In the movie Paranoia (2013), Gary Oldman (as Nicholas Wyatt) walks up to Liam Hemsworth and as they look at a painting on the wall Gary in his British accent tells the young man:
“You know what Picasso said? A good artists copies, a great artists steals. There’s nothing original left in the world (Adam), we’re all stealing from someone. You might want to remember that”
So how to actually “Steal like an artist”?
“Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal; bad poets deface what they take, and good poets make it into something better, or at least something different. The good poet welds his theft into a whole of feeling which is unique, utterly different than that from which it is torn.” — T.S Eliot
First of all, that quote probably looks stolen, right? If not stolen oddly similar to the Picasso one. But, because both of them lived in the same time period there is no certain way to prove if it is stolen and who stole it if it were. That leads us to the first point.
1. Be a good and kind thief
When you steal ideas, attribute the person you’re stealing from.
In the book “Steal like an artist” the author Austin Kleon talks about a concept he calls “ethical theft”. By this he means giving credit to the artist instead of plagiarizing their work.
2. Reverse engineer
“You don’t want to steal the style, you want to steal the thinking behind the style, you don’t want to like your heroes you want to see like your heroes”
And a good way to reverse engineer styles that you can steal from others is take a look at what specifically you like about that piece of art. What is it about it that moves you? Why do those words specifically talk to you? What parts make you feel good ?
austinkleon.com
And once you reverse engineer one thing and you include it in your art you move on to the next one, which leads us to point 3.
3. Steal from many artists. Steal from everywhere
A good example for this is that the origin of a writers inspiration isn’t limited to only books. They can steal from music, movies, get inspired by the beautiful architecture around them, the stars, the ground beneath their feet and pretty much anything else.
“Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable; originality is nonexistent.”
— Jim Jarmusch
“If you have one person you’re influenced by, everyone will say you’re the next whoever. But if you rip off a hundred people, everyone will say you’re so original!”
— Gary Panter
A good way to steal from many is to “climb up the family tree” (Another concept from Austin Kleon). It goes like this:
- Find 3 people who inspire you
- Learn everything about them
- Find out 3 people they are inspired by
- Go back to step 2 and 3 (however many times you want)
Then combine ideas
And you will get something that looks like this
4.Create before you research
Before you start researching about your article idea on “how sleeping affects your productivity”, write down your thoughts. Experiment for a day or two and reach your own conclusions. That way your originality remains original.
5. Honor the artist
Improve their work.
If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants — Isaac Newton
Austin Kleon, in his interview with Chase Jarvis talks about what he calls “the elevator test”.
The test is pretty simple. If you were stuck in an elevator with the artist you stole from, would they punch you in the face, or look at you, smile and say “good work, I see what you did there”
“I wanted to hear music that had not yet happened, by putting together things that suggested a new thing which did not yet exist.”
— Brian Eno
6. WOW your role models
Or at least aim to.
Create work that you think would inspire your role models, create work that they would want to read.
Call to action (keyword: action)
You can’t just subscribe to a running magazine, you got to run.
Write the next song of your favorite band, the next book (or even article) of your favorite author, you get the point. Go steal some stuff (authentically).
Credits: Timi Iliev