iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Don't get busy, get focused. You can build a bestselling Substack in just 20 hours per month if you eliminate everything that doesn't directly serve your core purpose and audience.

010

Before: A stack of blank sketchbooks collecting dust. After: A daily practice that transforms procrastination into production. The bridge? 10 deliberate minutes that compound over time.

000

Most of us aren't actively saying 'no' to our creative calling. We're just finding increasingly sophisticated ways to avoid saying 'yes.' What looks like exploring multiple paths is often fear finding new escape routes.

010

The number, the badge, the award. Those are not the point. The milestone isn't the point. It's just a measuring stick for your growth. Chasing numbers in creative work is about developing new skills that each new level demands from you. The point is growth

000

It revealed my artistic voice. Style Is something you uncover: slowly, quietly, through repetition. Daily sketching helped me see what I returned to, over and over. And it gave me something to shape.

It laid the foundation for bigger things. Every “real” project I’ve done started in the sketchbook. That character, that layout, that style: I found them here, by accident, in daily pages.

100

It gave me mindfulness. 10 minutes of drawing = 10 minutes of peace. A break from noise. A way to process feelings. Sketching became my mental reset button. Small action, big calm.

It became my garden of ideas. A throwaway doodle. A weird shape. A scribbled caption. Daily pages collect stray sparks that can become characters, stories, or full projects. Nothing is wasted.

100

It taught me to battle Resistance. You know the enemy: doubt, procrastination, perfectionism. A sketchbook is where you learn to start anyway. This habit is your anchor when motivation just isn’t there.

100

It earned me credibility. Your sketchbook is your visual diary. It’s where art directors glimpse your brain at work—raw, real, evolving. First they look at your portfolio. Then they ask for your sketchbook.

It became my creative gym. Your sketchbook isn’t a product. It’s practice. Every page is a rep. A stretch. A warmup. Daily sketching builds strength, stamina, and identity. Especially on days when you don’t feel like showing up.

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 This one quiet ritual, just 10 minutes a day, helped me go from unpublished to illustrating 14 book in 3 years Here’s what I learned from keeping a daily sketchbook: [THREAD]

140

10/10 There’s no story. A good pose doesn’t just show a body—it shows a moment. What just happened? What’s about to happen? If your pose answers neither, keep sketching.

100

9/10 The pose doesn’t fit the character. Is your shy bookworm standing like a WWE wrestler? Know your character’s emotional vocabulary. Pose accordingly.

100

8/10 You overposed it. Not every pose needs jazz hands and a backflip. If you force energy where it’s not needed, you lose clarity. Let quiet moments stay quiet.

100

7/10 Your character is emotionally flat because you are. (Sorry) If you’re neutral, your pose will be too. Step into the scene. Feel it in your body. Then draw.

100

6/10 You hid the hands and feet. We get it—hands are hard. But they’re also expressive as hell. Show them. Use them. They carry emotion more than you think.

100

5/10 You forgot the spine, hips, and shoulders. These three parts tell you everything about the pose. If they’re locked or misaligned, the whole figure feels broken.

100

4/10 The character has no weight. Feet floating. Hips not shifting. Limbs that don’t push or pull. If the character doesn’t feel grounded, they won’t feel real.

100

3/10 Your silhouette is mush. If you can’t recognize the pose in shadow, neither can your viewer. Simplify and separate the limbs. Think stage acting, not figure drawing.

100

2/10 You defaulted to symmetry. Mirrored arms. Even weight. Centered feet. It feels safe, but it kills movement. Asymmetry = energy. Break the mirror.

100

1/10 You skipped the line of action. It’s the spine of the pose—the flow, the feeling, the energy. If you start with anatomy or detail, you lose the life before you begin. Start with the gesture. Always.

100

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]

I also read 3 chapters of Judges, it was a series of stories of what happens to humanity when left to their own devices — Not pretty!

000

I’ve also emailed a couple of people I’d like to work with in the future, and a couple of people I’d enjoyed working with in the past.

100

2pm All the while, I’m listening to the joyful sounds of my 4 year old learning, playing and showering outside. Soon I’ll be taking her for soccer practice, I’ll bring my sketchbook, I have this idea of doing some loose linework,and filling in colour when I get home.

100

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.

100

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

100

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.

100

Monday Morning, an interstitial blog. (With pictures)

100