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All great artists are “thieves”. And therefore, in order to create like them, we must steal like them. Those are pretty strong words. But hey they are not my words. I stole them from Austin Kleon, the New York Times bestselling author of Steal Like An Artist.
If you are a new or aspiring creator that’s being held back by the idea that being a creator means that you need to possess some kind of mystical gift that enables you to come up with original ideas, then this post is for you. With the help of Austin Kleon, I am going to tell you what to steal, who to steal from, how to steal, and why to steal.
Being creative does not mean coming up with 100 % original ideas. Let’s use one of the most revered artists that’s ever lived, Vincent Van Gogh, as an example …
When he moved from the Netherlands to France, he came in contact with French impressionists such as Renoir and Monet. Not only did he start copying the way they applied paint, but also their adventurous use of colors.
In his book Steal Like An Artist, Austin Kleo says” what a good artist understands is that nothing comes from nowhere. All creative work builds on what came before. Nothing is entirely original. He encourages us to free ourselves of the burden of trying to create something out of nothing and to embrace influence instead of running away from it.
In other words, go ahead and copy the things that inspire you, copy your heroes and copy from all of them.
When we copy from our different heroes we’ll become a unique mashup of all those influences which will eventually make us original. Also, don’t just copy the style but try to understand the thinking behind what you see and copy that too. Because at some point you need to move from imitating your heroes and start emulating them, so going beyond what they have created.
The Japanese designer Yohji Yamamoto put it like this “ Start copying what you love. Copy copy copy copy. At the end of the copy, you will find yourself.
Start making stuff and put it out there, even if it sucks. We all suck in the beginning. That is the only way we can improve and develop our own unique voice.
Even more important is that we should have fun while doing it. We are on a journey here you guys, let’s copy and have fun.
Did you like this article ? Do you have any advice or thoughts you’d like to add to this conversation? Please drop them in the comments section below. I’d love to connect with you there.
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