Discovering your creative system (and the perpetual motion machine), with Austin Kleon

Austin Kleon is the New York Times bestselling author of a trilogy of books about creativity in the digital age: Steal Like An Artist, Show Your Work!, and Keep Going. Before all of that, he'd been a librarian, a web designer, and an advertising copywriter. Discover Austin’s path to becoming a famous author, how he successfully navigated that pivot, and the vast web of influences that inspire his creative work and daily life. More from the episode… Austin describes the “catalytic moment” he met cartoonist Lynda Barry, and how it transformed his creative practice. Why obscurity, especially at the beginning of your creative career, can actually be a positive thing. How does working in public view continue to feed his creative process? What is Austin’s “perpetual motion machine” for producing new material, and how did he discover it? When do you know if a creative work is finished? Is it ever? About Austin Kleon Austin Kleon is the New York Times bestselling author of a trilogy of illustrated books about creativity in the digital age: Steal Like An Artist, Show Your Work!, and Keep Going. He’s also the author of Newspaper Blackout, a collection of poems made by redacting the newspaper with a permanent marker. His books have been translated into dozens of languages and have sold over a million copies worldwide. He lives in Austin, Texas, with his wife and sons. Connect with Austin https://austinkleon.com twitter.com/austinkleon instagram.com/austinkleon Links from the episode The comedy of survival Quiet: The power of introverts a world that won’t stop talking