Hannah Wilson GDS-222

This week in Steal Like an Artist: I learned the importance of building your own world of creativity and creative people. At the start of the chapter, Kleon tells us about how he grew up in the Midwest, surrounded by corn.  He was always wanting to get away and go to a place where something was happening.  I felt like I was reading something I wrote myself!  I grew up on a farm surrounded by fields of corn, always wanting to leave for a while to go somewhere that had something going on. Then, Kleon tells us that we don't have to live anywhere other than the place we already live to connect with the world that we want to be in.  In the meantime, before we find out where that place is, we can build our own world. Kleon makes a point to say that "our brains get too comfortable in our every day surroundings".  I couldn't agree with that more.  Sometimes, I feel like I'm stuck in a creative rut unless I make an effort to get out and go somewhere.  Wh...

This week, in chapter 6, we were given some important tips for getting out work out there. Kleon tells us that the internet can be an incubator for "ideas that aren't fully formed, a birthing center for developing work.  After I read this, I got on the social media and cloud sites that I've put or saved my past works on and looked through them.  Some are finished products that I wanted to share with people, others are just sketches that I upload incase I needed them for anything later.  I noticed on a few of the projects, I went back to revisit them at one point and ended up making them into something other than what I had originally intended for them. Here is an example of some projects I found that went through some changes: What started out as a print became a digital drawing which then became a t-shirt design.  I was just doing a project for fun, but after sharing it on Instagram, people expressed their interest in it and asked if they could get it on a shir...

This week, in chapter 5 of "Steal Like an Artist", we were given some interesting advice to practice "productive procrastination".  Kleon explained to us that it's good to have some side projects and hobbies.  That way, when we get sick of working on one project, we can spend time on a different one.  He tells us to take time to do nothing, to get bored. Reading this, I wondered how he could do that.  I feel like I need every available minute I have to concentrate on my assignments for class!  I realized after reading this chapter that I've gotten to busy that I've abandoned all of my side projects and my "just for fun" pieces. Kleon says that it's important to have a hobby.  It's important to have something that gives but doesn't take and it's just for you and no one else.  Some of my hobbies that don't require much thinking are knitting, going for runs and playing instruments.  Sometimes, I just like to do "nothing...