Tag: Austin Kleon

The 4 creative books I’m reaching for.
I have an ever-expanding collection of creative books, most of which I keep near my desk. These are the four I have been reaching for lately.

This book is chock full of little tidbits of advice. And the advice that resonates with me changes each time I pick it up. Right now, I’m loving this advice:
- Keep a logbook, a place to write down what you do each day
- Create a blog: “Having a container can inspire us to fill it.”
- “Surround yourself with books and objects you love.”
This is the book that inspired me to start a creative journal in the first place, and to do so in a composition notebook. This book collects hand-drawn syllabi, assignments, and handouts from the college classes taught by artist Lynda Barry. There is tons of inspiration here, including the Daily Exercise.

This is by far the best collection of collage images I have found. The paper is thick, and the images are high quality. There is a bit of a vintage tilt to the subject matter, but I have found myself coming back to this again and again as I collage.

This book contains dozens of creative prompts. What I love about it is that it combines visual creativity with written creativity, which is my happy place. It also includes interviews with other journal keepers. No matter how much of a funk I’m in, I can always find something inspiring here.
November 16, 2023

Austin Kleon, books, collage, Creative Notebook, Emily K. Neuburger, Lynda Barry, prompts
Zines

Zines are amazing small handmade booklets. They can hold just about anything, but they have often been used to spread ideas about political and social movements. Some other common topics include poetry, quotes, comics, glossaries, and favorites. The possibilities are really endless.

Here’s one I made recently using Taylor Swift lyrics:

Here’s another one I made about writing, by my friend Edgar Allan Toad:

I’ve got plans to do one about my favorite books that I can then copy and give out. (Maybe as a gift or something to stick in a library book.)

There are lots of tutorials online about how to make this kind of zine from one sheet of paper. One of my favorites is this video from Austin Kleon. Another good one is this visual tutorial from BookRiot. Here are some other resources if you want to delve more into the land of zines:

Austin Kleon Zine Archive

BookRiot’s Guide to Books about Zines

Barnard College Zine Library

Cornell University Zines 101

UC Berkeley Makerspace Zines

Off I go to make another zine.

October 19, 2023

Austin Kleon, zines
Creativity is discipline.

Creativity is often treated as a mythic creature that may or may not arrive on any given day, as something we mortals have no control over. But, in my experience, creativity comes from discipline. It is discipline. It is showing up and doing the work. Over and over again.

That doesn’t mean that creativity is or should be drudgery. It is simply consistency.

Here are some quotes about creativity and discipline I’ve come across recently:

“The practice demands that we approach our process with commitment. It acknowledges that creativity is not an event, it’s simply what we do, whether or not we’re in the mood.”
The Practice, by Seth Godin via Ali Abdaal’s Sunday Snippets

Putting yourself in a position for success is simple. Doing it day in and day out is hard.

Extraordinary results come from ordinary people with uncommon consistency.
Uncommon Discipline, by Shane Parrish at Farnam Street

I’m driven to get the things I’m excited about out of my head. …

I can be in opposition to my inherent laziness, and build a discipline around, not even the work of writing, but the work of joyful extraction. And to present it like that, and to put it like that, offers me a better runway to it.
Hanif Abdurraqib on The Stephen Shatterfield Show via Austin Kleon

Don’t loaf and invite inspiration; light out after it with a club, and if you don’t get it you will nonetheless get something that looks remarkably like it.
Getting into Print, by Jack London

The discipline for me is coming back to my creative notebook again and again.

August 31, 2023

Ali Abdaal, Austin Kleon, creativity, discipline, Farnam Street, Jack London, quotes, Seth Godin
Date your pages!
I try to date everything: cards I send or receive, art I make, kid art and school stuff. I’m never sorry to have the date on something and often sorry the date is missing, especially in my notebooks.

If you don’t have or want a date stamp, handwriting the date is super easy. But to me, there is something special and graphic about using a date stamp.

This is my current collection of date stamps.

Here is more info if you’re interested in any of these:
- Turquoise – no idea where I got this one
- Ali Edwards date stamp
- Ali Edwards time stamp – no longer available
- Becky Higgins – no longer available, similar
- Amazon
- Trodat (the picture shows DDMonthYYYY, but mine came MonthDDYYYY)
- Old Becky Higgins – no longer available
- Studio Calico Mega Date Stamp
Some artists who use date stamps:
Start dating your notebook pages today. You’ll be glad you did.
August 3, 2023

Austin Kleon, composition notebook, date stamps, Mo Willems