Steal Like An Artist – “Don’t worry about unity…”

Steal Like An Artist – “Don’t worry about unity…”, a photo by Austin Kleon on Flickr.

Graphics in the book–one of my favorite aspects of “Steal Like An Artist”

Steal Like An Artist

Steal Like An Artist, a photo by Austin Kleon on Flickr.

Inside flap

Steal Like An Artist – “School yourself”

Steal Like An Artist – “School yourself”, a photo by Austin Kleon on Flickr.

Review: Steal Like An Artist

Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative by Austin Kleon

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book is a quick read, and contains practical advice on creativity. I finished my copy in a single reading. The book intersperses text with graphics and quotes. Though small, my copy is marked by post-it flags jutting up from the top, and pink highligher on the pages.

Some of what I found helpful:

“Take time to be bored…Creative people need time to sit around and do nothing.” (67)

He also suggests, if you have room, to set up two different work stations–one analog (computer-free) and one digital. On the analog side, keep paper, pens, sticky notes. Play with the material. Use your hands in the creative phase (60)

And this book is creative. Quotes, images, stark white on black pages highlighing words or phrases. Blackout poetry–which is pretty awesome on it’s own. (Kleon has a poetry collection titled “Newspaper Blackout.” I haven’t read it…yet)

It’s not a book strictly about writing–it’s about being creative, about play–something kids have done solid until the adults ruin it for them. This book reminds me of those childhood books–Harrold and the Purple Crayon being one of them (and I have a copy–got it for Christmas 2 years ago–awesome. But it isn’t a kid’s book. It’s more a book giving the adult in you permission to let the kid buried years ago back out to play, to create, and not worry about the outcome.

 

Austin Kleon’s website

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