Today I am not a tech geek in high school, on this day I am an article reviewer geek in high school. The difference is astounding. I have just recently read chapter one of a book called Steal Like An Artist by Austin Kleon, and besides repeating the same exact message over and over,
the book had some interesting things to say.
The Book
The main point that this book stated was that nothing in this world is original; everything artistic has been stolen from another idea. Which to me just raises the question, what was the original idea that was stolen from? Anyway, it talks about how artists look at the world surrounding them for inspiration and then use that inspiration to influence the art that they make. The best way to do that is to always be curious and gain knowledge that will coincide and sometimes clash with the inspiration.
The book uses a multitude of examples to show all the different ways that art can be 'stolen.' One of the best examples was "1 + 1 = 3." Imagine two lines parallel to each other, now count them. There are two black lines and in the negative space there is a white line making a total of three lines from an original two. Nothing has changed, but a completely new concept has sprung forth from someone taking the idea and changing it.
My Critique
As I read the first chapter, I would be lying if I said the book had taught me nothing. The ideas are quite obvious and placed out neatly enough for me to understand. The language was nice and there weren't any confusing words or boring textbook explanations. It was made for the average man who is interested in simply stealing like an artist.
While it did raise some excellent points it seemed as though it tried too hard to look 'creative.' The handwriting font gave it a bit of an unprofessional feel. The images also made it seem really basic and unfinished. When people think of art they expect something that doesn't look like a three year old who just discovered how a marker works. The images felt too simple in structure for the message the book was trying to convey.
Summary
All together the article was definitely something that I would look at again if I needed help making art. Everything inside of it flows cohesively and every new idea always pointed back towards the main theme. Even though I have only read the first chapter I may look into actually finding the rest of the book so that I can take a more in depth look at this creative spin on how art in any form is born.
Jake Smith
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