Favorite Quotes from the Book "Show Your Work - 10 Ways To Share Your Creativity and Get Discovered", by Austin Kleon
recently, i bought the book Show Your Work - 10 Ways To Share Your Creativity And Get Discovered, by the author austin kleon. it was launched in april 2014, and since i heard about it i was willing to read it.
his first book, Steal Like An Artist - 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative, is a must read for everyone, even if you don't work directly in the creative field, because it enhances your creativity. this is one of the books that i brought with me to NYC. and, as Steal Like An Artist, the book Show Your Work has a clear message and it's easy to read it.
i'm going to share with you the most important tips of the first five chapters of Show Your Work, so you can put them in action right now!
1. you don't have to be a genius
pow! the very first message is a relief if you used to think that things have to be perfect before you show them to others. breath deep, you're not alone in this journey, and you don't have to be a genius to start sharing your ideas, influences, and work today on the internet era.
allow yourself being an amateur, because "amateurs know that contributing something is better than contributing nothing", writes kleon.
“online, everyone - the artist and the curator, the master and the apprentice, the expert and the amateur - has the ability to contribute something.”
“the best way to get started on the path to sharing your work is to think about what you want to learn, and make a commitment to learning it in front of others. (...) share what you love, and people who love the same things will find you.”
“it sounds a little extreme, but in this day and age, if your work isn’t online, it doesen’t exist. (...) if you want people to know about you, you have to share.”
read my blog post introducing myself, there i wrote about my experience of sharing my artwork for the first time, and believe me, it wasn't easy. i was really insecure about my fisrt drawings and paintings, but sharing was the best way to persue something i love, and be confident.
2. think process, not product
the process is as important as the final product, and when you share it with others, people give even more value to your work, because "human beings are interested in other human beings and what other human beings do" says kleon. that's true! i love seeing other's people process, specially if it's a painting, because it allows to learn with them.
“become a documentarian of what you do. ”
“by taking advantage of the internet and social media, an artist can share whatever she wants, whenever she wants, at almost no cost. (...) she can share her sketches and work-in-progress, post pictures of her studio, or blog about her influences, inspiration, and tools.”
3. share something small everyday
the key is consistency, and being honest with you, i'm still learning how to be consistent with sharing my artwork everyday. commit to yourself to share one single thing everyday, something that you truly like and love, and day after day, it'll be easier for you adopt sharing in your routine.
for me, one of the greatest advice of the book is "don't let sharing your work take precedence over actually doing your work", wrote kleon, and i keep it mind every time i'm eager to decide wich content i'm supose to share.
“don’t show your lunch or your latte, show your work.”
“go back to your documentation and find one little piece of process that you can share.”
“social media sites are the perfect place to share daily updates. don’t worry about being on every platform; pick and choose based on what you do and the people you’re trying to reach.”
“be open, share imperfect and unfinished work that you want feedback on, but don’t share absolutely everything.
ask yourself ‘is it helpful? is it entertaining? is it something i’d be comfortable with my boss or my mother seeing?’”
“don’t think of your website as a self-promotion machine, think of it as a self-invention machine. online, you can become the person you really want to be. fill your website with your work and your ideas and the stuff you care about.”
4. open up your cabinet of curiosities
in other words, share your curiosities and your inspiration sources with others. but, remember to always give credit to the author, honour other's work the same way if it was yours. and, it would be good to share where you founded it, as well.
“your influences are all worth sharing because they clue people in to who you are and what you do - sometimes even more than your own work”
“being open and honest honest about what you like is the best way to connect with people who like those things, too”
5. tell good stories
there's something that i used to hear a lot during the architecture college, it was "the architect's language is the drawing". but, it wasn't only through drawing that we used to convince the professor about a project, we had to explain it with words.
the same applies to your work, that according to kleon, "our work doesn't speak for itself", because "human beings want to know where things came from, how they were made, and who made them".
“the stories you tell about the work you do have a huge effect on how people feel and what they understand about your work, (...) affects how they value it.”
“you should be able to explain your work to a kindergartner, a senior citizen, and everybody in between. of course, you always need to keep your audience in mind.”
finally, those were the first five chapters of Show Your Work, and the special notes that i highlighted in the book. i hope it helps you, and remember to share something today!
if you have any comment or question, i'd love to hear from you.