I am only a decade late to this party, but this little 6×6 inch black book has one hundred and sixty-four pages of yummy goodness inside. Steal Like an Artist, written by Austin Kleon, is timeless. Although I read this through in a few sittings, it really is the type of book you want to have just hanging out around your office to pick up occasionally, and take a few little bites of here an there. I can imagine that every time you thumb through it, something new will speak to you.

Another tip I enjoyed was to, “Start Copying.” Relax, there isn’t shame in copying those we admire, nothing is original, in fact we learn by copying.  The key is to figure out who and what to copy.

“there is nothing new under the sun.”

Ecclesiastes

Kleon also suggest to, “step away from the screen.” He recommends bringing your physical body into your work. He practices this in his own space by making room for both, an analog and digital desk. I was so inspired by this, I pulled out my old magazine clippings from my AP United States History teaching days, and started fiddling with some of his impactful statements. The irony is not lost on me, that after I made something with my body, all I could think about was bringing it into After Effects to animate it. So much for staying analog. lol 😉

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Finally, I appreciated his, Not-So-Secret Formula.

Step one: “do good work.” Make stuff every day. Know your’e going to suck for a while Fail. Get better.

and

Step two, “share it with people.”  Share ideas that aren’t fully formed, a scary thought, but part of a healthy creative process.

There are plenty more nuggets of goodness inside, not to mention his emphasis of ideas through illustration is absolutely inspiring. It may be a decade old, but the ideas are still relevant and continue to inspire.

All my opinions are my own, and I don’t get a thing for sharing them with you 🙂 .