Steal Like An Artist (Austin Kleon)

🚀 The Book in 3 Sentences

1. Nothing is totally original, and that’s fine.

2. You discover who you are by imitating others.

3. Seek out talented individuals and learn from them.

🎨 Impressions

The title of this book is slightly misleading – in no way is Austin claiming that stealing (in the generally accepted definition of the word) is good. Plagiarism is bad, don’t do that. Rather, understand that taking the ideas of others and moulding them into your own isn’t a bad thing.

Considering the dos and don’ts of creativity written in this book give a refreshing perspective on why it’s okay to “steal” from others in order to generate your own ideas. Everything comes from something, everybody is inspired by someone else.

Who Should Read It?

I would recommend Steal Like An Artist to anyone entering or working in a creative field, whether that be a stereotypical artform (poetry, painting, musician etc), or someone like me (a Software Engineer).

When you’re trying to grow in your field there will almost always be someone who has trodden your path before you, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel totally. You can find existing work which can inspire and improve on your own, and you should. One day you’ll be the person people are trying to find for inspiration.

☘️ How the Book Changed Me

• It changed my perspective on “finding my inner artist” through other people’s work.

• The idea of waiting to figure out who you are before you get started will completely derail your progress.

• I’ve started seeking out more podcasts/books/newsletters to broaden my scope for inspiration.

✍️ My Top 3 Quotes

• “There are no unique messages – just unique messengers.” – Jadah Sellner

• “I have stolen all of the moves from all of the great players. I just try to do them proud, the guys who came before, because I learned so much from them. It’s all in the name of the game. It’s a lot bigger than me.” – Kobe Bryant

• “Since you put yourself first, do you consider yourself an original thinker?” – Cameron Crowe
  “Not by any means. More like a tasteful thief. The only art I’ll ever study is stuff that I can steal from.” – David Bowie

📒 Summary + Notes

Steal Like An Artist

I think it’s fair to say it doesn’t cross most people’s minds to go out of their way to imitate other people’s work, but it’s something a lot of us have grown up doing without even realising.

As a child, I grew up wanting to be Dennis Bergkamp on the football pitch, so I did my best to imitate his style. Now I doubt any spectators mistook me for a 6ft Dutchman, but I sure as hell enjoyed every minute of it and crucially I learnt a lot from trying.

Just as people around the world are inspired by their heroes, their heroes were once inspired by their own. This idea that nothing is totally original is really driven home in this book and as well as changing your attitude to “stealing”, Austin provides methods of streaming and cultivating your feed of inspiring material.

Principles

1. Looking at the world – like an Artist

The Genealogy of Ideas – You’re a mashup of everything that you let into your life, from people to the content you consume. You need to be careful and intentional with what let pollute your mind!

Garbage in, garbage out – Find things which are worth stealing, and if they’re not, then move on.

Saver your thefts for later – Keep a scrapbook, mobile notes, any accessible form of note-taking to jot down things you stumble upon which could be worth stealing later. You’ll be surprised how much you find once you start making yourself note it down.

School yourself – Read A LOT. Be forever curious about your surroundings and where ideas come from. If you find something interesting, lookup the author, who was he/she inspired by? Follow that family free of ideas.

2. Don’t wait until you know who you are to get started

Ever felt “Imposter Syndrome” when starting something new? Well, it turns out a lot of people do. It’s the thought of “I don’t know enough about [insert craft here] yet, others are way more qualified to do it, maybe one day I can be one of those people”.

You’re ready. Start making stuff.

People find their own styles through copying others. You just have to figure out who to copy, and then what to copy.

If you have one person you’re influenced by, everyone will say you’re the next whoever. But if you rip off a hundred people, everyone will say you’re original!

3. Write the book you want to read

It’s a simple manifesto – “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.”

4. Use your hands

Get physical – Computers are great, they’re infinite data pools, but they’re just a tool. Your body is also a powerful tool.

This resonated with me a lot, often I’ll find myself stuck on a piece of code, or struggling to really grasp a concept through my digital arsenal. Often all it takes is a few moments away from the screens, get up, go for a walk, draw things and map your thoughts out on paper – you’ll be amazed at how different your mind operated when you engage your body.

5. Side projects and hobbies

Find some hobbies which you’d class as productive procrastination and have a few projects going at once.

Maintaining constant motivation and attention on one project is hard, and if you only have one then that means stopping. Have several which you can bounce between keeping your ideas fresh.

Do your hobbies because they make you happy, you’ll find each of your hobbies begins to feed onto the others.

6. Do good work and share it with people

When you begin there are zero expectations, you should embrace that obscurity. Enjoy it while it lasts. Use it.

Step 1 – Wonder at something.

Step 2 – Invite others to wonder with you.

7. Geography is no longer our master

Build your own world – The internet opens up a world of opportunity to craft your own ecosystem of contacts, content, and inspiration.

All you need is place to do work, and time to do it.

Don’t get too comfortable in one place, travel if you can. Seeing new parts of the world opens your eyes to new ways of thinking, it allows you to reach more people.

8. Be nice

Make Friends, Ignore Enemies

This golden rule is even more golden in our hyperconnected world. You can’t take back things that you say, especially online.

Stand next to talent – Remember “garbage in, garbage out”, surround yourself with people who you can learn from, good influences.

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