to get too close to them. You know how it is. You got to keep yourself safe. Keep yourself safe away from the troublemakers. So let's basically just quickly do a little sketch before the rain starts again. So I think I'm gonna get the pocket pages out now. Okay, so just done a few little, kind of, like, brief notes of what I'm seeing and just kind of really what I'm feeling like, just kind of describing the day. And I think I'm going to do a quick little sketch of that little house at the back with some of the trees. Let's continue with that now. H Oki Dokes has just finished my quick little sketch now outside. I think I only spent about literally 5 minutes on it, so that's my little sketching journal. It's kind of this area here, so I'll just turn the camera around. So just this little area there where I've gotten that kind of edge of that house. It's actually not a house. It's actually a school. But I really liked the building, and I just sketched what I saw. So that's what it's all about. It's about sketching what you see. It's not about thinking too much about, you know, I need to sketch this, or I specifically need to fill my page. And hopefully that should give you a nice kind of opportunity, just kind of really just take those opportunities that you get. Don't worry about it if you can't sketch. Remember, it's about making the maximum of the time that you have to do quick little sketches. And it's not about perfect sketches. It's about relaxing and chilling. So that's my quick little wander for this moment in time. Hopefully, I'll be able to do a little bit more later on today. Most likely going to be at home or when I go to pick up my son, I might even have to do some shopping later on, so I might utilize that time. So, again, that was my pocket pages done. Might return to them, might do a bit more sketchbook journaling or some longer drawing time. So let's get back at home. Let's get back home. So we're just back home now, and just getting in with me shop. And let's get back to the office. And our lunch, half an hour lunch is nearly done, job done, and let's get back to work. So, see if anyone's home, I think I forgot my keys as well. Oh, no, I didn't Get me keys. I've got my keys right here. So let's come inside. Kido key. Alright, let's put all the stuff in the fridge so it doesn't get ruined, and then I'm gonna head back upstairs to the studio and get back to work. And, yes, we're back in the studio. And how much time do we have? Oh, I've still got about 5 minutes. So I'm going to freshen up, get a bit of a snack going, and then we'll continue with the day, do a little bit of graphic design work, a few more jobs, and then actually, I've got a meeting. Okay, so as soon as I finish my afternoon jobs for graphic design work, then I've got to go pick up my son from school. Then I've got a meeting at a 4:15 with the safety team to do some more design work. And then I think I might do a little bit of sketchbook journaling. So I'll see you when it's time. 6. Day 1: Monday Afternoon Routine: Welcome back. So I've just had my strawberries, and they were really nice. I got two boxes didn't I, so I think I'll save the other one later. I'm a bit stuffed. So for me lunch, I'm not going to really have too much. I've just made myself a nice slice of sourdough bread over here, try keeping it healthy. So just a bit of sourdough, bread, toasty type thing. And I'll probably now make myself a coffee. But just looking at my shelf right now, it's not looking good because we've run out of coffee, so we're in a bit of a disaster zone right now, aren't we? No coffee what am I going to do, but not to worry. I'm always prepared, and I always have an extra bag. With me all the time, so that I never run out, and so it doesn't become a real emergency, you know, that's going to become a huge emergency, isn't it? So let's just mount this up over here. I'm going to get me coffee all opened up and make myself a nice fresh coffee, have it with me sour dough as I work along because I've got so many things to go through. Another two jobs I just pop through that I need to quickly finish before my meeting at 4:15, and I can't forget I've got to pick up my son from school. Hokey, I've just made my coffee now with my fresh packet of bean, so hopefully it will taste nicer than the one that I had this morning cause that was horrible and bitter. Give it a try. Not bad, not bad at all. So what we're going to do now is we're just going to get back to work. Now, you probably notice that while I was making me coffee, I could have probably fit in another quick little sketch and doodle. But again, because I was filming this whole process, I couldn't do it. But on another day on a normal day when I'm not filming, that's exactly what I would have done. I would have just grabbed hold of either my pocket pages or just a piece of paper. I mean, on my desk, I usually have like a to doolis type paper, a little pad that I just have click through paper. And I've got pens all over my desk, so I tend to do a quick little doodle or just, like, a made up kind of like drawing while I'm making me coffee, while I'm waiting in that idle time. And again, that's another way of getting in your kind of, you know, your little motion of sketching or journaling or just writing something down. It doesn't have to be, you know, complete drawing. It can just be drawing some wiggly lines just to keep that momentum. That kind of memory muscle in your fingers, in your hands, being continuous. And that's what it's all about. So if you're similar like myself, where you're busy, where you're working, and you've got a really tight lunch to work with, and you've got to do all these little little things to get going in your day, then do build that opportunity in. So what I'm going to do now is I need to carry on with my work now, and for the next couple of hours, I've got to do a few lovely design diagram drawings and things like that and deal with any emergencies from work. Okay, okay, so let's hurry up and make a move now all ready to go. I've not got me pocket pages with me because I know I'm not going to get a chance to do any sketching outside, especially outside the school, you know, it is people look at you all funny, if there's a guy standing outside school doing some sketching. But again, if you can do that in your own kind of situation, then go ahead and do it. What I'm going to do now is I'm just going to quickly get my little one and bring her back. And maybe if the ice cream man's there, I might pick myself a little ice cream. You never know. Okay, so we're heading back now home. She's she's got herself a nice little cake. It was one of the other kids' birthdays. So hopefully not too long now and then I've got to jump in the car, but I've got to remember to get me pocket pages with me. But actually, I don't really need my pocket pages because I've actually got a smaller booklet kind of six size book with a pen in my car all the time. So that's my kind of emergency go to for me drawing on the go. So always have a sketchbook with you wherever you are. That way you can make the most of your opportunities. And again, especially if you drive, have a sketchbook, have a pen in your little kind of glove compartment, wherever you can fit it. That way, you're just not gonna miss out on these kind of unique moments where you can just get five to 10 minutes in if you have to wait. I mean, sometimes I don't even get 2 minutes that I've got to wait. Sometimes I get 10 minutes that I've got to wait. It all depends on what the kids are doing. So all good. So we nearly home now. Okidoki back at my desk now. I've only got a few minutes to quickly get ready and go pick up me son, where I've got to drive to, but I've just seen email from me manager, always at this time in between picking up kids, where I've got to forward on some logos onto me manager. So I can quickly do that and then I'm going to jump into the car and then go get my son. And then I've got to be back for 4:15 to do those wonderful design jobs, beautiful diagram work for another team, so I need to quickly get that done now. Okidoki that quick little job is done. Now I need to quickly jump into the car, so I'll see you when I'm inside. Ok Dokey in my car now, so I need to quickly start up, and I'll put my camera on the new mount that I've got. So I need to clip this onto the new mount so I can talk to you while I drive, and then hopefully we might even get two, 3 minutes to do a quick little in car pocket pages, journal, mini sketch quickly do that now. Drive safely. Always eyes on the road, knock on the camera on the road. But that's all good. But generally speaking, just as a quick little roundup of what we've done today. Today, generally, there wasn't much of an opportunity for me to go out and do some proper kind of, like, sketchbook journaling or anything like that. I just kind of worked on those pocket pages, small sketches, small thoughts. And again, there may be times where that's all you can do. But the most important thing is that you go ahead and do it. Don't think that it's just insignificant. You don't have a proper drawing or an opportunity to write some, you know, deep thoughts. That's not what it's about. It's about just using your tools, wherever you are, and just getting that kind of movement of your fingers and your hands. Because what happens is, if you don't sketch every single day and you don't kind of sketch spontaneously, that movement really kind of slows you down when you want to start sketching. So in order to kind of keep those muscles nice and free flowing and warm, I say that you should sketch every single day, whether it be for even 1 minute, 5 minutes, 10 minutes or half an hour, or if you want to go for a big long marathon sketching journal, 1 hour, whatever you can fit in, that will count towards your daily sketching and journal target. So it's all really warming up so that you can start working on bigger projects and really go towards your everyday pages. Because remember, if you watch that class, everyday pages is all about building beautiful spreads of different subjects that you love, and you're not going to be able to do that all of a sudden because what happens is you're going to start off slowly and then you're going to be thinking about things. You're not going to be sketching straightaway. What this practice does is this practice goes ahead. And gives you that warm up daily routine exercise. It's not about what you sketch or what you write. It's about just doing it. It's the movement, it's the flow to really keep everything going. So I hope you try this out as well by seeing me on my kind of not so active sketching days where I'm really busy with my day to day life. Okay, so it looks like I'm not going to get a chance to do any sketching, but before my son comes into the car, I'm going to quickly show you where I've got my lovely little sketchbook. So I've just got this in my kind of, like, arm rest department. So this is a sketchbook that I've got. And my pen, I just use a standard four point pen, black one, and then these are just line pages where I do the journalins when I get a chance. So my son's coming now, so I'll see you when we get home. Okay, Dokey, we're back now from the school pickup, so just getting out of the car now, and I've got to get ready for my meeting. Otherwise, I'm gonna be in trouble because I need to get those diagrams sorted. And then once the diagrams are sorted, then I can start doing some maybe some sketching, maybe some sketching journaling once we're back. So we're back in the house now, and let's quickly get ready for the meeting in the next 10 minutes. Right. Okay, so let's get the camera over here, and is it tracking me? Yes, it is. So let's quickly get the doors all closed up. Otherwise, the kids are gonna come running in. And I need to get this diagram sorted before the meeting starts. Oh, dear. I only got 10 minutes, exactly 10 minutes before that meeting starts. 7. Day 1: Monday Quick Doodle: Oki doggie, welcome back. I've got just a few minutes left, about 4 minutes left for my meeting to start. So you know what that means? This is idle time. So I'm ready for my meeting. There's nothing I can do now. So I'm going to do a little bit of sketching. So I'm just gonna use that little notebook that I've got that I showed you before to do a quick little doodle, and I'll probably do it of some walnuts cause I've got my walnuts here. Ready to snack on some walnut and. I've got my water. So whatever I've got on me table, I'm just going to do a quick little doodle session and then that another 34 minute doodle job done. So I'll see you once that's done and I'll see you after my meeting. Ok doke. So meeting is all done. That was a good meeting, got a little bit heated, but it was a good meeting. So I've got some pretty interesting designs to do for the rest of the day and tomorrow. So always staying busy, always good to be busy. So what I did quickly, I'll show you I did that little quick doodle before the meeting actually started. So I just did this, and it only took me what, 4 minutes to do, 4 minutes, four, 5 minutes to do maximum. Actually really enjoyed it. I used a little bit of highlighter on there. I used my little quico mini pen that I have on my desk that I use for daily notetaking, work. So it was really nice to just do a quick little thought journal and a little doodle of my walnuts. So let's now go have a break. My head's all fuzzy because there was quite a lot that we had to go through in that meeting, and a quick ten minute break, grab myself ice ginger tea, and actually might even be able to do a little bit of sketchbook journeying. So I'll quickly do that now. Ok, oke. Welcome back, so just managed to do a quick little ten minute sketch and doodle went a little bit deep in my kind of thought journal, but that's what it's all about. It's about whatever's going on in your head, just getting it down on paper, doing a quick little doodle. It's just a great way to relax and really just let it all out when you need to so that you don't have it all bunged up in here, otherwise you'll just have a headache, then won't you? Life is just like that, isn't it? So many things going on. And sometimes it can be difficult to juggle things just a day to day. So I highly recommend doing it. And today, I'm actually quite proud of myself because I've actually done three little kind of pocket pages and mini sketchbook journals. So I might even be able to fit another one in. But for now, I need to get back and do me work because I've got so many more of these beautiful diagrams to design for me day job. So let's get back to work, and I'll see you once I'm done. So that gorgeous little infographic. And we're done. Okay, Dokey, welcome back. So now I've finished my job. It's around about 6:30 in the afternoon. And I'm absolutely exhausted. I had quite a lot to go through in my graphic design work, and I managed to do probably about 90% of it. All the other jobs I'm going to most likely have to do tomorrow because of the meeting that I had, a few things had to get done and outlined and redone. But that's just life, isn't it? That's just how work works. On Midday job as a graphic designer, so I'm going to close up my laptop, and then what I'm going to do is I'm just going to have a bit of a chill out session, go to stretch me back and do some back exercises because my back is absolutely knackered. And then, hopefully, I might be able to do a little bit of everyday pages, if I can do some kind of concept work on everyday pages. So, again, if you've not watched my everyday pages classes, do check that out. So it puts it into context on what I'm doing. If I don't get a chance to do that, then I might just do some scribble doodles in between. Class recordings and my class preparation work for this class, yes, I've got to do that now because I want to produce this beautiful class for all of you to watch and get used to doing your beautiful sketching on a daily basis and to improve your well being. That's what it's always been all about. So I'm going to have a bit of a break now, maybe grab a bite to eat, and I'll see you later. 8. Day 2: Tuesday Morning Prep: Hello, and welcome back. So I'm just getting ready this morning. It's gonna be a hectic day because it's Tuesday, and I've got to do all the early morning drop offs, so it's quite early. So I thought I'll get myself a quick little coffee, have me nice, fruity breakfast. Ill strawberries from yesterday, which was fantastic. So once I quickly got my coffee ready, then I might have a bit of time to do a quick little journal and maybe a little sketch. But we'll see, and then we've got to jump into the car and then find those opportunities to do a little bit of pocket pages or even schedule journaling. And if there's too much traffic on the way, I might make a stop on the way back before I start work to a certain coffee shop. But we'll see can't plan for these things, but got to be prepared, so I got to make sure that I'll have my bag with me all the time. So, as I'm waiting for my coffee beans to grind, you can probably hear them in the background. I'm just going to make sure that I've got all my bags ready today before I head out to drop the kids off just to make sure that we are nice and prepared. So I've got my main bag over here, my marvel bag full of marvels. So for this one, I've got all my sketchbooks in there, my medium sized ones, and my small ones. So that's ready to go. And then I've got my good old pocket pages that's gonna stay with me. And then I've got my small bag, my small carry bag that I can just throw in my pocket pages in or even throw in my small kind of little sketchbooks inside there, but I do have to make sure that I have a couple of pens in there, so let's quickly grab hold a couple of pens. So I go to hold of a couple of colored pencils and just a water based marker. I think that's a water based marker. It should be. Well, even if it isn't doesn't really matter something to make some marks with. So that's already my kits is all set for today. I just need to get on with having my coffee, have my lovely breakfast, and then try squeezing in a couple of journal thoughts, and then we're ready to go. I Okey doke. So we have our lovely coffee ready. We've got our beautiful strawberries there. I've got about 7 minutes to seven, 8 minutes to quickly have this and have a quick look at my emails before I go, so I can get all my work organized for when I'm back. So let's enjoy our morning treat. Oh, do you know what? The strawberries were really, really nice. So, okay, so I've actually finished up my kind of morning routine now of checking emails, doing a little bit of editing, and hopefully I've got a plan for the rest of the day for me job in my design work, and we need to kind of make a move now. So I'm going to quickly go and get the kids ready, jump into the car, and I'll speak to you on the way there and maybe on the way back and maybe make a little stop to do a little bit of journey. I've got to remember, not to forget. Me bags, me sketchbooks. So let's quickly get packed up and let's meet outside. Okay, so in the car now, we're running a little bit late now, so we need to quickly make a move. So we need to drop both kids off, and then see if I can quickly get in session. So let's get on the road. Ok Doke just dropped off my son now, so we need to hurry up and get back on the road so I can drop my daughter off to college. So let's get moving again. Okidokes stuck in traffic now, so this is the usual routine every morning, especially when we're going all the way down to where my daughter's college is. It's always a good idea to just have a look around at your surroundings. You would have been driving past the same surroundings on a daily basis. But there's certain things that if you don't look, you don't get to actually notice them. You just drive past them. So especially when you've got traffic, I guess, the benefit is you've got time to just look around and sometimes you just see things that you had never thought were there before. So it's always a great way to just get that kind of peaceful time to just think, really. Because, again, with the busy lifestyle that we all have rushing from A to B, B to C and C to wherever, it's difficult to just sit down and contemplate contemplating is really important to your well being because it gives you that time to really reflect on yourself and just observe the environment and away from digital. I know it's not great me talking to you in this digital camera here and you're watching me on the digital, but it's really about communicating this kind of move away from all the technologies that kind of dictate our lives and just give us a kind of, like, you know, a pixel view of the entire world. And that's not the real world, is it? The real world is beautiful. It's full of nature, real color, real beauty. So if you don't observe it, then you're never going to really contemplate it. So. Let's get back into the old school days and observe our surroundings. So I'm gonna switch the camera over now. Oki Dokey, so we've got to the college now, and I'm going to quickly do a little sketch in my car pocket journal. So I've got my car pocket journal. Okay, which was in my kind of arm rest department. 9. Day 2: Tuesday Sketching In The Car: And now I'm going to do a quick little doodle and note just on a single page. So that was the one that I did the other day. And then this one, I'm just going to quickly do it right now. So with my big pen, again, making the most of the opportunities that we have so you can see what I'm doing now is, I'm just going to quickly write the date. What date is it today? It should be 9 June 26th, a quick little note on what I'm thinking, what I'm going through, what I'm feeling. So quickly do that. Now I'm just gonna do a quick little sketch of what I can see. Just quickly do that now. No, that's it now, so I've just done my quick little journal sketch just over there, quick little journal, thought journal, and a little quick rough doodle of what I can see where I'm parked in the car park. And that's it, that took what about 4 minutes to do, four or 5 minutes to do. And I'm going to just close this up now, close my pen, put it in the little compartment that I've got in my car over here, and that job done. So I've made use of the situation where I am quick little journal, not thinking about it, just drawing what I see, not bothered about the details, just keeping the hand moving, keeping that ink flowing, and I've just gone ahead and done a little tick on my checklist of sketching and journaling. Daily basis and squeezing it in. So that's got me warmed up now at the start of the day so that I can hopefully find more of these opportunities as the day goes along. So make sure you try this. If you're a driver, if you drive and you have daily commutes or daily pickups and drop offs at school for your children or for whoever, then make sure that you have a sketchbook and a pen really small, doesn't have to be super quality, just a basic, cheap sketchbook, a big Bro pen with you in your car all the time so that you can make the most of these beautiful quick little moments in life. Jot down a few thoughts and do a quick little drawing of your surroundings. So that's one tick on the checkbox. Let's now go home. There might be a little bit more traffic. I don't think I'm going to be able to stop at the coffee shop, but it all depends on the time. I might be able to make it. I have a feeling that there's going to be a meeting in the morning with my manager. So let's start making a move. Oh, that's a beautiful building that isn't it. Every time I drop my daughter off, I see this wonderful old school building over here. It's like a kind of like a fort, gorgeous architecture. And the thing is that when you actually go ahead and look at your surroundings, especially like this when you're in traffic, then it's always a great kind of memory that builds up in your mind of all the images and the pictures that you see. And I love this drive that I come to because I see these gorgeous, gorgeous buildings everywhere. And you know me. I love to draw my house houses. And it just kind of makes you look at things and observe things, the straight lines on the buildings, the shapes of the windows. You don't always have to have a picture to refer to all the time, because effectively, your brain is kind of like a memory bank of everything that you see. And the more you look, the more you observe things. Then the more that memory bank will start collecting, and it'll be like a subliminal thing where when you're drawing and you're trying to come up with ideas, you more often than not start drawing the things that you've been seeing over time. So that's why I love looking at buildings and architectures, especially house shapes and, like, these old school beautiful buildings. And that's what you probably find in a lot of the kind of creative work that I do, especially in my creative journals and creative sketchbooks. When I'm not drawing from real life, I'm making things up as I go along. So that's a great little tip. You to do as you're driving around or even if you're walking, observe your surroundings, observe the architecture, the beautiful plant life, the kind of road structure, the cars that you're walking by on a daily basis. So the lights are going to turn green, I'll let you enjoy the view. So definitely not going to be able to stop at the coffee shop. We just drove past it right now. I don't have enough time because I need to get on with my design work for another meeting that actually just popped up on my messages on the phone, so I need to quickly get ready for that meeting and continue with the work. It's a shame because I actually did have the time, so I did plan for it. But again, when you plan for things, it doesn't always work out, and that's just life. So you've got to adjust. But the most important thing is, you can't plan for everything, but you can prepare for everything, because if you're not prepared, then you can't deal with what's to come. So let's carry on. Oki Doke nearly home now, so that was quite a long drive. My back is absolutely necked out. So I'm gonna have to get out the massage gun and give myself a good, proper five, six minute massage. Otherwise, I'm just gonna get stuck, and I won't be able to walk or sit down, and I'm just gonna have to take loads and loads of pain killers. Don't want to be doing that. No, no, no, we want to stay healthy, but the only way you're gonna stay healthy is if you keep moving. So we're gonna park up now and then slowly get out. And keep my movement really nice and slow. No sudden movements because we don't want the back to go. If the back goes, then I'm not going to be able to do anything, and my plan for Birmingham tomorrow will be canceled. Hopefully, that doesn't happen. So I'm going to keep it nice and slow. Let's move. Okay. Keep it nice and slow. Oh, dear. That's painful. Okay, sort of take me steps nice and slowly. If you know what back pain is all about, then you know exactly what I'm going through. So it's not it's not fun. I tell you that right now. So we're home now. Let's get the doors open, and it's a little bit of a walk 'cause I think I need a walk before I start anything. See what we're like for time, timing wise, we're okay. So let's take my shoes off. A gonna be walking in your house with shoes on? No, you don't. You want to keep everything nice and clean and tidy. I got to get up these stairs now. Oh, slow down. I feel like I'm about 100-years-old, so probably look like I'm 100-years-old, so let's just continue taking it nice and easy, nice and slowly. And we're gonna make it. We are gonna make it, so all the way up to the studio, hopefully everything is in order. Everything is in order. And there we go. So you can see, I'm back. I've made it. And look at that. I've got my computer from yesterday's editing. I was up all night editing these beautiful videos for this class that you're going to be watching. So that's nearly done yesterday's video. And then I've got my laptop, and let's just have a quick look and see what's happening at work. So yeah, we've got a couple of messages to deal with and some emails, and I need to get on with that. So turn the lights on. Fantastic stuff. So I'm going to get myself all ready for work. Again, I've done my first little tick on the checkbox of my daily sketching and journaling habit. Hopefully, at lunchtime, I'll be able to do a little bit more. And then you never know if I can get all my jobs done, I might even have time to go to the coffee shop at lunchtime. Might actually go ahead and do that. I might just drive down to the coffee shop and maybe have my lunch at the coffee shop. So we'll see how that goes. But for now, let's do a nice little back massage and get on with some work. 10. Day 2: Tuesday Lunchtime Sketch: Okey dokey, so that table design is complete. Two more to do, and then this job is done. Right. Time we on. Unchti. Okay. Okay. Welcome back. So I've just finished my morning job now. I've got a few more to do in the afternoon. And my friend called me, who wants to go out tonight to go watch a film. So I think I'm going to try finishing me work as quickly as I can so that when he comes to pick me up, I'll be ready. And I'm not going to tell you which film we're gonna watch, you're gonna start laughing at me. So after I've watched it, I'll tell you, so let's quickly go downstairs and have a quick little lunch for 10 minutes, and then I might go for a walk. And see how it is. But I might even try squeezing in another little sketch while I'm waiting for my lunch. So let's get out of here for now or go to turn the lights off. Lights off. Don't want to waste electricity. Don't like wasting. So let's get downstairs now, quickly get downstairs and see if I can squeeze in a little sketch. What I tend to do is I have little wads of card and paper and sketchbooks kind of scattered all across the house. So whenever I get my chance to take the opportunity, I go ahead and do that. So what I'm going to do is gonna quickly go to the living room and see if my little pack of papers are there or some little kind of post it kind of revision cards that I clipped up, and I usually have a colored pencil with me. I'll just turn the light on over here and see. Let's see, do we have it here? Yes, we do, so here it is. This, Oh, I'm nearly dropping pencil. So I've got my little wad of something to draw on and a colored pencil just strategically placed in every room, so I don't ever miss out on an opportunity. So what I'm going to do is I'll probably just sit at the table here and get my paper out. So from here, I've got this. From kind of yesterday's sketch, I managed to get one in yesterday. I don't know if you can see that on the camera properly, but a nice little quick sketch of some drinks. Get the clip off and just take out one of me cards here. Again, these are just lined cards, cheap line cards that I got from the supermarket. I'll just put the rest of it aside, and I'm using a fabricastel blue ultramarine color pencil, solid to use. They don't wear down very quick, so I like to use these to do a little bit of sketching. So I'm going to quickly do some sketching now. Okay, dokey. So I just did that quick little sketch using my blue fabricastle colored pencil, and it was just the kind of, like, messy sofas and chairs that are lying around in the back living room. So, again, that only took me around about four to 5 minutes maximum. So lunch is ready. That's 5 minutes of me lunchtime done, and I've got 25 minutes left, so I've just utilized that time to just add in another quick session. To get that creative momentum going. And this time, I did a little bit of shading, if you can see over here, so a little bit of shading there on the blue using just normal shading techniques and quick sketching with colored pencils. So fantastic tool to have lying around. We always have colored pencils lying around, especially if you have a big set. But what you want to not do is just have them tucked away in your cupboard, where you're not going to use them. It's great to just have them in a pot or just have a few scattered across your house in different rooms with some paper on the side maximize that opportunity and to keep that momentum going. So that's my second lovely checkbox done. I've done two sketches for today. I did a quick bit of journaling in the morning, and now at lunch, I've just done a nice, colorful little color pencil sketch. So hopefully, have me lunch and have enough time to go for a walk, then back to work, and then I might do a proper sketchbook journal when my mate comes and we go out to watch the film tonight. So that's a good one. Let's keep the momentum going, and I'll see you after I'm nice and full. Oki ki, that was a really nice lunch that sweet potato, shepherd's pie type thing. Really, really nice that my wife made. Again, that's the purpose of working from home. You can have a nice meal at lunchtime, especially if your partner's are good cook. So I've got it both ways. Very lucky, indeed. Ok. So, let's now get ready for me walk 'cause I need to walk, be back. I mean, legs are absolutely aching. Need to get some exercise. And probably won't be able to do any sketching outside, but I've done two sketches for the day. I've hit two boxes on the checklist. So hopefully, quickly go for me walk, come back, continue with my work. Might squeeze in a little coffee, depends how I feel. And then we're ready to go out and watch the film where I'm going to try my best to do some sketchbook journaling. So I'll see you when I'm back. 11. Day 2: Tuesday Work & Evening Sketch: Okay. Okay, back from my walk, that was quite a nice walk that ten minute walk. Weather was really nice, nice and cool, not raining, thank God. And I got nice kind of like relaxation for that quick little ten minute sprint. I didn't of too fast because of my back, but it's playing up again, as you know, this week, so just turn your lights on. And yeah, so I'm feeling good. Let's have a quick look at the emails and see how long. Oh, I've got another 2 minutes left for me lunch. So me half an hour is nearly up my lunchtime half an hour. And I managed to utilize so much. I got my sketch done, quick little, four, 5 minutes sketch, had me lunch, even went for a ten minute walk, and I'm back in enough time, start work again. And then today, we're going to finish at around about 5:30 rather than 6:30 because you started early to cover our time. Always cover your time. Otherwise, then you're gonna be in trouble, aren't you? And then it's not fair. Always stay fair in your life, and that way you always succeed. So let's now probably make a cup of coffee, and let's get back to the job. Looked okay. That tables looking good. The colors are looking right on that one. Information's all looking good. How are we doing for time? Oh, that's right. Right. Oki doke. So I've just finished my afternoon jobs now, and I need to quickly go pick up my son from school. My daughter, she's at college, so she's gonna be getting the bus back home, so it saves me a good 45 minutes. And then I can finish up the kind of small jobs that I've got leftover to do. And then I'm excited because my mates gonna come and pick me up, and we're gonna go watch a film. It's one that I've been looking forward to. But again, I'll reveal which film it is after I've watched it, and then probably trying me best to do a couple of sketches along the way. So let's go get my son, and I'll see you and I'm back. He's okay in the car now, so quickly all pick up his son. It's actually really, really hot today, but it's super windy, so I don't know if you can see in the kind of pictures, the trees all kind of fizzling away with the wind. It's quite unique weather in the UK right now, so we're not used to this type of weather, but just generally, it's warm. As long as it doesn't rain, I'm happy because who likes to rain eh, who likes to rain. We all need the rain, but we don't like walking in it or driving in it, so it's all good. Let's now get the car ready and quickly pick up my son. Then try fitting in a quick little doodle on sketch before I go out for movie night. So today, again, just a quick little review of what I've done so far, a standard working life. Didn't have to go to the office after all, because the delivery didn't come, and I'll put my window up. You can hear me properly. You can hear all that wind coming in from the side. Yeah, so, generally speaking, trying to fit in as much as we can in our busy days. And that's kind of, again, the main purpose of me showing you my lifestyle as a graphic designer, as a busy dad. And again, I'm not just doing my day job. I've got so many other jobs that I've got to get done. The illustration work that I have to do. I have client work as a graphic designer, my own private client work that I've got to do. And then there's the wonderful Skillshare classes that I have to build. So I do spend a lot of time after I finish my work doing editing and classmking that goes into a lot of these classes. So last night, I think I was up until about midnight, so I don't really get much sleep. But that's how it is. If you want to make a change in the world and in your life and help people with well being, then this is what you've got to do. You've got to sacrifice in order to give good in the world. So that's my mission. I want you all to enjoy life regardless of the kind of, like, things that go on. I mean, it's just life, isn't it? We all have our tests and frustrations and problems. That's just the way it is. We're not living in heaven, not yet anyway, so we're gonna have to deal with all the issues of life, there's ups and downs, there's hardships, and there's really sad moments. Again, I went through a sad moment just over the weekend. My auntie passed away. So we had to go through that. Again, that was in Birmingham as well. What it is with Birmingham meetings, family members passing away, weddings. It's all happening just within this month. But again, in order to be able to juggle all these things and not let it get you down so much, you need something to kind of get away from the hustle and bustle of daily life and routine to just build away that small escape, that small little window of opportunity, and what I find in my life by doing these quick little journals and sketches and dodos throughout the day, it really gives me that kind of side window of opportunity to just get away and not have to think about just the worldly things, just think about myself. Lot of the times when I do the coffee shop sketching when I'm in the coffee shop, it gives me a nice, good 20 minutes, half an hour, especially if I'm by myself, then they're just like golden times, aren't they? So I do look forward to those kind of by myself, golden times where it's just me, my coffee, and kind of just my general thoughts and contemplation of what's going on and just getting it out in the drawings and doodles or my surroundings. And it's just changing the environment of where you are. That quite often helps more than anything else, just to get away and focus your kind of mind on something else. And I think that's really, really positive for everybody's well being. So whether you like to sketch, whether you like to write, either way, it doesn't really make much difference because you need to do something with your hands in physical form rather than stick to just doom scrolling on Tik Tok, WhatsApp or YouTube or whatever it is, try getting away from the digital and get back into the analog, look at things, enjoy things, view things, and just try your best to just escape away for just a few minutes a day. And sometimes you might have an hour. You might have a couple of hours where you can just escape away. Don't lose that moment of opportunity. Just go ahead and do it. Don't plan it. I think, hopefully, after watching yesterday and a bit of today's videos of this kind of log style of seeing what my life is like and me trying to fit in all these quick little sketches and doodles and journals in my day to day routine, I hope that has kind of, like, opened up your kind of thinking on that you don't have to plan everything because planning and over planning is not great because life is flexible, things go up and things go down. And it's really about how to navigate the ups and downs of life to build this sketching and journaling habit to improve your well being. So I hope this has opened up your eyes. Again, I've not really had a super busy day according to my standards. It's actually been fairly relatively quite relaxed from Monday and today. Generally speaking, my days are way more hectic, especially when I've got to drop all three kids off in the mornings and afternoons, and I've got to go to the office. It's just turned out that I didn't have to go to the office this week. But again, tomorrow is going to be a super busy day because I'm going to start early in the morning, probably got to get up at 4:00 A.M. So I'm going to make sure I get some don't spend too much time on the editing tonight, and hopefully the film will be good, as well. I've been looking forward to this film, but I'm not going to tell you which one it is again. I'm keeping it a secret. So hopefully enjoy a bit of movie time, not seen my mate for quite a while, as well. One of my kind of, like, childhood friends, we've grown up together, and we've got similar interests. We're part of the 80s crew, so we're 80s kids, so that might be giving you some hint at what film I'm gonna be watching if you're into the film world. Anyways, here's my son now, so I'm going to just park up and pick him up, so I'll speak to you when we're back. Oki Dokey, welcome back. So it's time now to go out, work all done, done and dusted, and we can go out and enjoy our film. So I'll see if I can squeeze in a bit of sketching while we're waiting or while we're there. And hopefully, after the film, I shall reveal what I've watched. So see you. No, Gokey. Welcome back. So just at the Lowry center today, so we're just going to watch our film. Again, I'm not going to mention what we're gonna watch. I'm just waiting for him ate. He's just trying something on. We've got a few minutes for the film to start. So hopefully we'll get our seats on time and then ready to watch the excitement. So actually might grab this off a chocolate from the Cambridge shop, so I think I'll nip Cabridgshop, grab this off a chocolate, couple of chocolates. And then we'll see how we're doing the time. But to be totally honest with you, actually, actually do a quick little mini sketch. Yes, I think I'm going to do a quick little mini sketch while I'm waiting so let's do that now. No gi so doing my quick little sketch now, I think I'll just do a sketch of what I see. So let's see. This kind of window over here in front of me was a great idea to just sketch what you see, get a bit of a doodle down just like this. I've got some of these clothes on the dummies. Then we've got this little dress over here, just like that. See how I'm utilizing my time and doing a quick little doodle doodle. 50% off over there. Then we've got this kind of shirt on this model over here. There we go, so let's do a quick little journal of the date. So just done a quick little sketch. While I was waiting for my friend, he's just trying something on in the shops. So, see, I just managed to do a quick little doodle, quick little pocket pages, put it back in the bag. Actually, I'll keep it in my pocket, so just in case in the cinema when we sat down, you can go ahead and do another one. So just utilize that time that I've got it, so let's just get up and move around a little bit. I'll show you where I am. So just like this, we are in good old Lowry Santa absolutely dead over here as usual, because not many people come here, so it's all good. And my mate's back, so let's get ready to move and watch the film. Even a ***** of the film that was pretty good. I'd give it a rewatch, as well on DVD. So for me, it was a thumbs up, and I'll reveal it now. It was Masters of the Universe. He man, yes, that's the one. So we watched it. Loved it 'cause we're 80s kids. So yeah, I'll recommend it, and I'll see you when we're 12. Day 3: Wednesday Early Drive & Sketch: Oh. Morning. It's Wednesday. So today is a big day where I've got to go all the way to Birmingham. And I had a bit of a long night last night when I went out with me mate to watch the new He man film, which, again, I just loved it. I'm gonna end up getting that on Bluay. As soon as it comes out and watching it again, I might even sneak to the cinema, if I get a chance before the Blue ray comes out. Well we'll see, so I need to hurry up and get ready. I've got me Becky hair, so I've got me Greek yogurt, me strawberries, and me blueberries. Just had me coffee. It's about 5:30 in the morning, and it's raining like crazy outside. So not the ideal situation or weather to have a two to three hour drive all the way in Birmingham, and it's probably going to take me longer than that to get there because of the morning traffic. But I better hurry up. I managed to get petrol in my car yesterday when I came back after the film, but I forgot to put the wiper fluid in, so I'm going to have to put the wiper fluid in now, and I'm gonna have to try doing it in the rain. So that's going to be interesting to do. But anyway, so let's hurry up and get ready. I've got me bags packed for the work. Conference meeting that we've got. So my bags packed over here. M sketching bag is already in the car because I had that in the car yesterday. So all I need to do now is do my back exercises, eat meat breakfast, make sure that I'm awake and alert, and hit the road because it's gonna be a long drive. So I'll see you when I'm in the car. Okay, dookie, welcome back. I'm in my car now. It's just about 6:00. I've still got to put in the wiper fluid, I'm going to do that now. The weather outside is actually cleared up. It's only light drizzle now. Let's hope it stays that way. Got to make my lovely trip. So I'll speak to you while I'm driving, and then hopefully I'll have a quick chat to you if I stop in a service station, I might get a bit of sketching and doodling in. But hopefully, if not, then I can jump in where we are in Birmingham, in our meeting building, which I've got to find and find parking for because it's right in the city center. Anyways, let's get going. Exciting time. Okay, Do. Welcome back. So I'm just at the last service station now. Most of the journey time is done, and now we're entering Birmingham and it's just going to be crazy traffic. Now I'm probably going to be stuck in about an hour and a half traffic just getting into Birmingham and the city center. So I'm at the last service station to just stretch my legs because me back's absolutely killing me. So I think what I'm going to do is just go for a walk, stretch me legs and go have a walk around in the service station. And see if I can actually squeeze in a little doodle, 'cause there's no point me sitting in the car, waiting an hour and a half. I'll just stretch my legs and then get back in and then maybe grab myself an ice cream, actually to enjoy that time on the way there. So I'll see you when I'm back in the service station. So yeah, there's not many people in the service station right now. I think I'm just gonna go freshen up. Go to the washroom and maybe just grab myself a little sandwich from here. There's a Greg's and a costa, so might get a coffee. I'm not too sure, but I think I might grab myself a cheese and onion pasty. So that I have something to eat it all depends where I'm actually going to be going. I don't know if there's any kind of shop around the suite that we're going to. So anyway, fresh up now and then go to Greg's. So I just set myself a cheese an onion, paste. Uh, probably not going to have it now, I probably have it later on, but I do fancy some of them cream cakes. Seem that we're on the road, I think. It's a legitimate reason to have a treat. So I'm just grabbing hold of a cheese and onion. Paste. I find a seat and probably do a can easily do a sketch down there, we've got a bit of a nice and quiet area, I think. I think this is a good spot or should we go down there, yeah? I think this is a good spot over here. It's actually one of our classic spots that. Whenever I come here with the kids, we usually stop at the service station because it's nice. The interior quite nice. I'll show you, actually. So we've got this really nice kind of seating area, some beautiful artwork on the walls. And then we've got Greg's and got this nice, lovely, lovely seating area for a service station, it's proper ice. So I think I'm going to do a quick, little quick little sketch. Is it following me? Yeah, it's following me, so quick little sketch, and maybe might have a little bit of meat, cheese and onion paste. But I think I've let me show you what I've got. Oh. Look at that ere cream iced finger. Check that out. So I'll have my cream iced finger. And I'll keep that cheese and onion pasty for later. I'm actually not really that hungry. Because I've had my breakfast, haven't I and it's only been about what, an hour and a half being on the road. So I think let's get in a quick little sketch, maybe just go for me pocket pages. So we've got it in me bag over here, so pocket pages over there, whack in a quick little spread on the pocket pages, and then we're gonna have to head back on the road, and it's probably gonna take about another hour and a half just to get into Birmingham. And it's only another, I think, about 20 miles from here, that's it or 15 miles, so easily an hour and a half, and then we can continue. Okey dokey, so I've just done my little quick little doodle and journal in pocket pages. Only took about four or 5 minutes. And now I'm gonna enjoy my iced finger with fresh cream and then hopefully go for a little stretch and then get back on the road because me back is really hurting, so I'm going to just enjoy this now. Do you know what I've had too much sweet this morning. I've nearly finished my bag of malt Caesars and now I'm having this, which is full of sugar. It's not my normal butter. Certain kind of, like, situations call for certain measures. I want to make sure I stay there while I'm driving. Thankfully the rain has stopped, and hopefully it'll stay dry. And it's not too hot either, so All good so far. See, how we go. Right, all done. I think I better make a move because I'm stuck in traffic anyway, so I might as well get there now. Close up to me pocket pages. That's the first quick little pocket pages done. Quick little tick on the check list of the daily well being journal and Doodles, and don't forget me. Cheese and onion pasty for later on, but it's like W Smith over there. Oh, I could have her go on them mathar chairs. But let's leave it for now. This guy will park right next to me. He's got all the parking spaces in the world, and he decides to park right next to me. So anyway, what can you do, eh? What can you do? So I think I'm just gonna get me and bag in here. Actually, I'll keep my bag out the front. I have quick access to it. And we are ready to go. I think I just need to stretch out my leg. So I think I'll stretch my leg out now on the side of the car. Don't look too weird. You know how it is, but who cares what people think are? You shouldn't be worried about what people think. Do what you need to do in life just for your well being and everything is great, so just stretching out my leg now, so that I don't get too much of pain in the car because of me silly old back. Getting old, getting old these days, and you don't want to injure yourself. If you don't look after yourself, then you're not gonna be able to do any sketching or journaling. And then you're not gonna be able to look after your well being, then are you? So I think that's enough for the stretch. What I'm gonna do now is, I think I'm just gonna get back into the car and want to it back in. We're ready to go, and it's gonna be a long one, because that's just the way it is on this six stretch towards Birmingham. But thankfully it's not raining. It's nice and dry. And then once I've reached out, speak to you then. 13. Day 3: Wednesday Lunchtime Sketch: Finally here now. I've just paid for parking, and my gosh, it cost a lot of money. I've put it on for 3:00, and it's cost 19 pound. I mean, the time right now is 9:20. So that's what around about 6 hours. So for 6 hours, it's 20 quid, and we're pretty much in the center of Birmingham. And I don't think our conference room where we're going to be is too far. So what I'm gonna do is I'm just gonna go for a walk and check the place out and see where we are. And then, hopefully, it should be a good one. Good okie welcome back, so just having a quick little break from the meeting. Finished this part. That's quite good. But this place that we're in, it's pretty cool. I mean, look at that. They've even got a dartboard, aren't they, though. Proper darts. Can play a bit of darts on the break. And I do like the design of this office. I mean, I'll show you the kind of seats that they've got here. I'm going to look at these cool kind of cabin style seats that they've got fantastic stuff, isn't it? And funnily enough, they've got a fridge full of certain drinks. Certain drinks that I can't have, but they do have some soft drinks there as well. So I think I'll grab one of them, and then once we've got back to the meeting, maybe have a game of arts at lunch and then grab some lunch. And I do like this. I mean, if you have a look at this, we've got trust, experience, engagement, listening, and at the bottom, it says, open and honest communication. So that's what it's all about being open and honest and trusting. And again, all of these kind of elements are good for your well being. So I would highly recommend them, and there's so many things to draw here. So I think what I'll do is I'm going to grab hold of a drink, a soft drink, that is, of course, and maybe do a quick little doodle. I mean, Look at this artwork. This artwork is fantastic. Just look at this. Look at that there. Beautiful, isn't it? Gorgeous map of Birmingham. Let's have a little quick. So we've got Jewelry quarter, and then we've got library, Cadburys, yes, 'cause the Cadbury factory is in Birmingham. I always wanted to go there. Cadburys, but my Tuesdays are a little bit bad, so I don't think that's a good idea. Back to B six, the mailbox. Wow. Gorgeous painting that, isn't it? I'm gonna have to take a picture of this one. Might have to do one for where I live in Manchester. I think that's actually a good idea. Might do one for the, um, for the office. I think that's absolutely fantastic. And then they've got a nice little chair to sit on over here. So I think I'll sit on that chair. It's, it's a bit low, probably not good for me back, but there we go. Fantastic stuff. So just chill in on a quick five minute break while everyone gets coffee and freshens up, and I think I better get back 'cause I don't want to get in troub, so I'll see you in a bit. Okay, it's okay, so just go in for our lunch now. We're going to the burring. My gosh, the stairs are quite high, so just have a look at this. Look how high the stairs are all going into the train station. And we're going into the bullring. So what we're gonna do is we're just gonna have our lunch. And then, hopefully once lunch is all done, we can or I can. Just go on the side and see if there's a coffee shop here. I'm sure there is. There's probably loads and loader shops here. But again, wherever you are, just have a scan of where you go in, do what you need to do in your day job. And that way, you know, like you're focused, and then you look for that window of opportunity as I am doing today, and then hopefully we'll be able to get a little bit of sketching done. I've just seen a coffee and donut shop over here, so I think I might have to pay it a little visit, and it doesn't even look that busy. So I think this is the train station. Okay, so as soon as I find a place, um, I'll see you then. We've got a cool statue over here that I'll quickly show you. Look at that, eh, a big metal ball inside the Grand Central over here. So we got Grand Central, big metal ball. Hmm. I think that might be quite nice. So I might try that. I don't even know if it's vegetarian though. Yep, let's go for one of these egg mayonnaise. So decided if I'm gonna have for lunch. Let's just throw down here and pay for it. Ok do, so we're just heading back now Saturday office for lunch, and then hopefully I can squeeze in a little bit of a journal and a sketch. I haven't found my favorite coffee shop here, Nero, but I think probably Pret will have to do. And then I'll see you when we're back. Okay, so I just did a quick little sketch and dude all the table was super wobbly. I'm gonna finish off my sandwich and then go back into the office for the remainder of our meeting. I'll see you once I'm done. Ok doke. So I'm just finishing off. Now I've got to get off early. The team still going with the meeting, so because of traffic and because it's my son's birthday today, so I can leave at three. It's around about 3:00 now, and plus, I've only got till three on the car park. Um, yeah, that was a really good session. I was actually getting into it just now with doing some work on the board and just sharing some kind of strategic plans. So that was pretty good. Let's see how long this lift takes. I hope it don't take too long because I'm gonna be out of my time zone. I don't want to get fined. Perfect. Ground floor. Stands clear. Okay, so the doors are closing. Yes, they are. So hopefully I can get in, get into the car, get into the service station because there's gonna be a lot of traffic. So as soon as I get into the service station, I'm gonna go ahead get myself a coffee because I'm absolutely shattered, and then I'll do a proper journal and sketch. So to you when I'm there? Yeah. So, let's have a look. It's actually raining outside, so that's not good, is it? So it's raining outside. So it's raining outside, so I don't want to mess my camera up. So I'm gonna do is I'm just gonna go ahead and just quickly run into the car and continue the recording sessions then. Okay, okay. So let's get the stuff in. There we go. There's me bag. So I got me bag right there. I can put my main bag over here, laptop and all that stuff. And this bag. Let's get this out. All my sketchbooks are inside there, so let's grab hold of this. I've ordered this. Close the boot. Maybe just put this in the back with the rest of all me junk. So bag is ready now, and I can get in the car. Let's just get my pocket pages side bag in there as well. Good stuff. Oh, kiddo. That was a cool little meeting day in Birmingham. So let's see what time it is now. Oh, dear, I'm tired now. I'm actually really, really tired, but I am going to make the effort and stop at a service station and do some sketching. That was a nice, lovely little kind of half day meeting. I mean, I really wanted to stay towards the end because the team were going to go and play darts and go out for a kind of, like, a social meal. So I kind of had to miss out on that, so I'm a bit gutted, but it's actually going to work out for the better because I'm really, really tired. And if I had done that, then I would have ended up going home at around about eight, 9:00 in the evening, and then that would just be a nightmare. I'd be totally shattered, and then I won't be able to wake up in the morning tomorrow. So let's get back onto the motorway and get to that service station, and I'll see you then. Okidoke so just getting on the motorway now and it's absolutely crazy rain outside. I don't know if you can see it. But yeah, so it's gonna be slow slow journey. It's about a 3:30 now, so I'll probably get home in about 3 hours probably with the way things are going. So I've just got to wait it out, isn't it, so just got to wait it out, and just relax, really. As I said before, I don't usually get these opportunities to just sit back and think and just relax, by myself in the car, on a long trek on the M six, all the way back to Manchester. And I might not even be able to go to the service station now because of the traffic. But we'll see if I can jump in in the last service station then I might do. I'm not going to be able to get onto the first one because it's just absolutely gridlocked everywhere. We're moving super slow, and I don't think it's wise to stop right now. So again, the day has been pretty good. Managed to get, I think, two or three quick sketches in. Um, and I did it all on location on wobbly tables in the service station coming here. And it was great because I just managed to quickly get some words down. It was a tiring day because of the amount of travel that I've had to do. But again, I managed to take my pocket pages with me in my small bag. If I hadn't had that with me, then I wouldn't have been able to do it, because I did forget my main bag in the car when I parked the car. So super vital that you have your small pocket pages or a small kind of bag that you have over your shoulder with you wherever you go, with a pen in it, with a small book in it. It's such a game changer. I don't like to use the word game changer very loosely because everything can become a game changer. It's just a good kind of way to ensure that you maintain your drawing habit, regardless of how busy you get, how hectic your lifestyle is, whether you're traveling every single day like this, I mean, you might be a daily commuter to that has to travel two hour, 2.5 hours every single day. I know people who have got to do that. My brother does that. He's got to travel on the motorway nearly every single day to different parts of the UK. So again, it's just a nice way of getting your thoughts down quickly in the environment that you're in. So I think it's just so good for your well being. And it just gives you that kind of movement with your hand. And give you better observation skills. That's what I would say. Just sketch where you are, wherever you sat, whatever you're doing, sketch what you can see, and it's all good. So I'm going to carry on slowly in this traffic. I'm just going to observe what it looks like. I'm going to observe the surroundings. It's just surround we're just surrounded by rain right now, so not much to observe. So enjoy the moment, relaxing, and I'll see you if I stop at a service station or I'll see you when I get Home. 14. Day 3: Wednesday Coffee & Sketch: Okay, welcome back. So just stopped at the last service station now. Thankfully, there wasn't that much traffic, but there's gonna be more traffic as we get closer to Manchester. So it shouldn't be too long now. What I'm going to do is, I'm just gonna go in, have a coffee, sit down, 'cause I'm absolutely shattered, falling asleep 'cause I've been up so early today, haven't I? So, dedicated. That's what you call dedication. So what I'm gonna do is I'm just gonna grab hold of my bag with all of my books in them. And let's just get out, stretch the legs. Alright, so just grab myself a coffee, nice Americano, takeaway cup. Probably go for a quick little sketch now. Um, maybe just do a quick one. But generally speaking, it's it's not that easy to do a big sketch, especially when you're traveling, so it makes it even more important you carry the smaller items. But because I've got my big bag here, I think I'm going to go for a medium one, so I'll go for this one, my square shaped book, and maybe give a slasher color. Let's see what we got in the pencil case. Can't remember what I packed. Yeah, so we've got a little bit of colored pencil in there, so I think I'll do that a bit of a colored pencil sketch, and that should be a good one. Right. Hokie Dog that was actually quite a nice little session. That quite relaxing. I used a bit of colored pencil on here, so I had my luminance there, so just a bit of colored pencil, did a bit of a writing within the kind of doodle inside the sketchbook, but it got a bit smudged as I was putting my hand over it. So that was actually quite nice. I probably spent about maybe about eight, 9 minutes on that. I took my time, relaxed the atmosphere is quite chilled out here as well. It's actually not even that busy compared to how usually busy service stations are. It's actually quite nice. It's a nice spot. Got a nice high seat on here as well. Um so I think what I'll do now is I'll just chill and just kind of just enjoy this peace time really, that I don't quite often get and just have a few sips of coffee and then head back on the road because I don't want to get stuck in traffic. So I guess I should really head back, but I want to just chill and just contemplate and just enjoy. The weather has cleared up. It's not raining. It was raining quite a lot on the motorway on the way on the way here, so yeah, it's not a bad coffee either. So just generally speaking, throughout the day, managed to get three sessions in the one on the way here at the service station, the one at the office. I can't remember whether I actually did another one or not because it's just been one of those days, and then the one on the way back. That's three on the checklist of the journal and sketchbook kind of schedule. So just try this out next time you're out. Again, quite a hectic day, quite a tiring day. So we don't you can't really plan for sketching. And again, that's one of the reasons to keep things nice and small and keep your small items with you all the time. My big bag here is probably not ideal to carry with me everywhere I go, especially if I'm at a meeting. So the pocket pages bag, the smaller one, kind of like the pouch bag, that worked out so much better because I had it with me all the time. And even though I forgot it in the car, like I mentioned before, I was able to do a sketch on at the office at lunchtime in quick going in and out and going to that bull ring arena area where we were. I think it was the Grand Central train station, actually, where it had all that bull ring vibe in it. It wasn't actually the bull ring in Birmingham, but again, just moving around, having to deal with things quickly, you can't plan for it. So it's super important to have something small with you that you can carry around with you, and it's not too complicated to open and close away something that you can deal with and do a quick little journal and sketch in just a few minutes. And that's what I've done. So hopefully, have a few more tips of this, take it into the car, and then I hope I don't get stuck in traffic and I hope it doesn't start pouring it down like it was before. So I'll see you when I'm hopefully back at home. Just generally, maybe that's not doing too good, because there was a lot of sitting and a lot of driving. So just doing some stretches now. And I'll probably look super funny with this camera in my hand doing stretches, but who cares? You shouldn't care what people think. Just relax, enjoy yourself. And if it bothers you what people are thinking while you're doing your sketching or you're doodling, then just do it in a place where there's not too many people. But it's really about relaxing and not stressing out. So do go into an environment where you're comfortable, use the last thing you want is that you found a really nice cool spot to sit down and sketch in. But you're getting put off because of all the people there, or, you know, you just get certain types of people who just want to constantly bother other people. So do get into a safe environment, make sure you're in a safe environment when you're doing your sketchbook journaling. Pocket pages. Again, one of the kind of things to note is that I've not actually done any everyday pages, and there's a reason for that because you just don't get time. Everyday pages. The focus was on building a nice subject into a beautiful spread. That is something I leave for the weekends, usually. Or I do it on a Thursday if I get a bit more time when I'm doing some class recording or class planning for these beautiful classes that I create for you, amazing amazing people. So everyday pages. I wouldn't even pack that into my bag. I'd just pack small items, small little booklets, a range of books, a range of pens in just a little pencil case, in your main bag, and then just a same version of that in a smaller format, so pocket pages and just one or two pens, and you're ready to go, so I think that's it for the sketching for today. I might squeeze another one in when I go home when we're having our meal together, and I think that'll be a nice end to the day. But let's get home first in one piece. God willing, and I'll see you when I'm home. 15. Day 3: Wednesday Thoughts So Far: Doke back in Manchester now, only a few minutes away from home. So just a few kind of, like, thoughts towards the end of the day. I'm not sure if my mic was turned on when I was talking to you at the service station on the way back, so I thought I'll just reiterate my thoughts. So just a few thoughts for the end of the day. Generally speaking, when you pack your bag, when you're going out to try your best to get into this journal habit, do ensure that you have two bags, the main bag with all your main sketchbooks in them, your thicker sketchbooks, the medium sized ones, the square format ones, and your small mini pocket size sketchbooks, as well, whether it just be a small notepad, an A six size notepad or one that you've used in your pocket pages class. So if you've already got one set up in a wallet or just a small pocket pages book, then absolutely carry that with you. So that way, you're going to have both options. So if you're driving like I was today, where I forgot my bag in my car, I had my pocket pages with me in my small bag, and I actually also had another notepad in my pocket. Therefore, the word pocket pages. So a small pen with some notes. And again, I've even got them in my car. So it's maximizing the places where you can have your reach for your tools, your paper, your little sketchbook, and your pens. That's really going to help with your daily sketching habit and to keep this momentum going. Again, it's only going to be a few minutes, a session, maybe two, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, up to 10 minutes that you can manage to do in a day. You might be able to do it a few times a day, just like I did on this very busy day that I had. But it all depends on your kind of lifestyle. How you work, whether you need to travel to work every day, whether you're kind of like a national manager somewhere where you've got to go to different national sites like my brother does. And in that case, having a nice small bag with your pocket pages with you all the time or just a small sketchbook and small mediums with you, that's just going to be so vital in ensuring that you do have access. And that's what it's about having that access ready or prepared, not about what you write and what you draw. It's about being prepared, so you never miss the opportunity. So that was my final thoughts on Today, again, I'm really, really tired now because I've been in the car for about 3 hours probably now, and it was a long morning, too, a long morning drive, 3.5 hours, actually, it up this morning. So, you know, it all depends on how active you are in the day and how tired you get. Today is not a usual day for me. I don't usually go out on these kind of, like, road trips for work. It's only on occasions where we have to do maybe one of these kind of conference style meetings once every couple of months or once every six months. That's what we'll kind of start that process. But the kind of key really is to have that preparation, to have that small bag, have a medium sized bag, to have everything inside those bags so you don't have to interchange your sketchbooks and your pens and mediums. Always a good idea to have each bag with those set papers, pens and mediums and sketchbooks so that you don't have to keep putting them in, taking them out, so you've got a well prepared, ready to go packed bag for your daily sketching habit. Mentioned before, the everyday pages is not ideal to have when you're going around traveling like this because you're not going to really get, a good half an hour, 1 hour session thinking about planning a page you might do. I mean, if that's what you want to try doing, then by all means, do it. But what I want you to really focus on is not the content of what you're writing or the subject of what you're drawing, mainly just getting that motion going of writing, sketching, keeping everything nice and warm in your memory muscles so that when you do come to your everyday pages, it doesn't kind of do a stop start effect on you. You're already warmed up throughout the week, and then you can spend your weekend or whatever day you have off to just go all in on your everyday pages. And it's that continuous momentum across all the sketchbooks and across all those lessons and classes that you've done, the sketchbook journaling, the creative sketchbook, everyday pages and also on pocket pages. This just gives a holistic approach to the whole thing. Answer that you're not just restricted to just one type of sketchbook or one type of sketching style. Again, I really want you to try this out. I've got more of a chilled relax day tomorrow in terms of there's not that many road trips that I need to do, but generally speaking, it is a hectic day generally because it's our shopping day tomorrow, so I've got to get the shopping done. Got to drop my daughter off in the morning to college, see what her schedules like, and then do the pick ups of the other kids. But what we tend to do on Thursday is when we do our shopping and kind of like our own work, we do sit at coffee shops. So Thursday is our coffee shop day. And I'm looking forward to that because then I can spend a good 25 to 30 minutes doing a coffee shop, sketchbook session, and I do enjoy doing them because that's a bit more focused, whereas, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, these last three days has just been about quickly finding the opportunities to just do some doodles, do some thought journals, and just draw what you see. And now I can focus more on my thoughts to kind of collate them for the week and just really amalgamate them and bring them all together in my coffee shop, journal sketchbook. Effectively, that's my sketchbook journal. And then hopefully on the weekend, I'll be able to build in all this momentum into some everyday pages that I'm planning, and I've already got an idea because I'm about to start a new spread in my everyday pages. So if you've not tried the everyday pages method, do check that pass out and do give it a go. Try doing all of these methods, sketchbook journaling, the creative sketchbook, and the everyday pages and the pocket pages, because the pocket pages is what you can implement on a daily basis out of all of these methods, the pocket pages and the sketchbook journaling. These are the two methods that you can easily implement, and I hope it's kind of like shown you across the three days that I've been doing in the last week of how I implement these. Again, it's not about finished items. It's not about producing perfect sketches or even writing neatly. It's just about doing it, getting those moments in where you can just go ahead and do your sketching in your day to day life so that it builds that momentum, and it really builds in that warm up for your bigger sketchbook journals and your everyday pages and just your exploration of art materials in general. Try it with different mediums like my last one that I just did in the service station. Before coming home now, I used my colored pencil. I just added in some color. Why not? Vary it a bit? Sometimes you get a bit bored. Of doing the same thing again and again, add that variation. That's why it's important to add a couple of different mediums into your small pencil case that you take with you every day. So do try that colored pencils, some water based markers. Do try out my water based markers class to just get into the mode of sketching with water based markers quickly. And that just gives variety and interest and just keeps the ball rolling and keeps you nice and warm. In working with different mediums, because that's what it's all about enjoying that time, that physical medium that you're using to keep you away from the digital world and get you back into the momentum of real life and seeing and feeling and touching and smelling those beautiful mediums and getting them all down on paper so that you have a catalog of beautiful pages that you've done in your day to day life. So we are nearly home now, so what I'm going to do is I'm going to go home. I'm going to just lie down and stretch me back because I'm absolutely shattered. But that coffee really helped. It gave me a nice little boost while I was driving on the way back, I really needed it. Probably my third coffee of the day. But hopefully, looking forward to my evening meal, and then what I might do is I might do a little bit of a plan on my everyday pages, some doodling and sketching just to kind of prepare for the weekend. I'll see how I go if I have the energy. But that's it for now. I'll speak to you when I'm home. 16. Day 4: Thursday Morning Routine: Okay, ok. Good morning. So I've just come back from dropping off my son. It's wonderful Thursday, and it's raining like anything you've seen. It's absolutely pouring it down. I'll show you quickly from the window what it's like. So it's currently absolutely pouring it down, you probably can't even tell in the camera. So I'm not making it all up. Trust me, when I go outside, you'll know that's why I've got me hoodi on today. So I've got to quickly have me a mini breakfast, so I've just got my standard. You kind of get to know me now what I have in the mornings, the blueberries and my Greek yogurt. But I do fancy having some walnuts with it. So I think I'll grab some walnuts from my coffee station, get me walnuts and put them together on me plate. So today, I'm not going to be working on my graphic design day job. Thursdays are my editing days where I do my Skillshare classes, I do editing and the administration work. So it's all concentrating on lovely Skillshare work for you wonderful students. And again, I tend to do this in the evenings anyway, during the week, but I dedicate Thursday to just making sure that I'm on top of things and I can get things rolling because you know how it is. If you've ever done video editing or video creation, it's a long, long job. Plus, Thursday is our shopping day. So what we're gonna do is we tend to do our shop every week on a Thursday for the groceries. I've got to drop off my daughter. So me and my wife, we get together in the car, drop off my daughter. Then we go and do the shopping, and then we chill at a coffee shop for about half an hour, which is the ideal time for me to do my sketchbook journal. That's exactly what I'm going to do. So I need to make sure that I've got my bag ready because yesterday when I came back from the trip to Birmingham, I did put my bag away, so I need to make sure I've got my marvel bag with me. And again, everything is in there already to go, and I don't need to worry about checking anything because I know it's already. But also I want my small bag, so my kind of small bag for my mini sketches and doodles and pocket page style things just in case there's an opportunity while we're shopping in the supermarkets, if there's any opportunity for me to do a quick little doodle, then I can do it. So again, being prepared is the key to ensuring that you're going to maintain your daily sketching habit and keep your well being levels high so that you can chill, relax and enjoy yourself, and just have that met to just reflect. So let's now get them walnuts out and have a little bit of brecci for the morning. And what I tend to do in the mornings is while I'm having me breakfast, I don't actually have a coffee. I know it's gonna come to a surprise to you all. Huge shocker. I don't have coffees on Thursday morning at home because we're going to go to a coffee shop, and I'm going to end up having it there. So I don't want to get super high on coffee throughout the day. Otherwise, I'm going to be super jittery, and, you know, I might just end up jumping up and down a bit too much more than usual. So I'm going to have my breakfast now, and at the same time, I'm going to watch your beautiful class projects and get inspired by the wonderful work that you do. So do keep on top of things with your class projects and post them on your class project galleries, because I know a lot of the times, sometimes you don't get time, but try your best, especially after you've watched a class to try doing a class project as soon as you can, because what happens is that when you watch something, you might get busy doing something else, and you might not actually get to designing and making thing. And a real kind of benefit of these classes is really to get you hands on into these sketching methods and to get used to these wonderful mediums that you have. So do upload your class project galleries as soon as you can and leave wonderful reviews on the class because without the reviews, nobody else will be able to find a class and enjoy your experience and learn from your wonderful style. So let's now enjoy a couple of minutes of some beautiful work that you've all done. Mm hmm. Just looking at some of these beautiful class projects that you guys have been doing, they are just fantastic. I'll just show you over here. So, I mean, just look at this. This is just so nice. Beautiful, beautiful work, journaling, sketching on a daily basis. It's just fantastic stuff, isn't it? I mean, this is what it's all about creating beautiful, quick sketches, using some color journaling and putting things together. It's such a great practice to do. And the most important thing is that if you stick to it and start doing it bit by bit, don't give yourself a huge target where you need to do complete spreads and pages. Then what that does is it keeps that momentum going and you don't get demotivated cause we don't want to be getting demotivated. We want to enjoy the process. The whole process is about relaxing and not stressing because if you're going to stress and do it, then there's no point because it's about getting away from the stress so that you have this window to do every single day and build this sketching habit. So I'm going to carry on with Mbreki early Dan, and I've just realized that we need to go all the way to the waste recycle center and get rid of one of our mattresses that we've had that's been lingering around outside near the garage. So I think we're going to have to squeeze that in, and my wife and daughter are going to have to hold it like that while they sat in the car, and we're gonna have to drop that off and get it recycled. Always recycle your mess. Don't leave your mess outside on the groad. You see it all the time, but we need to look after our environment. Don't we? We need to maintain our well being, and we need to maintain the well being of our environment. So all good things to talk about this morning. So I'm just going to carry on. I'm just going to carry on. Finish off my breakfast, enjoy more of your beautiful work, and then I need to jump into the car, make some room, and get that mattress inside. Oki dookie, welcome back. So I've got the car all packed up. I'm going to show you it's so funny. So that's a look at this. So there you go. The car's all packed up, got this huge dock and mattress in here. Got me most important thing, sketchbook, journal bag. And let's give this a clothes and get into the car, so I need to quickly get into the car now. Got to make sure that my camera doesn't get wet. Otherwise, then I'm gonna be in trouble 'cause this camera's not a waterproof camera. So let's see over here and clip that on. Good stuff, right? So I've got my daughter and my wife in the back somewhere over there, so what I'm gonna do is we're gonna quickly do a trip to the skip and get rid of this mattress from here so we can all sit down, drop my daughter off to college, and then we are going to go and do our regular Thursday shop, and they'll find some space to do a bit of sketchbook journeying. So let's make a move. Okidoki, so we're here at the recycling center, so I'm just going to get this mattress out and get it right in there, and then we can drop me daughter of who's squashed under the mattress right down there, so I'll see you in a bit. Alright, okidok. We're back. So it's raining cats and dogs. So what we need to do is we need to quickly get me daughter to her college, and then me and my wife can do our routine shop then hopefully sit down and do a little bit of sketchbook journaling. So you're in a bit. Okey doke. So we've just dropped off my daughter at college. She'll hopefully be coming back on the bus, and hopefully it won't be raining like it is today, so the rain has been a bit crazy. So what we're going to do now is we're just going to drive to our local shopping center, the traffic Center, and we're just going to sit down and have our coffee. And then once we're done with that we can do the grocery shop, in ASDA, and then after that, we might go for some lunch. And hopefully, in my quick coffee shop session, I should be able to get a nice half an hour job done to do a bit of journaling and some sketching of the environment. I don't know which coffee shop we're going to go to. There's so many in Trafford Center. So if you're ever in Manchester in the UK, if you pop into the Traffic Center, you'll probably see us there on Thursday. So the coffee shop that we tend to go to is Cafe Nero, but sometimes we end up going to the cosa. But to be totally honest with you, I feel like going to Caffe Nero today because I've been been costa all week, especially yesterday as well. I had it twice at the service station, and I had it the other day as well. So let's stick to Cafe Nero. Hopefully, it won't be too busy, and we can get in a good sketching session. So I'll see you when we're there. Okioke we're back now. We're in traffic center now, and it's still raining a little bit outside, so we need to quickly get in, get our space in Cafe Nero, and I'll see you when they're there. 17. Day 4: Thursday Sketchbook Journal: Okay. Hope you hope so we're just in Nero now, waiting in the queue to get our copy, and then hopefully we'll be able to do a nice little sketching journal and have a coffee and probably just get a cross on nicely warmed up. You know how it is. So I'll see you when we're there. Ok doke. So just got our lovely coffee and our cross ens pastries and just gonna sit down, enjoy this now, and got me bag. So I don't want to work on my small stuff. I want to grab hold of my proper sketchbook. And then what we're gonna do is we're gonna do a nice sketchbook journal. So here we go. We've got a small bag over there. I'm just gonna get my standard pens, and we'll keep that the side, but we'll enjoy our coffee and pastries first, and I think can make a start. I've got to say not been in Neo for a while now, and you just can't be there for butter crossans. The ones in Costa are okay, but they're a bit too flaky for make. So I'm just going to enjoy it while it's nice and warm, I always get them to warm it supper, and it's just perfect. So I think we'll be able to easily get a good 20 odd minute, 25 minute session in here. So I'm just going to go ahead and continue doing it. The vibras always nice in here. It's nice and busy, nice and warm lighting. And I just love the decor and it just works really nicely so enjoy the environment that you're in. You might not always have a coffee shop to go to again, like I said before, but all you need to do is just find your place that you feel most comfortable in. And just go for your favourite kind of drink and your pastry and just have your lovely sketchbook ready for a quick session. So let's continue with that one now. Mm Mm. Oki Dokes just done a quick little sketch. I spent about maybe seven and 8 minutes on it. Again, I'm relaxed, and that's one of the keys. When you have time and you're relaxed to do some drawing and observing, then it just makes the whole experience so much more better, and it's not as frantic as the kind of up and downs of doing it in between your work time, but doing it in between your work time is just as important because, again, it's about that momentum to keep things nice and free and open. Don't stress about getting details or, you know, doing it correctly. It's just about getting something down, use ink, use color if you can. I mean, if you've got watercolors with you, then why not just take your watercolors out if you have the time and space? I generally tend not to use my watercolors when I go out because I like to kind of, like, you know, have enough space to use them so I don't spill them anywhere, but, I mean, I've got my watercolor markers, so I might pop them out and, you know, add in a little bit of color towards the end if we have enough time. But again, today, our timing is pretty good. We don't have to rush too much. I could probably spend another half an hour on this one, but I do want to get some journaling in it. So I don't want to spend too much time on the droit side, so I'm just gonna continue. Okey doke. So just finished off this sketch I kind of went in with quite a lot of detail. Usually, I don't do this much detail in my kind of coffee shop, sketchbook journal, but I was just in the mood. The jazz playing in the background kind of, like, geared me on. Again, the environment all depends on how you're going to perform in your sketching, doodling, and in your writing. So what I'm going to do now is I'm going to probably just sit back, relax, me and my wife can have a quick little chit chat, reminiscence of what we need to do and what we've done. Then we need to move on to Azda to do. The shop. The time right now is around about 12 noon, so it gives us about an hour before we go and have our lunch. So once we've done lunch, and that's it, probably won't get another chance to sketch this long, for today because I do want to get on with the class recordings and the editing. So that's it. So manage to get a nice sketch done, and that's what I want you to try doing, especially if you have a day or just maybe, you know, a couple of hours spare on a particular day. Just going to a coffee shop, going to maybe a cafe or even a restaurant when you go out to eat, just take your sketchbooks with you and do a nice little doodle. Again, I'll show you on the camera here, so it's a little bit of a detailed sketch over there. I've not added any color. I was planning to do some color splashes. Might do them later on. So what you don't have to do is you don't have to finish a complete page in one session if you're doing a kind of long session like this. What you can do is do the inking and illustration of it at the first session. Then maybe later on in the day, you get another 15 minutes somewhere, sit down, bring your colors in and start coloring it in. The coloring in process is just as relaxing and therapeutic as is the drawing. So I enjoyed that little session probably being here for about 30 minutes now. So I think we can take a break. So go for a little walk and I'll see you. Back. Okeydokey. Welcome back. So I'm just standing outside in the car park, and I've got me broli with me. I just ended up buying this brothi from that store that I got my son's little game thing because it's absolutely pouring it down, and I thought, Do you know what? I can't walk around with this camera in the rain, otherwise, it's all going to get ruined. So I've just put me stuff in the car in the boot. I got that football thing from my son right there, and you know what I'm gonna do now? I've got this ideal opportunity as I wait for me wife, because she's still doing the clothes shopping in Primark, and I've got this five, ten minute window now to jump into the car and do a quick little doodle. So put this Bolli away, get into the car, and I'll see you. 18. Day 4: Thursday Quick Doodle & Shop: Ok I've just got back into the car now. Oh, it's absolutely pouring outside. I don't know what's going on with this weather. 1 minute. We've got beautiful sunshine, and then all of a sudden, it just becomes absolutely horrible. So, what I'm going to do is I'm going to make the most of the situation. Of course, I am. So I've got me little pocket pages, in me bag. So in that small bag, I've got me pocket pages in there, my leather one. Then I've got the notepad thing, and then I've got a little small book for small pocket pages and quick little journal sketching. So what I'm gonna do is I'm going to just do a quick little sketch while I wait for me wife, she's probably gonna be another 15 minutes. And again, making the most of the opportunities that I get. So that's what we're gonna do. We're going to just go ahead and sketch. I've got my nice little pen over here, and I think I might just do the sketch in my pocket pages. So let's make a start on that. Okay, welcome back. So I just completed a quick little doodle sketch and a nice little thought journal. It only took me about 5 minutes. That's all it took. Your wife gave me a quick call. She said she's going to be ready in another 5 minutes. So, again, I maximized on the opportunity that I got, sat in the car five, 10 minutes, looked at my surroundings, raining like crazy, so I didn't want to stand outside. Use whichever surroundings you have to your advantage to get in another tick on the checklist for your daily sketching habit. And that's my second one now. Done. Hopefully, the rain will calm down and we can go and get ourselves a bite to eat now, and then I might even be able to do a quick little doodle sketch while we're eating. So I'll see you it's time for food. Ok, Dk, so a quick change of plan. It's raining still so me wife just said that. Let's go do the Azda shopping first, get the grocery shopping out of the way. And then if we have time, we'll go sit down, find a place to sit down and eat because it's just going to take too long going all the way back in the orient in the traffic center. And then with the food, we probably going to rush too much because we've got to go pick the kids up, haven't we? Life of a graphic designer busy parent. That's how it is, but I still managed to squeeze in my two sessions today. Nice long session at the coffee shop, and then, you know, one that I just did now in the car. So I'm happy. I'd love it if I can squeeze in maybe one or two quick little sessions in, but we'll see how the days go. So let's quickly go to Asda. Okay. Okeydoke, welcome back. So we've just finished our Ater shop. I took absolutely ages. They never have the right size trolley, so we have to fit everything in the small one, manage to get it done. So now we are absolutely super hungry. So let's make a move and get to probably we're going to go Alabama's, which is a fried chicken shop to just grab something quick. And have a bit of food. And then we've got to go pick the kids up. So that's the kind of end of the main part of the day, and then the next part's going to start after picking up the kids, and then I've got to do some editing for the class to create these beautiful classes for you, and that's it. So I'll see you when I'm back. Okeydoke, welcome back. Got home now. Oh, gosh, the weather, it was just getting worse and worse. So my wife's gone to pick up me little one from the primary school, and we managed to have our yummy chicken burger, and she had what did she have? She had some fried chicken pieces with chips. Gosh, it was so nice. We were so hungry as well, 'cause we hadn't been eaten anything since we had our coffee in the morning at Nero, and just glad to be back now. So let's just get back into a studio, and back in studio now, I just need to put my son's present away now. I just need to put that on the side so that he doesn't get ruined. And then I've got my bag. Put me small bag here. Get my most important bag, my marble bag. Get that on the side. And I'm going to quickly freshen up, and then I'm gonna go get my son. Okay, okay. It's been a long day just got back from picking up my son. So what I'm going to do now is I'm just going to have a look at some of the class assets. I'm getting ready for the next class. It might even be this class, but I'm not going to say anything further. So what I'm going to do is just have a little bit of time, work could actually do with a coffee, so I might make myself a nice drink and just have this next two, three hour session of doing some hardcore work. And then we've got to get ready for my son's party, which is on Saturday. So I've got a lot of other things that I need to sort out. My daughter should be coming back from her college in a couple of hours. Go to need to go check up on her. So I'm going to start working on classwork and maybe see a couple of emails from private graphic design clients of mine, see how they're all going, and I'll speak to you when I'm having me tea, and I might even squeeze in a nice little sketchy doodle. So I'll see you then. Yeah, that's looking good, so I think that's the second project of the class complete. We should go for a break. Okay, Dk, welcome back. So I've just done my editing now for my next class or my next after next class. Who knows which one it's gonna be, but I've managed to do a good couple of hours. The time right now is 6:00 P.M. And I'm quite exhausted, but I've got a graphic design job to do. It's more of a creative one. I've got to design some cake topper designs. So I'm going to have a bit of a break now, do a little bit of doodling and sketching, just quick doodling in my kind of small book, just to kind of relax my mind and get away from the digital, again, that's one of the main aspects of creating this sketchbook habit with real mediums. Analog tools so that we can move away from the digital because that's the truth of the matter. We can't get away from the digital, but we can move away from it for a short period of time, just to give our eyes and our body a bit of a rest and to get back into touch with the real world, the real touchy, feelly part of the world that we live in that we tend to forget because of all the digital influence that surrounds us. So I'm going to do a quick little sketch now, just a bit of doodle, woodle. I might use some colored inks or some brush pens, whatever I can find in me shelf, you know, me. I've probably got 1,000 different mediums hidden away in me shelves and especially those special ones that I've done classes on that you've all watched and done beautiful class projects in. So I'm going to quickly select some mediums, just go to open up my small sketchbook, and I'm going to do a quick little sketch. 19. Day 4: Thursday Quick Doodle Break: M. Okay, it okay, so I just did this quick little sketch of some strawberries because that's what I've been eating for the last couple of days. I just had this picture of red and strawberries in my head. So I just quickly got it down. So for this, I just used my mal watercolor markers, the ones that you can get from Ikea. Fantastic little markers. They don't over bleed on the pages. And I just use my small little book. To come up with this funky little sketch of some strawberries. I like how it turned out. I only spent literally 5 minutes on this. And then I got a couple of notes on there, and it just came right to my head while I was doing this. I'll read it out to you. So it basically says, sometimes the simple things always taste so good. Keep it simple. Yes, indeed, keep it simple. Try keeping things simple. Don't overcomplicate things in life. Just try your best to deal with things step by step. And again, when it comes to food, again, simple things always tend to taste so good, especially eat them at the right time. So that was my little thought journal and my quick little doodle doodle for kind of the end of the day, really. So what are we on? We're on about 6:30 now. So nice little doodle sketch. So I think, how many have I done today? I've done? Is this my third one? Probably my third one. So I'm quite happy that I've managed to do three different sketches. Mainly sketchbook journal style sketches. Again, I've not done no everyday pages. I've not had the time to plan for them. I'm going to keep that for the weekend. But then again, it's my son's birthday on Saturday, so we're going to be busy in the party. So I'm most likely just going to do my small pocket pages and sketchbook journal drawings if and when I get the chance, but I will ensure that I have my books at hand on my desk downstairs in the living room, near the kitchen, so that I don't miss out on those opportunities. Because you don't need absolute peace and quiet to be able to sketch. You can sketch in any situation. So if the kids are just sat down and they're playing around and having to go on their games and I'm just watching them for a bit, then again, that another ideal opportunity, another window to make use of. So that's probably going to be what I on the Saturday. So my Saturdays different compared to the Monday to Friday. And that's why I wanted to kind of really do this Monday to Friday five day of daily sketching and implementing it into my busy lifestyle to really show you how I do this, and that would hopefully inspire you and motivate you to do it in ways that you may not have thought about before. So when you go outside, you take your small bag with you, keep your medium bag with you when you're going in the car. And just making use of those pockets of opportunities wherever you are. So, that's probably it for now. What I'm going to do is for the rest of this evening now, I've got my design jobs to finish off. I've got to design some cake toppers. And yes, it's going to be for my son and for my daughter, and I've got to do a few more other designs for my wife's cake company. So she's got a few orders to get done through me. So I'm going to be busy busy all the way through the night. I've done some editing, and that's pretty much my routine for Thursdays, working from home and dealing with family stuff. So hopefully, this has given you a different perspective of my general week. Tomorrow, I'm back at work now, early morning starts again. I've got meetings in the morning, and I've got to deal with the world of graphic design. I'm going to try my best to get a few sketches in tomorrow. So hopefully, have a good night's sleep, and you've enjoyed watching all these episodes up to now, and you can't wait for the final one for tomorrow. So I'll see you on Friday. 20. Day 5: Friday Morning & Lunch Sketches: Hello, and welcome back. It's Friday morning, and I've got up quite early. I've got all my morning duties out of the way. I'm done. I've dropped my son off at his school. My daughter, she's not going to college today, so she's sleeping. She's a sleepy head all day today, you know how it is with the teenage girls and boys, they just sleep all day if they don't need to get up. Oh, I used to love them days, reminiscing in those good old college days. Oh, it was so good. Anyway, right, let's get back to it because I've got to get on with my graphic design job. I've got a meeting in another 6 minutes now. Our meeting starts. So I need to get on with that meeting, quickly have me breakfast, and me coffee, and I'll see if I can quickly squeeze in a morning doodle and thought journal before the meeting starts if anybody's running late. And then it's straight onto the job. Quite a lot of creative jobs to do today. Friday, I keep for my more creative long form jobs. But then again, I always end up getting emergencies that I've got to deal with. So let's get started. Okey dokey, that was a good meeting. Just finished our work meeting now, and what I need to do is get on with quite a few items on the agenda. And sometimes that's what happens. When you think you're going to have a nice easy day that's already planned out, it turns out to be that you've got so many other jobs to get done before you can deal with your nice easy jobs. So I've just finished my coffee now. I didn't even get a chance to have yummy yummy breakfast. So what I'm gonna do is I'm just going to quickly have me breakfast, food, get on with the job, not got enough time to do a journal or doodle, so I'm gonna have to wait till lunchtime for that, and I'll see you. When it's lunchtime. Okey dokey, welcome back. We were just in a call in our meeting, and the laptop of my colleagues have all crashed, so they're trying to log back in. So I've got this idle time. I've just got to wait until they get back in. So I've probably got about two or 3 minutes to quickly get in a little sketch. So I'm going to quickly do this now. See, I'm maximizing the opportunity to get my little sketch and journal in wherever I can. And this is just great because I've got my book with me on my desk, and, you know, I've got my nice little pen over here, I'm going to quickly do one while my colleagues try getting back online for the meeting. H Okay, doke. So what I did was while I was waiting for my colleague, I managed to get a quick little thought journal in and did a little kind of doodle, not finished it off. It was just a doodle of my breakfast that I had this morning from what I could remember. But again, so what I did there was I just utilized my time, didn't I? I knew that my colleague was going to be about three, 4 minutes to actually get back online. And because I had my book right next to me on my table with my pen, it just made this quick little session so easy to do and maximize on that opportunity that I had. So if I hadn't have this book on my table or my pen, then I wouldn't have been able to do anything. I would have had to just sit on the laptop here and wait because I can't open anything else, do anything else because we're on a live meeting. So try your best to keep something with you all the time. I know, generally speaking, when you're in meetings or when you're at work, you might not always have a sketchbook and a pen with you. But you might have some paper. You don't specifically have to have a sketchbook or a nice pen with you. You might just have some paper, even your work notes, whatever it is, draw a little box while you're waiting in this idle time moment and just do a quick little thought journal, thought journal, do a little drawing, and then cut it out and then put it inside your journal sketchbook, date it, and you've just gone ahead and done a quick little session. So that was really good because I just quickly got my thoughts down on a piece of paper in a time that I didn't plan to do it, but I made the most of it. So I need to get back to work now because I've got to get on with this next job, and hopefully I'll be able to do another session at lunchtime, so I'll see you then. It okay, 4:00 P.M. New meeting added in invite has been accepted. Right. All of them jobs are done, so we can deal with the 4:00 P.M. Meeting before we need to do that. I think we should go for lunch. Ok welcome back. So I've got a nice little meeting in at 4:00 P.M. Which means I'm going to have to hurry up and get my son from school and then get ready for that meeting. And before then, there's another two design jobs that I've got to get done, which I've just come through now. So busy, busy Fridays, as usual, didn't get much time to do my creative work for my job, which is a shame because I do enjoy the creative design part, but you've got to get through the priorities just like in life. Got to do the things that you have to do first. Then you can do the things that you enjoy doing. But in the middle of all these things, we've got to make sure get our thought journals down and do a little bit of doodling. So I'm going to go get my lunch now and I'm going to grab hold of my little wad of cards and that colored pencil that I've got downstairs. Tying to remember where I put it. I think in the excitement of drawing on it last time I might I've just misplaced it. But anyway, I'm going to locate it. And while I'm waiting for my wife to get all set up, then I can do a quick little sketch and some thought journals. So let's quickly go do that now. H Ok dog just had my lunch. Nice omelet that my wife made me an omelet bun burger. So we've had our lunch now, and quickly have that. I've still got a good solid 20 odd minutes of me lunchtime left. So I'm going to do a quick little sketch and a thought journal in my little wad of paper over here, these little cards. I'm just going to use my nice blue fabricastle pencil over here. So quickly gonna do that now, and then I'm going to go for a walk. Ok Doge just did my quick little doodle and thoughts of lunch. So I just drew what we were eating, my whomal bun in that yummy omelet that my wife just made. So that was my quick little session. Only took about 3 minutes, 4 minutes. Again, because the day is really busy, I'm not going to get too much time to spend a lot on my sketching and writing or doodling. So I'm just going to work on these smaller ones throughout the day. And then at the end of the day when work is all done and dust and basically the weekend is going to start. Then I'm going to spend a little bit of time possibly doing some prep work for my everyday pages that I want to do on the weekend or just do a nice sketchbook journal with a splash of color because I've not used watercolors all week, so I am quite eager to get that wet medium into the mix. So let's get ready to go for a walk and get back in time before lunch ends. 21. Day 5: Friday Afternoon Grind: Oki, Dokey, welcome back. So it was really, really windy outside. The weather here in the UK is absolutely bonkers because it's 1918 to 19 degrees in terms of the warm, but it's just so windy. I should have taken my camera to show you, but I don't know if you can see this through the window. I mean, look at that. All the trees look the way they're moving. I don't know if you can hear the wind, but my gosh, they are just waving like crazy. I mean, look at that. It's like a storm coming in warm weather. But not a good hey, not good at all, but good job. I didn't have to go to the office. I thought I might have had to go to the office because I just had an email before I left. It was that delivery that was due all week, and I thought they might end up delivering it today, but I don't know. I've just got this gut feeling that towards the end of the day, they're going to deliver it, and I'm the one who's going to have to go pick it up. So if that happens, that'd be great because then I can jump onto the tram, go and get it, but it's all going to coincide with picking up my son, so it might have to be a late one. But anyway, let's make ourself a ice coffee, and I'm just looking at my emails right now, and there's another job that's come in. See, always busy will keep you always active, and it's always good to stay busy. So let's put this down here. You can see me. I'm going to make myself a quick coffee, and then I'm going to get on with my work. So probably not going to have much time to do any more sketching. If it turns out that I do have to go to the office, even after I pick my son up from school, then I'll go, and I'll take sketchbook journal with me 100% and do a quick sketchbook journal in one of the local coffee shops near where I work, which is just surrounded by beautiful coffee shops. So that might happen. It might not, but I need to stay prepared. So my bag is ready, my small side bag is ready, and me backpack is ready. So hopefully, I may or may not see you outside, but I'll definitely see you inside after I've finished mi job. Thank you. Mm hm. Managed to get all my work done, and I'm ready for the next lot of jobs. Luckily, I didn't have to go to the office because I don't really want to be going to the office at this time. The delivery has already been received and somebody else took care of it, so that thumbs up. But it's a shame because I wanted to do a nice little sketch at the coffee shop when I went to the office because that's always the ideal time for me to get a good little session in because I usually go on the tram to work. And the trams sometimes can take about 15 minutes to come, and I use that 15 minutes. I jump into a coffee shop, which is right around the corner, the particular cafe neara that I jump into, and that's my go to place to do a nice little sketch while I'm in transit mode, while I'm in that idle time. So, again, if you're at work and you're going to and from work and you've got to wait for public transport, in that time, that's the ideal time to do your reflection, your well being journals, and just doodle what you see. It's such a relaxing exercise to do, and I highly, highly recommend it. So we're pretty much on the close of the week now Friday at nearly 3:00 P.M. Most of my jobs are done. I've just got to work on the jobs from this meeting, which will take me to the end of the day to around about 6:00, and then I'm going to be finished for the week. And hopefully, that's given you an insight into what I've been like on a day to day basis trying to build in my sketchbook journaling and creative well being habit, and it's given you some insight and some ideas, which you might not have thought of how you could quickly get these in. So I'm going to probably make myself another drink. I know I've already had my second coffee now, but I'm a bit sleepy today for some reason. I think I'm still recovering from that long drive that I did in Birmingham on Wednesday still recovering from that. It was such a long day. But I think I might maybe I might make myself a ginger tea instead. So I might quickly get a ginger tea ready and then get all hyped up and energized for my meeting and then finish off with some final bits. But I might end up doing a quick little journal while the meeting starts getting ready because sometimes people are always late to meetings and have logged in. And then, again, you're in that idle time mode, where you've got three or 4 minutes to just jot down your thoughts and, you know, what you're feeling, what you're feeling good about. You don't want to concentrate on the negative side of what your feelings are because the more you think about negative things, the more negative you're going to feel. So instead, write down positives of the day. So sometimes sometimes in the day, you might not have any positives. It might all be negative and gloomy. But the things to appreciate are your health, your well being, the things that you've got. Sometimes it's difficult to focus on the positives, especially when you're going through a hard time. But just try your best to think about the things that you have that somebody else might not have, and it could be the simplest of things if you've got food to eat. So if you've had lunch, just think about how appreciative you are for the lunch that you've got because somebody else might not be able to have lunch in their life. You know, difficult things are all over the world and, you know, how crazy things can get where some people don't even have food to eat. So just eating, sitting down, journaling about what you're eating, it can really, really enlighten you and kind of, like, you know, ease the mood, especially if you're going through a bad day. I know going through bad days is horrible, and I've been through my fair share of them. In fact, I was going through a bad day yesterday in the evening, but I kind of didn't want to think or dwell too much about it. I wanted to look for those opportunities to sketch and at the same time, look for those opportunities to be grateful for what I've got. And at the end of it, it's just an exercise to help with your mindset and your health. So let's quickly make that ginger tea. Only got a few minutes left and see if I can drop down some notes before the meeting starts. Okidokesth just going to go get my son now. Uh, running a little bit late. He's probably going to be waiting for me outside as usual. But what we need to do is we need to pick the kid up and go quickly get some groceries because we've run out. It's their birthday party tomorrow. And what I need to do is make sure that I hurry up and get back because that job that I just got from that meeting, the deadlines got a little bit forward on it, which means that I'm going to have to work really, really into the evening now, and that's not ideal, but that's it. The sacrifice is that we have to do in our jobs. But then again, at least then once that job is done, I don't have to deal with it next week, so that's all good. But, I mean, just look at the wind out here. I'm just going to show you the wind. It's absolutely crazy the weather. Just look at the way all the trees are moving. Just look at that. I don't know if you can hear it or even see on the camera. It's so, so windy, and the actual temperature, if you have a look on my car, it's coming in as 23 degrees. So it's absolutely roasting outside, but super windy at the same time. So just don't know what to wear. What a dilemma. But anyway, let's go and get me sun and do a bit of grocery shop, milk. That's all we need. We've run out of milk and veg, so milk and frozen veg, and then I actually need to pick up the meat from the meat shop for tomorrow's party. So let's quickly do that, get back home, finish the day job. That's going to end up going into the evening and then maybe do a quick sketching session when I'm doing my back exercises to sort out me back. So I'll see you when I'm back. 22. Day 5: Friday After Work Sketch: So it's 6:00 now, and the kind of job is now I would say, about 50% complete. Did take a lot of time to do. I thought I'd be able to just do a quick copy and paste job from my older report, but the requirements of these infographics meant that I needed to start from scratch again. I had to create the elements again, probably about halfway through it now, but hopefully by Monday, it'll be done and dusted, and then I can work on my other projects that I've had to leave behind because of this emergency mod. So, what does that mean? That means that Friday work is now complete. I'm absolutely shattered. And my back is absolutely aching. So what I'm going to do is I'm just going to lie down on the floor, do my back stretches that are recommended by the chiropractor and the physio, and I'm going to make the most of my back stretches as soon as I do them, I'm going to lie down, and I'm going to do a little bit of journal and doodle, and that's probably going to be the last one for today because then after I do that, I've got to organize my sons and daughter's party tomorrow for the birthday. Got to deal with the balloons, set everything up. You know how it is? Busy dad, busy life, busy work, busy everything. So hopefully, this has given you a nice five day week of my life insight of how I utilize my time to fit in these pockets of opportunities, these little windows, like I call them, to start doing sketching on a daily basis to improve my well being. And it really helps. So I'm going to finish off the day with my back exercises and let get on the floor. So I'm on the floor now doing my back exercises. I've got my book, pen, and a couple of markers that I picked from the side right over here, as you can see, whatever I could grab hold of to do my final sketch. And basically, I'm just gonna continue with me exercises. And as soon as I'm completely stretched out and I've done the routine, then I'm just going to do a little doodle and a final thought journal for the day. So let's get on with that. Oh Okay, so I've done a few little back stretches. It's kind of released me back, wiggling me legs around. This is kind of my routine because if you watch my classes before, you know, that I've got really bad back. I've got really bad kind of muscle issues in my legs. But that's just life, isn't it? We've got to continue with whatever tests and issues that we have and stay positive. And that's what makes the well being sessions so much more better sketching and doodling, because it just helps you get away from your day to day problems and give you that escape away into a different reality where you can just enjoy the thoughts that come into your mind. Again, like I mentioned earlier on, it's not about dwelling on negative thoughts or problems. Sometimes it can help to just write about those issues that you have in your kind of personal journal. But for daily sketching and doing quick doodles and sketching and journals, try your best to focus on the positive things. So, for example, I'm lying down, I'm tired, my back's hurting, so I'm just doing my exercises. I'm going to get my paper now. The kind of little pad thing that I've been working on for the last couple of days, go to open it to a new one, got a pen, splash a little bit of color. I've got an orange and a purple, and I'm just going to come up with some nice bright kind of designs. Just on the spot, I'm not going to draw anything from observation. I'm in the mood of just designing up some colorful flowers or balloons because a party tomorrow. So whatever you can come up with that will kind of get you a bit more in a happy mood. Just put it on a page. Don't think about it. Just go with whatever comes out, write a couple of notes, journals, thoughts, happy thoughts, positive things that you're looking forward to and that's one session done. So I'm gonna continue doing that now. Mm But I have done my little final doodle journal scribble thing toward the end of the day. I only spent probably about two or 3 minutes on it while I was doing my exercises on my back. So I ended the note with a I'm not sure if you can see that on the screen, but it says, stay positive at the end, because that's what it's all about. It's about staying positive, regardless of what's happening in the day. You can be going through an absolute crazy day or you might be going through a fantastic day. You're gonna have good days and bad days in life. You can't plan for everything. All you can do is work hard towards achieving your goals and try your best to maintain a balance in your life. And if things get too overwhelming, then just escape away. Just get away. Don't be lost in the struggles, get away and do a little bit of sketching, a little bit of thinking, a little bit of relaxing so that you can kind of navigate your mind and center yourself. That's what it's about centering yourself getting back, recharging, and then going again because life is unpredictable. You don't know what's going to happen. But what you can do is stay prepared. And I hope you've enjoyed watching me doing my day to day life as a graphic designer in my day job and then working as a Skillshare teacher to create these classes for brilliant students like you and seeing how I build in time to get small doodle journals down and thought journals and just relax for these kind of moments that I find within the day. And again, the key most important thing is that you stay prepared. You have enough small little sketchbooks scattered around in your workplace, where you are, where you sit, your living room, your studio, your place of work, your office even, in your jacket pockets, in your bags, in your main pockets, and always have some type of a medium to do the writing and drawing with. And that way, you're never going to miss out on that opportunity. And that's it now. So you've watched me for five days doing different things, different activities, building in time to sketch on a daily basis. And this is what I on an absolute daily basis, I never usually go without doing some type of doodle or drawing. It's always something going on in my busy lifestyle. Again, you might be able to relate to this. You might not your lifestyle might be completely different, but it makes absolutely no difference because as long as you stay prepared, you can do a lot on some days. Some days you might not be able to do as many sketches and doodles. But as long as you're doing something on a daily basis, this is going to help with your well being, and it's going to help build that momentum that I keep talking about because now that I've built this momentum, I'm warmed up with my muscle memory, in my hands, and in my mind, as well. And whenever I open a piece of paper or a book and grab hold of a medium, I'm ready to start drawing. I don't have to sit down and plan too much. I can just get on with it. And the reason for that is because I'm doing it on a regular basis and on a daily basis. So I'm going to start doing some work towards my everyday pages over the weekend. I'm going to concentrate on them. I do have a nice idea for that. So if you haven't watched my everyday pages class, then do watch that. But for now, this is the conclusion of the five day blog style inspiration for you all to hopefully be motivated on and start sketching on a daily basis. So what we'll do now is let's wrap up the class and do a quick little summary of the different designs that I produced, and then we can come up with some final thoughts. 23. Final Thoughts: Kidoki welcome back. Now, I know you enjoyed those five days of me going all over the place and doing my sketchbook, journaling, pocket pages, and sketching on the go challenge. Now, you see, I didn't plan to do this many sketches or this many minimum sketches or maximum sketches throughout this challenge. I just went along in my day to day routine and just maximized on those opportunities. And hopefully, that's what you would have seen while I'm trying to plan for things and things turn out the way I plan. Sometimes, like on a couple of those days, I was aiming to do some lunchtime or afternoon sketching or going to the office, and those things just didn't happen, did they? So it's not about planning. It's all about being prepared. I hope that's the main lesson that you've taken from this class, and now you're ready and all motivated. Start this challenge. So please give this challenge a go and try it out. Again, don't stress if you can't do more than one sketch a day or more than one session a day. It doesn't matter. It might turn out that you can only do one session for a couple of days, and then maybe on day four or day five, you can do loads. It doesn't matter. The most important thing is that you do something, even if it mean for just 1 minute every single day. And that will just keep that momentum going and keep your hands nice and warm so that you can spend a bit more time doing the more intricate work on the weekends in your everyday pages. Bigger artwork, so your bigger sketchbook journaling. So thank you so much for watching the class. Thank you so much for your support and your help over all these brilliant years. If you watch my classes before, you know, that I'm absolutely bonkers about art, and I love using traditional mediums, and I love daily sketching, and I highly recommend it for your well being. I try my best on a daily basis to sketch at least three to four times a day. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. But as long as I'm doing something, doodling, writing, scribbling, or just coming up with some shapes and coloring them in, as long as I'm doing the movement of sketching and writing a few words, then I just feel that I'm always engaged. So that's what it's about being engaged in your daily sketches and using your traditional mediums so that you can escape away from the digital world and bring back that old school analog into your life. And that just gives that calm peace and serenity in the hectic world of the digital. So again, thank you so much for your time. Do please upload your class projects on the class project gallery and do leave those wonderful reviews that you always leave. It makes such a huge difference to myself and to so many of the students that haven't found a class yet. They can find a class through your wonderful reviews, and that way, our community can get even bigger, stronger, and we can share the well being with the world. So thank you again. Take care of yourself. Don't stress. Don't worry. Life has its ups and downs, but the most important thing is that we manage to get our way through it in a balanced way. So take care of yourself, take care of your health, and hopefully I'll see you on the next one, love and peace. Peace.