Austin Kleon

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  4. A lot of good stuff here…but one thing about finding an audience via the internet: There seems to be this idea that one creates something, puts it on the internet, and bam! done! But the internet isn’t a replacement for the “old way” of doing things, it’s an addition. All the old shit about finding an audience and ‘creating demand’–the hustle, the marketing, the talking to people, the going out in the world and putting yourself out there, that’s still the dividing line between the hobbyist and the professional, internet or not.

    Oh and also, you’re spot on about Rainn, I love the guy’s work, but he’s got some weird hard-line ideas and hangs out with some serious LA douchers. <–autobiographical

  5. My friend sent me this link on my facebook page. I’m so glad she did. I love what you said about just creating something every day. I’m in the middle of a project creating something every day for a year. I’m learning so much as I go along and I’m also seeing the truth in that statement. Thank you for a great article. I just sent it to another artist friend. :) Blessings and much success to you.

  7. what a fantastic read, a great inspiration. Thank you for sharing these ideas, I’ll be stealing them… and the article of course! best wishes

  8. I’m gana print this and keep it in my notebook,
    I’m gana print it and give it to all my friends!
    this is so inspirational and I thank you a lot and give you a big hug!
    thanks for sharing~ I’m so gana search for your book dude!
    keep it flowing~ the best of luck to you~

  10. This was a very helpful and insightful post. I’ve always had trouble with my writing, in thinking that what I write sucks while my friends compliment me. A very hard thing to get past, but this has helped me to see I can believe in myself and my work.

    And if nobody believes that nothing is original, listen to music that has been redone by other artists claiming they created it, or movies that have been remade. Everything, one way or another, is a reproduction of the original. If this wasn’t true, Hollywood would fall flat on their collective asses and the music industry would too.

    Ideas are stolen every day and touted as new.

  11. LIFE LESSONS…..PEARLS OF WISDOM! This Grannie is going to make sure that my children and grandchildren will all read this. How I wish that I had read this as a younger person. I’ve spent much of my life trying to motivate myself, mainly because I was so insecure I was afraid of failure….and maybe even afraid of success. This has given me insight into my own procrastination and renewed enthusiasm to believe in myself and my talents.

    “Stealing” is actually “being inspired by one another”, which is a GOOD thing. Every artist I have know (whether in watercolor class or quilting class) has created their own work after being inspired by another. Twelve artists all drawing the same object will all end up with very different sketches.

    THANK you, Austin, for sharing this with all of us!

  13. what if that’s the best thing you’ll ever write for the rest of your life? wouldn’t be a bad thing I’ll tell you that. your words are powerful and i envy your gift. thank you sir

  16. OwO thanks for sharing these positive steps you really helped many people XD, am gonna print this and keep it with me thanks for these and good luck in everything ^^

  17. Outstanding article. Very enjoyable and informative. Thank you for creating it.

    Now I’m off to steal some quotes and put them on facebook. With credit, of course, and a link back here. :)

  18. Many terrific thoughts shared here, and useful. However, I strongly disagree that there is nothing original! This is an idea, ideology/practice, feeling that it all too evident, particularly in today’s visual art world. We given up what’s really important and unique in art. Maybe you haven’t experienced this in the presence of great artists, writers, composers, etc, to whom I.m eternally grateful – people who go way beyond the ordinary, who reach deep within themselves and I willing to do the work, to bring to all of us, to awaken that which lies dormant within us. It’s easy to mention those in the past, but I know we have them among us, certainly in literature. Let’s not quit on being the very best we can be. Yes, we can be original, and yes we build on what has been accomplished before us. Norman Sasowsky

  19. Very interesting and quite inspiring! You embrace most of the ideas that I have embraced during my 32 years of teaching art to college students.Numbers 1, 3, 4, 5 & 10 are especially meaningful to me. These are ideas that I try to embrace in my own life and approach to creativity, including writing. Thank you for this! Jim

  20. Wonderful post. Helpful as well. I haven’t read all the comments, there are just too many, but @whoever complained you weren’t a “full time” artist: just like Wallace Stevenson who worked for an insurance company and T.S. Eliot who worked in banking and then in publishing.

  21. Thanks for your authentic voice. Loved the painting guy from PBS, too. He was so positive! I remember him saying “Let’s put a little happy cloud right here.”

  23. Inspiring. Timely (in my case). I’m old enough and have been in the presence of enough wisdom to know there is much truth to what you say. Application to my life is another story. I love it and will be rereading often.

  26. Interesting post; however, I should note that your description of the phrase ‘garbage in, garbage out’ is absolutely NOT what it means. It means that if you give a computer bad information as input, it won’t result in good information as output.

  27. Your article is basically common sense and was refreshing because there’s not a lot of that today. You’re 100% correct about so-called “creativity.” However, the “creativity” gimmick has done a lot for sales so I don’t see any departure from it anytime soon. But nobody deep inside really believes it. Not even the buyer of the artwork. It’s a part of the art myth game we all love to play (and art really is a wonderful game).

    Today art the world views as “great” comes of great salesmanship. The artist and general “story” are of more importance than the art itself. I do some “modern art.” At first I really struggled with it until I learned the secret. Basically it’s childish scribbling under control. One learns the affects of colors and shapes on the mind and then one scribbles while being careful not to violate the laws of shapes and colors. Jackson Pollock would meditate sometimes for weeks before doing some paintings. What he was doing was building a mental layout of shapes and colors in his mind. Then he applied those shapes and colors in their proper order with scribbling filler. Sometimes he’d deviate from his mental sketch and this is how some paintings ended up in trash hoppers.

    People buy abstract art first for color and second for shapes. The color is the flesh and the shapes are the skeleton. Most abstract art being done today is inconsistent because the artist never did his homework. Therefore it usually doesn’t sell well unless the artist is a great entertainer.

    To paint in any style one must first carefully study what others are doing. Learn from the winners; not the losers.

  28. Thanks for this! I just shared it with my two daughters who will be graduating from college next month. Timely advice for them, great advice for everyone.

  29. Thank you very much for this article. After your remark about ideas stealing I’m inspired to do some things that had to be done long ago.

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