Think You Need Endless Time to Build a Creative Career/Practice?
Here’s Why 10 Minutes a Day Is Enough
People think it takes large blocks of uninterrupted time to build a creative practice.
Since this is hard to find, they procrastinate or do not start at all. Or at best, they become Intermittent Creatives, making art only when inspiration strikes or when time permits.
Example #1 People think they need to spend 4 years in art school, before they can become a professional illustrator, when in fact the majority of art school graduates end up finding jobs in different fields.
Example #2 People think they need to practice for 10, 000 hours before it even makes sense to show their work, or reach out to people who hire illustrators. When in reality art directors and editors are very much interested in your creative journey.
Example #3 People think they need to quit their jobs or wait for their kids to grow up before starting to build a creative practice because it’s impossible to manage a creative practice with another full-time role. When in fact most creatives juggle multiple roles.
Life doesn’t stop for you to become an artist, instead, being an artist is something you do in response to life and it takes way less time than you think to start.
Ten minutes a day is all you need to start building a creative habit.
In 2019, when I was on the verge of turning 40, I realized that I still had this unfulfilled childhood ambition to be an illustrator.
The problem was I was stuck in a consulting job for Startups and Internet Businesses. I couldn’t quit the job, instead I started sketching for 10 minutes a day. This habit grew and compounded. Eventually, I was spending 4 hours a day making art and putting it on the internet.
This eventually led me to get a book deal, an agent, and now a career as a picturebook illustrator with many top clients. Landing 11 book deals in my first 2 years on the job.
Change doesn’t start when you go to art school or get 10,000 hours to work on your craft, or quit your job, it starts when you make a small commitment to be consistent daily!
All you need is a sketchbook and ten minutes to start your creative journey.
Focus on is the process and the outcomes will take care of themselves.
By making art for ten minutes a day you will start to prove to yourself and everyone around you that you are a creative person. And the work you do compounds and builds up to become proof of what you can do. It’s this proof that lands you a book deal, not a degree, and not 10,000 hours of practicing in private.
But small daily commitments.
Your daily practice builds your creative skills and creative muscles, soon you’ll be doing 20 minutes, an hour, 4 hours of art daily all the while building a body of work.
Large blocks of time learning ‘fixed knowledge’ is a thing of the past, these days we grow by having daily practice and learning in public.
You don’t need to wait for that perfect chunk of time, you need to build a daily habit and all it takes to start is 10 minutes a day!
Learning from a college lecturer will never beat learning directly from creators you admire. Focusing on your daily practice will teach you the skills you need, to do the projects you choose, rather than the general skills that the majority of artists have.
Spend ten minutes in your sketchbook today and you will already be on your way to feeling like an artist and having a body of work that could lead to a creative career.
This post was originally published a year ago with the title a “ten minute artist manifesto.”
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TenMinuteArtist Prompt:
Happy Faces
Draw a person, and animal and a thing with happy faces
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PS:
draws for 10 minutes a day, watch our conversation about the practice, she’s got some good ideas about what to do if you miss a day.
Thanks for the shoutout Adam! Can’t believe we’re closing in on 365 days of drawing daily! This ten minute practice has been such a game changer for my process. I apply the same 10 min framework to so many other aspects of my life 😁✍️✨💪
I’ve also found overlapping interests helps like drawing something you already love. Draw your morning coffee or map out your spring garden. Win-win, Adam! :-)