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Austin Kleon

Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative Paperback – February 28, 2012

by Austin Kleon (Author)

8,124 ratings

Goodreads Choice Award nominee

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Unlock your creativity.

An inspiring guide to creativity in the digital age, Steal Like an Artist presents ten transformative principles that will help readers discover their artistic side and build a more creative life.

Nothing is original, so embrace influence, school yourself through the work of others, remix and reimagine to discover your own path. Follow interests wherever they take you—what feels like a hobby may turn into you life’s work. Forget the old cliché about writing what you know: Instead, write the book you want to read, make the movie you want to watch.

And finally, stay Smart, stay out of debt, and risk being boring in the everyday world so that you have the space to be wild and daring in your imagination and your work.

“Brilliant and real and true.”—Rosanne Cash

Print length

160 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Workman Publishing
Publication date

February 28, 2012
Dimensions

6 x 0.56 x 6.06 inches
ISBN-10

9780761169253
ISBN-13

978-0761169253
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Popular Highlights in this book

What are popular highlights?

Your job is to collect good ideas. The more good ideas you collect, the more you can choose from to be influenced by.
8,254 Kindle readers highlighted this
If you ever find that you’re the most talented person in the room, you need to find another room.
7,769 Kindle readers highlighted this
Establishing and keeping a routine can be even more important than having a lot of time.
7,388 Kindle readers highlighted this

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Brilliant and real and true."
-Rosanne Cash

"Austin Kleon is positively one of the most interesting people on the Internet... Kleon makes an articulate and compelling case for combinatorial creativity and the role of remix in the idea economy."
-The Atlantic

"Breezy and fun and yes, scary. Scary because it calls your bluff."
-Seth Godin

"A quick, easily digestible read that is particularly relevant in today's digital world."

-School Library Journal

"Filled with well-formed advice that applies to nearly any kind of work."

-Lifehacker.com

From the Back Cover

Unlock your creativity.

Steal like an artist.
Don’t wait until you know who you are to get started.
Write the book you want to read.
Use your hands.
Side projects and hobbies are important.
The secret: do good work and share it with people.
Geography is no longer our master.
Be nice. (The world is a small town.)
Be boring. (It’s the only way to get work done.)
Creativity is subtraction.

About the Author

Austin Kleon is the New York Times bestselling author of a trilogy of illustrated books about creativity in the digital age: Steal Like An Artist, Show Your Work!, and Keep Going. He’s also the author of Newspaper Blackout, a collection of poems made by redacting the newspaper with a permanent marker. His books have been translated into dozens of languages and have sold over a million copies worldwide. He lives in Austin, Texas, with his wife and sons. Visit him online at www.austinkleon.com.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

HOW TO LOOK AT THE WORLD (LIKE AN ARTIST)

Every artist gets asked the question,
“Where do you get your ideas?”

The honest artist answers,
“I steal them.”

How does an artist look at the world?

First, you figure out what’s worth stealing, then you move on to the next thing.

That’s about all there is to it.

When you look at the world this way, you stop worrying about what’s “good” and what’s “bad”—there’s only stuff worth stealing, and stuff that’s not worth stealing.

Everything is up for grabs. If you don’t find something worth stealing today, you might find it worth stealing tomorrow or a month or a year from now.

“The only art I’ll ever study is stuff that I can steal from.”
—David Bowie

NOTHING IS ORIGINAL

The writer Jonathan Lethem has said that when people call something “original,” nine out of ten times they just don’t know the references or the original sources involved.

What a good artist understands is that nothing comes from nowhere. All creative work builds on what came before. Nothing is completely original.

It’s right there in the Bible: “There is nothing new under the sun.” (Ecclesiastes 1:9)

Some people find this idea depressing, but it fills me with hope. As the French writer André Gide put it, “Everything that needs to be said has already been said. But, since no one was listening, everything must be said again.”

If we’re free from the burden of trying to be completely original, we can stop trying to make something out of nothing, and we can embrace influence instead of running away from it.

“What is originality? Undetected plagiarism.”
—William Ralph Inge

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Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ 0761169253
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Workman Publishing; 1st edition (February 28, 2012)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 160 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780761169253
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0761169253
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 8.8 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.56 x 6.06 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,986 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2 in Arts & Photography Study & Teaching
- #8 in Graphic Design Techniques
- #11 in Popular Psychology Creativity & Genius

Customer Reviews:
8,124 ratings

About the author

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Austin Kleon

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Austin Kleon is a writer and artist living in Austin, Texas. He's the author of two bestselling books: Steal Like an Artist, a manifesto for creativity in the digital age, and Newspaper Blackout, a collection of poetry made by redacting newspaper articles with a permanent marker. He speaks about creativity for organizations such as Pixar, Google, SXSW, TEDx, and The Economist. Visit him online at www.austinkleon.com.

Customer reviews

5 star		80%
4 star		13%
3 star		4%
2 star		2%
1 star		2%

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Top reviews from the United States

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HopefulReader

Save your money and listen to the speech on You Tube.

Reviewed in the United States on April 11, 2015

Verified Purchase

I liked what this author had to say and enjoyed the material, but this was not a book. When I got to the end, I said "Where's the rest of it? Where's the useful stuff?" I went on a hunt and found the author on YouTube giving a TED Talk called Steal Like an Artist. There it was, the entire book in an eleven minute speech. Save your money and just listen to the speech.

913 people found this helpful

Helpful

Marmot Matthew

Almost a JOKE

Reviewed in the United States on February 13, 2020

Verified Purchase

This book is astonishingly useless. Little tidbits of thought that are neither profound nor interesting. It feels like something on a site that you'd have to click through a hundred ads and still never get any meaningful content. I read through it twice, seeing as its very short, just to make sure I didn't miss an underlying theme. Don't waste your money.

48 people found this helpful

Helpful

Douglas Goldstein

Here’s Why You Need To Read This Book If You’re A Creative Person

Reviewed in the United States on October 11, 2018

Verified Purchase

Creative folks mistakenly believe that they’re coming up with all sorts of new ideas. But the fact is, there is nothing new under the sun. Austin Kleon makes the reader understand that the fact that everything has already been created is, in fact, a good thing. Kleon quotes the French writer André Gide who said, “Everything that needs to be said has already been said. But, since no one was listening, everything must be said again.” I wish I had understand that idea when I was the music director for a number of shows many years ago. At the time, I used to purposely not listen to other recordings of the shows because I didn’t want to be influenced by the conductors who had led the shows before me. Who was I kidding? I should have been honored to have had the chance to listen to them and steal from them. Kleon writes, “Just as you have a familial genealogy, you also have a genealogy of ideas. You don’t get to pick your family, but you can pick your teachers and you can pick your friends and you can pick the music you listen to and you can pick the books you read and you can pick the movies you see.” The way to expose yourself to the creative genius of those before you is by reading what they wrote and looking at what they did. From now on, I will always tip my hat the greats upon whose shoulders I stand, and hopefully I’ll be able to be a source of inspiration to others, too. This is a great book, a real “must read” for anyone who has any creative pursuits.

45 people found this helpful

Helpful

aneibauer

Breaking into your own thinking

Reviewed in the United States on June 15, 2017

Verified Purchase

Steal Like an Artist gave me the push I needed to get into a more creative mindset. Although the book, and its message, may seem simple, it is clear that Austin Kleon has dedicated his life to creativity and using that to produce creative work (poetry, writing, drawing). If you feel stuck in a rut (as I did), this book is for you. The main quote that spoke to me was: "If we're free from the burden of trying to be completely original, we can stop trying to make something out of nothing, and we can embrace influence instead of running away from it. (Kleon, 2015). That burden has been with me for a long time, and now Austin Kleon has given me permission to be inspired and taking from others in order to create something unique. "Imitation is about copying. Emulation is when imitation goes one step further, break through into your own thinking" (Kleon, 2015). This is the perfect book for breaking into your own thinking.

53 people found this helpful

Helpful

Senior Shopper

Should have skipped this book

Reviewed in the United States on June 10, 2019

Verified Purchase

Written more for teens and/or young adults--just a collection of cliché statements from author and his friends, but none of them worth the price of the book. Nothing practical to help an artist be more creative. Mostly stuff quoted that boil down to "everything's already been done before, so don't get uptight if you can't do what's never been done before."

30 people found this helpful

Helpful

John Gardner

Not just a book for artists

Reviewed in the United States on August 20, 2017

Verified Purchase

This is a pretty tiny book (the cup of coffee I poured when I started reading was still warm when I finished), but may end up being my favorite of everything I read this year. It'll almost certainly be one of the few that I'll come back to over and over.

Austin Kleon is an artist from Austin, TX, and in Steal Like An Artist he asserts that what good artists do—that is, "stealing" as much as possible from as many influences as possible to shape one's own unique style—is a concept that can carry over into virtually any line of work. And while there are a number of people out there who have made the case that we are all a product of our influences, few have communicated this truth so compelling and creatively as Kleon.

The reality is that someone can "know" that's true, yet still feel bound by a desire to be "original" than can have a debilitating effect on creativity. I know, because I'm that guy. And that's why I'm so thankful to have been told to read this book, because it's definitely a game changer for me!

Kleon's 10 short chapters each present a different principle for developing creativity, and though it's a numbered list, it manages not to come across as a "how to" manual. Rather, it's a testimonial borne from experience, and an encouragement that these timeless principles (e.g., "Be Nice") really do work in the real world, and they really are things that don't apply only to artists. It's a book which manages to be both artistic and pragmatic... not an easy combination!

Anyway, I've already written a review that will take you half as long to read as the book itself, so stop reading this and go get the book!

"If we're free from the burden of trying to be completely original, we can stop trying to make something out of nothing, and embrace influence instead of running away from it." ~ Austin Kleon

35 people found this helpful

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Bec Webb

Perfect book if you're questioning your place in the creative world

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 5, 2020

Verified Purchase

This book was recommended to me by a few fellow creatives in an amazing community I'm part of on social media.

I needed this book, but didn't know about it until it was recommended.
I'd reached out to the group about the fact that as an illustrator I felt a bit lost in the creative world, like I hadn't found my place, because I didn't have a 'style' by which people could recognise my work, and no particular style that I favoured illustrating over others, I just felt like I wasn't a real illustrator if I didn't produce consistent work that was clearly 'me', like everyone else seems to do. I would (and still do really) trawl through the art by others I admired, and be able to say oh that's by so and so, they're so good!
No one could do that with me, as my illustrations are so random, there's no cohesion. Should I stop putting my art out there until I know who I am as an artist?

So this book was one of two recommended to me to read (find your artistic voice by Lisa Congdon is the other).

And I'm so glad I did buy this. It all made sense, it all seemed so relatable, in particular section 2 - Don't wait until you know who you are to get started.

If you're an artist just starting out, or one who already creates a lot of art (any kind of creation really) and are unsure you belong in the creative world yet because you're not good enough, or you're not original enough, or you don't know your style yet - get this book.

34 people found this helpful

NigelR

Wonderful

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 8, 2018

Verified Purchase

I liked the idea of this book from the description and I wasn't disappointed. I laughed out loud at some points because I know they are so true and it is an absolute joy to see similar views expressed so beautifully. As a fifty something I can vouch for it all. Get a good notebook. In my work and art I get through a leuchturm every year and it is amazing how much the archive of ideas and experiences in my books feeds into my current work. I was a UK Civil servant for years while I paid the bills and fed the family and yeah it made me 'vomit' daily... but it did free me up to do fantastic work in the time I stole from the job and the other time I made my own. I love the concept of captive time and I use that in my commutes. For me that is 80 mins a day of book reading and thinking...bloody fantastic. Follow these tips and your creative life will blossom...I can guarantee it!

47 people found this helpful

David Strickleton

Truly inspiring

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 7, 2017

Verified Purchase

This book, among other things, reminds us that being creative should be play and not some deadly serious legacy to leave behind. It's not about winning the Booker prize, and hoping to be seen as sophisticated, clever and serious: it's about the joy of possibility and creativity.
Every aspiring, yet insecure and fearful artist should read this book.

23 people found this helpful

Liesel Knightley

Still brilliant

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 13, 2020

Verified Purchase

I read this a few years ago, and I had forgotten about it until I came across a YouTuber who was recommending Show your Work by Kleon, which reminded me that I had Steal like an Artist on my Kindle. So I just re-read it, I don’t know how many years down the line, and I am so glad I have. At a tough time (Covid, Brexit, good friends facing huge challenges), this book helped remind me of what really counts: doing good work and being kind. Thank you Austin Kleon.

3 people found this helpful

.

The Little Black Book of White Doodles and Stolen Quotes.

Reviewed in India on December 5, 2018

Verified Purchase

I looked forward to reading this book for so long! And I finally did!
The book feels delightful to hold in our hands. And it is delightful to look at. And stare at. And open a random page and read a couple of lines.
BUT
It is not a 'book'. It is a coffee-table book. The quality is good, but the quantity of content is that of a tiny coffee-table book. It is a very small book, you can read it in less than an hour even if you read very very slowly like I do. And most of the content is borrowed (or stolen) from other artists! The only interesting or creative part of the book are the doodles and sketches, which the author has drawn himself.

Why I was slightly disappointed with this book?
Because it was repeating of the content I have read over and over in other art and creativity books. Though it may be a good place to begin if you are new to the art and creativity arenas.
If you are a seasoned artist, having spent much time studying the 'creative' processes, you may consider giving this book a pass.

Also, this book is highly priced, given the imported version. I bought it for Rs.490, and have seen it at lower prices around Rs.400 (Just to give an idea of the price variations). The cover price is 12.95 USD.
[I bought a paperback version, and the cover, print, layout and paper quality are beyond excellent. The binding is weak and seems to have already started coming off]

35 people found this helpful

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