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stealing

The Art of Stealing

by Palle Schmidt Leave a Comment

I have a friend who has the habit of taking things apart to see how they work. Anything from a radio to a vending machine. To me this is the ultimate approach to art.

Find something that works – a film, a novel, a painting – analyze it, break it down, take it apart and figure out why. This is how Raymond Chandler started writing short pulp fiction stories. He took a story from Black Mask, dissected it and identified the various element and then created a new story by replacing each piece with his own. 

You can become a great artist by copying what you love about another artist. This will teach you a lot. Then after a while, you can bring in other influences and start adding your own voice, thereby creating something new. If you look at my early drawings, you’ll definitely see a Mike Mignola phase, a Frank Miller phase and a Sean Phillips phase (which you could argue is not over yet).

My first 48-page comic that was published in Denmark in 1999, was the result of sitting next to Peter Snejbjerg. Peter was a master of the quill (the kind of metal-tipped pen you dip in ink) and all the “real” comics artist all used it. So of course this young whipper-snapper had to try and copy the technique, with pretty disastrous results. I learned a lot of lessons by sticking it through for 48 pages – the most important being I shouldn’t be using a quill. I learned later, that I could use a soft-tipped marker to almost the same effect and that my hand liked working with that way better. Nowadays I listen more to my hand than I listen to my brain.

As an artist it’s important to stretch your muscles, draw the things you have a hard time drawing rather than sticking to the things you nail every time. Again, it’s a great strategy to just copy. Drawing from life or recreating works from other artists is a crucial way to get better at the craft.


This post is an excerpt from my book SOLO – Survival Guide for Creative Freelancers – Pre-order now on Amazon.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: artist, artistic influence, copying, Frank Miller, improving as an artist, Peter Snejbjerg, Raymond Chandler, self-employed, SOLO, stealing

Steal With Intention

by Palle Schmidt Leave a Comment

In his great book Steal like an artist Austin Kleon recommends stealing from various sources in order to create your own unique artistic expression. I wholly endorse this message! But how do I practically implement this advice?

I recently tried out another form of stealing. I’m writing a YA novel in between other gigs and interruptions and often find it hard to get back in the groove, when I finally have the time to work on my story. It’s easy to feel stuck or disconnected from the story.

So I started stealing with intention.

Every time I watch a movie, read a comic or a chapter in the kids book I’m reading aloud to my daughter, I look for one thing I can lift for my own story. It could be anything; a particular conflict (mom vs. daughter), piece of clothing (someone wearing a Nirvana t-shirt), an activity (building a treehouse or playing cards), a tic or a trait. I’ll ask myself what this could be in my story. And like the kids in the story building a tree house out of old planks, something new will start to take shape in my story, even though some of the raw materials is from somewhere else. It also keeps my mind sharp and awake, not just consuming a tv-show or a museum exhibition. I’m looking for something to steal.

You too can try setting this as a sort of dogma rule for yourself, to always look for one thing that you can implement. Treat it like a game! If you can find just one thing to steal from a movie, it can be a bad movie and you still win.

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Found this article inspiring or helpful? Why not steal share it with a friend?

Filed Under: News, Pro Tips Tagged With: Austin Kleon, creativity, idea generation, influence, learning, making comics, planning, pro tips, productivity, stealing, storytelling, workflow, Writing

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