Kleon, A (2012) - Steal Like an Artist

steal like an artist

6 No good or bad art, only worth stealing and not
7 nothing is original - all creativity builds on something
11 genealogy of ideas - pick your influences
13 hoarders collect indiscriminately - artists selectively
15 study artists no art- study your favourite artists favourite artist
18 You have to be curious about the world in which you live. Look things up. Chase down every reference. Go deeper than anybody else---that's how you'll get ahead. -- Austin Kleon
18 Nothing is more important than an unread library. -- John Waters
- cf tsundoku, antilibary
21 carry a notebook and pen everywhere

don't wait until you know who you are to start

28 imposter syndrome - unable to internalise own accomplishments
33 copy what you love - practice, not plagiarism
36 copy from one author = plagiarism; copy from many = research
36 copy to internalise their way of looking at the world
39 good theft: honours, studies, steal from many, credit, transforms, reworks
- all work is transformative work
41 what makes you different amplifies and transforms your work

write the book you want to read

47 all fiction is fanfiction (paradise lost anyone?)
- see note on all work being transformative work
47 write the story you want to read
48 what did your favourite author miss? what would make a better story
- On the Rise was born of frustration with HP:DH

use your hands

54 bring your body into your work
57 bringing analogue tools back can make it fun
60 have two workstations. one for analogue work, one for digital

side projects and hobbies are important

65 practice productive procrastination
- cf task avoidance in Lichtenbergianism
67 Maira Kalman "avoiding work is the way to focus my mind."
68 Don't choose between passions
72 what unifies your work is the fact you made it

the secret: do good work and share it with people

79 sharing with people is as easy as putting your work on the internet
81 give your secrets away
- cf learning in public?
82 internet can be an incubator for partial ideas
- cf learning in public, digital gardens etc
82 having a container can inspire us to fill it
- like a sketchbook. and we're back to analogue
85 share the dots but don't connect them

geography is no longer our master

90 build a community online
94 travel can inspire creativity - leave home once in a while
96 bad weather leads to better art
- cf letting yourself get bored (p67)

be nice (the world is a small town)

101 Kurt Vonnegut: "There's only one rule I know: be kind."
- kindness does not equal niceness
103 hang out with people who inspire you
105 quit picking fights and go make something
109 write public fan letters
111 Craig Damrauer: "modern art = I could do that + yeah, but you didn't"
113 keep a praise file
119 takes a lot of energy to be creative - don't waste it on other things

be boring (it's the only way to get work done)

124 "Establishing and keeping a routine may be more important than having a lot of time"
- I can attest to that. A levels vs now
124 Inertia is the death of creativity
129 keep a log book - list on things you do everyday
133 choose good supportive relationships

creativity is subtraction

133 In creative work, limitation is freedom
138 creativity is what we choose to leave out
- reminds me of this quote

Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
-- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

What now?