InktoberArchitecture: Why Architects Still Need to Sketch in a Digital World Artwork

What the RFI?

Join Matt Brennan, Assoc. AIA as he discusses the day-to-day life in the Contract and Construction Administration world. This podcast bridges the gap between Architects, Designers, Engineers, consultants and General Contractors as they work through Construction Administration (CA) related items.

Each episode focuses on the challenges, techniques and technology to help navigate through the fast-paced construction industry.

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What the RFI?

InktoberArchitecture: Why Architects Still Need to Sketch in a Digital World

October 06, 2025 • Matt Brennan • Episode 36

It’s time to dust off the desk, grab your favourite pen, and roll out the trace because InktoberArchitecture is here!

In this episode of What the RFI?, host Matt Brennan welcomes back Nathan Taylor, Building Envelope Consultant, artist, and creator of the global sketching movement InktoberArchitecture. Together, they dive deep into how hand sketching connects creativity, communication, and construction in an increasingly digital and AI-driven profession.

This episode explores why architects, designers, and students are rediscovering sketching as a tool for problem-solving, storytelling, and learning. Nathan shares the origins of the challenge, his favourite prompts from this year, and why drawing, even on a napkin, can change how we design and think.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

The story behind InktoberArchitecture and how to participate
Why hand sketching still matters in the era of BIM, Revit, and AI
How a quick field sketch can solve problems faster than an RFI
The power of community and visual storytelling in architecture
Practical tips for getting started: tools, pens, prompts, and mindset

Whether you’re an architect, student, or creative professional, this episode will inspire you to slow down, draw more, and reconnect with the craft that started it all.

Learn more and join the challenge:

👉 BuildingScape Blog

👉 Follow the hashtag #InktoberArchitecture on LinkedIn and Instagram

⏱️ Chapters

00:00 – Introduction: Dust off the desk and grab your pen

02:00 – Catching up with Nathan Taylor: CSI, AIA East Bay, and new projects
03:15 – What is InktoberArchitecture? Origins and inspiration
06:40 – Why architects should still draw in a digital world
09:30 – This year’s prompts and creative interpretations
13:20 – The role of hand sketching in Construction Administration
17:00 – Field sketches, RFIs, and real-world problem solving
20:30 – The muscle memory of drawing vs. digital design
26:00 – The community behind InktoberArchitecture
31:30 – Favourite sketches, firms, and global participation
33:45 – Overcoming the “I can’t draw” myth
39:50 – Favourite tools: pens, paper, and the art of imperfection
42:30 – Digital sketching and apps like Morpholio Trace
45:00 – Architecture culture, creativity, and balance
48:00 – Sketching as stress relief and collaboration tool
50:00 – How to join the challenge and where to find Nathan
52:00 – Final thoughts: pick up a pen and start sketching

🎙️Website - WhattheRFI.com

🍏Apple Podcast - What the RFI?
🎧Spotify - What the RFI?
🎥YouTube - @WhatTheRFI

1:00:00

dust off that desk,grab that favorite pen.Where's the trace?It's time to sketch for Inktober October.Let's get into it.(upbeat music)Welcome to What the RFI, I'm Matt Brennanand this is the podcast all about CA.And today I'm returned with a specialcase, Nathan Taylor.Now, last time,Nathan, you were on the show,it was at CSI and you'renot going this year, right?No, double booked,I'm actually presentingin AIA East Bay, they have awaterproofing symposiumthat'll be presenting the week before.So just a little bit heavyon the presentation timesand other conferences.Yeah, no, and fair enough, hey, butthat's, it's all good.And today we're tryingthings a little different.This is live on LinkedIn.This is the first timewe've done a live showin this kind of manner.Last time I'd ran a show, wewere on the AIA Spire stage,which was incredible, a lot of fun.We had a liveaudience, but we didn't go liveto the mainstream.So we're gonna try thisout and see how it is.We're gonna come to questions laterand see if actually anyone's actuallyworking on a Saturday.But we'll cover those questionsif there's anything in that.So we've got so much to cover.It's been a long timesince you and I've reconnected.I know we're talkingweek by week and everything,but doing a showtogether, it's been a while.So one, I'm thrilled to do this one.I'm very thrilled to getinto what we need to talk about.But before we get into that,for the ones that don'tknow you, Nathan, little intro,who are you, what's your background?My name is Nathan Taylor.I am a building envelope consultant.Currently work for ECS Limited.New company, it was just,older company merged together with them.So we're now a much larger group.For the most part we are doing,or my part at work will beconstruction administration,onsite work, forensics investigations,a little bit of peer review,and a little bit of site safety.Nice.Nice.And this episode is all about sketching,which I really like.And is it something that you're really,really passionate about?And that's what we're gonna get intoand dive right into it.And the big question is,what is Inktober architecture?I know we're a little bit latebecause we're a fewdays into October already,but in high level, whatis Inktober architecture?Yeah, so Inktober was started a whileback by some artists.They put out a list ofprompts for every day in October,a prompt to get you started,and you do a drawing every day.I believe Bagan is an ink thing,but it's any medium at this point.I kind of took that andadapted it to architecture,so Inktober architecture.And the idea was to create a prompt listwhere people could get a head start,a little bit of inspiration,and start sharing their drawings,whether it be hand-drawn orcomputer or markers, pencils.That wasn't the big point.It was to get peopleback to drawing againand to sharing it,being able to inspire eachother, learn from each other,and just use visual communication.So for the last,I think this is the fifthyear that we've been doing it.It's been growing pretty steadily.Last year we had nine different countriesand just shy of 500 people participate,which was pretty good.This year we're only acouple days in so far,but we already havethree different countries.We have a firm inFrance that's participatingfor a second year in arow, which has been good.A lot of people from PuertoRico, which has been great,and then across the US.And hopefully we can pickup some Canadians here too,if we're lucky.But yeah, we got a littlelist goes out on social media.It's all over Instagramand LinkedIn at this point,share it on Facebook as well,and trying to get people to take a lookand jump right in to share the drawings.And it is such an incredible thing.So going back fiveyears when this all came up,and like I said, startwith the tattoo industryand that stuff and you saw it,what sparked that interest going,hey, I want to do thison the architectural side?Walk me through that idea,walk through the audience through that.Yeah, so I had actually participatedin the kind of the artside of it for a while,while living in China even.And it was just reallyfun to see a bunch of peoplesharing artwork and thenthe different variances.Like if you have aprompt for a single day,just everybody takes that differently.They all have their own ideasabout how to make that into a drawing.For example, the first onefor Inktober this year for uswas a napkin sketch.Well, the obvious thing for an architectis to sketch out something on a napkin.But what do you sketch on it?Do you do a buildingsection, do you do a window,or are you trying to do a conceptual idealike you would whenyou share with a clientover a napkin sketch?Or in some cases, wehad somebody last yearfor the napkin sketch promptliterally do a charcoaldrawing of a stack of napkins,which was hilarious.So everybody takes it differently.They have large napkins wherethey folded the whole thing outand like gone crazy with markers on it.Might happen to be a bluejay this year, but on a napkin.So whatever it happens to be,we're just looking forsome creative insightand something toshare with everybody else.Again, inspiringpeople to get drawing again,using their hands and using the brainto put things down on paper.Yeah, 100%.And like, why shouldarchitects care about drawing?Like why, you know, becausewe're in a digital age, right?You know, we can use Revit.What's your take on that?I do enjoy digital stuff as well.There will always besomething about analogand doing it by hand.There's a connectionbetween the hand-eye coordination.It's all going through your brain.So it really helps you learn thingswhen you're drawing by hand.I do know a lot of peoplewho are drawing on tablet nowtrying to get the same effect.It's not something I'vereally grasped onto yet.I still like a traditional sketchbook,but it's that transfer ofthought through your handsand using your eyes to kind of learnas you're creating something.It's kind of like, I hadsomebody describe it as,if you're drawing theexterior of a building,you're trying tounderstand how water's gonna flowover a roof and a facade or a cable.And if you think of itin your mind as like,the rain literally falls onto the roofand then it travelsdown the slope of that roofand it gets to the edgeand either goes over the edgeto a lower roof or into a gutter.And then that's gonna move differentlyat a different angle,possibly a different slope.And it's gonna flow alongthe side of the buildingand it needs to be outboard ofinstallation and waterproofing.And you have your siding orcladding of whatever type.And the thought patternof following that wateris basically what you do witha pencil when you're drawingthat exterior line around a building,trying to gather that.So, I mean, even at Aspire,you had one of your guests on stage theretalking about live sketchingwith a bunch of architects.Like that's exactly whatyou wanna do is get outside,see actual conditions, draw them,figure out how they're put together.Because in the architecture andconstruction industry,you go out and you look at something,you're all automatically thinking like,how did they build that?How's that actually put together?And from a drawing aspect that helps youlike betterunderstand and retain that ideaof how something's put together.And they even had an actualdedicated sketching workshopat Aspire, which was,and unfortunately it just,there was so many good classes,so I couldn't necessarilyget into there and take part.But yeah, I heard alot of amazing things.And like you said,there was the live sketcheras they were doing the main keynoteand he was kind of drawing things,what was hearing here from his visual.And that's exactly kindof like what's really coolabout this event thatyou've kind of put together.And like you said,we've got a list of prompts.And again, for theaudience listening, your goal,we'll get links in thedescription and all that,where to go, but basicallylike go to the Instagram,go to the LinkedIn andsee that and download this,put it in, print it out,put it next to your monitoras a daily reminder, it'syour calendar for the next month.And through the 2025 prompts,any particular ones thatyou're excited about to get in,have you already started thinking about?Like what are your topthree out of this 21 list?So I do, I put this up onsocial media pretty early.So if anybody has a busy scheduleand that wants to participate,knows they're not gonnabe able to draw every day,they can always get a headstart.So it's good to do that one.This year's napkin sketch has always beenone of my favorite ones simplybecause it's kind of an iconicarchitecture aspect of things.I also have day 17,which is draw somethingfrom the buildingscape Instagram pagebecause we postbuilding photos every day.So being able to pullfrom that is always fun.I have coffee sketch on here this year,which is kind of a shout out to thecoffee sketch podcast.Also, architects andartists get together,have coffee and draw,another great little thingto check in if you get a chance.But they also areparticipating in Inktoberwith an architecture flair.So it's a cool community to get intoand little prompts thatcan bring things back inand kind of like makepeople think about thingsa little differently.Like nobody does blueprints anymore,but I have blueprint as a prompt.Like how are you gonna decipher that?Are you gonna actuallytry to create a blueprint?Are you gonna draw with blue?Like who knows?It could be anything.It could be a courier with blueprintsstrapped to their back.I mean, it literally could be anything.And that's the thing, likewhen I was looking at theseyesterday and puttingthe show notes togetherand I was like, finish, that's kind of a,I'm a runner and everything and I've donehalf marathons and 10Ks and all that.And like, there's a finish line,but there's also somethingunique where you could totally,anyone's gonna think ofa little bit different.And I think that's thesubjective part of this.This isn't a contest, thisis just between you and youand drawing every day andexercising that memory muscle,getting into that and reallypushing that creative side.We're gonna have a whole little segmentabout that coming uphere, but yeah, definitely,some of these things are just,you can go so manydifferent, like even home,like again, everyone cango to naturally draw a home,but they can also draw anoutdoor forest or whatever.I don't know, like it's pretty cool.Vintage is another fun one.Where do you feel in your home?Yeah, like vintage what?Like are you a car fanatic on the side?Are you looking for like areally cool old drafting tablefrom back in the day?I mean, all of these can be takenin any different way theywant, which is the best partand seeing the diversity ofpeople's creative thoughtswhen you get these.I mean, you say finish and you're like,oh, I'm a runner and Ido this and I'm thinking,oh, interior finishes,like what kind of finish?Totally different. Thewrong side is stainless,like is it a cabinetry thing?So in having a singleword or two words thereis enough to where anybodycan read it any way they want.And that's the best part.And I think that's like,that's the really coolthing when you start,you mentioned, and Iremember seeing this last yearon your post, like youwere posting like again,this like full architecture out of Franceor whatever firm where itwas is that they had this wallplaster with everyonedoing their sketchesand what a cool thing.Like, you know, if I was in your shoes,I would be proud of that momentbecause like you've started a movementand you've been, youknow, you keep it going.So anyways, kudos that,yeah, let's keep going.There's so much exciting about this,but out of this 31 list,what is your absolute favorite?Which one are you looking forward to?Or however you already done it?I have not done it yet.I am curious about whatI'm gonna do for movement.The last couple ofyears I've had movementand I've purposely come up with adifferent one each year.And they've been prettygood creative changes.So figuring out how to do movement,but you know, flat paperrendition or something.Yeah.There's always alittle bit of a challenge,but also making it creative and fun toshare is a big thing.So again, how are yougonna decipher the wordand use it in some kind of a drawing?So that'll be the one to look out for.Halfway through the movement.Day 18, mark your calendarguys, mark your calendar,right in almost just overthe middle of the month.So the role of how insketching in a digital age.And we kind of touchedon this at the beginning,why it still matters.Heck, we've got AI, we'vegot BIM, parametric design,all these fun tools of it.But you kind of said rightaway, and I love your example,drawing and you're kind of like the waythe water beats downand coming down from thecladding and everything,you're thinking about that.And it's similar to whatI had written down too.For example, likewhen I met Richard Nagerand one of my oldprincipals and everything,and he like when he reallywanted us to kind of get backfrom being so outsidein this Revit world,click, click, click, click, click,you weren'tunderstanding what you're doing.And that's exactly what Ifind with hand sketchingand drawing and I still do it.We had friends over lastweek and I was trying to explainthem to 21st learning andwhen it comes to schoolsin K to 12 and how we did the pauseand how we open all these rooms.And right away, I'm like, I'm trying toexplain it by words.I'm like, no, let me get my pad of paper.And we were just sketchingaway and just being fluent.And I'm building this in my mind.And that's exactly what hedid is he took a piece of paper,he started to draw this wall.And as he was drawing, he's like,everything I'm drawing,I'm building my mind.And that's so true.And it connects you with it.And I liked how you said that, it doesconnect you with it.And I'm old school.So yes, we had cassettes back in the day,which really CDs weremy kind of jam, right?And that's when the day's a Napsterand we would have all the albums.And I had this card book fullof these CDs and everything.But by putting thatfinger 11 CD into the CD playerin my car, that action or the same thing,taking a vinyl record andputting it onto a turntableand hitting play, youremember that so much morebecause you've built aconnection with that music,with that artist and it's just the musicbecomes so much more alive to you.And later down the road,you're like, I remember tracking,I remember tracking, that was, oh,remember the hidden track?You had to listen forthat extra three minutes,you got that bonustrack that was in there.In today's world with digital,I'll listen to the songs,I'm like, that's incredible.And yes, I can go favorit on my iPhone and stuff,but the retention ofknowing it is just not the samecompared to this.And I don't know, I think that's whatyou're kind of sayingtoo.Yeah, and it's similar toother things we've talked aboutin the past with construction.A lot of young designersgo in and they've learnedhow to draw specificdetail or a specific section,but then seeing that builtis another learning tool,like seeing it, howit's actually constructedis different from how it's drawn,especially if it'ssomething that doesn't show upin section, if it has to be seen in ISO,where you have to be able tosee it in three dimensions,how it's laid in.And drawing was kind of themiddle ground between that.If you sit down and usedrawing for communication,which is what it is for architecture,but take it back to thevery, like the early side of it.So like conceptual design stuff,you're working through aspecific area on a buildingor a specific detail, andyou're with another person,and you're going back andforth on how to do that.Nobody's gonna sitthere and try to describehow that's gonna happen.They're gonna pull out a piece of paper,or piece of sketch, and start going at itand working out things.And that's what it is.It's really just a communication tool.And that's one of thereasons why I still really push forand advocate for hand drawing so muchis because you might not have a computer,you might not have the software with you,you might have a tablet with you.How many times do youwant to hand your tabletoff to a contractor, letthem scribble all over?It's just, you put a pieceof paper or scrap a cardboard,or a piece of plywood onthe wall, a couple sharpies,you'll work something out really quick,and it'll be perfect.So being able not tocreate like fine art,but to communicate anidea really clearly visually,10 times faster than trying to liketalk it out with somebody.And that, you answered my question.I was like, are youfaster doing sketchingversus actually drawing the computer?Again, there's somecool tools and all that,but you said it yourself10 times faster in doing it.And with that, and again, you kind ofanswered my other questions.Are you doing this in thefield with your field reviewson site, hey, there's aproblem with contractor,and you come together, howare we going to fix this?Yeah, and fortunately itwas installed incorrectly,but how are we goingto rectify this scenarioto make it right?I'm assuming you're justgrabbing that pad and paper,like I said, that piece of cardboard,whatever you can get your hands on,and doing it right there.I always have drawn stuff with me,if not to possibly three differentnotepads of some kind.I mean, I travel with mytravel nafad for my own sketches,and Inktober, anything else in there,but I have another tabletthat's just for working outthings on site with people.Again, it's aconstant communication thing.I haven't been to asite where something hasn'tneeded to be visually worked out.And it's also kind of thelanguage barrier as well,or I guess it's the way tobridge any language barrier.If I'm on site, my Spanish is horrible,but if I need to work with a contractorwho speaks mother'sSpanish, we both draw the same way.Like visually, it's goingto mean the same thing to us.And right away, we can workthrough that pretty quickly.So I've leaned on that tool quite a bit,and it's been great.Are you taking those sketchesand actually put themin your field reports?Sometimes I will alsowork through rough sketcheson site so thateverybody's there working togetherand to formulate it, andthen refine them betterwhen we get back intothe office if need be,and put that into an RFIresponse so that it's formalized.But yeah, I mean, that is the goal.You want to keep a goodrecord of what's going on,and this is basicallya conversation piece.This is how it was worked out.Here's a photo, you take a photo, youhave it with you now,and then when I get back to the office,I'm going to formalize thisand put it in my response.But yeah, I don't knowif the cardboard sketchwould be in the report,but certainly a refined oneonce back in the office it would be.Yeah, it would be kindof cool in that senseof taking that, or evenof putting it into an SIand be like, this is whatwe sketched, this is it.It's pretty clear tome, and yes, at some pointyou would have tofollow up with the As-Biltsand get that into the architectural andmechanical drawings,whatever the case is,and proceed with it.But I know a lot of engineers,like structural engineers will do that.They'll just have a couple blank pages.They'll actuallyphysically sketch all the beamsand everything in the welds and justboom, and that's it.And it's a legit thing, right?Whether it's more cleanlines out of a Revit programor whatever the case is,but it's still a document.You're still giving cleardirection based on that sketch.Yes, it may not be toscale, but again, I would imaginewith your kind offamiliar with the hand sketching,you probably are to scale.Like, do you find that whenyou're drawing floor plansand details?Like if you actually took a scale to it,could you be bang on?You'd probably get pretty close with,I don't know about it, bang on,but it's pretty close, I would say.Again, you get usedto certain things too.Like if you havesomething adjacent in your sketchthat's scalable, if we have a door,then you already knowthe size of the doorand everything next toit can be pretty closeto where it needs to be.One of the other goodthings with this though is just,from a forensic aspect or going in andlooking at conditionsthat are alreadybuilt, being able to see,well, something's notthe same as the As-Beltor sketching out specific conditions,or I have a wall with a tonof mechanical penetrationsand just trying to map this out as well,being able to pullsomething out, sketch that out,show where things are sothat I can take it backand start adding measurements to it.It's not me marking up a photo.I actually have measurements and sketchesabout the differenttypes of penetrations,conduits, pipes,whatever else is coming througha curtain wall or the wall,some kind of mechanical penthouse.Being able to capturethat pretty quickly in paperis another reallygood visualization tool.It's also something I can hand offto somebody else pretty quickly.So if I've mapped theseout and put dimensions on itand I can hand it somebody to draftwhile I start doing something else,they can add it to amarkup or an As-Belt as needed.Right, and yeah, and you read about like,with it myself and the floor plansand then I roll my trace over it.Once I kind of draw thatfirst door and that little wall,I don't know, my mindkind of automatically sets,okay, this is the scale we're drawing.So when I start drawing doors,I'm not drawing themas like a two foot dooror a four or five foot door.You get into that consistentbecause you've kindof somehow you've justconfigured your mind to beat it, which is really cool.I think it's really cool in that sense.So you get used to it 100%.We're gonna get into thekind of the tools of the tradeand everything later down the road here.But let's talk about thiscommunity and social media aspectbecause again, it's onething to go to the prompts,draw it, and that's fantastic.Take great gratitude injust what you did, right?Own it, right, and enjoy itand that you're physically,consistentlystretching that memory muscle,which is really, really important, right?Don't lose it.It was aninteresting, I was listening to,there was a podcast and everythingand it was about AI and of course,everyone's talking to AI and yeah,it was Simon Sinek, that's what it was.And it was really cool because like,again, I'm dating myself.I had that Rolodex, right?I had that thing where you put,you had the phone book in that hard,kind of flip up thingwhere you put it to the Mand then you push thebutton and boom, it pops upand there's all the M's, right?You'll be calling up.And as a kid, like I had that for myfriends and everythingbut I always had thatmuscle memory I could call.I always would be atfriend's place and be like,hey, let's call the gang.You know, we had like 30 core peoplethat we just hung out all the time with.And I'm like, and I wouldrattle off phone numbersand the friends would belike, how do you know this?I'm like, I don'tknow, it doesn't matter.It's just, we're good.We can get everyone to get together.The moment that flipphone came out into our worldand then of course, iPhones, you know,memory, I can barely remember.I know my number, thank goodness,but I don't know anyone'snumber because it's just,you know, you just go up,okay, call Nathan, boom,call Julia, cool, call us, whoever.And we've let that go.And that's kind of thesame thing with the sketchingis like, keep doing it, keep going it,keep strengthening that muscle.If you stop going to the gym, you know,two, three, four, five,even, you know, eight weeks,that muscle starts to stopand it starts to deteriorate.And if you stop it, you know,it's a thousand timesharder to get back on track.You know, there's mysoapbox moment for this show,but you know, I knowyou can kind of sharethe same kind ofthing. I completely agree.So began dating ourselves.I never got to do blueprints per se.We did hand draftingand then I took a breakbetween undergrad and grads.And in that time, the worldblew up and everything was BIM.I think I even, I camein at the beginning of CADand then it, by thetime I got back into designand architecture again, it skipped thatand was in like 3D everything.Like Rhino was already coming outand Grasshopper and everything else.So it was like a whole, Imissed the big chunk of this.But when we did ourhand drafting courses,like way back in the beginning,we're doing letteringstill and everything else.And one of the line weightissues that we kept getting,like having a pencil thatyou're able to literally rollon your fingers and rotate sothe line didn't change shapeas the lead deformed.Like you'd have a long straight linethat was perfectly uniform.And like you'retalking about muscle memory,it's that same thing.Learning how to roll that pencil was,that was like muscle memory too.Like after a while, it's like what you dowhen you pull your pencil.And it's the same thingnow with drawing, I think.It's one of those skills that,like you said, if you continue to use it,it always gets better and better.But if you're not using it,you're gonna forget some of it.But it's something thatyou can use all the timein everyday life.I mean, simply putting notes together,you're making them a little more visual,adding things to it, errors, people,whatever you need to do.You know, leaving messagesfor my kids in their lunchboxor whatever, like things like that.Awesome.There's so many different waysthat you're gonna use something visual.But I also do thinkthat it's a really core,important littlelearning tool from the aspectthat you do think aboutthings completely differentlywhen you're drawing them.You're not losing that disconnector you don't have thatdisconnect from a computerwhere you're not directly interfacingwith what you're using.You're going through thismouse and through a screen.With pen and ink or asketchbook and pencil,you're actually pullingsomething across that paper.You're making somethingvisually directly in front of youthat you were buildingthrough your mind as you see itand putting it into practicewith the movement of your hand.And that retention is gonna be therefor a lot more things.You're gonna thinkabout what you're buildingon that piece of papercompletely differentlythan you will if you'repulling a line across the screenand you know, clicking yes kind of thing.So I will always be anadvocate for hand drawing for sure.But I also really do pushfor people in the office,even working through something,pull the cell, let's have asketch, we'll figure it out.And I've been very pleasantly surprisedthat usually even people who are verymuch on the computerare happy to do that and geta big kick out of it still.And I love your comment about lunch.No, I do similarthings too in everything.And one of the things, you know,been doing it for quite some time now,but before I go for a conferenceand pull out a pad ofpaper and I, you know,here's me being cheesy,romantic and everything,but I write a love letterand everything to, you know,Julie and I, you know, special, you know,significant other here.And I go and hide it somewhere, you know,where she'll find it in the morningand when I'm on theplane and that kind of stuff.But it's that, again,it's the same thing.Doing it by hand,writing a handwritten letter.And it was the last timeyou got a handwritten letterin that sense.And the impact that it, you know,it's just a different thing.And it just goes backto that muscle memorybecause everyone's typing.Again, trying to putthat in that process.And it's a different world.So, we totally went on aside tangent, which was awesome.Cause I think there's a lot of momentsfrom that point right there.So let's get into, you know,the audience is probably going,how do I get involved in this?So this is, you know, where, first off,where can they go find this list, Nathan?What do they tag and what do they do?How do they participate in this?Yeah.Oh, just to start drawing.You don't have to share it with me,but I'm happy to look at it if you do.No, if you want to see the prompt list,the easiest place isprobably on Instagram.Just building a scape, all one word.It's posted on there.You might have to flashback a couple of days,but every day the new prompt will be upwith whatever sketch I'm posting as well.You can also look at LinkedIn.I'm posting daily thereand in the comment section,I'll have the wholeprompt list on each one.So if you need to go find it there,it's an easy way to look at it.I do post on Facebook as well,but I'm not on there as muchand it's more family andfriends than anything else.But I would say Instagram, definitely.Also, if you do jump on Instagram,feel free to click on thelittle bio link and link trees.We do have a blog set upwith some written articles,a lot of which are about drawing.So feel free to jump on there as well.But yeah, it's the easiest way to do it.If you do hashtag or add building escapeand inktuber architecture, Ican find them a lot easier.I do try to go and look at all these.I take screenshots I like to postand say thank you forpeople who do these things.Again, last year having so many,we actually put together alittle screen share videoof all the differentpeople who had participated.We had firms fromdifferent countries participating.So it was really cool to see how manypeople got involved.So by all means, let meknow on Instagram or LinkedInthat you're doing this.And I'll definitely chimein, say hi and thank youand take a look atwhatever you're drawing.Be happy to take a look at it.Yeah, that's the easiestway to do it by all means.So great crap.Recap your, go toInstagram, download this,like it's a print it, have it somewhereyou can look at it daily,jump on, do your sketch.If you're feeling good,confident, and you wanna shareand be part of the whole community,post it on your favorite platform,hashtag buildingscape,hashtag Inktober architecture.And I think, I reallyencourage listeners to do thatbecause you want them tobe part of this, right?And not only thatyou're doing it for yourself,but then like you said,look at the other'sindividuals doing the work,like look, pull upInktober architecture, hashtag,and you'll see everyone that's doing thisand be part of this community,be part of thismovement of this hand sketch.And again, you're justcompeting with yourself.It's not a competition, it'sjust doing it and enjoying it.And in either thisyear or previous years,is there a standout sketch that youremember someone doingand based on the promptand everything and going,oh my goodness, that'sgonna stick with me for life?Oh man.You've seen a lot.There actually have been a bunch.Yeah, so trying topinpoint one specificallymight be moredifficult, but situationally,there's been a couple of really fun ones.Every time that I've had a firmparticipate together,where they'll post andthey'll have like their wallin their conference roomwith everybody sketches,like day one, day two,phenomenal, love seeing that.There have been a handful of architectswho have done these with their kids.And so they'll posttheirs and their kids.And that's always fun,I love seeing that too.My son has participated a couple of timesand it's really cool tosee him like try to work outand his mind is like,well, dad's an architect,I should do something about a building.And there'll be like aprompt that has nothing reallyto do with architecture.And he'll try to figure outhow to make it into a building.And I'm like, okay, he'susing his mind to be creative.And so like those are theones that really stand out.I do get a big kick out of the peoplewho are really pushinghard to do every day,which is a hard ask.It's a lot of drawing.I mean, 31 days in the monthand not only making the time to do it,but then like trying to be creativeand come up withsomething new that's interesting.The few people who have pulled that off,huge props, like amazing stuff.But also just anybody who's sharing,I love that you're given a little bitof inspiration to other people.And again, these don'thave to be work support.They're like short sketches.But the fact that you tooktime, made a sketch, shared it.You probably inspiredsomebody else to at leastlike sit down and try towork something out on paper.And that's what this is all about.Yep, exactly.And last time saying like,I really encourage theones that are doing it.Yeah, totally post it.Cause like you said,their friends, their network,and then just the biggerthe movement it becomes,like it just becomes a cool thing.And again, it's just not a competition.It's just enjoying it.And so here's ones thatare on the fence, right?How can we provide some inspiration,break through some of the barriers?And I think always the oneyou hear from time to time,is like, Nathan, I can't draw.What would you say to someone like that?So, you know, I'm not a good drawer,I'm not a good sketcher.I don't even really do it.Like, what would you say?One of the best reasons we start withnapkin sketch, right?It's not even a nice piece of paper.If you mess up, I promise.There's another napkinsomewhere around here.The idea of being like, itdoesn't matter, you know?If you put ink on a napkin,it's gonna like bleed out really quickand it's gonna be messy.It doesn't have to be perfect.Or even look great.It's that you'releading your way into it.And now how many architectsreally do still draw by hand?Like, I'm not looking for like,really push hard on people.But yeah, I just want you tobreak loose and have some fun.So they don't have to be perfect.They don't have to be likeworks of art by any means.I just, I'm happy to see people doing it.So, man, if I canparticipate, then it, great.Everybody can.Yeah, quality.I have fun.That's what it's about.It's not about making an artwork.You're not trying to sell this.A napkin sketch is not gonnabe framed on the wall probably.So yeah, just go out,enjoy yourself really.And again, if you don'tfeel confident about it,you don't have to share it,but at least take the time.Sketch something out and enjoy yourself.Well, even like the sketching, right?I think now you got thewheels turning my own mindand like, yeah, when we would dokind of first schematic design, right?We wouldn't be in Revit.We would have the trace.We'd just start pulling out examples,doing bubble diagramswhere we want spaces within it.And once we kind of identified,then we started drawingthe really rough sketch boxesfor a school or whatever.And this is where we'regonna have a learning stairs.Oh, this would be cool if wedo some pockets and cubbiesand you're doing that.And my key advicewhen you are doing this,all the architectural firms istake a photo of this stuff, right?Record a mini video,put it, this is the story,what happened with thisbuilding from the start,where it all began, right?With the coffee on the table, copies,you know, that spilledcoffee around the stains,get that, get the people in therethat were part of this inspirationin bringing this buildingto what was just sketchesto look at what we built.What did we do as a team, right?And I think that's really important.And we miss, a lot ofarchitects miss that, right?They just throw their sketches out.It's like, hold on, let's document thisbecause this is fantasticstuff to put on a website.You know, again, social media,like as we're talking about this event,but showing that story,especially when you go to likecommunity engagement sessionsand it's, you know,people really appreciate that,that this came from nothing to an idea,actually puttingsome, you know, that pen.And again, it's messy.And I think that's what we appreciate.We don't wanna be perfect, right?We want the more natural aspect to it.So again, if you're in that boat whereI don't feel my drawings are good enough,just post it, just post it.You ever had someone tell methat this is a horrible drawing, Nathan?I, oh yeah.I've framed people before. Really?Someone told you thatthat drawing's horrible?That's the best part.So what the best part wasis I worked for kind of a,I guess, green design startup in Chinafor a short period of time.And they had some really big ideas.And during one of thesit-down lunches with my boss,he and I basically did a napkin sketch.I think we actually used apiece of like A4 or something.But we drew out a bunchof crazy stuff on thereand it was nothingmore than a working sketchof a bunch of different ideas.We had Chinese and English written on it.Like, I think we had a Sharpieand a couple ofdifferent pencils or something.So it ended up,that project that we were talking aboutkind of got put to the sideand we got busy with other stuffand we were doing modular green wallsfor office spaces and stuff like that.And sure enough, I came into his officeto have a meeting at one pointand that sketch was framed hangingin the corner of the office.And I didn't even know it kept the thing.I kind of worked up and looked at it.He's like, yeah,that'll come back to me later.That project's on hold or whatever,but something's gonna happen with that.And I'm like, you framed that?And he's like, yeah,that's a good memory.And I'm like, all right.And there was nothinggood quality about thatother than the fact thatit was a little squigglethat shared ideas that definitely got usboth thinking about a bunch of stuff.And it was really coolthat he took the timeto like put that up somewhereand it's kind of like your parentshanging something on your fridge.Really meant something.Yeah, yeah.Well, that was nicesparking another memoryand everything.This was something I did.We were just learningperspectives in high school.And then that one point perspectiveand I did a kitchen, the overall kitchen.I think I got like nineor 10 or 10 or whatever.It was really well done in that sense.And of course, from thatsketch, I still have it.I know it's in one ofmy kind of storage boxesand I should pull itout, but my grandma was so,and she's no longer here and everything,but she just loved itand she got it laminatedand put it on the fridgeand lived there for life.And I think that's thecool thing about this stuffis the longevity thathow it can live out therebecause it's so fantastic.It's so raw and it'sthat real talent with it.Withdrawing this.Full of old sketchbooks.That's awesome.And so you should write.It's probably 30 on there.Well, even like think ofart class back in high school.Like I still got my books that I didand it's kind of cool togo, look what I did back then.Why am I not as good as,because again, I was doing it every daycompared to now I'm busy.And it's like, maybe that'sa new year resolution goal.Say, look, sketch every dayor sketch every once a weekor something into a book.And I don't know, but you gota favorite pen that you like?Is there one that you'relike, oh, this is the one.This is what gets me from good to great.Yeah, I guess.So I do like microns.I actually, when we getlike a stack of these.I think I've got mine too.So say, yeah, so likemicrons, I really like.Yeah, yeah, it's like,I got the uniball one.That's, if anyone's looking on the,watching the web or the YouTube channel,but yeah, the uniball,the uniball vision fine.You know, that's my favorite one.But there is a different one.I've been using a lot ofStatlers also recently.Yeah, very nice.Fine line work, I think.A Sharpie is still one of my go-to.I've also tried really hardrecently to like break it up.I'm creature of habit, I'll pencilsomething and then ink it.And if you wantsomething to be more spontaneousand like enjoyable, like that's not whatyou should be doing.You should just have at it and go.So like Sharpie on a napkinwhere it's gonna bleed a little bitis a great way to start an idea.So I've been trying to do that.I've also got a hold ofsome white paint pens,which have been really fun.So like you're on a brownnapkin with a white pen,changes things up a little bit.So we've been tryingto break out of the moldand just do some kind of free form,go at it and just get an idea downinstead of being really picky andmeticulous and detailed,which is, that's what I do.You know, trying topick a part of drawingand put all the details in it.Sometimes you need to break loose and dosomething different.So that's what I'vereally been trying to doon my Inktuber stuff actuallyhas been trying to breakloose a little bit with it.Nice, very cool.So because digital is hereand then everyone'sgot iPads and everything,I've got my own iPadand I've neverpurchased like the iPad Prolike the big, big oneand stuff like that.But have you played withthe digital side of things?Like have you sketchedwith the Apple Pencilor Samsung tablet or whatever?Do you kind of like that?Or is it always, nope,I'm going back to trace,I'm going back to napkin,I'm going back to that stuff.So yeah, I still, I'm adiehard sketchbook person.I have played with atablet and an Apple Pen.They're not bad.It's not that I don't like it.I'm sure the more if I did it,I'd probably get more used to it.Back in the day, I used to have thebamboo, like tablet,where you draw on the tabletand it would come up on your screen.So I guess that was my introinto trying to move more digital.Always enjoyed drawing in Photoshop,like scanning in drawingsand then adding andchanging to them and stuff as well.Did a lot of work with that early on.On a tablet, like morefolio trace is really good.So you can startplaying with those things.Yeah, thank you for bringing that one up.I would like to jump in alittle more and learn that,but it's a whole other time.How much time do you have?I can always pour the sketchbook.I don't usually carry a tablet with me.So if I start carrying one,I might have to make the jumpand do a little bit of both that way.I'll definitely post on social mediawhen I do it though, I'll tell you that.Yeah, I know it's, yeah, I've done a lot.Like more folio trace,that's a really cool appbecause it's really retro.Like the controlshaven't changed over the last,I think it's been out fora decade and everything,but yeah, it's cool.You can just change, likeyou basically have your sketchand you can layer and layer and layerand basically put newtraces on top of each otherand change your opacityand that kind of stuff.And it's a digital piece of trace,basically what it is.And they do it really well.And then you can load inblocks and kind of put that in.Yeah, I've seen some amazing work.Like people spend hours onit, but again, I'm like you.I rather pick up something solidthat I can touch, feel and draw and seethe bleed naturally.It doesn't matter howmuch they program it.Yes, they can make it look very similar,but it's just differentwhen you're doing yourself.And like you said, rollingthe pen, rolling the pencil.So hands down, no, that's really cool.And yeah, I was like, Iwas curious about that.Being this on aLinkedIn, we do have commentsand I'm gonna see, letme just jump down here.I'm gonna bring them up.So Christopher Bennett,congrats on the first live show,Ink E. Ober, awesome.Thanks Chris, appreciate it.Jamie Morris, sketchly definitely helpsyour betterunderstanding and existing conditionin the field.Absolutely, 100%.I don't know, you wannaadd anything to that, Nathan?No, I'm glad you're enjoying it.Love to see your sketches,by all means, share please.Yeah, and then we got twocomments from Dawn Rickert.I just ran across thisrambly and just dropping in.Oh, thank you forjoining us, appreciate it.You can't design withouttrain of thought of sketching.Hands down, yeah, absolutely.I totally agree.And I think that'sall the comments there.So again, not bad for afirst online LinkedIn.And I think for going forward,we'll start reallyinvesting in doing thisas like when we do theseguest shows and stuff like that.I think it's kind of fun.So anyways, well,let's get back to the show.And that was just a funlittle thing to try out.So diving intoarchitecture, culture and play.How fun challenges like this can balancethe serious side of architecture.You know, what are your,that kind of that opening line,what would you, how wouldyou respond to that, Nathan?Very much the truth.I mean, just think of most peoplein the architectureindustry are probably overworked.It's a pretty high stress run.Everybody's working a little over time.Unfortunately, early on in college,we're doing late nights and studio timeand everything else.So you're already kindof wound up and on edge.So having something on the sidethat you're able to break loose from,that's gonna give a little bit ofpleasure and enjoymentthat's still creative is great.And that's one of thereasons why drawing is great.You can take it with you,it's small, a little sketchbook.You can do it anywhere.You can change up the toolsand have a little bit ofvariety with it as well.But it's a great release.And it's a good way tospend just a little bit of timeto take something out ofyou, put it somewhere else,help you feel better,cleaned up and calm down.So yeah.You find, so safer on site, right?And there's a problem,you know, the geothermalor the mechanicalengineer or mechanical sub-trade,he put the lines in the wrong location.And this isn't just,oops, I'll just move it over.It's like, oh my goodness,this has been weeks of work or something.Tensions is high.People are frustrated.People are angry.Finger point is about to start.You find sketching almost stopsand just kind of likein that crazy tornado,that hurricane in thatmoment and just kind of says,okay, stop, let's look at this.And just the moment you start sketching,you find that that tonesdown and it just, you know,call this, I don't knowwhat you wouldn't call this,but where it brings people to this,brings them together and it brings themthat kind of calmness.I think that, you use itas a distraction technique.So say you're running aplumbing or utility lineand there's an obstruction.You know, you're gonna haveto move it somewhere else.There's something in thesite that nobody knew about.We've had projects recentlythat had similar problems.Everybody's scrambling.We have deadlines, you know,excavation needs to happen now.We're supposed to beputting a hardscape over thisin the next week.Pulling out a site plan,throwing trays over it,or just an extra copy ofa site plan, large format,where everybody canlean over it on a tableand start puttingdifferent colors into it.Like, can we run it this way?Can you drop it a foot and ahalf and do it this direction?Working through it in that way,nobody's focusing oneach other or what happenedor who's fault for notnoting this previously.Everybody's looking at that drawing.And it turns into not somuch a what went wrong,but how we fix it,which is always a better wayto start that conversation.It should always be about making it rightand making it do whatit's supposed to do.Might not be the sameplan you had before,but it's much better to look at itfrom a corrective standpointthan have everybody really angry about,oh, deadline, you're not gonna make it.And, oh, it's a budget thing.And, well, let's work through this firstand see if there's aneasier way to do this.And then we'll talk aboutimplications with budgetand things like that.So, yeah, if everybodycan kind of lean downand focus their energy on somethingthat's happened on a piece of paper,it almost always goes alot smoother afterwardsin the discussion when itcomes to the harder thingslike budgeting and schedulechanges and things like that.So, yeah, definitely tryto break out your paperwhen you can.I love it.That was well said.And one thing I've been wanting,I didn't know where to ask the question,but are you besides architecture?And I know you'resketching it for this month,but throughout the year,are you just, again, going campingand throwing out your sketchbookand sketching that sceneor just that thought or that, you know,you have a crazydream, maybe, I don't know.But are you sketching just generally?Yeah, no, I draw a lot.So, for work, of course,doing that quite a bit.But also just carrying out sketchbooks.It's like the go-to wayto relax in the evening.So, yeah, drawing all the time.I would say I basically carry oneeverywhere I'm going.Creating some, not as much.Trying to encourage mydaughter, she likes to paint.Cool.But yeah, no, a little bit of watercolor,a lot of markers, a lot of ink.I have a sculpture background,but I don't have aplace to do that so much.So, it's a little bit differentwhen you're trying to domolds and pour hot metalat your house, it doesn't want to work.So, but, you know, I try to stay creativeas much as possible.It's my way of relaxing and trying tokind of calm down for long days.That's awesome.Where there's wisdomright there, for sure.Absolutely.So, we got to wrap this up.We're coming pretty closeto the hour and everything.The big, big thing is, of course,where can people find youand where can they find the,again, just reiterate where can they findthis Inktober architecture?Definitely check us out on Instagram.It's probably the onewe're going to be at the most.If you are looking for a little bit morecontextual things, by all means,go to buildingscape.wordpress.com.That'll have connectionsto everything else as well,but it'll have the blog on there.It'll have a backstoryof how this all started.When I started posting dailyarchitecture photos online,and then by all means,check us out on LinkedIn.It's just me personally.I don't have a page forBuilding Scape on LinkedIn,though you'll see a lotof stuff posted there.We do post quite a bit,and by all means, reach out.If you want to connect or if you want tograb a comment on something,I'd love to hear your opinions on things.Yeah, absolutely.Well, thanks for that.And any kind of finalwords to challenge our audienceto take part in this amazing event?You know, what would be,again, if you had to summer up,I just met you for thefirst time in the elevator,your elevator pitch,what would that look like?Go out and justhashtag and search Inktoberor Inktober architecture andto see the creative crazinessthat comes in.And huge caliber differences of qualityand professionalism.I mean, again, I have a bunch of kidsthat are doing this too.So you're gonna see abunch of different stuff,but just get inspired.Look at all the wildnessthat these people think up.It's really, really coolto see people come togetheron daily prompts and topics and juststart sketching stuff.And some of them are amazingand some of them make you think.And if you go out andjust search those hashtags,you're already on the way.But also if you're ableto share, by all means,you will likely inspire somebody else.So try, share yourdrawings, working sketches,like you said, somethingyou get working througha detail or a conceptualidea or a space planning issueor diagrams, share thosethings online, by all means.It shows the fact thatyou're able to conceptually thinkof something off your computer screenthat you're using your brain,you're putting things on paper.Me personally, I would love to see them.So if they pop up on my feed,I will definitely countone out of my promise.Awesome.Well, heck, I'm inspired and no excuses.I got to get sketch and take part of it.We're at the fourth today.So yeah, definitely.I'm a couple of daysbehind, but you know what?There's always timeto catch up and do it.So thank you forputting this together, Nathan.Thanks for being coming back on the showfor a second round.This was awesome.And it won't be the last, of course.Next time we will, next show willprobably be us togetherlive at some kind of conference or heck,I just got to come downto your neck of the woodsin California.It's tough times down there, you know,and surfing year round, can't complain.Let's do it.But let's do it, absolutely.And heck, we can sketch at the same time,but live cast then,but thank you for being part of this.This was awesome.And yeah, looking for the next oneand looking forward toseeing everyone's sketchesgoing forward from todayand after kind ofhearing about this episode.So with that said,architects and sketchers,keep designing those blueprintsand contractors keep making them reality.We'll see you on the next one.(upbeat music)

People on this episode

Matt Brennan

Host

Nathan Taylor

Guest