In Steal Like an Artist, Austin Kleon (a self-described “writer who draws”) shares his tips for maximizing your creativity, finding inspiration, breaking out of a creative rut, and connecting with other people doing exciting work. His advice applies to anyone who uses creative thinking in their work, not just to artists in the traditional sense.
In this guide, we’ll explore Kleon’s advice as it applies to every stage of the creative process. Along the way, we’ll compare his methods to those of other creators and explore the scientific reasoning behind why Kleon’s advice works.
Steal Like an Artist is a brief primer on Kleon’s top 10 pieces of advice for aspiring creatives. The book itself combines traditional text with Kleon’s original illustrations and hand lettering to showcase each idea visually. In this guide, we’ve reorganized his 10 ideas into a four-step creative process beginning with the first step: organizing your life for maximum creativity.
According to Kleon, to do your best creative work, you need to set up the rest of your life to support that creativity. You can do this by prioritizing financial security, setting aside time for your hobbies, and using the right tools. We’ll discuss each of these tactics in more detail.
(Shortform note: Other experts explain why it’s so important to design your life to support your creative work: Creativity requires a relaxed and open state of mind, which is impossible to achieve if you’re distracted by things like financial insecurity or not having the right tools.)
Part of prioritizing your creative work is not allowing the rest of your life to get in the way. For that reason, Kleon recommends being proactive about your finances so that you won’t be constantly distracted by money worries.
One way to get your finances in order is to find a job outside your creative endeavors. Having a day job provides benefits beyond financial stability: It gives you a routine to build on, so you can easily slot in creative time every day. Furthermore, it maintains your connection to other people who might inspire you.
(Shortform note: In The War of Art, Steven Pressfield identifies additional benefits to having a day job beyond financial security, a routine, and a connection to other people. According to Pressfield, your day job helps you develop grit because you work even when you don’t feel like working, which is a necessary trait to carry over into your creative pursuits. Similarly, your day job allows you to practice receiving feedback and separating your work from your core identity, which are also useful skills in creative work.)
Although financial security is important, Kleon cautions against spending too much time at work. He recommends finding a hobby—something that you do purely for the joy of it. It doesn’t need to be related to your creative work; rather than being a distraction, hobbies will actually improve your creativity because they’ll encourage you to draw new connections. For example, if you’re an architect, you may not think your birdwatching hobby could have much value for your career—until you draw inspiration from the shape of a bird’s nest for your next project.
(Shortform note: In addition to promoting new connections between ideas, bestselling author Dale Carnegie argues that hobbies provide another important benefit: They help to ward off anxiety. This may be especially important for creative people as studies show that artists are more prone to anxiety than non-artists.)
Between your hobbies, day job, creative work, and necessary life tasks, your schedule could fill up pretty quickly. However, Kleon recommends allowing yourself some time for boredom. Boredom gives your brain the space to be creative because it’s not cluttered up with other thoughts. To capitalize on this effect, take advantage of boring tasks like household chores—if you let your mind wander while you tidy up the house, you might come up with a brilliant new idea without even trying.
(Shortform note: To take advantage of these moments of boredom, you first have to resist filling them with distractions like social media. In Deep Work, Cal Newport argues that over time, pulling out your phone every time you experience the slightest sense of boredom weakens your overall ability to focus. Therefore, allowing yourself to experience boredom not only paves the way for new ideas, but it also strengthens your ability to focus on your creative work.)
Kleon’s final advice for organizing your life to support creativity is to use the right tools. First, use a calendar to track your creative progress. Kleon recommends crossing off each day on the calendar that you work on your creative projects. Aim to work a little bit every day so that you have an unbroken line of X’s on the calendar. The more X’s you accumulate in a row, the more inspired you’ll be to keep going.
Second, Kleon advises keeping a notebook to record the details of your days. You don’t have to write detailed, long-form journal entries—just jot down a few highlights to help you remember the highs and lows of your life and work. Over time, your notebook will become an artifact that tracks your progress as an artist and a person.
Foster Creativity With a Bullet Journal
Although Kleon presents the calendar and notebook as two separate tools, you could also combine them both with a bullet journal. In The Bullet Journal Method, Ryder Carroll describes bullet journaling as a productivity tool that acts as both a calendar and a notebook (as well as a planner, sketchbook, habit tracker, and diary).
To use Kleon’s calendar tip in a bullet journal (and create a visual representation of each day you do creative work), you could create a dedicated habit tracker for each creative project. Your habit tracker can be as simple as a row of boxes that you cross out each day (as Kleon describes) or as complex as coloring in sections of a butterfly’s wings with dedicated colors based on your progress.
Similarly, to keep track of the small details of your days as Kleon recommends, you can use Carroll’s Rapid Logging system, a streamlined note-taking method that focuses on only the most essential information. The system uses different styles of bullet points to record different entries: a solid bullet (•) for tasks, an empty bullet (◦) for events, and a dash (-) for notes. That way, you can look back over your days and quickly get a clear picture of your creative and personal progress.
Once you’ve set up your life in a way that allows you to focus on creating, it’s time to start pulling inspiration from the work of other artists. According to Kleon, there is no such thing as a wholly original piece of creative work—every creator is influenced by other creators in some way. Accepting this truth releases you from the pressure of creating something the world has never seen before.
(Shortform note: Most experts agree that, as Mark Twain said, “there is no such thing as a new idea.” However, they argue that accepting this truth does more than just take the pressure off—it also frees you up to focus on the value your work adds to the world rather than how original it is. But take care if you plan to use your idea commercially—copyright laws strictly prohibit copying the unique expression of an original idea, so you’ll need to find a new way to express the ideas you incorporate.)
In Kleon’s view, once you embrace the creative influence other artists have on you, your job is to curate that influence. Do this by filling your physical and digital spaces with art, ideas, objects, and people that move and inspire you; this will set the tone for your own creative work. On the flip side, if you surround yourself with things that bore or depress you, that will negatively impact your own work.
(Shortform note: Not everyone agrees that the best way to spark your creativity is to fill your space with visual inspiration. In On Writing Well, writing coach William Zinsser argues that the best creative work is done in the simplest spaces. As an example, he highlights a photograph of well-known author E.B. White writing in a simple boathouse with nothing but a typewriter and a wastebasket. Similarly, Zinsser wrote On Writing Well in a bare-walled outbuilding. While these spartan environments may have bored some creators, White and Zinsser found the simplicity inspiring.)
Where should you start searching for inspiration to surround yourself with? If you’re overwhelmed with prospects, Kleon recommends starting by totally immersing yourself in one person’s work that deeply moves you. Study everything you can about them as both a person and an artist as you surround yourself with their work. Then, do the same with the people who influenced them. This way, you’ll feel connected to other creators, whether past or present.
(Shortform note: While it’s true that creative mentors are important, they’re not the only important figure in your creative process. In Ego Is the Enemy, Ryan Holiday argues that everyone needs three types of people in their lives: someone to learn from, someone to teach, and someone to compete against. Therefore, in addition to seeking out artists who inspire you, look for opportunities to teach your skills to others or to compare your work to artists with similar skill sets.)
Once you’ve studied your creative influences in depth, it’s time to start creating. If that sounds scary, you’re in good company: According to Kleon, many artists feel like they can’t make truly great art until they understand exactly who they are as a person and an artist. However, he says the opposite is true: The process of making art is how you’ll come to understand yourself. The only way to become an artist is to make art, even if you’re not an expert. Therefore, you should jump right in instead of waiting until you feel ready.
(Shortform note: In The War of Art, Steven Pressfield argues that making art even if you don’t feel ready has an additional benefit: It separates professional artists from amateurs. He doesn’t mean “professional” in the sense that you get paid for your art—rather, being a professional artist is a mindset. It’s a badge you earn for being committed to your creative process and continuing to work hard at it even when the process is difficult or draining. This logic echoes Kleon’s assertion that the only way to become a real artist is to keep making art.)
Jumping right into creating has another benefit: According to Kleon, it’ll help you avoid becoming trapped by “imposter syndrome,” which is a persistent feeling that you’re not talented enough to succeed. Instead of listening to these feelings, commit to doing creative work regardless of how you feel about your talents.
(Shortform note: Kleon leaves out a crucial component of the definition of imposter syndrome: According to the American Psychological Association, it’s a feeling of inferiority that plagues “high achievers,” or people who have outward markers of success in their field. Therefore, if you’re a professional artist and doubting your abilities, you may be experiencing imposter syndrome—but if you’re trying your hand at creative work for the first time, you may simply be experiencing the anxiety that comes with trying something new.)
In this section, we’ll cover Kleon’s practical advice for creating, including copying, deciding what to make, combining digital and analog tools, and embracing your limitations.
Kleon believes that the best way to get started as an artist is to copy the work of your creative heroes. Making copies will help you develop a better understanding of how the original creator made that piece of art. For example, if you’re learning to paint, you might paint a copy of the Mona Lisa. In the process, you’ll have to examine the original work closely, so you’ll begin to understand why da Vinci used certain colors in the places he did. Then, when you paint your own, original work, you’ll have a better understanding of how to use color.
Keep in mind that, when you copy, your work will inevitably fall short of the original (after all, no novice painter could perfectly reproduce the Mona Lisa on the first try). However, according to Kleon, this isn’t a failure—it’s the source of your strength. The ways that your copies differ from the original are what make you unique as an artist. Lean into those differences to discover and develop your own creative voice. (This step is also crucial because, if you never add anything unique to your copies, your work will just be a poor imitation of the original instead of something new and transformative.)
Copying Works—Just Don’t Compare Your Art to Others’
Research supports Kleon’s conclusion that studying another artist’s work enhances both creativity and artistic skill. In one study, students who spent time copying a professional artist’s drawing later produced work that art judges rated as more creative and expressive than the work of students who didn’t start by copying.
Of course, as Kleon suggests, imitating and learning from comparison is the starting point, but you won’t develop an authentic voice or expression unless you build on the ways you don’t compare to other artists. However, comparing yourself to other artists can sometimes be demoralizing if you focus on how your skills measure up to theirs.
In The Gifts of Imperfection, Brené Brown recognizes this danger and advises using the creative process to celebrate your originality instead of comparing yourself unfavorably. Brown highlights the fact that creative expression is unique to every individual, so it’s pointless to compare your work to others’. Instead, focus on the fact that no one else could make what you’ve made because no one else sees the world exactly as you do—your creative expression is literally incomparable.
Once you have a sense of your own creative voice, you’ll need to decide what you want to create. Kleon recommends thinking about the kind of art that speaks to you and trying to make it, even if it’s not what you’re used to. This contradicts the standard advice to “write (or draw or paint or build) what you know,” which Kleon believes is a recipe for boring art.
(Shortform note: Stephen King, author of more than 60 novels and 200 short stories, agrees with Kleon’s advice not to take “write what you know” too literally. In On Writing, King advises writing about the basic truths you’ve learned from your individual experiences, not necessarily about the experiences themselves. For example, if you’ve experienced feeling nervous about moving to a new city, you could write about an astronaut being nervous to go to space—the situation is different, but the underlying emotional truth is the same.)
Once you’ve decided what to make, how should you go about making it? If you typically do all your work digitally, Kleon advises getting away from the computer for a while and incorporating an analog component. This will boost your creativity because working with physical materials gives you the freedom to explore possibilities and make mistakes. In contrast, working on a computer makes it too easy to censor your ideas before you can fully explore them. Therefore, Kleon argues that you should only use a computer when you get to the editing stage of a creative project.
(Shortform note: If you typically work solely on a computer, incorporating analog materials might seem like an unnecessary hassle—for example, if you’re a writer, you may balk at writing by hand because you’ll just have to retype it all later. However, studies show that writing by hand makes you more creative because the physical act of writing by hand engages larger regions of your brain than typing on a keyboard does. That’s why many accomplished writers (including Neil Gaiman, Stephen King, and J.K. Rowling) draft their stories by hand before ever touching a computer.)
To encourage yourself to use physical materials, Kleon recommends dividing your workspace into two zones: one for your computer and any other electronic equipment, and one for whatever materials you use to create (such as pens and paper, clay, or paints). Use the analog zone to explore and brainstorm, then use the digital zone to edit and expand your ideas.
(Shortform note: Kleon’s own workspace features two separate desks for analog and digital work; however, we can infer that the same idea would work with a single desk if you divide it in half. If you don’t have a designated workspace, you could even recreate the setup by putting together a portable kit of various analog materials; that way, you can easily switch between analog and digital, no matter where you sit down to work that day.)
Kleon offers a final tip for creative work: Use constraints and limitations to your advantage. Having limited resources actually boosts creativity, so embrace the challenge. In fact, if you’re in a creative rut, you can even arbitrarily add a limitation (for example, by challenging yourself to cook a meal using only the ingredients you already have on hand). As an added bonus, this also makes your work more interesting—people will marvel at how you did so much with so little.
(Shortform note: Kleon doesn’t explain why limitations boost creativity, but it may be because constraints force your brain into problem-solving mode to figure out a way around them. In fact, studies show that people come up with more creative solutions when they have fewer options available.)
Once you’ve made something you’re proud of, you’ll naturally want to share it with others—however, Kleon cautions against rushing into this step because anonymity is an asset for beginner artists. Right now, you have the freedom to experiment as much as you like because no one is expecting anything specific from you. However, once you’re a big-name artist, that freedom will disappear because people will expect you—and pay you—to keep producing one particular kind of art.
(Shortform note: In Kleon’s view, having your work become well-known automatically means losing your creative freedom; however, this isn’t always the case. Many artists and authors have created famous works while still maintaining personal anonymity (and, therefore, the freedom to create whatever they like). For example, writers like Mark Twain, George Orwell, and George Eliot all rose to fame while writing under a pseudonym. In the modern era, the graffiti artist known as Banksy has attained international success while remaining anonymous.)
Once you’re ready for people to see your work, the internet is the best tool at your disposal because people from all over the world can easily find your work. Kleon recommends creating a website and a social media presence. Share your completed work as well as some glimpses of your creative process so that others can learn from you (and you can learn from them).
In addition to sharing your work, the internet is a great place to connect with other creative people. Kleon recommends using social media to find people doing work that inspires you. Then, spark up a friendship by complimenting them. If you want to express your appreciation for an artist (whether well-known or not), Kleon recommends posting a public tribute to their work on your website or social media account rather than messaging them privately. That way, the artist will feel appreciated but won’t feel pressured to respond.
(Shortform note: Kleon frequently takes his own advice to post tributes to other artists. These tributes take different forms—for example, he often posts lists of the best books he’s read lately with a review of what made each book so memorable. Other times, he’ll post a deep dive into the thoughts of one writer or artist—for example, he posted his illustrated notes on a talk given by the novelist Lauren Groff. This practice also allows him to connect with other creative people online and gives them a chance to learn from his creative process.)
As you interact with people online, keep in mind that you can’t please everyone. If someone doesn’t like your work, ignore them and refocus on the process of making your art. If their words make you angry, all the better: Kleon argues that anger is an excellent motivator for creative work. He advises channeling that anger into making even greater art rather than wasting the motivation on arguments with people online.
(Shortform note: Scientific research supports Kleon’s argument that anger strengthens creativity: One study found that people in an angry mood produced more novel connections between ideas than people in a sad or neutral mood. Other studies showed that bottling up anger can reduce your creativity over time, so it’s best to express your rage (in healthy ways, as Kleon recommends) when it happens.)
However, Kleon acknowledges that we’re not made of stone, and shaking off rejection or criticism is easier said than done. For that reason, he recommends saving every complimentary email or message you get in a folder that you can revisit when you need a reminder that people appreciate your work. (Shortform note: There are many ways to go about building this folder. For example, in a blog post, Kleon clarified that he uses the “labels” function in Gmail to build his own praise file. Alternatively, if you prefer a more analog approach, you could set aside a few pages of your notebook for recording praise.)
Kleon recommends setting up your workspace for maximum creativity. Take a moment to brainstorm your dream workspace.
What would your ideal workspace look like? Describe it in detail. (For example, maybe you’d love an outdoor painting area with a view of the ocean, or a fully stocked photography studio complete with a darkroom.)
Kleon recommends using both analog and digital tools. How would your dream workspace balance those modes? (For example, you could have an analog desk and a digital desk.) What analog tools would you include to support your work?
Kleon also recommends filling your workspace with inspiration from artists you love. Which artists or creators inspire you most? Which works of theirs would you use to decorate your ideal workspace?
Given your current resources and constraints, what small steps could you take to make your current workspace resemble your ideal space? (For example, if you’d love to work near the ocean but live in a landlocked area, perhaps you could hang a painting of ocean waves in your workspace.)