"Steal Like An Artist" by Austin Kleon has been one of those kind of books for me --- packed with ideas, quotes, and anecdotes that really resonate with me and my creative practice.
Rather than giving the whole book away in this blog post (which would really feel like stealing) I'll share one idea, one quote, and one way of working that will give you a sense of what author Kleon is up to.
5 comments:
Wow, even reading jus the little bits of this book from this article really made me want to purchase it. I very much agree with the fact that you don't need to know who you are to start making art. If it's really what you want to do, then do it and see what happens. In fact, I think that trying new things, especially art which comes entirely from you, is one of the best ways to find out more about yourself. I also like what he had to say about working within the constraints. In a way, theatre artists probably work within the most constraints as artists, just taking our space and the text into account. But at the same time, these things are what make our daily challenges invigorating.
I find this pretty ironic actually. It is an article about a book that sounds like it is full of the exact same thing as many of the other articles on here. I am actually kind of surprised that there are enough inspirational artistic related sayings like this to fill an entire book! I will admit however that the author of the book really does seem to know what he is talking about and I do agree with the the things he says that are in the article. I just find it interesting that he put inspirational lines like this in book form rather than something else that people would not have to pay for. Personally I think I would enjoy reading what he has to say, but I would have no desire to own the book as I know I would not want to read them more than once. To me the reason books are books rather than just a post somewhere is that they are something that people go back to even after they have read it once, either for reference or enjoyment so it just seems like it would make more sense for this to be a blog post or article.
This was a very good little review and it definitely seems like it captures the feeling of the book and makes me want a copy. I like the quote that the reviewer chose a lot, "don't wait until you know who you are to get started." In high school, a lot of the work I did in art class was focused around technique and not as much creativity. There was a lot of drawing/painting from observation. Coming here though, we have these design projects that really require you to think and that can be challenging. It can be so easy to get hung up on finding the perfect idea, but eventually you just have to commit to an idea and go for it. This quote really applies to that feeling. The second quote, from Jack White, applies to Basic Design also. I can remember Susan Tsu saying something about the way that limitations can actually inspire more creativity. That is something really valuable to learn as a designer, especially since as a designer you'll be working under constraints your whole life. This seems like a great book!
Granted, there is only a very small portion of the book represented in the article, but it seems to be that, as April said, the same information is still around, whether in other articles or even just around the web. All the same, it maybe is nice to have all of that advice consolidated in one place. I also do agree with a lot of what was written, and I think it could be very helpful to aspiring artists -- if taken to heart. There's a difference between reading something and finding it true, and actually using to it to further your work in a tangible way. I find, for me at least, that the hardest part about "being creative" is getting started, and doing what is suggested by the article and the book would be a great idea, if only I could force myself to follow it.
This sounds like an interesting book. I'd want to read it. A friend gave me a book a little while with art exercises in it to help begin making things. There were no specific instructions, just general ideas to help get you started. It's a really cool book, and kind of reminds me of this one. It sounds like a good place to get started if you are having some artist's block. I like the concept of just starting without having to have a perfect plan, because I so often over-think things until I can no longer make them how I want, when it could have been a really great piece had I just started.
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