I’ve been thinking about Tony’s post about how lame it is to steal or pirate someone else’s idea or design without giving credit to the originator of the idea or design. We have all had that sickening feeling when we see our work copied, or worried that we have been too influenced by a teacher or work we admire–but it is really is a multi-faceted issue. Austin Kleon’s poster on stealing like an artist came to mind. I had seen it some time ago on Brain Pickings and thought it would be worth reproducing here. Kleon clearly outlines the difference between what he calls good and bad theft–something we all need to keep in mind–we should always credit, honour, transform, remix. He maintains we are a ‘mashup’ of all we have experienced–that experience gets put through our own lens and we come up with our own work–and we all can be creative.
Kleon has written a whole book on the topic and has a blog. I particularly love his sketch book entries (of course!).
I must confess that I hadn’t heard anything about Austin prior to seeing his book at Chapters a few weeks ago (I guess I’ve been living under a rock…LOL!). I was immediately intrigued by the title (obviously chosen to pique interest and generate controversy?) and did end up picking it up. I’m about 1/2 way through, and hope that people do read beyond the title to realize that there is more to it than simply the cover statement.
Really liked the chart you included in your post – I remember it from the part I’ve read….