Notes on writing and drawing

How to support an artist you love

Sunday, November 30, 2014

Yesterday I was browsing the Instagram account of one of my favorite artists, and I was struck by how entitled a few of the comments from fans were. I was inspired to write down the guidelines above, not as an artist myself, but as a fan. A few notes:

1) “Give them money” is pretty self explanatory. The Renaissance had to be funded.

2) Credit is always due.

3) Send words of praise and encouragement, sure, but don’t feel that by supporting them you are automatically owed a response, or a personal relationship with them. Let their work be enough for you.

Most questions can be boiled down

Sunday, November 30, 2014

Every time I hold office hours I am reminded that what most of us need is both a kick in the pants and a gentle nudge of encouragement.

Powers of Two: A conversation about creativity with Joshua Wolf Shenk

Thursday, October 30, 2014

Last weekend at the Texas Book Festival I had the pleasure of interviewing Joshua Wolf Shenk, the author of one of my favorite books of the year, Powers of Two: Finding the Essence of Innovation in Creative Pairs. I had a hunch that we’d have a lot to talk about, so I recorded our discussion and edited it down (liberally) to the post below. Enjoy.

AK: Let’s start out with The Lone Genius Myth.

JWS: I argue in the book that the lone genius is a mythical creature. Which is not to say that we don’t require solitude and it’s not to say that we might not take sole ownership over our work as you and I both do — we don’t have anybody else’s name on the covers of our books. Yet, there are very often characters offstage who are not acknowledged.

[Read more…]

Clipboards

Friday, September 19, 2014

I posted this picture of my studio on Instagram the other day, and people immediately began asking me about my “clipboard system,” assuming that I actually have a clipboard system. [Read more…]