Steal Like an Artist — Austin Kleon
This little book is like a shot of happy adrenaline right to your vein. It makes me want to get set up at a big desk with a bunch of pens and paper and start making stuff. I read it once already about a year ago and it can be read cover to cover in about an hour. I think it serves its purpose better if you just keep it around your work station to be leafed through whenever you need that little extra boost to get to work.
In a nutshell, this book urges us to stop thinking about being creative, and just start making stuff. If you are having trouble start by copying the stuff that inspires you and keep going until you have a voice of your own.
Just talking about the book doesn’t do too much. With its little diagrams and callout quotes, the book is begging you to write all over it. And something tells me that nothing would make the author happier than knowing that his readers did exactly that.
Below are a couple of the diagrams that I recreated directly from “Steal Like an Artist.” Drawing help came from a great TED talk.
Quotes:
Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you dot his, your work (and theft) will be authentic. Jim Jarmusch
Ask anybody doing truly creative work, and they’ll tell you the truth: They don’t know where the good stuff comes from. They just show up to do their thing. Every day. — AK
I have stolen all of these moves from all these great players. I just try to do them proud, the guys who came before, because I learned so much from them. It’s all in the name of the game. It’s a lot bigger than me — Kobe Bryant
Write the book you want to read. — AK
The work you do while you procrastinate is probably the work you should be doing the rest of your life. — Jessica Hische