Energy for Drawing in the second half of the year.

Shake up your drawing with some pin point journaling prompts.

Hi, I’m Adam Ming and you’re reading Ten Minute Artist, a letter to help you get started, keep going, and live and experience a creative life in this busy world. In today’s letter I give you some journal and sketchbook prompts to help you kick off the second half of the year.

And while this was written as sort of a half time pep talk for the middle of the year, you can use it whenever you are feeling you want to add a little energy back into your creative practice.

I’m a football fan.

Football is a game of two halves, a team that is loosing the first half can write it off and focus on wining the next half, sometimes this is done for pride with the aim of getting a draw, or some kind of redemption. More rarely the momentum can shift so much that a good second half performance outshines a poor showing in the first half resulting in a win.¹

We love comeback stories, today, one day before the start of the second half of the year, we get to write our own.

I’ve been writing Sketchbook Projects every week for half a year now, and I can tell you it’s much easier to do at the start of the year, then in the end of June.

I went to my journal to try and figure out why this might be so. Here are the questions I used tease out those answers.

Journal Instructions:

Read and think about the journal prompts. Write the answers in your sketchbook or journal, and share in the comments if you like. (Drawing instructions come at the end, but you might have already guessed it)

When Creativity is flowing, what else are your day’s filled with?

1. _______________

2. _______________

3. _______________

When I think about a time when writing was easier, it was a time when I was doing long runs outside and evenings reading. It was also a quieter time with work, everything was in the client’s court.

Now when I sketch most of it is with the client work in mind, and while I can invite you to draw bugs occasionally, it becomes a job when you’re drawing bugs every week!

There is a freshness to new things, and routine can become a toil. One of the things I try to do with these projects is to try and keep introducing new things to keep the freshness going.

When you feel most creative, what else is going on in your life, and how can you fill your days with more of that?

What can you do to shake up the routine?

1. _______________

2. _______________

3. _______________

I’m most productive in the mornings, but for a season, I tried being a night own instead.

Shifting up the routines can spark inspiration. Sometimes something as simple as a new pen, a new sketchbook or a new plant that you have to water daily. Moving furniture around can have the same effect.

How do you fill your creative well?

______________________________

______________________________

Long walks in new places do this for me.

And trips to the bookshop.

And reading Substack.

What is one thing you’ve enjoyed drawing this year?

______________________________

______________________________

For me this has been mindless quick drawings I’ve been doing with my kid with whatever materials are at hand.

The confidence in which kids attempt things is truly remarkable. I also have enjoyed making zines for myself. the thread in all this is I’m starting to enjoy art that I make with no intention for sharing.

We’ve been programmed over the years to think and share in little bite sized pieces, and i think, thanks to platforms like these, some of us are starting to grow out of it.

What is one thing you think you might also enjoy drawing?

______________________________

______________________________

This question is about extending the answer to the previous question.

Use the answer to the last question as a clue and speculate to what you might also enjoy drawing. Based on my answer, I speculate that I might enjoy using different materials, and I also speculate that I would like to spend more time drawing things that I don’t share with anyone.

You might discover you like drawing more birds or bugs.

Step slightly outside your comfort zone in the direction of something that excites you.

What is one thing you don’t enjoy drawing but might enjoy drawing poorly?

______________________________

______________________________

I haven’t thought of this one yet for me.

But when i do think of it I will use cheap paper and materials and really aim to do a bad job at drawing the subjects. Maybe I’ll just draw random items from a drawer or something.

Drawing instructions:

Do the journaling exercise above.

Each day draw one of your answers. Feel free to interpret your answers loosely. For example I might draw myself on a walk for question 1. Or a trip to the bookshop for question 3. When it get’s to the last few answers, you can literally just draw what you’ve written down.

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If you’re looking for a safe place to share your work with like minded creatives, you can share in the gallery:

Or use #tenminuteartist and whichever platform you’re on and tag me.

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Ps: I posted all the Art Gym Drawing Workshops we did in one place

1. See the 2005 Champions League Final for the best example of that