I discovered the book Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon through an Illustrator-Influencer on Instagram. Later, I found the audiobook version on YouTube. Because I am very interested in creative thinking and inspiration, I decided to listen to it and found the content very intresting and helpful. In this blogpost, I summarize the main ideas of the book and what creative people can take from it.
Nothing Is Truly Original
One of the main ideas of the book is simple: Nothing is completely original.
Every creative work is influenced by other ideas, images, books, films, or people. Creativity does not mean creating something from nothing. It means taking existing ideas and turning them into something new This thought can be very freeing for creatives. You don’t have to wait for a perfect idea you can start by building on what already exists.
Choose Your Influences Carefully
Austin Kleon explains that creative people are collectors. But it is important to choose good influences. What you read, watch, and listen to shape your work. If you surround yourself with inspiring content, your own ideas will grow stronger.
Copy to Learn, Not to Steal
The book encourages copying as a learning tool. By copying the work of artists you admire, you can understand how they think and work. It is important to learn from many different people, not just one. Your mistakes and personal changes while copying will slowly become your own style.
Start Before You Feel Ready
Many creatives wait until they feel confident or “good enough.” Kleon’s message is clear: start anyway. You discover your style by working, not by waiting. Feeling unsure is part of the creative process.
Use Your Hands
Another key idea is to work away from screens sometimes. Drawing, writing, cutting, or sketching by hand can help ideas flow more naturally. Thinking often comes after doing, not before.
Conclusion: What I Took Away From This Book
Steal Like an Artist made me feel more relaxed about being creative. It shows that feeling unsure, stuck, or not good enough is completely normal especially when you care about what you make and create. If you struggle with self-doubt or perfectionism, this book can really help. It reminds you that you don’t have to be perfect to start. You don’t need a big, original idea right away. You are allowed to learn from others, try things out, and make mistakes along the way. One of the most helpful ideas for me was to stop waiting until I feel “ready.” Creativity doesn’t work like that. You become more confident by doing the work, not by thinking about it forever. Overall, the book encourages a softer, more playful approach to creativity. Just start, stay curious, and trust that even messy, imperfect work is part of the process.
And at the end of this post, a pretty nice quote from T.S.Eliot which summs it up in a poetic way:
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 from that from which it was torn.
