Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative

by Austin Kleon

Overview

You don’t need to be a genius, you just need to be yourself. That’s the message from Austin Kleon, a young writer and artist who knows that creativity is everywhere, creativity is for everyone. A manifesto for the digital age, Steal Like an Artist is a guide whose positive message, graphic look and illustrations, exercises, and examples will put readers directly in touch with their artistic side.

When Mr. Kleon was asked to address college students in upstate New York, he shaped his speech around the ten things he wished someone had told him when he was starting out. The talk went viral, and its author dug deeper into his own ideas to create Steal Like an Artist, the book. The result is inspiring, hip, original, practical, and entertaining. And filled with new truths about creativity: Nothing is original, so embrace influence, collect ideas, and remix and re-imagine to discover your own path. Follow your interests wherever they take you. Stay smart, stay out of debt, and risk being boring—the creative you will need to make room to be wild and daring in your imagination.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780761169253
Publisher:	Workman Publishing Company, Inc.
Publication date:	02/28/2012
Pages:	160
Sales rank:	7,729
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 5.90(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Austin Kleon is a writer who draws. He is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Steal Like an Artist and Show Your Work! His work has been featured on NPR’s Morning Edition, PBS Newshour, and in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal. He also speaks frequently about creativity in the digital age for such organizations as Pixar, Google, SXSW, TEDx, and The Economist. He lives in Austin, Texas, and online at austinkleon.com.

Read an Excerpt

HOW TO LOOK AT THE WORLD (LIKE AN ARTIST)

Every artist gets asked the question,
“Where do you get your ideas?”

The honest artist answers,
“I steal them.”

How does an artist look at the world?

First, you figure out what’s worth stealing, then you move on to the next thing.

That’s about all there is to it.

When you look at the world this way, you stop worrying about what’s “good” and what’s “bad”—there’s only stuff worth stealing, and stuff that’s not worth stealing.

Everything is up for grabs. If you don’t find something worth stealing today, you might find it worth stealing tomorrow or a month or a year from now.

“The only art I’ll ever study is stuff that I can steal from.”
—David Bowie


NOTHING IS ORIGINAL

The writer Jonathan Lethem has said that when people call something “original,” nine out of ten times they just don’t know the references or the original sources involved.

What a good artist understands is that nothing comes from nowhere. All creative work builds on what came before. Nothing is completely original.

It’s right there in the Bible: “There is nothing new under the sun.” (Ecclesiastes 1:9)

Some people find this idea depressing, but it fills me with hope. As the French writer André Gide put it, “Everything that needs to be said has already been said. But, since no one was listening, everything must be said again.”

If we’re free from the burden of trying to be completely original, we can stop trying to make something out of nothing, and we can embrace influence instead of running away from it.

“What is originality? Undetected plagiarism.”
—William Ralph Inge

Table of Contents

1. Steal Like an Artist.
2. Don’t Wait Until You Know Who You Are to Get Started.
3. Write the Book You Want to Read.
4. Use Your Hands.
5. Side Projects and Hobbies Are Important.
6. The Secret: Do Good Work and Share It with People.
7. Geography Is No Longer Our Master.
8. Be Nice. (The World Is a Small Town.)
9. Be Boring. (It’s the Only Way to Get Work Done.)
10. Creativity Is Subtraction.

Editorial Reviews

The book is filled with engaging anecdotes and helpful tips taken from Kleon’s experience learning to walk on his own creative feet, as well as quotes and stories from big names, ranging from Gide to Goethe to Questlove. – Fast Company co.Design
 
“Immersing yourself in Steal Like an Artist is as fine an investment in the life of your mind as you can hope to make.” – TheAtlantic.com
 
“Steal Like An Artist is an actually readable manifesto on how to properly squeeze your brain-juices and unlock your potential.” — Thrillist

From the Publisher

If you could give your 19-year-old self advice, what would you say? In this book, poet, musician, blogger, artist, writer, and businessman Kleon draws on his life experiences to give autobiographical advice from which any person seeking a little creativity in their ventures will undoubtedly benefit. The advice is genuine, with interesting tips like how using materials to create a sense of play before moving to a digital medium inspires creativity, how to let other creative hobbies flourish because they ultimately add to instead of detract from your main pursuit, and how to network online by creating a blog that is useful and gives away some of your secrets or processes. Some of the photographs of modified street signs, or those based on Kleon's signature newspaper articles that have been blacked out to leave only a few choice words readable seem like they were made for a different project and arbitrarily included here. Nevertheless, for the most part the art is well chosen and exceptionally laid out. Kleon's stylized white on black chalkboard diagrams are particularly clever and a true highlight. Peppered with quotes from people as diverse as Conan O'Brien, Jay Z and Kobe Bryant to Goethe, Shakespeare and Duchamp, there is inarguably something for everyone. Older audiences will appreciate the wide variety of pop-cultural icons; however, the personalities featured are not necessarily current celebrities that teens will recognize. The book also spends a long time urging people to identify what ideas are good and to ultimately borrow these ideas, but the distinction between stealing and plagiarizing is never clearly delineated and may prove problematic for younger readers. Inviting perusal with its fun format and tone, this book's substance will stick with high school and college age students, as well as older readers, for years to come. Reviewer: Jennifer Greene

Children's Literature - Jennifer Greene