Adam Ming
LightNews LightNews
banner
adamming.bsky.social
Adam Ming
@adamming.bsky.social
690 followers 890 following 250 posts
✏️Award-winning illustrator sharing daily prompts to transform your creative life. Helping artist shift from struggling to thriving.

👇Newsletter

Linktr.ee/adamming
Posts Replies Media Videos
adamming.bsky.social
Sketch, for Help! Written by @annabrookewriter.bsky.social
August 20, 2025 at 2:25 AM
adamming.bsky.social
Need ideas, start looking in your sketchbook
A screenshot essay titled 'Dear Creator, capture today's fleeting ideas before they're lost forever — and turn them into the work only you can create.' The body text discusses the importance of capturing unique thoughts and feelings that arise each day, emphasizing that these configurations of ideas are fleeting gifts. The author shares their personal practice of filling a sketchbook daily, which led to discovering characters for a story a year later. The essay encourages readers to choose a method of documentation, such as a journal or sketchbook, and stresses the importance of consistency in preserving ideas that may otherwise be forgotten.
July 20, 2025 at 5:25 PM
adamming.bsky.social
I’m writing Atomic Essays for 30 Days, this one was about a painful jab when I told a friend I was starting a career as a picture-book illustrator at 40
Screenshot essay titled 'If You Keep Starting Over, You’ll Never Finish: Here’s The Daily Routine That Breaks The Cycle'. The essay discusses the author's journey towards establishing a career in illustrating picture books. It narrates a moment of reflection during a coffee meeting with a classmate who mocks the author's tendency to begin new projects. Despite the jibe, the author emphasizes the importance of consistency, highlighting their progress over the past two years, including submitting illustrations for one book and working on two others. The author concludes with a commitment to daily practice in their craft, valuing even short time spent on their work.
July 20, 2025 at 7:19 AM
adamming.bsky.social
There are 5 things I learned that really had a profound impact on how I illustrate, I’m sharing this in a free emails series

Www.tenminuteartist.com
July 5, 2025 at 12:41 PM
adamming.bsky.social
To get 1 step removed from the reference, I did studies in my sketchbook, then drew this from my sketchbook
A screenshot essay titled 'Morning Drawing (that I did in the afternoon)' featuring a drawing created by the author. The drawing is visually vibrant and expressive, showcasing a blend of colors and playful shapes, highlighting the artist's unique style. The text surrounding the drawing discusses the artistic process and inspiration behind the work. The essay conveys a sense of humor about the title, indicating a playful approach to time management in art creation.
June 10, 2025 at 5:27 AM
adamming.bsky.social
Do we still hate social media?
Screenshot essay titled '5 Reasons Why I Believe Social Media is Still A Useful Promotional Tool for Artists,' featuring five key points: 1. You can DM anybody - sharing how reaching out to others can help when you're stuck. 2. Your comments are actually welcome - emphasizing the importance of giving meaningful feedback and how it can lead to more engagement. 3. Your bio is your elevator pitch - highlighting the significance of a concise bio to convey who you are and what you offer. 4. Your content is your credibility - discussing how social media serves as a platform to showcase your offerings and demonstrate authenticity. 5. An 11-second reel could get thousands of views - mentioning the potential impact of engaging with reels on your visibility. The author concludes with encouragement for readers to leverage these insights to advance their goals.
June 10, 2025 at 4:22 AM
adamming.bsky.social
Other artist are not the competition
Screenshot essay titled 'Other Artists Are Not The Competition' discusses the author's initial perception of competition in a children's illustration class. The author reflects on their mindset of needing to defeat fellow artists, but realizes through experience that learning from others is more valuable than competition. The essay includes three key insights: the author initially struggled to discern quality in art, gained significant learning from peer interactions more than the course content, and offers a metaphor comparing artists on a key ring, indicating that each artist serves a unique purpose rather than competing against one another.
June 8, 2025 at 10:08 AM
adamming.bsky.social
Our dreams are built with bricks called habits.

This one quiet ritual, just 10 minutes a day, helped me go from unpublished to illustrating 14 book in 3 years

Here’s what I learned from keeping a daily sketchbook:
[THREAD]
May 6, 2025 at 9:30 AM
adamming.bsky.social
You designed a great character BUT every pose feels stiff, awkward, or wrong.

You’re not bad at drawing. You’re just making one of these 10 posing mistakes (and 3 will surprise you):

[THREAD]
May 6, 2025 at 3:14 AM
adamming.bsky.social
11 AM Next I worked on slides for ARTGYM, a monthly drawing workshop I do with Katie Stack, we’re going to be practicing sports poses this time around.
May 5, 2025 at 11:00 AM
adamming.bsky.social
9 AM I did my 10 minute drawing practice, creating an icon for the prompt; Necromancer. i wrote a corresponding post for my newsletter. I also wrote a personalised email to 130 new subscribers to the newsletter
May 5, 2025 at 11:00 AM
adamming.bsky.social
8AM: I started the day adding a couple of books to my portfolio, it’s easy to let these tings get out of date, but some weekend planning helped me make time for this.
May 5, 2025 at 11:00 AM
adamming.bsky.social
I’ll be leading a workshop on dynamic poses with Katie Stack, RSVP here: https://open.substack.com/pub/artgym/p/rsvp-for-artgym?r=p60pf&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
Screenshot essay titled 'How to pose a stickman' featuring a step-by-step guide presented in a visually organized layout. The content includes illustrations demonstrating various stickman poses, along with accompanying text that provides tips and instructions for effectively representing stickman figures in different actions and scenarios. The overall tone is instructional and informative, aimed at individuals interested in drawing or animating stick figures.
May 5, 2025 at 7:15 AM
adamming.bsky.social
What’s cookin?
An essay titled 'On Crafting Icons' discussing the essence of illustration. The text emphasizes that illustration is not merely about depicting reality but rather about creating icons that symbolize ideas. It highlights how the arrangement of these icons results in a visual form of poetry, referred to as Illustration.
May 5, 2025 at 5:29 AM
adamming.bsky.social
Difference trumps Skill
A screenshot essay titled '20/100 Being Recognizable Beats Being Perfect'. It discusses the importance of style signatures in art, stating they function as visual branding that aids in standing out creatively. The text suggests that established illustrators benefit from a recognizable style which attracts more opportunities compared to merely having technical skills. It emphasizes that these distinctive elements develop through practice and awareness of one’s tendencies. The author encourages readers to identify and emphasize three distinctive elements that consistently appear in their work, as mentioned in a prompt at the end.
April 9, 2025 at 1:00 AM
adamming.bsky.social
Design Characters for scale!
Screenshot essay titled '19/100: Character Design: What Makes Us Want More?' The text discusses the author's fascination with memorable characters that people want to see repeatedly in various forms, such as books, stickers, and plushies. The author reflects on patterns in character designs that resonate, emphasizing the importance of distinctive silhouettes, emotional expressiveness, and versatility over mere technical skill. The essay concludes with a prompt to redesign a simple character (animal or object) to enhance its 'stickiness,' aiming for instant recognizability even when simplified for use as a sticker, plush toy, or logo.
April 8, 2025 at 1:30 AM
adamming.bsky.social
A portfolio is not an archive - it’s a stratigic inspiration
Screenshot essay titled '19/100: PORTFOLIO CURATION' featuring text discussing the importance of selective showcasing in a portfolio. The author emphasizes that a portfolio should serve as a strategic invitation, not a complete archive. They argue that including mediocre pieces alongside exceptional works can diminish overall impact. The text poses a reflective question about which pieces truly represent the individual’s skills and aspirations, encouraging selectivity to highlight value to desired clients. The essay concludes with a prompt to draw a thumbnail of potential portfolio pieces.
April 7, 2025 at 12:00 AM
adamming.bsky.social
From Static to Story: How Three Panels Can Unlock Your Character's Hidden Life
Screenshot essay titled '18/100: Show Don’t Tell.' The body content discusses character drawing techniques, highlighting the contrast between initial simple poses and more dynamic storytelling poses. It describes an example where a character transitions from a generic pose to a narrative scene involving commuting to work and personal reflections. Additionally, it includes a creative prompt for artists to draw a character in three sequential panels that convey a mini-story through visual cues without any accompanying text.
April 6, 2025 at 3:00 PM
adamming.bsky.social
Try a different view!
The screenshot essay titled '17/100: Shifting Perspective' features a personal reflection about gaining new perspectives in art. The author recounts their experience in art school where a friend would stand on a chair to see a different view. It highlights the concept that an image serves as a lens to the world being depicted, allowing one to view characters from various angles. The essay concludes with a prompt encouraging artists to draw a character from both a bird's eye view and a worm's eye view.
April 5, 2025 at 3:07 PM
adamming.bsky.social
A technique for attacking a blank page
Screenshot essay titled '18/100: BLANK PAGE COURAGE'. The body text discusses developing personal strategies to combat a blank page, emphasizing the author's preference for drawing four boxes filled with comics. It mentions the author's enjoyment of creating comics despite reluctance to share them, encouraging others to find their own methods. The text highlights the importance of starting to create and suggests varying one's approach after consistent practice. It concludes with a prompt to draw a continuous line to fill a page.
April 5, 2025 at 11:37 AM
adamming.bsky.social
Draw until you laugh out loud, that’s when you have something!
Screenshot essay titled '016/100: FINDING YOUR CHARACTERS' describes the author's experience sketching rabbits for their book 'Down the Hole.' The essay emphasizes the importance of emotional responses in character design, sharing that finding an authentic pose that evokes laughter indicated the right design. It encourages artists to let their own emotional reactions guide their creative process while suggesting a prompt to draw three quick character sketches of an animal reflecting joy, sadness, and anger, focusing on the emotional expression in the entire figure.
April 2, 2025 at 4:15 PM
adamming.bsky.social
Morning brain vs. evening brain: the ultimate drawing showdown ☀️✏️🌙

The best illustrators don't wait for inspirationthey build reliable rituals. Those quiet morning moments before your inner critic wakes up? Creative gold.

Try this: 5min morning sketch, 5min evening sketch. Same subject. Compare
A screenshot essay titled '015/100: MORNING SKETCHING RITUALS'. The body text discusses the importance of rituals in creative work, emphasizing a consistent morning sketching practice that lasts 5-10 minutes. It explains how these early sketches, done before the critical mind is fully awake, can lead to authentic expressions of an artist's style. The text concludes with a prompt to draw a subject in the morning and again at night, reflecting on any changes or observations. The text is presented in clear paragraphs, with the prompt highlighted in bold.
April 1, 2025 at 2:27 PM
adamming.bsky.social
Drawing upside-down is like a cheat code for your brain 🙃✏️

Instantly see shapes instead of symbols. Try this today and watch your proportions magically improve! What techniques have surprisingly leveled up your drawing skills? #TenMinuteArtist"
A screenshot essay titled '14/100: THE UPSIDE-DOWN CHALLENGE' discusses techniques for improving drawing skills. The text explains how shortcuts in drawing can lead to flat and generic results. It presents a solution: turning reference images upside-down to force viewers to see pure shapes and angles instead of recognizable objects. The essay concludes with a prompt for readers to find a photo, turn it upside down, and draw what they see.
April 1, 2025 at 7:06 AM
adamming.bsky.social
“The cost of being an individual is emotional pain” - Murakami #the100daychallenge
Screenshot essay titled '13/100 : Emotional Pain' featuring a quote by Murakami, 'The cost of being an individual is emotional pain.' The essay discusses the challenges of individuality and the emotional pain one feels when striving to stand out, suggesting that this pain often goes unnamed. It emphasizes the importance of identifying this pain and invites readers to creatively express it by naming their emotional pain and illustrating it as a cute creature.
March 22, 2025 at 5:30 AM
adamming.bsky.social
There are 4 ways we spend out time. 3 common 1 uncommon. And the uncommon one leads to uncommon results.

#the100dayproject
'The key is not to prioritise what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.' This screenshot discusses four ways to spend time: Necessity, Distraction, Waste, and Effectiveness, emphasizing the importance of dedicating time to creative thinking and meaningful activities. It ends with a prompt to draw icons representing each time investment category.
March 21, 2025 at 5:17 PM