Show Your Work!: 10 Ways to Share Your Creativity and Get Discovered


Austin Kleon - 2014
    Now, in an even more forward-thinking and necessary book, he shows how to take that critical next step on a creative journey—getting known. Show Your Work! is about why generosity trumps genius. It’s about getting findable, about using the network instead of wasting time “networking.” It’s not self-promotion, it’s self-discovery—let others into your process, then let them steal from you. Filled with illustrations, quotes, stories, and examples, Show Your Work! offers ten transformative rules for being open, generous, brave, productive. In chapters such as You Don’t Have to Be a Genius; Share Something Small Every Day; and Stick Around, Kleon creates a user’s manual for embracing the communal nature of creativity— what he calls the “ecology of talent.” From broader life lessons about work (you can’t find your voice if you don’t use it) to the etiquette of sharing—and the dangers of oversharing—to the practicalities of Internet life (build a good domain name; give credit when credit is due), it’s an inspiring manifesto for succeeding as any kind of artist or entrepreneur in the digital age.

If It's Going to Be, It's up to Me: The Eight Proven Principles of Possibility Thinking


Robert H. Schuller - 1997
    Robert H. Schuller, author, motivator and host of the popular television show Hour of Power,&nbsp here illustrates his potent personal message of possibility thinking. Full of Dr. Schuller's infectious enthusiasm and down-to-earth practicality, If It's Going to Be, It's Up to Me,&nbsp details how you can tap into "dynamic divine energy" that leads to personal and spiritual success in any field. Dr. Schuller knows from his own experience, "If you can dream it, you can do it!" He reveals:The exciting possibilities for change that are already available in your own lifeHow to set goals that will workThe secret to asking for helpTechniques for cracking the inner circle of successA unique system to help you break free from thinking that holds you backNine principles that can help you move from concept to commitmentAnd much more!

Collage Lab: Experiments, Investigations, and Exploratory Projects


Bee Shay - 2010
    The book is organized into 52 different labs which may, but don't need to be, explored on a weekly basis. The labs can be worked in any order, so that readers can flip around to learn a new mixed-media technique or be inspired by a particular collage theme or application. The underlying message of this book is that artists can and should learn and gain expertise through experimentation and play. There is no right or wrong result for a given exercise, yet readers will gain skills and confidence in collage techniques, allowing them to take their work to a new level.Collage Lab is illustrated with brilliant full-color images and multiple examples of each exercise, offers a visual, non-linear approach to learning art techniques, and reinforces a fun and fearless approach to making art.

The Decorated Page: Journals, Scrapbooks Albums Made Simply Beautiful


Gwen Diehn - 2002
    Consider this a superscript above all other entries.”—Booklist. “Encourages those who hesitate to start in on the pristine pages of a nicely bound blank book.... Lively and interesting illustrations make this a good selection for public library collections.”—Library Journal.

Foolsgold: Making Something from Nothing and Freeing Your Creative Process


Susan Goldsmith Wooldridge - 2007
    Offering poetry exercises, journal writing, and other practices to encourage creative playâ��including foraging and assembling collages with found objectsâ��Foolsgold: Making Something from Nothing and Freeing Your Creative Process will motivate you to reevaluate whatâ��s most important in your world. Through intimate stories about transforming what life brings your way, the book will help open your heart to more creativityâ��DELIGHT AND VITALITYâ��whether itâ��s through photography, dance, gardening, cooking, songwriting, or poetry. Foolsgold includes dozens of suggestions to help you free the artist within by cultivating a creative lifestyle that will not only expand and inspire you but may also ground and heal you.

Creativity


Matthew Fox - 2002
     Creativity is Fox at his most dynamic: It is immensely practical and leaves the reader with a message to take into action in life. Fox tantalizingly suggests that the most prayerful, most spiritually powerful act a person can undertake is to create, at his or her own level, with a consciousness of where that gift arises from.

The Little Spark - 30 Ways to Ignite Your Creativity


Carrie Bloomston - 2014
    Do you look at yourself now and wonder if the spark has gone out? Ignite that inner fire with the 30 engaging exercises, fun activities, inspirational images, and motivating ideas in this book. Learn what your Little Spark of creative passion looks like, how to capture it, and how to make room for it in your life. Read the book cover-to-cover and use it as a month-long creative roadmap, or just dip into the exercises as your time and inclination allow. Either way, you will change your life.

The Courage to Create


Rollo May - 1975
    May draws on his experience to show how we can break out of old patterns in our lives. His insightful book offers us a way through our fears into a fully realized self.

The Handmade Marketplace: How to Sell Your Crafts Locally, Globally, and On-Line


Kari Chapin - 2010
    Learn to determine your cost of goods, set prices, identify the competition, and understand the ins and outs of wholesale and retail sales. Explore the various sales venues available, including independent craft fairs, Web sites such as Etsy, and traditional stores, and learn to maximize your visibility and sales in each one. Want to start your own website? Chapin shows you how to style and prop your crafts for photography and explains how the most popular Web marketplaces operate. You’ll find everything you need to turn your talent into profits.

Crafting Calm: Projects and Practices for Creativity and Contemplation


Maggie Oman Shannon - 2013
    guide to peace of mind, you'll find inspiring ideas for how to do exactly that through a wide range of creative exercises. In this book, author Maggie Oman Shannon explores crafts and creativity as a practice with enormous physical, mental, and spiritual benefits. By immersing ourselves in a craft with intention and mindfulness, we can quiet those voices around us and in us--we can enter sacred stillness. Through revealing interviews, personal stories, and forty suggested activities, the author shows how creative processes can become spiritual practices. Whether you're an aspiring artist, longtime craftsperson, or someone who has never set foot in a craft-store (yet!), you'll find something in Crafting Calm to inspire you.Crafts and how-to ideas include contemplation candles, visual journals, prayer shawls, collage mandalas, intention beads, finger labyrinths, personal prayer flags, spiritual toolkits, and tabletop altars.Features inspired craft ideas from luminaries such as Angeles Arrien, Mary Ann Radmcher, Shiloh Sophia McCloud, Sister Marianne Heib, May Ann Brussat, and many more.

Damn Good Advice (For People with Talent!): How To Unleash Your Creative Potential by America's Master Communicator, George Lois


George Lois - 2012
    Offering indispensle lessons, practical advice, facts, anecdotes and inspiration, this book is a timeless creative bible for all those looking to succeed in life, business and creativity. These are key lessons derived from the incomparle life of 'Master Communicator' George Lois, the original Mad Man of Madison Avenue. Written and compiled by the man The Wall Street Journal called "prodigy, enfant terrible, founder of agencies, creator of legends," each step is borne from a passion to succeed and a disdain for the status quo.Organised into inspirational, bite-sized pointers, each page offers fresh insight into the sources of success, from identifying your heroes to identifying yourself. The ideas, images and illustrations presented in this book are fresh, witty and in-your-face. Whether it's communicating your point in nanosecond, creating an explosive portfolio or making your presence felt, no one is better placed than George Lois to teach you the process of creativity.Poignant, punchy and to-the-point, Damn Good Advice (For People With Talent!) is a must have for anyone on a quest for success.

The Right-Brain Business Plan: A Creative, Visual Map for Success


Jennifer Lee - 2011
    The key is using, rather than stifling, imagination and intuition. Lee's illustrated, colorful worksheets and step-by-step instructions are playful yet practical, transforming drudgery into joy. They'll enable you to define your vision and nail down plans for funding, marketing, networking, and long-term strategy.Discover how to:* Develop a financial plan with fun and flair * Select your circle of support to get the work done* Clarify your business values and goals * Paint a picture of your business landscape* Understand your competition and what makes you stand out from the crowd* Identify your perfect customers and create a marketing plan to reach them* Map out concrete action steps to bring your Right-Brain Business Plan to life

Creative Illustration Workshop for Mixed-Media Artists: Seeing, Sketching, Storytelling, and Using Found Materials


Katherine Dunn - 2010
    You will become familiar with a wide variety of media and approaches to drawing, learn how to work through "creative blocks," and discover ways to scan and layer your illustrations using a computer.

The Lost Soul Companion: A Book of Comfort and Constructive Advice for Black Sheep, Square Pegs, Struggling Artists, and Other Free Spirits


Susan M. Brackney - 2000
    The ultimate survival guide for starving artists, writers, performers — and anyone whose dreams can’t be contained by an office cubicle.Filled with down-to-earth advice and sustenance for your most far-flung dreams, The Lost Soul Companion is the perfect guide for anyone grappling with the darker side of creativity.A source of support when your day job gets you down, a refreshing reservoir of humor when you’re knee-deep in rejection slips, this remarkable little book offers both inspiration and compassion, plus surefire strategies for surviving in what can sometimes seem like “a world of meanies.”From the anti-procrastination “chopstick plan,” to the importance of staying well nourished (toaster-oven-snack recipes included), The Lost Soul Companion will speak to anyone with big dreams and creative spirit who nonetheless finds it tough some days just to get out of bed.

Gelli Plate Printing: Mixed-Media Monoprinting Without a Press


Joan Bess - 2014
    Simply apply paint with a soft rubber brayer, make your marks and pull your print. It's that simple! Wipe the plate down with a spritz of water and a paper towel, and you're ready to go again.In this premier guide, artist Joan Bess--inventor of the concept for the Gelli plate--unleashes the fun through more than 60 step-by-step techniques. Create intriguing patterns using tools like sponges, textured rollers and homemade combs. Learn how to incorporate stencils and rubber stamps. Experiment with metallic paint, dimensional paint and gel medium. Become a texture-hunter, creating a wide world of effects using embossed papers, natural objects, rubber bands, lace, corrugated cardboard, metal tape, die cut letters...anything goes!Even beginners can enjoy immediate gratification--just grab a textured surface, smoosh it into your painted Gelli plate, and you'll have a stack of amazing prints in no time. For experienced printmakers, the inspirations in these pages will push you to experiment, adapt, combine and layer. It's easy, fun and totally addicting!Printmaking just got easier!- Expert tips from the creator of the Gelli plate - 60+ awesome step-by-step techniques - Ideas for incorporating stamps and stencils, using ghost prints, salvaging uninspired prints, and more - 26-page gallery shows the many wonderful ways artists are incorporating Gelli printing into their work