Ten Minute Artist Weekly Edition: Drawing for illustration
From Sketchbook to Style
Adam here! Welcome to the free ✨ weekly edition ✨ of Ten Minute Artist.
I write a page-a-day guide that offers fun prompts, encouragement, and thoughtful perspective for every stage of the creative journey.
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3. Drawing like it’s the most important thing in the world
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From Sketchbook to Style
It’s often said that keeping a sketchbook leads to style.
In my daily dispatches this week we followed that journey and found out how exactly that comes to be. But before we dive into that I want to say what an awesome community this is, I am pleasantly surprised and encouraged by many of your replies, comments and messages. Thanks to you, writing the weekly edition feels like a bit of celebration!
I will include some of the reader messages at the end of this Edition.
But for now, let me summarise this week’s dispatches.
01: What’s Drawing?
In What’s Drawing we explore the essence of drawing.
Pure drawing is something different, perhaps that’s what Picasso meant by he was trying to learn to draw like a child, to be able to skip the words and all the baggage that comes with it and simply communicate with visuals from what he saw.
Children draw most amazingly, they just go for it, they are not so much trying to draw a thing or a word, rather the images just emerge and they might name it later.
Who we are emerges in every mark of a drawing made. It’s a permanent accent.
02: What’s Illustration?
In What’s illustration I answer that question 3 times.
I also ask
Is it art? 🍌
“The original creation might be but in the context of the project, it’s an element. Illustrators retain the right to their artwork in most cases, put it in a gallery or an Etsy store and that becomes art. But as part of a project, it’s a contribution, which is a beautiful thing.
It’s beautiful that as an illustrator you can make an art thing, contribute it to a project, and still own the whole thing.”
03: Drawing is mostly seeing
We talk about perspective point of view and how the best way to learn how to see is by drawing and by looking at good drawings.
04: Observational Sketches for illustration
In “observational sketches for illustration” I share a video of my sketchbook and share how these sketches and the final illustrations emerged as a result.
05: How to make an illustration
Illustration work is assembly work
First in your role is being in an assembly line with other players who have gone before you, providing you with the initial elements of brief and text, sometimes even reference, and all sorts of treasures.
Second, we need to assemble all our preparation, sketches, colour references, moods and experience into something of value first to the commissioner, and as far as possible to ourselves.
06: What is style?
What is style was a short dispatch that ties together the relationship between drawing and style.
replied that dispatch and shared this nugget:“To study technique means to make it, to invent it. To take the raw material each time anew and twist it into shape. It must be made to serve a specific purpose. The same technique must never be used again. Each time it must be made new and fresh. A stock of set phrases won’t do. The study is a development of wit.
An artist’s warehouse, full of experience, is not a store of successful phrases ready for use, but is a store of raw material. The successful phrases are there, but they have been broken down to be made over into new form. Those who have the will to create do not care to use old phrases. There is a great pleasure in the effort to invent the exact thing which is needed.”
Robert Henri, The Art Spirit
And another thing,
I got a nice note from reader
, who is another paid subscriber about how this 10-minute practice is helping her.
“Hi Adam, I have been drawing 10 minutes per day since coming across your feed, and especially since joining. I wanted to just reach out and say thank you, so much, because telling myself I only have to do 10 minutes takes the pressure off, so of course I usually go longer! My skills are slowly coming back thanks to this daily practice, which makes me feel so happy. I wanted to share the cayenne peppers I started today with ink and watercolors. I appreciate everything you're doing, and it is definitely helping me rebuild my practice and skills i thought I'd lost. Thank you!” -
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PS: I wrote a note as a place for substack writers in the community to meet each other, here are a few that I think you’ll love:
- writes , thoughts about drawing and sketchbooks
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This is an interesting question. At times drawings can be illustrations though for me when I think of illustration my mind says “production” since the end result is fur an illustration to end up being published. That means specifications, constrains (e.g. color, black and white, how large, resolution?). I do recall one project where the pencil sketch style was what the client wanted so that was pretty close to drawings being illustrations.
Thank you for the mention, Adam!