It started with a hotel notepad, a silly doodle, and a glass of whiskey.
I was in Lehi, Utah for work training and had downloaded a Skillshare class by Mike Lowery (not the Bad Boys movie character) to watch on the plane. By the time I got to my hotel room, I was itching to draw. The paper pad by the bed didn’t stand a chance. That night’s scribbles became what I now call #hoteldoodle, and it snowballed from there.
At the end of Mike’s class, he challenged viewers to keep a daily drawing habit and offered a week of sketchbook prompts. Below are a few that inspired me most.
One prompt was “blob monsters,” where you use a Posca pen to make random blobby shapes, then turn them into goofy creatures with black ink. I had never used a Posca pen before, but I was hooked instantly.
Another was to draw a few icons for things you love, ideally around a theme. Since I make music, I filled a page with loose, reportage-style sketches of music related gear. That style felt natural and exciting to me.
That same week, I watched another Skillshare class from Samantha Dion Baker, whose blend of urban sketching and journaling inspired me to capture a memorable moment from my trip. In Utah, you can’t order alcohol unless it comes with food. After our team dinners, none of us wanted more to eat, so we ordered the smallest thing on the menu, a single cookie, with every round of whiskey. By the end of the week, everyone had a collection of uneaten cookies and a running joke that begged to be sketched.
That was November 2024. Now it’s August 2025 and I’m surrounded by art supplies, enrolled in art school, and still drawing every day.
