Every creative should read more self-motivation book for artists
Art is an imitation of life. For generations, humans have been copying nature. The things we see, feel, and touch gets absorbed into our consciousness and manifests themselves in art as a warped version of what we’ve encountered.
As artists, we literally create what’s in our heads. Our environment influences us greatly and the more we explore the more our creations change to reflect that growth.
Naturally, in order to grow, one must-read.
Reading brings a profound amount of knowledge in a short space of time compared to spending years learning every detail of a subject through avoidable trials and errors.
Someone already did the hard work and then put it in a book for us to learn.
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Books are magical things. Each and everyone changes your understanding and perspective. You’re no longer the same person when you’ve completed a book.
Self-motivation book for artists
A life-changing book for me is Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon.
I rank it as one of the best self-motivation books for artists because of how simple it approaches the topic of creativity.
Everyone Borrows From Everyone.
Some will call it stealing but it’s only stealing if you’ve deliberately taken another person’s work and try to pass it off as your own—that’s plagiarizing. If, on the other hand, you’ve been inspired by a person’s art and that inspiration leads you to create something that is uniquely yours then you’ve successfully borrowed/stolen from that artist.
For example, If I saw an amazing art piece online and it inspired me to create something similar then I can assure you that the only thing I’m borrowing from that artist is the idea. My rendition of the art will be completely different. There might be subtle similarities but the goal was to create something similar. That’s my interpretation of the term” stealing like an artist”.
On the other hand, if I chose to recreate that art exactly the way the artist did and try to pass it off as an original idea then that creates a terrible reputation for me and puts a bad taste in the original artist’s mouth because I simply copied their work.
“The work you do while you procrastinate is probably the work you should be doing for the rest of your life.” Jessica Hische
What do you do when you’re supposed to be doing something else?
I’m not referring to Netflix because if we could all make a great living from watching Netflix then we’d all be billionaires but, unfortunately, it’s not that easy.
Start paying attention to what you do when you’re bored. Do you draw, write a poem, come up with a beat, or create dance moves? The things we do when we are not consciously thinking about it will bring the most joy to our lives.
Work should not feel like work; this is important for everyone to remember.
To sum up the book in a few phrases: do what you love, read about artists who have done what you love, take some ideas from them, and start creating. The only person stopping your creativity is you. Don’t let what other people think about your work stop you from creating it. Shut the world out and go inside yourself, you’ll be amazed by what you’ll come up with.
“Validation is for Parking” – Austin Kleon
You won’t find your motivation to create if you’re aimlessly searching everywhere but yourself. When it comes to creativity, what makes you happy is all that matters. It is statistically impossible that everyone in the entire world will hate your art so stop letting the fear of rejection stop you before you even begin.
Gather the knowledge you require and get to work, your psyche needs it!
