Dear Reader, April 2024
From Your Artist Friend
Dear Reader,
I decided in March, that once a month I would write you a letter.
Not an essay or a lesson or a guide…
Not a preview or a video or a podcast…
A real letter. From Your Artist Friend.
The Little One
I was sleepy at 8 pm, so I went to bed.
Do you know the kids song about the bed?
“There were ten in the bed and the little one said, roll over, roll over.”
At 10 the little one rolled into bed and rolled me off the bed. If you have a little one you may have had the same experience before. I remember watching Disney cartoons about the scene 30+ years ago.
Anyway, this got me wide awake.
I went to the reading room to read myself back to sleepiness.
I’m halfway through Murakami’s book, “The things I talk about when I talk about running”. I’ve read it a few times, and this time I’m really savouring it. This didn’t make me sleepier, it woke me up!
There is a Buddhist saying, or was it, Neil Gaiman..
“When you’re hungry eat, when you’re sleepy sleep”
The little one lives by this motto too.
We try to shape a routine around her, but when she’s sleepy she will sleep, and when she’s hungry, you’ll know about that too.
And right now, I’m not sleepy. So I’m writing.
Mad Rush
The beginning of the year was a Mad Rush.
Scarcely recovering from taking time off for Christmas, It was Chinese New Year and festivities ramped up once more. In the meantime that behemoth that is the publishing industry started trudging along towards a season of Book Fairs.
London and Bologna.
Some of my projects from last year piled up because, reasons, and new projects were scheduled to start. So my hours in the studio were a miserable time.
Forget the Buddha or Neil Gaiman.
When you’re hungry, work. And when you’re sleepy work!
In the end, I’ve arrived at a place that is now healthily busy.
I’ve delivered a couple of books, and am now working on a couple more while another two are being negotiated for the future.
Screen Time
I spend a chunk of my waking hours on my phone
This week I was on my phone 8% less than last week. And I am actively trying to get the hours down. I have been spending time with my sketchbook instead. I think my attention span is getting slightly wider.
Quality is the answer
I’m always thinking about making my newsletter better.
Sometimes I write a question, at the top of a yellow legal pad and then write some ideas below. The question I’ve had recently is, how can I make this newsletter more valuable to you?
I didn’t get the answer from my notes this time, but having the question in my mind focused me, and I clicked this newsletter in my inbox about the sea of ever-increasing noise.
I’ve given away the punchline: Quality is the answer.
But it’s also the question. How will I deliver quality?
Is it by adding more illustrations?
Is it by how I format the posts?
Is it by doing more editing?
Is it by focusing on less?
Is it by adding colour?
I won’t tell you my answers, but I’ll think about it as I write each new post.
April is a new quarter, I’m looking forward to having more of a steady routine.
Says the one who is up at 2am writing a letter! Hah!
Wishing you a great start to a new quarter!
Best,
Adam Ming
What’s new with you? What are you looking forward to this Quarter?
Here are a few things you might have missed:
Chantell Holt shared a sketchbook project about creating scenes and shared two tools I’ve never heard of! A tool for collecting references and a special sketchbook for daily entries!
In a conversation with Rose Lihou, Author and Illustrator of Tiny Dogs, I asked her all the questions I wanted to know about her lightning-bolt journey to becoming the author and illustrator of 3 Chapterbooks!
And for Paid Members…
I shared a breakthrough I had in my personal sketchbook time.
- and I did a workshop about drawing faces (there were also printouts)
FYI: An annual membership is $100, and comes with a ton of value:
12 Monthly Drawing Workshops (Art GYM) ( + Archived workshops)
Guides from my journey to becoming a Picturebook-Illustrator (at 40),
the Vault of Industry Chats with the illoguild, like when IlloGuild talked money
I remember a guy once telling me how he had to sleep with his head on the bed side table most nights, because of the amount of space his kid took up in the bed.
A lovely letter Adam - i really enjoyed the read! Our little ones are the same age (my boy turns 3 in May) and we are also very much at the bed sharing no-space stage! Your illustration made me laugh, i’ve nearly rolled off the bed too many times!