Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative

As people exercising Creativity in the Digital Age, artists are both helped and hampered by the unique circumstances of modern economy and technology. These circumstances mean that citizens are driven toward being economically productive and working in a way that benefits the economy. Since this circumstance is unavoidable, Kleon gives advice on how to make a creative practice feel less like working and more like playing, which is an approach that better fosters unbound creativity.

Kleon stresses the importance of “play” in creative practice. However, he knows that having to “work” to maintain a living is an unavoidable fact of life, so he presents his readers with practical strategies and advice for making work seem like play. Given the self-confessedly autobiographical nature of Kleon’s book, it is likely that his own experience has shaped his definitions and argument. As a millennial, Kleon grew up as a child in the pre-internet age; for this generation analog activities are associated with the traditional activities of childhood play, and many consider them nostalgic. Similarly, millennials grew up as the internet and computing became increasingly embedded in everyday life, and so the use of communication technology traced their personal transition from the world of play into the responsibilities of increasingly serious study and employment. Kleon’s background as a college-educated professional in data systems and web design also informs the book’s attitudes toward the digital sphere being the sphere of work. A person who worked as, say, a gardener and spent their leisure time on the internet or gaming might have the reverse view. In some ways, Steal Like an Artist is written for a reader similar in experience to Kleon himself.

One of the ways Kleon suggests making work feel more like play is to change the way work is done—though much of the creative process can theoretically be digital, Kleon suggests taking some aspects analog if possible. He ties the physical movement necessary in analog work to the phrase “going through the motions” (54). He suggests that going through the motions “kickstarts our brain into thinking” (54). One practical suggestion for doing this is setting up an analog station in one’s workplace if space allows. Kleon suggests using the analog station to brainstorm and compile ideas, then using the computer to “execute and publish them” (61). He continues, “When you lose steam, head back to the analog station and play” (61). The analog station is a practical way artists can make work feel like play.

His second large suggestion about making work feel like play is to have a robust set of hobbies and side projects. A side project is something that is on the periphery of someone’s work—it might not be directly connected to their financial livelihood, or a certain public or private expectation for their work. Usually, people have side projects simply because they enjoy that undertaking. This makes side projects “just play” rather than work (65). Ironically, side projects are “when the magic happens” (65), likely because they don’t have the pressure “work” does. Hobbies are slightly different from side projects. While side projects have an aspect of work in that they might eventually gain income or an audience, hobbies are “something creative that’s just for you. You don’t try to make money or get famous off it, you just do it because it makes you happy” (72). This “play” is “regenerative” for creatives (72) since it is a creative endeavor with no pressure to succeed.