Dear Reader, March 2024

From your Artist Friend

Dear Reader,

I think once a month I’ll 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.

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The Reading Room

Yesterday I ended my day in the reading room.

I read a few pages of Murakami’s “Things I think about when I think about Running.” I read that for the feeling. As a prolific author and formerJazz bar owner, Murakami would run 144 miles a month, one or two hours a day, in order to create space.

It reminds me of my toddler, who often says “I need more space while push kicking me of the bed.

I found myself in the reading room, a space in itself, for that very same purpose.

I wanted to create some space between the end of my day, and sleep.

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Creating Space

I started making space for my art out of necessity some years ago.

I was having panic attacks from the stress of running a startup. That space eventually grew into my career as a picture-book illustrator. I’m hoping that my time in the reading room as a portion of my day will grow too.

Maybe I can collect the minutes that would normally be spent glancing at my phone, and spend it all at once with a few choice books each evening.

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An Analog Space

I bring a pen and notecards with me into the reading room instead of my phone.

I take notes of the impressions I have from reading.

And the impressions I get from just sitting.

Some of the time spent in the reading room is just spent sitting.

This is one of the impressions I got from just sitting. It’s the idea of a painting or drawing about Zebras. Did you know the stripes of a Zebra help it camouflage with the heard, not the environment.

The point is for the weakest Zebras to blend in with the herd making them difficult to be targeted by predators.

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I read a few pages from 3 other books.

1. The artist way - workbook by Julia Cameron( which seems to strip out all the explanations and story and just present prompts and tools from the book) - this reminded me of this modern principle; people don’t pay for the content, they pay for the packaging. The workbook exist for people who just want the insructions and are ready to do the work.

2. I read a couple of chapters of Martin Salisbury’s Illustrator’s Sketchbooks. A collection of sketchbook spreads from illustrators along with their thoughts on keeping a sketchbook (I got it because

   Helen Stephens
   was in it, and shared a picture on her instagram some time ago). This book is another example of a product that is packaging. One could just browse sketches on Pinterest, but this book is valuable because of how it’s packaged the content in a dense manner.

3. I read Jessica Smith’s ‘15 Minute Art - Drawing’, I read the intro and the first ‘project’, a step by step guide to drawing a strawberry plant.

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A way of life

Like many of you, I am part of the last generation of people who know how to sit with books.

And I feel duty bound to preserve this way of life for future generations, starting with my own. Toys are not allowed in the reading room. And while I take quick notes, it’s not a place for writing either.

My reading room has 3 Goldilocks chairs, and books for myself, my wife and my kid.

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Let’s talk about March.

And to set that up, let me just say that the past 3 months; December to February have been so packed. Christmas Holidays transitioned into the traditional New Year along with the Lunar New Year.

While this is happening, it’s also a busy time in the world of publishing as everyone is gearing up for some major bookfairs, especially the Bologna Children’s Bookfair.

I’ve been finishing illustrating books and starting new ones.

Doing my best to keep my clients happy, while maintaining a vital family life.

In March I’ll be sharing

• A video where I am interviewed by a puppet

• An interview with a debut author and illustrator of a 3 book series

  Rose Lihou

• A Drawing Workshop with

  Katie Stack
  (for members)

• All the usual prompts and lessons (free)

• A guide to help you get more out of social media (for members)

• Last month I was supposed to write about ‘dealing with rejection’ but I couldn’t get into that headspace, so I’ll write about that this month instead after we have that conversation with the

  illoguild
  register for that chat here (free to attend live, recording for members)

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How do you feel about it already being March, how is the year unfolding for you? Hit reply and write back artist friend, or leave a comment…

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I hope you’re having a great start to the year! Remember you can join into the Ten Minute sketchbook projects anytime! And there are recordings to all the live events if you can’t make them.

Best,

Adam Ming

PS: Here are some highlights from the year so far:

• I conversation I had with Tom Froese

Becoming a Successful Illustrator at 40 with Adam Ming

• The FREE Drawing Icons Sketchbook Project

• The First Drawing Workshop with Katie Stack

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