Category: Steal like an Artist

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.

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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.
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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

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

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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.

5. Side projects and hobbies are important

Practice productive procrastination

Have a variety of projects on the go to keep from getting burned out on any one.

But also: remember to breathe. Space between projects allows ideas to percolate and give your mind time to find connections.

I already know the importance of having a hobby I’m not trying to turn into a business, and I know how rapidly I fall apart when I sacrifice leisure time for more work. My meditation practice is equally important, giving my space in the day where I can just be for a moment.

Don’t throw any of yourself away

“Keep all your passions in your life.”

If you love two or three different things, see if you can marry them together. Trying to ignore them doesn’t work

The things I’ve enjoyed most in life have always been books, drawing and animals. I’m fortunate that finding a link between those three shouldn’t be too hard!

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6. Do good work and share it with people

In the beginning, obscurity is good

How do you get discovered? Wrong question. How good can I get before the pressure to perform starts to destroy my ability to play?

The not-so-secret formula

Do good work and share it with people.

Part one, do good work:

• Make stuff every day.
• Accept you’re going to suck, fail, and get better.

Part two, share it with people:

• Put it on the internet

The secret of the internet is also simple: marvel at the world and invite others to join you. Marvel at odd, obscure things that move you, and be open about sharing your passions, and your methods, with other people. (Consider making online courses?)

We learn through teaching, and we find something to say by speaking – having a blog encourages you to write, apparently. I certainly feel obligated to write.

Share your dots, but don’t connect them

Find people who like the same things you do, and connect and share your passion with them.

Tease your audience with sketches, doodles and snippets, share tips and advice, link to interesting articles and talk about what you’re reading.

3. Write the book you want to read

Write what you know like

“We make art because we like art. We’re drawn to certain kinds of art because we’re inspired by the people doing that work.”
If you want to see, read, hear, play it, so will others. If something disappoints you, make it better.

“Whenever you’re at a loss for what move to make, just ask yourself, ‘What would make a better story?'”

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4. Use your hands

Step away from the screen

I’ve been moving to and from digital work for a while; on the one hand, the cheapness, speed and ease of setup and teardown is fantastic but, on the other, I feel less involved and less fulfilled by digital work. Working standing up helps, but I miss the smell of paint and the feel of stylus on glass is nothing like as pleasant as pencil on paper.

Kleon talks about analogue work engaging all the senses and they’re not wrong.

Don’t wait until you know who you are to get started

Make things, know thyself

Find yourself through your work; the act of creation forces us to confront and refine who we are.
Professionals talk about “Impostor syndrome” – everyone who creates for a living feels like they’re about to be discovered as a fraud. No one knows what they’re doing, so just keep showing up.

Fake it till you make it

Whatever you practice, you become an expert in. Act like a pro and you’ll become a pro.

Start copying

Do master studies. Do a lot of master studies. Vary the masters to explore different styles and learn from each.
The object is not to learn to copy the style, but to learn how the artist sees the world

Imitation is not flattery

Attempts to imitate are destined to fall flat – we are not our heroes – but the adaptations we make to accommodate those shortcomings create a unique style. “Add something to the world that only you can add”, even if you don’t know what that is yet (see point one).

Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon

“Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal; bad poets deface what they take, and good poets make it into something better, or at least something different. The good poet welds his theft into a whole of feeling which is unique, utterly different from that which it was torn”

T. S. Eliot

Steal like an artist

How to look at the world

There’s no such thing as a value judgement, no good or bad, just “worth stealing”, “not worth stealing”. Figure out what’s worth stealing, then take it. Everything’s up for grabs.

Is it, though? Balancing this philosophy against colonialism, exotification, cultural appropriation and generally Not Being a Dick means that some stories aren’t mine to tell and that’s okay.

Nothing is original

Like it or not, we stand on the shoulders of giants and they stand on top of a mountain of culture and history. Stop trying to be original and start trying to be authentic.

“What is originality? Undetected plagiarism.”

William Ralph Inge

The genealogy of ideas

Any idea is a remix of the thinker’s prior experiences.  Curate your experiences wisely, because…

Garbage in, garbage out

… whatever you surround yourself with, you’re going to end up making more stuff like that.

Climb your own family tree

Pick a role model and study them. Pick one of their role models and study them. Rinse, repeat.

A creative lineage grounds you and contextualises your practice.

School yourself

“Whether you’re in school or not, it’s your job to get an education”.

Be curious, look things up, experiement; go deeper than anyone else. Search for everything before you ask questions; if you can’t find the answer, you might yet find a better question.

“Collect books […] Nothing is more important than an unread library.”

Finally, validation!

Save your thefts for later

Wrote things down. Thoughts, ideas, favourite poems or passages, overheard conversations.

Keep a morgue file to store things you’ve stolen from others – dead things you’ll reanimate later.

“It is better to take what does not belong to you than to let it lie around neglected”

Mark Twain