Steal Like An Artist
I blew through Austin Kleon’s new book Steal Like An Artist. This was such a refreshing read and really serves as an injection of creative disciplines for anyone trying to make anything. I love reading about creativity from people who are actually producing things. It’s easy to stand on the sidelines and offer criticisms. The tough part is getting in the game and trying to make something meaningful. I feel this tension every week as we try and creatively communicate God’s Truth through our weekend services at Central.
Here are some of the ideas in Austin’s book that really resonated with me:
“All advice is autobiographical. It’s one of my theories that when people give you advice, they’re really just talking to themselves in the past.†“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.†“The artist is a collector. Not a hoarder, mind you, there’s a difference: Hoarders collect indiscriminately, artists collect selectively. They only collect things that they really love.†“The cartoonist Tom Gauld says he stays away from the computer until he’s done most of the thinking for his strips, because once the computer is involved, ‘things are on an inevitable path to being finished. Whereas in my sketchbook the possibilities are endless.’” “The more open you are about sharing your passions, the closer people will feel to your work. Artists aren’t magicians. There’s no penalty for revealing your secrets.†“The best way to vanquish your enemies on the Internet? Ignore them. The best way to make friends on the Internet? Say nice things about them.†“The trouble with creative work: Sometimes by the time people catch on to what’s valuable about what you do, you’re either a) bored to death with it, or b) dead. You can’t go looking for validation from external sources. Once you put your work into the world, you have no control over the way people will react to it.†“Who you marry is the most important decision you’ll ever make. And ‘marry well’ doesn’t just mean your life partner—it also means who you do business with, who you befriend, who you choose to be around.â€Click here to check out all of the creative awesomeness at Austin’s website.
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