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Austin Kleon

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

by Austin Kleon (Author)

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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

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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 a writer who draws. He is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Steal Like an Artist and Show Your Work! His work has been featured on NPR’s Morning Edition, PBS Newshour, and in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal. He also speaks frequently about creativity in the digital age for such organizations as Pixar, Google, SXSW, TEDx, and The Economist. He lives in Austin, Texas, and online at 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

ASIN : 0761169253
Publisher : Workman Publishing; Illustrated 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: #2,270 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #4 in Arts & Photography Study & Teaching
- #8 in Design & Decorative Arts
- #9 in Popular Psychology Creativity & Genius

Customer Reviews:
5,087 ratings

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3 star		4%
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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.

637 people found this helpful

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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.

36 people found this helpful

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John Gardner

Not just a book for artists

Reviewed in the United States on August 19, 2017

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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

23 people found this helpful

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Andrew Everett

Words (and pictures) of wisdom for a creative life

Reviewed in the United States on March 10, 2015

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Austin Kleon writes, “All advice in autobiographical… This book is me talking to a previous version of myself… These ideas apply to anyone who’s trying to inject some creativity into their life and their work. (That should describe all of us.)” The book is thoughtfully written and designed in a creative six-inch by six-inch format.

The idea behind stealing like an artist is that “nothing is completely original… All creative work builds on what came before... 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.”

“We learn by copying. We’re talking about practice here, not plagiarism—plagiarism is trying to pass someone else’s work off as your own. Copying is about reverse engineering… Remember: Even The Beatles started as a cover band.”

“You are the sum of your influences… Your job is to collect good ideas. The more good ideas you collect, the more you can choose from to be influenced by… Seeing yourself as part of a creative lineage will help you feel less alone as you start making your own stuff… You don’t want to look like your heroes, you want to see like your heroes… That’s what you really want—to internalize their way of looking at the world… It is the act of making things and doing our work that we figure out who we are.”

“You have to be curious about the world in which you live… Always be reading…. Don’t worry about doing research. Just search.”

“You’re only going to be as good as the people you surround yourself with… If you ever find that you’re the most talented person in the room, you need to find another room.”

“The manifesto is this: Draw the art you want to see, start the business you want to run, play the music you want to hear, write the books you want to read, build the products you want to use—do the work you want to see done.”

The author urges readers to “step away from the screen… You need to find a way to bring your body into your work… If we strum a guitar, or shuffle sticky notes around a conference table, or start kneading clay, the motion kickstarts our brain into thinking… The computer is really good for editing your ideas… but it’s not really good for generating ideas. There are too many opportunities to hit the delete key.”

Kleon points out the value of side projects and hobbies in sparking creativity. “By side projects I mean the stuff that you thought was just messing around. Stuff that’s just play. That’s actually the good stuff. That’s when the magic happens… I think it’s good to have a lot of projects going on at once so you can bounce between them. When you get sick of one project, move over to another… Practice productive procrastination.” The author quotes playwright Steven Tomlinson about having diverse interests: “Let them talk to each other. Something will begin to happen.”

“Creativity is subtraction.” The answer to information overload is to “figure out what to leave out” so you can focus on what’s most important to you. “It seems contradictory, but when it comes to creative work, limitations mean freedom… Establishing and keeping a routine can be even more important than having a lot of time.”

Kleon touches on the theme of his second book, Show Your Work. “If there was a secret formula for becoming known, I would give it to you. But there’s only one not-so-secret formula that I know: Do good work and share it with people. It’s a two-step process… Not everyone will get it… So get comfortable with being misunderstood, disparaged, or ignored—the trick is to be too busy doing your work to care.” That said, the author says to, “enjoy your obscurity while it lasts… There’s no pressure when you’re unknown. You can do what you want. Experiment. Do things just for the fun of it. When you’re unknown, there’s nothing to distract your form getting better.”

On a final note, Kleon writes, “Your mileage may vary… Feel free to take what you can use and leave the rest.”

46 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

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!

36 people found this helpful

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.

17 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.

18 people found this helpful

Penny the story reader

Copycat

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 28, 2017

Verified Purchase

Fabulous book with great quotes. Bought this for an A'level student who is off to University but who lacks creative inspiration. This is ideal as it tells her it's ok to rip off other people's ideas.

15 people found this helpful

Liesel Knightley

Still brilliant

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 12, 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.

2 people found this helpful

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