The other day I looked for books on design and “Steal Like an Artist” by Austin Kleon came up. Originally it was a talk, then a blog post and now a book with its own Wikipedia page. It looks like he gave another version of the talk a while later.

I enjoyed the book quite a bit. It's not really what I expected. It's somewhat about design, I guess, but more about how to live a good life and how to be an artist.

It was fun to be reminded that “there is nothing new under the sun” comes from the Bible, Ecclesiastes 1:9. And that there's a much older (4000 year old) complaint of Khakheperraseneb that starts, “Would that I had phrases unknown, sayings unused.”

I'm taking to heart his advice to study an artist you really love. I'm going back to read old Calvin & Hobbes books by Bill Watterson. The linework is amazing. He also encourages you to study their role models.

“If you steal from one author it's plagiarism; if you steal from many it's research.” –Wilson Mizner

Overall, I appreciate how organized and deliberate he is about his creativity and work.