Steal Like an Artist
Austin Kleon's ten-chapter manifesto on borrowing your way to your own work
A 2011 talk to community college students grew into this short illustrated book of ten arguments: nothing is original, write the book you want to read, creativity is subtraction. Chapters run a few pages with drawings between them, so the whole thing reads in half an hour. Over a million copies sold, and more than thirty translations. People hand it to someone who is stuck at the start of something.
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Does it: documented as part of their own routine. Recommends: explicitly advises other people to do it. Discusses: covered it substantively without clear personal adoption; this can include criticism or disagreement.
- Austin KleonRecommends
Writer and artist · Steal Like an Artist
His own book, written up from a 2011 talk to community college students built around ten things he wished he had heard when he was starting out. Over a million copies sold since, and more than thirty translations.
Source: AustinKleon.com: Steal Like An Artist
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