Ed note: Lighthouse member and Conundrum Press editor Sonya Unrein, recently went to an InDesign conference and sent us the following dispatch. Thanks, Sonya!
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Let's not end up in jail, people.[/caption]
I've been in Austin, Texas at an InDesign conference, trying to learn more about my most-beloved piece of software and hoping to absorb some new ideas that could apply to various aspects of my daily creative life. The best presentation I heard at this gathering of font-loving, grid-adhering, code-tweaking peers had nothing to do with programs or technology. The keynote speaker was Austin Kleon (@austinkleon), an author who has been featured on NPR, the New York Times, Atlantic, and in many other publications.
If you've seen any of this coverage or read either of his books (Steal Like An Artist and Newspaper Blackout), you'd know why I am so excited and inspired by Kleon's discussion and why what he said can be applied not just to digital creative types, but to writers, as well.
The topic of Kleon's book, Steal Like An Artist, is also the topic of his keynote. He told us that was caught in a state of writer's block and was attempting to unstick himself by taking a Sharpie and blacking out almost all the words of newspaper stories; what was left were little poems, and he eventually had enough of them to collect into a book. He created a companion blog. The blog features other artists' and writers' works too, building a community of people who like working in this format.
After giving us this background, Kleon presented his list about how to steal like an artist. He isn't talking about plagiarism. Instead, he's talking about honoring our own literary and artistic lineages, taking what works and adapting into our own work. His inspiring list should give your creative process a gentle push:
How to Steal Like an Artist
- Leave home. You need to be aware of the larger world.
- Look at the world like an artist.
- Carry writing materials with you at all times.
- Create a swipe file (can be electronic or hand-curated) to look at for inspiration later. Take photos all the time.
- Stand next to the talent. (That's what's wonderful about Lighthouse, right? There's talent everywhere you look.) Kleon says that you need to surround yourself with people who are curious, have stamina, and are kind. You need to let go of your fear of looking stupid. He also said if you're the most talented person in the room, you need to find a new room.
- Create your own literary and artistic family tree by identifying your own mentors and then finding out who their mentors were (and theirs...). Our creative lives do not exist in a bubble; our knowledge and ideas are much older than we are. Getting in touch with that history will make your own work more rich.
- Start copying, but do not plagiarize. Copying means reverse engineering to find out how things work, then adapting and improving. Plagiarism is cheap and does not give credit where credit is due.
- Step away from the screen. Think about creating your own analog workstation where NOTHING digital can happen. As Lynda Barry says, "Hands are the original digital devices."
- Write fan letters. Don't be afraid to contact people whom you admire and tell them.
- Resist the impulse to hoard what you learn. Share it.
In my own creative life and even though I do enjoy it, I spend a lot of time working on other people's projects and have hardly anything left for myself. Kleon's talk has inspired me to figure out how to pull back and commit to my own process. I have to set priorities in order to make progress. To sum it up with a beautiful cliche, it's all about balance, man.
--Sonya Unrein
