Austin KleonAustin Kleon

Austin Kleon

Artist and bestselling author of three illustrated books.

Austin Kleon is the New York Times bestselling author of three illustrated books: Steal Like An Artist, Newspaper Blackout, and Show Your Work! His latest release is The Steal Like An Artist Journal: A Notebook For Creative Kleptomaniacs. His work has been translated into over twenty languages and featured on NPR’s Morning Edition, PBS Newshour, and in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. New York Magazine called his work “brilliant,” The Atlantic called him “positively one of the most interesting people on the Internet,” and The New Yorker said his poems “resurrect the newspaper when everybody else is declaring it dead.” He speaks about creativity in the digital age for organizations such as Pixar, Google, SXSW, TEDx, and The Economist.
Author Website

Philosopher's Notes on Austin Kleon's Books

Steal Like an Artist
LockedPhilosopher's Notes

Steal Like an Artist

by Austin Kleon

This is a great little book packed with gems on the creative process we can apply to both our work AND our lives. As per the sub-title, Austin gives us “10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative.” Big Ideas we explore include the need to start copying, the importance of taking care of ourselves and establishing a routine as we set creative constraints and amassing a body of work as we consistently show up.

Show Your Work
LockedPhilosopher's Notes

Show Your Work

by Austin Kleon

This is Austin Kleon’s second masterful little book on optimizing creativity. The first? Steal Like an Artist. After learning how to get our creativity on, we’re ready to become the artist whose ideas *others* steal. Big Ideas include chain creating, micro sabbaticals, playing till the 9th inning, troll pooper scoopers, and the #1 way to get more followers.

Quotes by Austin Kleon

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You can’t find your voice if you don’t use it.
Austin Kleon
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As every writer knows, if you want to be a writer, you have to be a reader first.
Austin Kleon
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We can stop asking what others can do for us, and start asking what we can do for others.
Austin Kleon
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Ask anybody doing truly creative work, and they’ll tell you the truth: They don’t know where the good stuff comes from. They just show up to do their thing. Every day.
Austin Kleon
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If there is a secret formula for becoming known, I would give it to you. But there’s only one not-so-secret formula that I know: Do good work and share it with people.
Austin Kleon
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What a good artist understands is that nothing comes from nowhere. All creative work builds on what came before. Nothing is completely original.
Austin Kleon
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Collect books, even if you don’t plan on reading them right away. Nothing is more important than an unread library.
Austin Kleon
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