Steal Like an Artist 01

10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative

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“Art is theft.”
—Pablo Picasso

“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.”
—T. S. Eliot

Words & phrases

immature adj.发育未全的；（人）幼稚的，不成熟的；粗糙的

She is emotionally immature.

她在情感上不成熟。

deface v.损伤外观，丑化，毁坏

It's illegal to deface property.

在房子上乱涂乱画是非法的。

weld

• v.焊接，熔接，锻接；使紧密结合，使形成整体

• n.焊接节点；淡黄木犀草；（淡黄木犀草制的）黄色植物染料；焊接

Where did you learn to weld?

你在哪里学会的焊接技术？

theft n.偷窃，盗窃；盗窃罪

She admitted theft.

她招认了偷窃行为。

utterly adv.完全地，彻底地

They were utterly unfit to govern.

他们完全不胜任管理。

torn

• adj.犹豫的

• v.撕碎，撕裂；撕破，划破；撕掉，扯掉（tear 的过去分词）

These jeans are torn at the knee.

这牛仔裤膝盖那儿破了。

All advice is autobiographical.

autobiographical / ˌɔːtəˌbaɪəˈɡræfɪk(ə)l / adj.自传的，自传体的

The types of social experiences children have do factor into the development of autobiographical memories.

儿童的社会经验类型在自传体记忆的发展中起着重要的作用。

It’s one of my theories that when people give you advice, they’re really just talking to themselves in the past.

This book is me talking to a previous version of myself.

These are things I’ve learned over almost a decade of trying to figure out how to make art, but a funny thing happened when I started sharing them with others—I realized that they aren’t just for artists. They’re for everyone.

These ideas apply to anyone who’s trying to inject some creativity into their life and their work. (That should describe all of us.)

In other words: This book is for you. Whoever you are, whatever you make.

Let’s get started.

Steal like an artist.

How to look at the world (like an artist)

Every artist gets asked the question,

“Where do you get your ideas?”

The honest artist answers,

“I steal them.”

How does an artist look at the world?

First, you figure out what’s worth stealing, then you move on to the next thing.

That’s about all there is to it.

When you look at the world this way, you stop worrying about what’s “good” and what’s “bad”—there’s only stuff worth stealing, and stuff that’s not worth stealing.

Words & phrases

is up for grabs 可供争夺；可获得；可得到

During browsing, the user's attention (and their money) is up for grabs.

在浏览过程中，用户的注意力(和他们的钱)谁都可以去争取。

be up for: 愿意或准备好做某事

Well, that may be up for debate in a couple days.

好了，我们过几天再讨论吧。

grab

• v.攫取，抓住；（尤指匆忙地）取，吃，喝；霸占，强夺；利用，抓住（机会）；引人注意，吸引

• n.攫取，赚取；抓具，抓斗；抓取（或截获、采集）的图像

I managed to grab her hand.

我设法抓住了她的手。

Everything is up for grabs. If you don’t find something worth stealing today, you might find it worth stealing tomorrow or a month or a year from now.

“The only art I’ll ever study is stuff that I can steal from.”
—David Bowie

Nothing is original.

The writer Jonathan Lethem has said that when people call something “original,” nine out of ten times they just don’t know the references or the original sources involved.

What a good artist understands is that nothing comes from nowhere. All creative work builds on what came before. Nothing is completely original.

感受

没有什么是原始的。所有那些所谓的“原始”实际上是不知道出处而已。所有现有的都是在原有的基础上发展而来的。（或许这就是大家说的创新吧）

Words & phrases

bible / ˈbaɪb(ə)l /n.权威著作，宝典；《圣经》（the Bible）；一本《圣经》，《圣经》的一个版本

Ecclesiastes / ɪˌkliːziˈæsˌtiz / n.传道书

I am going to translate a passage of good English into modern English of the worst sort. Here is a well-known verse from ecclesiastes.

我要把一段好英语翻译成最糟糕的一类现代英语。

It’s right there in the Bible: “There is nothing new under the sun.” (Ecclesiastes 1:9)

Some people find this idea depressing, but it fills me with hope. As the French writer André Gide put it, “Everything that needs to be said has already been said. But, since no one was listening, everything must be said again.”

感受

有些人认为这个很悲观。但是给作者的感觉却很有希望。虽然有些内容已经被发布，但是没有人听到、看到。那就证明还需要再发布一次！must be said again.

Words & phrases

embrace

• v.拥抱；欣然接受，乐意采纳；包括，涉及；围绕，环绕

• n.拥抱；接受，信奉

He opened his arms wide to embrace her.

他张开双臂拥抱她。

plagiarism n.剽窃，抄袭；剽窃作品

Now he's in real trouble. He's accused of plagiarism.

现在他陷入真正的麻烦了。他被指控剽窃。

If we’re free from the burden of trying to be completely original, we can stop trying to make something out of nothing, and we can embrace influence instead of running away from it.

“What is originality? Undetected plagiarism.”
—William Ralph Inge

感受

“什么是原创? 未被发现的剽窃。”

Words & phrases

genealogy / ˌdʒiːniˈælədʒi /n.宗谱；血统；家系；系谱学

You may wonder why I should write a genealogy.

你或许会好奇，我为什么会为自己建立族谱？

mashup n.混搭程式；混搭网站；混合

An Ajax mashup is a hybrid Web application.

Ajax mashup是一种混合的Web应用程序。

remix

• v.合成；再混合（音乐录音）；（用调整安排不同音轨的方法）制作（已录制音乐的）修改版；重新搅拌

• n.调整版录制音乐，重新合成版

They just stick it over a dance beat and call it a remix.

他们加入了舞蹈的拍子，说这个就是混音。

parallel

• adj.平行的；相似的，同时发生的；（计算机）并行的；并联的

• n.（人或事物的）相似的手法，共同点；相似的人（或物）；（地球的）纬线，纬圈；（印刷）平行符号

• v.与……相似；与……同时发生；与……并行；与……相当，比得上

• adv.与……平行

The road runs parallel to the river.

这条路和这条河是平行的。

The Genealogy of ideas

Every new idea is just a mashup or a remix of one or more previous ideas.

Here’s a trick they teach you in art school. Draw two parallel lines on a piece of paper:

How many lines are there?

There’s the first line, the second line, but then there’s a line of negative space that runs between them.

See it? 1 + 1 = 3.

Words & phrases

genetic adj.基因的，遗传学的；有共同起源的

Finally, I come to the subject of genetic engineering.

最后，我来谈基因工程。

A good example is genetics. You have a mother and you have a father. You possess features from both of them, but the sum of you is bigger than their parts. You’re a remix of your mom and dad and all of your ancestors.

Words & phrases

familial adj.家族的；家庭的；遗传的

Gerard also took on wider familial responsibilities.

杰拉德也承担了更多的家庭责任。

Just as you have a familial genealogy, you also have a genealogy of ideas. You don’t get to pick your family, but you can pick your teachers and you can pick your friends and you can pick the music you listen to and you can pick the books you read and you can pick the movies you see.

感受

就像基因的混合一样，你的idea也可以源于多个对象。

你的老师、你的朋友、你听的音乐、你看的书、你看的电影。都可以！

You are, in fact, a mashup of what you choose to let into your life. You are the sum of your influences. The German writer Goethe said, “We are shaped and fashioned by what we love.”

Words & phrases

wax

• n.蜡，蜂蜡；耳垢； <英，非正式，旧>一阵愤怒；<非正式>唱片；类似蜡的黏性物质（尤指液体或碳氢化合物）

• v.给……上（或打）蜡；用蜡除去（身体部位）的毛发；（月亮）渐圆，渐满；（带着某种情绪）说，写；（数量、规模等）增加，变大；<非正式>把……灌制成唱片

• adj.蜡制的，似蜡的

The wax began to run.

蜡开始熔化了。

inspire: v.激励，鼓舞；赋予灵感，激发（想法）；使产生（感觉或情感）；引起，导致；吸气，吸入

We must promote originality, inspire creativity and encourage innovation.

我们必须提倡独创性，激发创造力，鼓励创新。

garbage n.<美>垃圾，废物；<美>垃圾箱；<非正式>废话，无聊的东西；无用信息

This morning a bomb in a garbage bag exploded and injured 15 people.

今天早上一颗放在垃圾袋中的炸弹爆炸，炸伤15人。

“We were kids without fathers . . . so we found our fathers on wax and on the streets and in history. We got to pick and choose the ancestors who would inspire the world we were going to make for ourselves.”
—Jay-Z

Garbage in, garbage out.

The artist is a collector. Not a hoarder, mind you, there’s a difference: Hoarders collect indiscriminately, artists collect selectively. They only collect things that they really love.

Words & phrases

hoarder / ˈhɔːrdər /n.贮藏者；囤积者

About 1 of every 20 Germans is acompulsive hoarder, a new study has found.

一项最新的研究发现，大约每二十个德国人中就有一个是强迫囤积者。

感受

艺术家是收藏家，只收藏自己真正热爱的。hoarder储藏家什么都储藏，不加区分地储藏。

There’s an economic theory out there that if you take the incomes of your five closest friends and average them, the resulting number will be pretty close to your own income.

感受

经济理论：你最亲近的5个朋友的平均收入非常接近你自己的收入。（收入 ≈ ideas）

Words & phrases

nuts

• adj.发疯的，发狂的；<非正式>热爱，迷恋

• int.呸，胡说（用于表达愤怒、失望等）

• n.睾丸（nuts）；坚果（仁）；螺母，螺帽（nut 的复数）

• v.<非正式>用头撞；<古>采坚果，采干果（nut 的第三人称单数）

She shelled and ate a few nuts.

她剥了一些坚果吃。

drive me nuts: 让我抓狂：表示某人或某事让你感到非常烦恼、不安或难以忍受。

Traffic jams drive me nuts.

交通堵塞让我发疯。

I think the same thing is true of our idea incomes. You’re only going to be as good as the stuff you surround yourself with .My mom used to say to me, “Garbage in, garbage out.” It used to drive me nuts. But now I know what she meant.

Your job is to collect good ideas. The more good ideas you collect, the more you can choose from to be influenced by.

Words & phrases

resonate v.发出回响，回荡；充满，弥漫（某种特质）；引起共鸣；产生（电或机械）共振

What comments resonate with you?

对片中的那些评论有何共鸣？

resonate with: 共鸣：指某个观点、情感或经历与他人产生共同的共鸣，引起共同的关注和理解。

fuel:

• n.燃料，燃烧剂；刺激因素，刺激性言行；（为身体提供能量的）食物，饮料，药剂

• v.（给……）提供燃料，加油；刺激，加剧

They ran out of fuel.

他们用完了燃料。

devour v.狼吞虎咽地吃；如饥似渴地阅读，热切地看；吞噬，毁灭；充满（感情）

A medium-sized dog will devour at least one can of food plus biscuits per day.

一只中等大小的狗每天至少要干掉一罐食物外加饼干。

authentic adj.原作的，真迹的；传统的，正宗的；逼真的，仿真的；真实的，可靠的

She has authentic charm whereas most people simply have nice manners.

她有真正的魅力，而大多数人只是有礼貌而已。

“Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic.”
—Jim Jarmusch

感受

如饥似渴地吸收所有的东西，然后选择...select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul.

Climb your own family tree.

Marcel Duchamp said, “I don’t believe in art. I believe in artists.” This is actually a pretty good method for studying—if you try to devour the history of your discipline all at once, you’ll choke.

感受

chew on 考虑，思考

I need some time to chew on this proposal before making a decision.

在做出决定之前，我需要一些时间来考虑这个提议。

Instead, chew on one thinker—writer, artist, activist, role model—you really love. Study everything there is to know about that thinker. Then find three people that thinker loved, and find out everything about them. Repeat this as many times as you can. Climb up the tree as far as you can go. Once you build your tree, it’s time to start your own branch.

感受

不要试图一次吃太多，选一个你真正热爱的，to chew on.

翻译：研究关于那个思想家的一切。然后找到那个思想家爱过的三个人，找出关于他们的一切。尽可能多地重复这个动作。尽你所能爬上那棵树。一旦你建立了你的树，是时候开始你自己的分支了。

Words & phrases

lineage / ˈlɪniɪdʒ / n.<正式>血统，世系

They can trace their lineage back to the 18th century.

他们的家族可以直接追溯到18世纪。

hunched over 弯腰驼背：身体前倾，背部弯曲的姿势。通常表示疲劳、压力或不适。

He was hunched over his desk, working late into the night.

他弯腰驼背地坐在桌前，工作到深夜。

Seeing yourself as part of a creative lineage will help you feel less alone as you start making your own stuff. I hang pictures of my favorite artists in my studio. They’re like friendly ghosts. I can almost feel them pushing me forward as I’m hunched over my desk.

The great thing about dead or remote masters is that they can’t refuse you as an apprentice. You can learn whatever you want from them. They left their lesson plans in their work.

感受

想想你是创作世袭的一份子，那些遥远的艺术家没法拒绝你成为徒弟，他们够不到你~ 你可以学习任何你想学的东西，因为他们的lesson都在他们的work里。

Words & phrases

school v.教育，培养（儿童）；训练，教育；（尤指为竞赛）驯马；（鱼，海兽）成群；强迫自己（做难事）

He's in law school.

他在读法学院。

overlap

• v.（与……）互搭，（与……）复叠；（在关注的问题、承担的责任等方面）部分地重叠，部分相同；（与……）同时发生

• n.（物体的）重叠部分，重叠量；（范围方面的）重叠部分；（两事发生的）重叠时间，交接时期

Our jobs overlap slightly, which sometimes causes difficulties.

我们的工作略有重叠，所以有时引起一些困难。

School yourself.

School is one thing. Education is another. The two don’t always overlap. Whether you’re in school or not, it’s always your job to get yourself an education.

Words & phrases

chase down 追逐并抓住（某人或某物），或者搜索并找到（某人或某物）

We'd chase down the ice cream truck on bikes.

我们骑自行车追冰淇淋车。

bibliography / ˌbɪbliˈɑːɡrəfi /n.参考书目，文献目录；目录学，文献学

bibliographies n.书目；参考文献（bibliography 的复数）

You have to be curious about the world in which you live. Look things up. Chase down every reference. Go deeper than anybody else—that’s how you’ll get ahead.

Google everything. I mean everything. Google your dreams, Google your problems. Don’t ask a question before you Google it. You’ll either find the answer or you’ll come up with a better question.

感受

google一切。在你询问问题之前，去google！要么，你找到答案了，要么，你想出一个更好的答案了。

Always be reading. Go to the library. There’s magic in being surrounded by books. Get lost in the stacks. Read bibliographies. It’s not the book you start with, it’s the book that book leads you to.

感受

↑ 我的行动指南！找到了！Gotcha！

• 阅读！

• 去图书馆！

• 让你自己被书籍包围！迷失在书堆里！

• 读参考文献，它不是你开始的书，而是书籍引导你找到的书！

Collect books, even if you don’t plan on reading them right away. Filmmaker John Waters has said, “Nothing is more important than an unread library.”

Don’t worry about doing research. Just search.

感受

Doing research. Just research.

“Whether I went to school or not, I would always study.”
—RZA

Save your thefts for later.

Words & phrases

pull it out: 拔出来：从某个位置或物体中移除或取出某物。| 开始驶出：车辆开始从一条道路驶入另一条道路或驶离当前道路的不同部分。

The boy held the trunk and tried to pull it out. But it didn't move at all.

男孩抓住树干，试图把它拔出来。但它一动不动。

jot down: 草草记下

I'll just jot down the address for you.

我得赶快把地址给你写下来。

overheard v.偶尔听到；无意中听到；偷听（overhear 的过去式和过去分词）

We overheard them arguing.

我们碰巧听到他们吵嘴。

doodle / ˈduːd(ə)l /

• v.（尤指厌烦或心不在焉时）乱涂；随意弹奏；闲混

• n.（心不在焉地）乱涂的图画；蠢人

The doodle is the latest in the recent rehabilitation of Confucius.

在近来孔子复兴热中，这个涂鸦是最新的表现。

Carry a notebook and a pen with you wherever you go. Get used to pulling it out and jotting down your thoughts and observations. Copy your favorite passages out of books. Record overheard conversations. Doodle when you’re on the phone.

感受

这可不就是瞟学吗！！！！

赞！非常支持这个观点！

Words & phrases

sketchbook n.小品集；写生簿；随笔集

We're going to draw an apple in your sketchbook.

我们要在速写本上画一个苹果。

scraps n.残羹剩饭；刮屑（scrap 的复数）

Davina was sorting out scraps of material.

戴维娜正在整理零碎的材料。

sort out

1．把……分类，整理：对某事物进行整理、分类； 2．理清，解决：通过思考理解或找到（某事物，如原因或解决办法）； · I need to sort out my thoughts before making a decision. 在做决定之前，我需要理清我的想法。 3．规劝，惩处：英国俚语，非正式用法，以强硬的方式处理（给某人带来问题的人）。

score sheets 记分表：记录比赛或考试得分的表格或纸张。

The coach handed out the score sheets to the team before the game.

教练在比赛前向队员们分发了记分表。

go to any length 不惜一切代价：为了达成某事而付出巨大或极端的努力。

She'll go to any length to avoid doing work.

她会不惜一切代价来避免做工作。

Go to whatever lengths necessary to make sure you always have paper on you. Artist David Hockney had all the inside pockets of his suit jackets tailored to fit a sketchbook. The musician Arthur Russell liked to wear shirts with two front pockets so he could fill them with scraps of score sheets.

感受

make sure you always have paper on you.

这人简直绝了~ 把自己的口袋改造成tailored to fit a sketchbook. 然后随时随地去看！

Words & phrases

swipe file: A swipe file is a collection of tested and proven advertising and sales letters. Keeping a swipe file (templates) is a common practice used by advertising copywriters and creative directors as a ready reference of ideas for projects. 滑动文件是经过测试和验证的广告和销售信件的集合。保留一个滑动文件(模板)是广告文案和创意总监常用的一种做法，作为项目想法的现成参考。

keep track of 跟踪，记录：监测、追踪或记录某事物，或者理解和跟踪某事物。

I always keep track of my expenses by writing them down in a notebook.

我总是通过在笔记本上写下来来记录我的开支。

swipe

• v.（挥动手臂或物体）击打，猛击；偷窃；刷（磁卡）；滑动

• n.批评，抨击；挥击，抡打；滑动

I could actually swipe a card and generate an electronic receipt via email and then send it out to a person.

我可以刷卡，通过电子邮件生成电子收据，然后把它发给一个人。

analog

• adj.[自] 模拟的；有长短针的

• n.[自] 模拟；类似物

As proud as I am that my son is tech-savvy like his daddy, it's equally important to me that he have analog skills: the ability to bait a hook, clean a gutter.

我的儿子和他的爸爸一样精通技术，这让我很自豪，但对我来说同样重要的是，他也有会通过模仿学习技能：能够给鱼钩上钩、清理排水沟。

tech-savvy / ˌtek ˈsævi /

精通科技：对现代技术，尤其是计算机有很多了解的人。

She is very tech savvy and can fix any computer problem.

她非常精通科技，可以解决任何计算机问题。

scrapbook n.剪贴簿

When you get home, print them out or have them developed and make a scrapbook.

等你回家了，把它们打印出来或者冲洗出来，做成一本剪贴簿。

Keep a swipe file. It’s just what it sounds like—a file to keep track of the stuff you’ve swiped from others. It can be digital or analog—it doesn’t matter what form it takes, as long as it works. You can keep a scrapbook and cut and paste things into it, or you can just take pictures of things with your camera phone.

See something worth stealing? Put it in the swipe file. Need a little inspiration? Open up the swipe file.

感受

保持一个小本本在身上，这个小本本可以让你记录一切值得记录的事情。

Words & phrases

morgue file: A morgue file originally was the paper-folders containing old files and notes that were kept by criminal investigators, and old article clippings kept by newspaper reporters,The Lone Wolf and His Lady (1949)The Process of Investigation ... - Google Book Search in case they became of later use as a quick-reference. “停尸房档案”最初是指装有刑事调查人员保存的旧文件和笔记以及报纸记者保存的旧文章剪报的文件夹。《孤狼与他的夫人》(1949)《调查过程》……-谷歌图书搜索，以防它们以后被用作快速参考。

morgue / mɔːrɡ / n.陈尸所；资料室，资料档案，太平间

reanimate / riːˈænɪmeɪt / vt.鼓舞；使复活；使恢复生气

This is a way to reanimate the world.

这是一种可以使地球重现活力的方法。

lie around 懒散地度过时间：指懒散地休息或消磨时间。

On weekends, I like to just lie around and do nothing.

周末的时候，我喜欢懒散地躺着什么都不做。

Newspaper reporters call this a “morgue file”—I like that name even better. Your morgue file is where you keep the dead things that you’ll later reanimate in your work.

“It is better to take what does not belong to you than to let it lie around neglected.”
—Mark Twain

感受

“拿起不属于你的东西，总比让它躺在那里被人忽视要好。“ -- 马克吐温

记录的东西可能是dead thing, but you will later reanimate in your work.