Austin Kleon

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  1. @Tymn – Frank and I are friends, and I steal from him a lot. I mean, you’d be a moron not to steal from that guy. Alas, he just emailed and said he has copyright on all black slides with white handwritten text, so I’ll probably get a cease and desist from his sleazy lawyer any day now…

  2. Creation begets “creativity”/ imagination / “originality”.

    You can’t be “creative” unless you are *creating*.

    —

    The mind needs input / stimuli to form any output.

    —

    The common statement that
    “NOTHING IS ORIGINAL”
    is an oversimplification of this truth.

    And one that carries a negative connotation at that.

  4. Can’t thank you enough for words that describe the essence of creativity. You’ve laid out my approach to life and art so clearly, as well as reminded me of things that I need to work on myself (i.e. keeping a log, keeping a schedule). I’m an ol’ artist and feel blessed to have come across your words – via another artist whom I recently reconnected with from college days. She, too, was moved to post this.

    Bless you!

  6. Thanks Austin. This article means so much to me. You know.. I have thought that being an artist is a very mental challenge- so many barriers are set in place within my own mind.. and I wonder sometimes if I’d do better if only I could adapt whatever mindset it is that the artists I admire have.

    I feel like your advice is adding clarity to this train of thought.. and I also feel like you’re telling me that “everything’s going to be okay”

    I feel sane and crazy at the same time for writing this to you.. but thanks anyway.

    PS! I love your idea for Jurrasic Park 2. I wish I could see that movie (or read that book)

  9. I also think many people misinterpret, or selectively intemperate that fabulous quote by Jim Jarmusch on Authenticity.

    To me, a large part of it simply says that we all draw from the same pot creatively.
    That pot being this planet and our lives, comprehension of and experiences while on it.
    As fellow human beings many of those experiences and basic comprehensions are shared ones.
    Personally, I find that an amazing and encouraging thought.

    Drawing upon ideas from those fundamental experiences isn’t stealing simply because others have probably written or expressed something likewise at another point in time, perhaps in a similar way.
    It simply reiterates our inter-connectivity as a society and as the same biological creatures.

    Yet even with all those shared elements, experiences and ideas, there is still an immense wealth to be explored and expressed as long as you attempt to explore it, and always attempt to build your creations from the ground up.

  10. Everyone should read this, very glad I came across this today. Thank you Universe! LOVE Lynda Barry, everybody should look her work up too. Thank you too, Austin :)

  11. Brilliant and true…every word! Artists are essentially inter-disciplinary researchers, collage-ists, working with what is, what was, and crafting what might be. We are all mining the past in the present for the future.

  14. Nice list I found it very interesting. I also live in Austin Texas and I love it here. Austin is by far the best city in the US

  15. This really is the most inspiring thing I’ve read in a long time Austin. You’ve made my day. I want to share this with all the other artists I know. Thanks ! (and thanks for introducing me to Lynda Barry too – her work is awesome!)

  20. Very well done….this will help me make it through the day and future…I’m glad my intelligent son posted this link to .his Facebook to share. Peace and thank you.

  21. This was so refreshing to read! I wholeheartedly agree with all the points you mentioned and especially love this quote:

    “work expands to fill the time allotted”

    I’m going to share this with all my buddies now :)

    THANK YOU! Cheers! – Joanna

  22. With many comments here simply full of praise, I think it’s the ‘other few’ who do you greater service by throwing some interesting thoughts of their own into the discussion.

    · JW Buchanan Says:
    March 31st, 2011 at 9:30 am

    · Ashlie Atkinson Says:
    March 31st, 2011 at 10:50 am

    · Anonymous Says:
    March 31st, 2011 at 12:17 pm

    · Jess Fink Says:
    March 31st, 2011 at 1:23 pm

    · Jaski Says:
    March 31st, 2011 at 3:00 pm

    · Matthew Bell Says:
    March 31st, 2011 at 6:17 pm

    · Matthew Bell Says:
    March 31st, 2011 at 7:02 pm

    · Michelle in Says:
    March 31st, 2011 at 7:15 pm

    I find reading the comments on an interesting article just as interesting.
    Clearly, there’s still more to be addressed.

  28. Bro.

    You have inspired me beyond anything.

    For this I applaud you so loudly that my claps of your achievements can be heard across the plains of awesome, and the valleys of great.

  30. Gosh. You are pretty great. And I’m so thankful that you took the time to put this down and share it with the rest of us. And that be kind part… well said.

  32. This was a delight. Thanks very much. I’m writing a dissertation, and I teach. I used to actually write what I liked–somehow I got the idea this was unproductive. Sometimes we stumble upon just what we need to hear. Cheers.

  33. Finally someone who speaks the truth. I’m in college and a lot of this resonated with me, so thanks :) I needed to hear this.

  34. Great write up. I think #2 is on the money, except for the fake it part. that’s a bit too sleazy in my book. I think its important to ‘measure up’ to the image you are gunning for, but to fake that implicitly is to compromise your authenticity. For instance, according to some testimony in “please kill me: an oral history of punk” Patti Smith was an unscrupulous and shitty person at the time she “made it”- is it worth sinking to that for the success? in fact it directly contradicts your point in #7 as well as the idea that you should do the things you know, rather than look for the original or ideal. how can you be nice or authentic if you’re invested in a fake and pretentious persona? Thats just doubly sleazy – but i do think its definitely something i see a lot in of in the arts scene. Thanks for sharing this!

  35. This was the perfect thing for me to read right now. I’ve been in one of those dazes of not knowing what wasn’t making me happy. I need to do everything you’ve written starting tomorrow. I really got the whole ‘fake it til u make it,’ being pretty young & just now being exposed to great art since I started college. I’m really starting to think I could do as amazing art.

  41. Brilliant post! Thanks for sharing this. I’ve sent it on to my painting students. I’m preparing to move to Austin from Thailand, so you you’ll have another peer nearby! But, of course, we’ll both be way too boring to meet up – but, we can share web-posts together from a shorter distance.

  44. I generally agree with all that you’ve written but for the claim that nothing is original, that line always leave a bad taste in my mouth. I can understand completely why people find that notion comforting but in the end I say it’s a crutch, it’s an invitation to laziness, to turning off your imagination and real thinking and putting up a ceiling that needs not be there.

    On that point of nothing being original, I agree with Matthew Bell with his two comments above.

  46. Awesome, I linked to this in both my blogs. The calendar bit just floored me — I created something almost exactly like this on Excel at work. It really has kept up my motivation.

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