TL;DR I read 'Steal Like an Artist' and these the bits I found interesting
This book has been around for some years. It's a New York Times Bestseller and you probably have already heard about it. The author, Austin Kleon, shares some of the things he knows about the creative process, and that he wished someone had told him when he was starting out.
Mr. Kleon says a lot of things: some interesting or relatable, others not so. This post is in no way a summary of the book, but rather a sum of the points that I found useful.
All creative people steal and you should too
Nothing comes from nowhere. All creative work builds on what came before. People who sit around waiting for that original idea to hit them, will be sitting around for a loooong time.
There is no such thing as a new idea. We simply take a lot of old ideas and put them into a sort of mental kaleidoscope. ~ Mark Twain
What you have to do is the following:
- Accept the fact that every new idea is a mashup or remix of one or more previous ideas
- Surround yourself with the things that you aspire to do
- Pick what you want to be inspired from
- Keep an archive of all the ideas you like and you might use one day
Find inspiration by copying
Find something you like and copy it. Your goal is not to steal the style but to steal the thinking behind the style. The author points out that a wonderful flaw about human beings is that we're incapable of making perfect copies. This failure is where we discover where our own thing lives. That is how we evolve.
Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working. ~ Pablo Picasso
Use your hands
The computer is really good for editing your ideas, and it's really good for getting your ideas ready for publishing out into the world, but it's not really good for generating ideas. There are too many opportunities to hit the delete key. The computer brings out the uptight perfectionist in us — we start editing ideas before we have them. ~ Austin Kleon
For me this quote is pure gold. I've found it to be very true with writing and I believe that it applies in every other art form.
Some time ago, I worked as an Instructional Designer for about half a year. When I started designing storyboards (a document that specifies the visual/text/audio elements, interactions and branching of every screen in an online course) using my laptop I would never finish them. I would put something down, then I would have doubts so I would jump on the tool I would use to try something, then I would google the visual elements, and then the day would be over with me having almost nothing at my storyboard. Hell, I started writing this blogpost, deleted it, and restarted 4 times until now.
Taking it offline helps.
Pro tip: if you have the space, have two desks for yourself. One digital (with your laptop, screens, etc) and one analog (where only markers, paper, post its, and index cards are allowed). I've done this and I use my analog desk whenever I have to do something with my hands: from creating storyboards for work, to scrapbooking and writing postcards to friends. And it freaking works. The moment I sit on that desk my mentality changes.
This one is probably the most useful tip I got from this book. Thank you Mr. Austin Kleon.
Procrastinate
Yes he did say that. Embrace the enemy.
When we get busy, we get stupid. ~ Austin Kleon
If you are out of ideas, take time to be bored. But actually do something boring that will leave your mind free to wonder.
Don't watch Netflix or browse Instagram. Sit around and do nothing.
Wash the dishes.
Iron your clothes.
Do something really boring.
Share your work
Make stuff every day. Know that you're going to suck for a while. Fail and get better. ~ Austin Kleon
I'm still struggling with this one cause naturally nothing is good or interesting enough to share with other people. I don't believe I have written a signle interesting sentence on this blog. But putting yourself out there is important. Creating an online space for your portofolio, or website, or blog, is the first step. After you do you must fill them with something.
Be uncomfortable
The author puts this in the context of travelling. He claims that our brain gets too comfortable in our everyday surroundings and that we need to make it uncomfortable. Travel makes the world look new, and when the world looks new, our brain works harder.
Not everyone can travel, at least not all of the time. What I do when I feel blocked is go to a cafe and work from there. Boom, I'm instantly productive. Works every time. New surroundings make your brain work differently and suddenly you are not blocked any longer.
Make sure though that you don't choose the same cafe every time. Even if you have a favorite cafe and no other good option around, choose a different table each time. Introduce something new and your brain will start working harder.
Choose what to leave out
Nothing is more paralyzing than the idea of limitless possibilities. ~ Austin Kleon
You know it's true. You feel it every time you enter a parking and dozens of spots are available, or when you enter a restaurant and it's half-empty and you stay standing and discuss options until someone from the company goes "Oh for gods sake, let's just sit in this one!"
The way to get over this kind of creative block is to place constraints on yourself. When it comes to creative work, limitations means freedom.
Imagine if you were in a creative writing class and the teacher asked you to write a story, any story. I don't know about you, but personally in these cases, I always draw a blank. Instead if I get asked to write a story about something that happened with friends, during the summer, when I was a teenager, I instantly get a couple of ideas. They may not be the best stories but they are something.
Telling yourself you have all the time in the world, all the money in the world, all the colors in the palette, anything you want — that just kills creativity. ~ Jack White
Outro
All in all, I liked this book. It wasn't groundbreaking but it does offer some solid advice.
People often think that this kind of books are only for painters, poets, or designers. I disagree.
I believe that programming is half art, half science. Each piece of software reflects the individual who created it. It's difficult to find identical pieces of software, even for simple problems. Browsing the solutions of coding exercises, like the ones in Codewars, attests to that.
I do believe that reading creativity books makes me a better engineer. The second book on my list is Creativity Inc.
If you have a suggestion on a book/article/talk/whatever please share, I'd love to check them out!