đľđš in March 2027 Adam will be hosting a Drawing Retreat in Monsaraz, Portugal, Bookings are now open.
Hello Artist Friend,
Welcome to Ten Minute Artist: the leading newsletter for building a daily creative habit through daily drawing and journal prompts, encouragement, perspective, meditations and practice advice for living a more creative life.
You donât need to wait until you have your perfect situation to start creating, but you can absolutely start creating today in small increments.
These tiny increments do add up and as they do they create momentum, confidence and a body of work. 200 million people in the world share one creative project, and that is the keeping a diary.
I want to encourage you to keep an Artist Diary; a place for daily mini art adventures. Itâs been scientifically proven that engaging in some kind of creative act for as little as 20 minutes a day can make a meaningful impact on your physical and mental well being.
I believe that by getting off your phone and into your artist diary we can get those benefits in as little as 10 minutes. And if youâre asking yourself, âWhat exactly youâre going to put into an Artist Diary?â
Youâre in the right place.
Who is Ten Minute Artist for?
Ten Minute Artist is specially for:
đśď¸ Shadow Artist: For some reason you have been lead to believe that you donât deserve to make art even though you consider yourself highly creative, and as a result you are working in some art adjacent industry, perhaps as a curator, designer, teacher, shop keeper or some other behind the scenes role supporting âreal artistâ, Iâm not asking you to change careers, Iâm simply asking you to give yourselves 10 minutes a day to create for yourself.
âď¸ Aspiring Artist: Whether you went to art school or are teaching yourself art, the journey to go pro or even making a meaningful income from art can sometimes be so all consuming, that we forget to make art for the pure joy of it, for you the prescription is the same 10 minutes a day to create for your self will recharge your creative batteries, fill you with energy, and give you you a clearer sense of purpose. Your artist diary also serves as an engine and reservoir of creative capital.
đ¨âđ¨ Creative Professionals: Even creative professionals need a space that is completely free from commercial concerns, a place to connect with their geeky passions as well as other artist and just make art for the pure joy of it. You know this but itâs just hard to make the time or decide what to draw.
Now, hereâs how I can helpâŚ
The Biggest Roadblocks To Making Art For Yourself
Roadblock #1: Lack of Time â Many people feel they donât have enough free time in their busy schedules to dedicate to a daily art practice. They struggle to find even 10-15 minutes per day to commit to creative activities.
Roadblock #2: Feelings of Inadequacy â Some people are held back by a belief that they âarenât artisticâ or lack the necessary skills to create art. They may feel intimidated or self-conscious about their abilities, leading to a reluctance to start.
Roadblock #3 Fear of Failure or Imperfection âThe pressure to create âgoodâ art every day can be paralysing. People may avoid starting a daily practice out of a fear of not meeting their own high standards or producing work they deem unworthy.
Roadblock #4 Difficulty Forming New Habits â Establishing a consistent daily routine can be challenging, especially if someone has struggled to maintain habits in the past. The initial effort required to make art a regular part of the day can seem daunting.
Roadblock # 5 Competing Priorities â With work, family responsibilities, and other commitments, daily art may not feel like a top priority for everyone. Other tasks and obligations can easily take precedence, pushing creative time to the side.
Roadblock #6 Not Even Knowing Where to Start â Lack of knowledge or too much knowledge could leave one paralysed and not even know where to start.
Roadblock #7 Lack of Community â Outside of art school itâs not easy to find other creatives who are willing to share their journey and imperfect creations. Creating in isolation might seem futile without a sense of accountability or camaraderie
Roadblock #8 No Recovery Plan When You Fall Off â Life happens and with out a plan to get you back on track if you fall off, a missed day can quickly become, weeks, months and even yearsâŚspeaking from experience.
Now, lets talk about how to solve theseâŚ
Ten Minute Artist: Daily Meditations, Prompts And Education to Help Keep You Creating In Tiny Increments.
Hereâs what you can expect from me for free â every single weekday:
A Daily Meditation
Austin Kleon says; âbooks are made from booksâ. Well so are Newsletters, they are also made from other newsletters. By regularly collecting notes from the finest prompts, essays, interviews and courses and creativity, I continue to amass a library of notes on the creative practice. Tempered with my own experience I share these notes as daily meditations for encouragement, insight and practical advice.
A Daily Prompt
Iâll also share a drawing and occasionally writing prompt based on the meditation, so you can go straight to creating. The prompts leave lost of room for creativity and interpretation. And are all designed to be completed in as little as 10 minutes.
Start And Keep A Drawing Habit
Itâs a shame most people stop drawing by the time they are 7, mostly through external pressures, together with the help of the ten minute artist community, I want to help create a safe space for you to start drawing again and keep going!
By doing the prompts you become a Ten Minute Artist, no existing skills required!
Something Extra
Paid subscribers unlock something extra called Ten Minute Artist: Projects
A project is a set of meditations and prompts delivered over 5-days based on a theme. These entries build on each other and offer a deeper more well rounded view on the topics.
New projects drop each month and accumulate in the âLibraryâ.
These projects keep your Artist Diaries fresh and gently challenging and also serve as the perfect on-ramp to get you back on track if you fall off.
Additionally when you first become a paid subscriber, I will give you a GAMEPLAN to âStart a daily drawing habitâ, that is a personal guided tour through the first 3 flagship projects; Sacred Time, Artist Diary and Draw Anything.
This will give you a strong foundation to build your creative practice.
Who Am I?
Let me introduce myself.
Adam Ming is a startup cofounder turned picture-book illustrator at 40, the change also marked the beginnings of this newsletter, since then, Adam has gone on to illustrate nearly 20 books in his first 5 years in the business for top publishers including, Harper Collins, Penguin Random House, Bloomsbury, Hatchett, Magic Cat, Walker Books and Anderson Press to name a few.
His books have won and be nominated for numerous awards voted, by libraries, kids and other institutions, notably âDown the Holeâ was shortlisted as Childrenâs Book Of The Year yy Barnes and Noble, as well as a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard and âWhere Are You Really Fromâ was awarded book of the year in itâs category by The Week, Junior Book Awards.
And none of it what have happened without first starting a daily drawing habit.
Popular Post
Want to get a taste of the kind of content you can expect around here?
Here are some of the most popular posts:
I also love answering questions about the creative practice and my journey into illustration!
So if you want me to answer any questions about these topics, just leave a comment on any newsletter post, I read them all! :)
âŹď¸ What you get when you join âŹď¸
đ For starters, I have a gift for you.
The moment you become a free subscriber, Iâll share my ultimate drawing prompt called the Ten Minute Visual Journal Method as a 5-Day FREE email course.
This is a prompt I use almost everyday for its simplicity and density of what it has to offer in a single 10 minutes session. In this course I go deep to unpack every facet of this prompt that Iâve spent more than 500 days spanning a number of sketchbooks.
And if you want to commit to your daily creative habit
Become a paid subscriber and me and my community will do everything we can to get you started and help you stay on track to that goal!
âď¸ Monthly 5-Day Ten Minute Artist Projects
âď¸ Access to the Growing Project Library
âď¸ The Flagship GAMEPLAN to Start a Daily Drawing Practice alongside the Ten minute Artist Community
âď¸ 58% Cheaper Annual Subscription (compared to monthly)
Click here to join Ten Minute Artist (and start building your daily creative habit.)
I look forward to reading your posts, they are always insightful. Thank you