Austin Kleon

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  1. Love your principles. Graduated from School of the Art Institute of Chicago as MFA. VCU undergrad. (go rams!) Anyway, paralellels advice given by my great professors. Sharing.

  2. Truly one of the best pieces I’ve read on the creative process in a very long time. So good, I wish I had written it. Thanks for your inspiration.

  3. Thank you for posting this, especially the impostor syndrome segment. Lots of really great, useful advice.

    This is one of the best things I’ve ever read on the internet. I only wish you’d posted it ten years ago.

  8. Love it!
    I am going to steal this right NOW and publish it at my Facebook page and at RedBubble.

    You are very insightful for a young fella!

    Jack in RI

  9. Thank you. This is the perfect thing for me, at the perfect time. I want a hard copy of this to keep on hand at all times!

  11. As I believe entrepreneurs are artist as well or should think of themselves as such, this is a lesson/set of rules they should learn.

    I look forward to infecting my students with these dangerous ideas ;-)

  15. Steal Like An Artist??
    How about: Inspired? ©redit.

    Keys to worldly success: Lying, Cheating, Stealing, Magical Mind, Opportunistic, Sycophantic, Selfish, Manipulative. Guiltless, Misdirecting, Ignorance, Playing Dumb. Everything people say they don’t like. :D = success

    Inspired? ©redit.

    These same people will have you think it’s the opposite sought: Kindness, honesty, integrity, fairness, open mindedness, giving, guilty, selfless = failure

    Inspired? ©redit.

    This is what people didn’t tell you Austin. Why are you not creative or contemplative enough to come up with your “own ideas”? You certainly have expressed yourself creatively here or did you rip this off from someone?

    Inspired? ©redit.

    I’m all for inspiring others and “new works” being created but straight out stealing without giving credit, is a no-no for me. Yes, there’s nothing original but that doesn’t mean you win and the other loses… and there ARE uncommon ideas… I have plenty of those that I suffer from… ;-)

    Inspired? ©redit.

    I’m annoyed that people think your post is an opportunity to absolve themselves of something they know is not the ethical thing to do. You are giving them the go ahead to steal. *rolls eyes*

    Inspired? ©redit.

    There’s nothing wrong with getting inspired but do you really have to comb through what other people have done so you can get ahead and get an idea? Really? If you have to do that, I don’t think this is the kind of work you should be doing… but I think the answer here is YES, the world unfortunately works this way and that’s why there’s so much crap out there…

    It’s simple enough to ©redit your sources if you are inspired by them. Elevate them so you have more to STEAL in the future. It’s the RIGHT thing to do. It’s something that will help you and supports #8. But what’s suggested here is “Hungry like the Wolf” syndrome. Suck the blood of one and move on to the next…

    Inspired? ©redit.

    The smart and successful people are not honest and won’t share their sources. And want to know why? Either they are just as bad as you all or because there’s people like YOU who would suck them dry!

    Inspired? ©redit.

    I tell you, if I come across someone who has borrowed, stolen, or got inspired by an “uncommon idea” I cared to share and if they are not doing #8, I’ll being do a # on them.

    Inspired? ©redit.

  16. *correction, I have dyslexia!*

    I tell you, if I come across someone who has borrowed, stolen, or got inspired by an “uncommon idea” I cared to share and if they are not doing #8, I’ll be doing a # on them.

    Inspired? ©redit.

  17. 1+1 does not equal 3. In your line example, the negative space is not a line. A line is be definition the shortest distance between two points. There are no points that connect negative space.
    If you do indeed believe that 1+1=3, then you cannot believe that creativity is subtraction. It must be addition. You would be contradicting yourself. Or maybe that is another addition to this post, that artists must always contradict themselves to be creative?

  19. Wow, I’m looking at the footer. You’ve had this site since 2001?

    Thanks for this article. It speaks to so many people, but it feels like it was written to me. I struggle getting to the in-between of start and stop, but then heroes like you, Hugh, John T, etc, will post these calls to action. I was feeling tired of pussyfooting around the ‘start’ last night and this post has set me to it today.

    Cheers

  21. Dear Austin, Having been at the Art Game a bit longer than yourself, I was never-the-less impressed with your understanding of what “being” and an artist “is”, and I apprecaite your honesty and the fact that you published, what were for me very, VERY hard won understandings. Sincerely, Joseph C. Blanchette – The Peoples Republic Of Portlandia, Oregon.

  24. My favorite piece of advice here is “Write what you like.” I am very much against the universal truth of the write-what-you-know cliche. It may work well for some people, but it need not be applied to every person in every situation who wants to write. If we all wrote only what we knew, we’d get, as you say, boring stories. There would be no fantasy, no science fiction, little historical fiction, little crime drama. It seems to say, “Your imagination and writing talent aren’t good enough. Only dull reality is.”
    I do write what I like and what I want to read. And then, the funny thing is that as I write what I like, I end up writing what I know. The things I know come creeping in. But they’re not the typical “write-what-you-know” things. People who say that usually mean you should write a story about the social milieu in which you find yourself, like the characters Anne Shirley and Josephine March both being something of a flop at writing until they write tales directly based on their own lives and towns. I *can’t* write that sort of thing. It always feels very false and plastic, like a caricature. When I write what I know, it’s what I’ve studied and learned. I sit down to write a science fiction book, and it becomes filled with the psychology and theology I have studied in school and the human interactions I have studied in the people around me and in books and movies.
    “Write what you know” is very constricting. It’s only a tiny part of the wide world of writing.

  25. Yours is one of the best blog posts I’ve ever read. Nothing is Original reminded me of a quote by Quincy Jones that I’ll probably butcher: “All melodies have already been written. All that changes is the rhythm.”

  28. Wonderful ideas. I especially liked the “be boring” one. I’ve really had to stop most of my socializing and extra activities just to stay focused on writing. It hurts sometimes but it is worth it.

  29. … Wow, amazing. I feel so motivated to practice my art, now. I’m just, amazed. That’s… all I can say.
    Thank you.
    <3

  30. Thanks for this article. It speaks to so many people, but it feels like it was written to me. I totally agree and will share this information, i feel like i am not the only one who thinks like this.

  33. If I could delete what I wrote previously, I would…

    You know, I have tried to live my life with integrity but as I keep thinking about it and reading people’s comments — that’s not the way the world works.

    Sooooooooooo I’m in!!

    “I’m all for inspiring others and “new works” being created but straight out stealing without giving credit, is a no-no for me.”

    I can’t say this will be a complete no-no for me anymore… but I’ll be cautious about it. :D

    But I tell you, if I come across someone who has borrowed, stolen, or got inspired by an “uncommon idea” I cared to share and if they are not doing #8, I’ll be doing a # on them. Inspired? ©redit.

    Hypocritical? Yup. It’s the way of the world! :D

    And yes, “Write what you know” is also a hypocrisy. Don’t listen to it…

    My theory is that most non-fiction writers didn’t know what they were writing until they finished writing their book. The act of writing their book, researching information and stuff, is what turns them into an expert.

    Often writers “don’t” know what the subject is in great detail before they set out to write. And why would they? It’s boring to write what you know.

    Cheers!

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