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Month: June 2017

Steal like an artist – part 9 & 10

9. Be boring (it’s the only way to get work done)

Take care of yourself

It takes energy to be creative, and being sick, stressed, strung out, or tired.
My health has been an utter bloody shambles these last few years, but I’m solving the problems one-by-one. I won’t ever be well-well, but I’m upright and functional, with a greater appreciation of how it feels when all the wheels come off and a determination never to go back there.

Stay out of debt

Bit late for this, what with student debt and a mortgage, but (rightly or wrongly), I differentiate those debts from debts accrued by having too much month left at the end of the money. I’m fortunate to not have to worry about money right now, but I still try to live like I did when I was earning entry-level wages in a startup company in a basement, not out of some self-imposed asceticism but because I remember having to choose between dry boots, a boiler service and food, and I don’t want to go back there, either.

Keep your day job

There are several reasons to keep a day job, not just money (but the money’s important).

Routine, connection to the world and other people, and freedom to do what you want with your art. Use what you learn in your job to enhance your not-work life, and build a routine that allows you to be creative. Work gets done in the time available

Get yourself a calendar

A body of work is the accumulation of small bits of effort.
A body of work is the accumulation of small bits of effort. 
A body of work is the accumulation of small bits of effort.  

20-30minutes of work, 500 words, whatever the smallest unit of work is, every day will get me where I need to go.

Kleon proposes the X-Effect, which I know of, but need to get serious about. Today is the first day of he rest of your life and all that. Let’s go.

Keep a logbook

Look forward to future events, but also keep track of the past. Keep track of how far you’ve come.

I have a bullet journal, but I need to keep it better. I already track what I’m grateful for, but I could also ask myself “What’s the best thing that happened today?”.

Marry well 

A good partner supports your dreams and keeps you grounded.
I reckon that this is the garbage in, garbage out of people again. Find relationships (emotional, romantic, sexual) that fulfil, sustain and support you, and ditch ones that drag you down or make you feel small.
And, I would argue, you don’t even have to marry; all relationships are important and I don’t like the cultural emphasis on marriage as the be-all and end-all of emotional connections. One person can’t sustain you emotionally or intellectually.


10. Creativity is subtraction

Choose what to leave out

I often have trouble knowing my limits and, despite reading Essentialism last year, I don’t think it’s fully sunk in yet and I appear to insist on taking on a hundred projects at a time. Time for a re-read, I think.
Kleon advocates using limitations to spur creativity, which is a solution to a different problem, but worth bearing in mind when the well runs dry. Working within limitations – financial, material – can bring out our most creative solutions (although ‘d say that, in my experience, chronological constraints tend not to bring out my best work). In his Ideation Lab, Sterling Hundley talks about a “three sided box”, where a concept is bounded on three sides by a deadline, physical dimensions and concept, but that constraint gives creativity room to grow.
——

What now?

  • Take a walk
  • Start a morgue file
  • Go to the library (do the ‘role model family tree’-thing)
  • Buy a notebook and use it
  • Get a calendar
  • Start a logbook
  • Give a copy of this book away (nice upsell; does this series count?)
  • Start a blog
  • Take a nap
Author AubreyPosted on 13 June, 201714 September, 2018Categories Art theory, Steal like an Artist

Steal like an artist – part 7 & 8

7. Geography is no longer our master

Build your own world

Borders are no boundary, timezones no obstacle; we live in the future!
The internet means that your peers can live everywhere around the world. Connect to people all around the world, do your networking online, make professional contacts through social media and build a digital Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.

Enjoy isolation

Solitude is good; self-imposed isolation is better. Make time to
disconnect from the internet for a bit, clear some space – mentally,
physically, temporally -and put it to good use.

I love isolation, although I need to improve the “without distractions” bit, but I know I can easily become isolated and need to pay attention to when I last saw my friends, left the house or had a conversation with a person.

Leave home

Despite the interconnectedness of the digital age, where we live still affects the work we do. Travel broadens the mind – without new experiences, we can’t form new mental connections and go on to create new work.
With freelance work, a digital (or portable) studio and an online community, the “digital nomad” lifestyle is definitely viable. I’m not sure it’s for me (I have too many books, to start with, and would struggle to part with them), but it is an option.

Kleon says that, ideally, the weather should be bad for about six months of the year, the food should be good and the company varied. And you shouldn’t stay for too long! Keep seeking out new experiences


8. Be nice (the world is a small town)

Make friends, ignore enemies

“There’s only one rule I know of: you’ve got to be kind”

Kurt Vonnegut

I don’t think I’m the type of person to badmouth people generally, but I know I can have a temper and I know I can get riled up, and that’s the danger for me – getting into arguments and showing myself up. People are going to find that and, if I only post when I’m frustrated or argumentative, that’s what they’re going to think I’m like all the time, because they won’t have any other reference.

In short: be nice and don’t post when you’re tilted.

Stand next to the talent

Garbage in, garbage out applies to people, too. Hang out with arseholes for too long and you’re going to start to smell like an arsehole.

“Find the most talented person in the room, and if it’s not you, go stand next to him, Hang out with him. Try to be helpful.”

Harold Ramis

“If you’re the most talented person in the room, find a different room.”

“Quit picking fights and go make something”

Anger is great. It’s jet fuel, and it’s pushed me through some awful times, but it isn’t always useful and my key takeaway from this chapter is probably going to be “learn to ignore insults and let people be wrong”.

Write fan letters

Like Kleon, I wrote to my favourite artist when I was a kid and I was lucky enough to get a letter back (an illustrated letter, no less!). Public fan letters (fan art?), blog posts with links to websites, answer questions, solve problems – and don’t worry about getting a letter back.

Validation is for parking

External validation is for chumps. It either comes too late (or not at all) or it pressures you into doing more of the same, even long after you’re sick of it.
Get busy, keep working, and don’t pay attention to the people who want you to do the thing they like.

Looks like there are two most important lessons from this chapter.

Keep a praise file

External validation is for chumps, but it is nice.

It’s also temporary.

There will always be dark days, and the Black Dog is only a few steps behind, so build an emotional buffer of proof that you don’t suck, that people like your work, that life isn’t always this grim.

And keep it backed up.

Author AubreyPosted on 6 June, 201714 September, 2018Categories Art theory, Steal like an Artist

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