“If you just mimic the surface of somebody’s work without understanding where they are coming from, your work will never be anything more than a knockoff.”

“If you just mimic the surface of somebody’s work without understanding where they are coming from, your work will never be anything more than a knockoff.”

“The best way to get started on the path to sharing your work is to think about what you want to learn, and make a commitment to learning in front of others.”

“Strike all the adjectives from your bio. If you take photos, you're not an 'aspiring' photographer, you're not an 'amazing' photographer either. You're a photographer. Don't get cute. Don't brag. Just state the facts.”

“Don't just steal the style, steal the thinking behind the style. You don't want to look like your heroes, you want to see like your heroes.”

“Nobody is born with a style or a voice. We don't come out of the womb knowing who we are. In the beginning, we learn by pretending to be our heroes. We learn by copying.”

“Don't think of your website as a self-promotion machine, think of it as a self-invention machine.”

“Pablo Picasso was notorious for sucking the energy out of the people he met. His granddaughter Marina claimed that he squeezed people like one of his tubes of oil paints. You's have a great time hanging out all day with Picasso, and then you's go home nervous and exhausted, and Picasso would go back to his studio and paint all night, using the energy he'd sucked out of you.”

“If you just mimic the surface of somebody’s work without understanding where they are coming from, your work will never be anything more than a knockoff.”

“Write the book you want to read”

“When you find something you genuinely enjoy, don't let anyone else make you feel bad about it. Don't feel guilty about the pleasure you take in the things you enjoy. Celebrate them.”

“Every artist gets asked the question, “Where do you get your ideas?” The honest artist answers, “I steal them.”