How to become an artist and other books on creativity

It’s almost December, and since books are always high up on my own wish list (and especially in December) I thought I’d produce another list. It might give you some ideas on what to put on your own wish list this Christmas – if you’re in need of some serious creative inspiration! And who isn’t right?

Let’s start with this pretty book, Creative Watercolor: A Step-by-Step Guide for Beginners (Create with Paints, Inks, Markers, Glitter, and More) that has such a pretty cover that I want to bring out my watercolours straight away. I could use some watercolor inspiration… This one is painted and written by the awesome Mexican artist and teacher Ana Victoria Calderon, who has a lot of great classes online.

I already find Ana Victoria inspirational, so her book would be a great addition to my own creative library.

In the beginning of the year The Artist’s Journey: Bold Strokes To Spark Creativity by Nancy Hillis came out. Nancy is an abstract artist herself, as well as a Stanford trained psychiatrist and this her self-help book won a Silver Medal in the Reader’s Favorite International Awards 2019. It seams like a great read for those of us that want to become more artists in 2020. It’s definitely an invitation to paint more often:

Everything in the universe is calling you to claim your creative life. Let’s begin.

Find Your Artistic Voice is an “Essential Guide to Working Your Creative Magic” that also came out this year. It’s by our favorite internet artist Lisa Congdon, who I’m sure I’ve mentioned many times before.

An artist’s unique voice is their calling card. It’s what makes each of their works vital and particular. But developing such singular artistry requires effort and persistence.

Book Blurb: “Bestselling author, artist, and illustrator Lisa Congdon brings her expertise to this guide to the process of artistic self-discovery. […] This beautiful book energizes and empowers women, both artists and amateurs alike, by providing them with projects and galvanizing stories to ignite their creative fires. Each chapter leads with an assignment that taps into the inner artist, pushing the reader to make exciting new work and blaze her own artistic trail. […]

With a stunning, gift-forward package and just the right amount of pop culture-infused feminism, this book is sure to capture the imaginations of aspiring women artists.”

Another invitation to be more creative can be found in Jerry Saltz’ book How to be an artist (coming in March).

Jerry Saltz is the chief art critic for New York magazine, and since he is approached constantly by artists, both amateur and professional, asking him for advice, he wrote this book!

Have you ever asked yourself: How do I get started? How do I get better? Is what I’m doing even art at all? Then this book might be the perfect fit for you.

The book promises to be filled with new rules, prompts, exercises, and tips (Tell Your Own Story and You Will Be Interesting; Imagination Is More Important than Knowledge; Make Art for Now, Not for the Future; and Finish the Damn Thing!) designed to break through creative blocks, ignite motivation, conquer bad habits, and help artists of all kinds-painters, photographers, writers, performers-realize their dreams. You won’t get it for Christmas, but you can pre-order it now.

Danielle Kryssa’s Big Important Art Book (Now with Women) is filled with “Profiles of Unstoppable Female Artists – and Projects to Help You Become One”, and since I think that Kryssa is awesome on her podcast, this is a must-read book, that you should add to your wish list as well. In it we get to celebrate 45 women artists, and gain inspiration for our own practice, with this a exploration of contemporary creators from the founder of The Jealous Curator.

From the blurb: Walk into any museum, or open any art book, and you’ll probably be left wondering: where are all the women artists? A Big Important Art Book offers an exciting alternative to this male-dominated art world, showcasing the work of dozens of contemporary women artists”. Yes please, right?

I think this one is the perfect book for anyone who (like me) is into doodling. It’s called Art Starts with a Line – A creative and interactive guide to the art of line drawing, by Erin McManness.

Erin shows you how to draw everything from different kinds of flowers to borders, lettering and other fun stuff that you could incorporate into a Bullet journal, diary or Art journal, for example. It’s a little bit let “artsy” and a lot more like a step-by-step guidebook for infusing everyday life with creativity. And since a paper pad or a small Sketchbook and a black pen is so affordable and portable, I think it’s the perfect holiday gift together with Erin’s book actually. Wouldn’t you be happy go receive that as a little care package? I know I would.

I also need to mention The Collage Ideas Book by Alannah Moore, just because the cover is oh, so pretty. So iHanna, in a way even though my collages looks nothing like this. The collages inside the book are not all in this  style either, but in many different styles. From vintage to modern, Alannah’s curated collection of art will inspire you to cut and paste into the new year.

From the book blurb: “Collage allows your creativity to run riot. It lets you juxtapose disparate elements, styles and media against each other and create something entirely novel, bizarre, arresting, beautiful, ironic or unsettling. Old and new can be fused together; digital and handproduced can be combined. What you can create with collage knows no bounds.”

Yes,  please Santa, send me a copy ASAP!

Lastly, I think that Amy Tan‘s first book Craft a Life You Love – “Infusing Creativity, Fun & Intention into Your Everyday”, looks extremely yummy! It’s a fill-in-the-blanks kind of book talking about ways to find joy and fulfillment through art and creativity in everyday life, and that’s something I’m all for. ALL FOR!

It’s more reading than visual inspiration, but after you take in all those ideas I’m sure you’ll have a lot of visual ideas anyway. I’m not all that into book that I’m supposed to write in, but I think I could make an exception for this one, because I mean, Amy! She creates such happy, colorful things, whether it is in her own, personal journal or as scrapbooking products you want to wall paper a whole room with…

Make your own awesome book

I could go on and on, featuring more books I would love thumbing through, reading, owning, having in my library… but I’ll stop for now. What books are on your wish list?

Oh, BTW, if you want to Make a Book, you should check out Blurb this weekend. Via their site you can upload and have your own photo book printed, and right now you will get 50% off your purchase by using code BIGFIFTY! This offer is available from today until December 2nd. Since I’m a Blurb fan myself, I just wanted to mention that.

Take care!

[Tweet “Dear Santa, I’ve been so good – please make all my gifts hard back books this year!”]

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