Blog vs Newsletter, and how they work together.

One for me one for you

Hi! It’s Adam Ming and you’re reading Ten Minute Artist, A weekly newsletter about how 10 Minutes can Transform your creative practice. If you’re new here, and if you would like to subscribe, you can do so here:

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I’ve started a blog on this substack…

It’s a place for me to write daily and to collect my ideas.

A typical newsletter I send out might get 2-3k views. A blog gets 30, that’s enough to give me the feedback I need from my ideas and keep me accountable to writing.

Newsletter’s are written for you.

Blogs are written for me to store ideas.

A Bug collection

I think it’s useful to have both places, both types of writing. (In fact I think it’s great to have the skill to do different types of writing, i.e free writing, rapid logging, mind mapping etc, but that’s for another post)

I think the value of a piece of art is in proportion to the time invested in the thing.

Yet both a complicated and sculpture and a pieces of calligraphy can have the same value. One requiring time being spent transforming material into image the other requiring time spent in practice to master that perfect stroke.

I’ve been thinking around the idea of collecting or cultivating time, so that it can be put into art, into this idea that you can put spend 30 minutes to infuse a piece with 10 hours of value, if you have the reservoir to draw from.

And how this Ten Minute practice of ours is a practice in creative reservoir building.

Here are some excepts from my recent blogs on this topic

An Engine for Creative Output

Smart note-taking transforms passive consumption into active creation by providing a structured method to collect, process, and combine ideas.

This practice enhances creativity through the combination of discrete thoughts and cures the habit of mindless consumption by promoting purposeful engagement with information. The result is a self-reinforcing cycle of learning, idea generation, and creative output.

Turn information consumption into an engine for creative output.

Continue Reading

An Illustration Process

I imagine a day where I will start an illustration by selecting pre-made shapes from a drop down list and moving them around, like a collage, or a flower arrangement. And then fill in the gaps. I think that will be a lot of fun.

Continue Reading

Collecting Primary Source Inspiration

It takes time to make good art.

Spending a ten minute increment like this is like collecting 10 minutes towards a future project. And this 10 minutes can now be used multiple times.

I’ve stacked up the post its as pocket sized inspiration as to flip through when looking for ideas. These useful Lego blocks for the future serving as a head start for future projects.

Continue Reading

The above is an unfinished thought, about how to pull apart the 5 hours it sometimes takes to write a blog into discrete pieces and templates that create momentum.

This will require the following.

1. Intentionality

2. Templates

3. A Workflow

4. A Storage for ideas

5. Processes for getting ideas

6. Processes for writing ideas down

7. Processes for retrieving them as needed.

This is what I’m thinking about. I’m thinking of a system particular to me, I think everyone needs their own system. It doesn’t matter what the system is, but you need a system.

What are you thinking about these days?

Today’s Drawing Prompt:

Birds Eye View of Bugs.

The top view of bugs provide such interesting combinations of shapes and proportions, I always have so much fun drawing them. Sometimes I like giving them a characterful eye to make them seem more approachable.

I’ve started including Daily Drawing Prompts,in my blog, ‘Ugly Work’. The prompts are often related to my work as a picture-book illustrator, following along plugs you into what’s currently being commissioned.

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