Steal Like An Artist—Great Textbook!

I really got so much out of reading and doing the suggested activities from Austin Kleon's book, Steal Like An Artist. I have a feeling he had no idea how successful this little book would be! I'm going to purchase his other book, Show Your Work: 10 Ways to Share Your Creativity and Get Discovered. It's described as "the essential guide to self-promotion for people who hate the very idea of self-promotion." That's me. I loathe self-promotion which is one reason I didn't get further in my music career over the years. Did I mention I DETEST self-promotion? Ugh! So maybe his second book will help me with that!

I really like the epilogue in Steal Like An Artist. It includes a "What Now?" list. Very useful. It also includes some deleted scenes, which are interesting to read. It really shows how he subtracted and subtracted until the book was just right. He also includes a little note that ends with encouragement to say hello with his contact information. So, I think I will write him a little note and tell him how much I enjoyed his book and how it useful it has been for me:

_______________________________________________

Dear Austin,

I'm getting ready to graduate next month with a degree in graphic design, and for one of my last classes, Steal Like An Artist was our textbook. Not only did we read it, we completed every suggested activity. It is an absolutely amazing and inspiring book filled with very clear, concise advice that has helped me so much in the area of creativity! It will serve as a reference book for me in the years to come. I found it very easy to read and understand, and I really like the examples, the lists, and the quotes from other creatives. Also, it's so cool that you are also a musician (so am I). It seems like creative people usually have more than one area of creativity. 

I will recommend your book to others (I already have), and I am going to purchase a copy of your second book, Show Your Work, as well because I know it will be wonderfully helpful for me. I am definitely someone who detests self-promotion, so I think I'm the perfect candidate for this book!

Again, thank you, and may you enjoy continued success in whatever you do in life!

Most Sincerely,

Gloria Roubal

_______________________________________________

I have sent this to him via his email address.

One other thing in the epilogue was the list of recommended reading, from which I chose a book to read and review. The book is called Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life, by Anne Lamott.

This is a wonderful book by an extremely smart, bold, humorous, and sometimes brutally honest writer (who is also a teacher of writing). Her advice about the writing process is down-to-earth, practical, sympathetic, witty, and sometimes includes things the reader doesn't want to "hear." It's about the human process of creativity and the connectedness we all have with one another as creative people. She is very frank about her own challenges and struggles, and I think this is one of the most appealing aspects of the book. It's comforting to know that a successful published author has moments or even days of feeling inadequate, self-judging, completely lost. Her personal life is discussed in great detail from childhood on, and she has struggled with the feeling of never fitting in and the anguish that comes from feeling like an outcast, drug and alcohol addiction, bulimia, and many failed relationships, among other life challenges. She suggests, however, that these life struggles are precisely the food for her writing and that the writing process itself is what helps her deal with life's struggles. 

The book covers how to begin to write, technical details of writing, the frame of mind best for writing, the importance of community (such as writers' groups), and how writing about painful events in one's personal life can help a writer come to terms with their pain. Lamott has a strong connection with God and believes that having some kind of spiritual life or belief system is very helpful for the creative person. Most importantly, she believes in writing truthfully from one's own voice, and advises writers to face the painful moments in their lives, as these moments often lead to the best writing. It's a very inspiring book, filled with very interesting personal stories, often about her relationships with her son and other important relationships, that always have some way of demonstrating or relating to the advice she offers. This book is an expression of Lamott's wish to share the immense joy that writing gives her and how it enriches her life. It's encouraging to know that she would not trade being a writer for anything else. With all of its challenges and ups and downs, writing (and the process thereof) is, for her, the best and most joyful way to spend her life. 

I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to others, even if they aren't writers. It's all about the creative process, no matter what the medium is.

Embrace your limitations. They will set you free.

The final chapter of Austin Kleon's book, Steal Like An Artist, is entitled, "Creativity is Subtraction." The main point is that your best work often comes out of setting limitations or constraints on yourself (or having them set for you), and that regarding creativity, limitations are actually very freeing. He quotes Jack White: "Telling yourself you have all the time in the world, all the money in the world, all the colors in the palette, anything you want—that just kills creativity." I totally agree with this. I can think of a number of examples where this is true. Thinking about Jack White, musical examples come to mind. Here is one such example.

I was taking guitar lessons some time ago, and I was working on soloing (improvisation). It's really hard when you are first learning to know what to play, even if you can hear it in your head. Novices often try to play as many notes as they can! Actually some experienced guitarists try to play as many notes as they can as well, but if they don't think of the space between the notes as being as important as the notes themselves, it doesn't sound like good soloing. So anyway, my teacher told he would play a chord progression and that I could only play three notes (he told me which ones), and that I could do anything with those three notes, but I couldn't play any but those. It was amazing! I started paying attention to all of the other things about soloing—dynamics, different combinations of those three notes, space, time, all of that stuff. The perfect example that shows how setting limitations can be freeing. I totally felt it firsthand. At the time, that type of exercise really helped me improve my soloing. (By the way, unfortunately I'm still not good enough to solo in public.)

Another thing that comes to mind is negative space being as important as elements on a page. All good designers know about that. And yet another is in fiction writing (and I learned this while writing my first short story) it's best not to tell everything to your reader; some things you intentionally leave out and other things you "show" rather than tell. It makes it much more interesting. I could go on and on as I keep thinking of more creative situations for which this concept about limitations holds true.

Constraints can definitely help you become more creative. Creativity is about finding solutions to challenges, problems, and so on. Let's say, for example, you are asked to design CD covers for two different bands. Band A has unlimited funds and is willing to pay you very generously with no real limitations, and they give you complete artistic control. They have a basic concept in mind, but they trust you to come up with whatever you want within that rather vague concept. You can use as many colors as you want with full bleeds, and you also have as long as you want to complete the project as they aren't in any hurry. Band B, on the other hand, has limited funds. They have a fairly specific concept, but they want you to use your own style to execute it. You can only use two colors, and they give you about 6 from which to choose. Also the deadline is two weeks from now. Which band's project do you think you will be more creative with? For Band A, there are just too many choices. It's overwhelming. It doesn't feel freeing at all. For Band B's CD cover, you have a definite starting point with constraints in place from the start, time being one of them. The design problem will have to be solved within the limitations that have been set for you, and you'll really have to delve in quickly and work within those boundaries...but it feels so much more freeing than Band A's CD cover project. Limitations help us understand what we can and cannot do from the start, and it helps us to be more creative when we know and understand these constraints. And, if it's not easy, it's a way to learn how to be more creative!

It was suggested that we assign ourselves a project with some constraints and post the results. I am still trying to come up with something keeping in mind the massive time constraints I have right now! I will post my results once I figure out what my self-assignment is and do the assignment. To be continued....