Steal Like an Artist, Austin Kleon

Steal Like an Artist is a little square book, by Austin Kleon, that talks about '10 things that nobody told you about being creative' and was a recommended book by many - it is designed for anyone, not just artists.

As the title of the book reads, steal from others for you own art. Taking from others and constructing your own work and 'making it into something better or at least something different'. It's like collating information and imagery and ideas.

Another ideas that I liked was 'nothing comes from nowhere' which seems perfect for what is needed in a sketchbook at university. The sketchbook is used to show process, research and understanding, therefore what was the process? Where did these ideas, imagery. aesthetic come from?

"If you just mimic the surface of somebody's work without understanding where they are coming from, your work will never be anything more than a knockoff"

"The manifesto is this: Draw the art you want to see, start the business you want to run, play the music you want to hear, write the books you want to read, build the product you want to use - do the work you want to see done"

Reading this reminded me of the ideas that I had and never followed through with but makes me excited, who's gonna do it if not you. Eventually someone will make the idea, but you could also just make it to your fullest vision.

"Don't worry about unity from piece to piece - what unifies all your work is that you made it"

This quote is reassuring. It indirectly emphasises on just making and experimenting rather than trying to make things perfect and match perfectly. I am just a university student and there's 'no pressure when you're unknown. You can do what you want. Experiment. Do things for the fun of it' which I will do.

To end this post, Kleon said to keep a swipe file, a file to keep track of what you swipe from others, which is essentially what this blog is. I want to document things, anything.