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Best Books for Artists – A Business Focused List
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When I created this list I asked my artist friends about it. Most of them said that it’s difficult to be inspired and expand your horizons after you attend art school. There are plenty of opportunities to be creative but fewer ways to learn about the art world. While you could get someone to show you the ropes, they found it beneficial just to pick up one of the best books for artists and read away.
At this point, you’re probably asking, “How can a book benefit me?”. Well, artists tend to work alone and find it better to learn from experience. With no coworkers or peers, it can be hard to come up with new concepts.
I believe that art is ever-changing and that you must never stop learning. You should want to experience growth and be able to change as an artist.
When it comes to talent as an artist, you need a method to learn new techniques that can help you develop. Honing your skills and adapting to the modern world is what makes art so unique, after all.
If you’re struggling to understand the art world, these few books I recommend can make a difference. These gather inspiration and teach different art techniques. They also list different strategizing business ideas that can help you feel like you’re connected and one of us.
If you don’t want to sit there and browse online for books for hours on end, then I can help by suggesting a handful of good reads.
The list includes some recommendations from people we look up to. So, without further hesitation, here’s the list.
Best Books for Artists
The Stoic Creative Handbook: Struggling Creatives Are Driven By Passion. Thriving Artists Are Driven By Purpose.
Real Artists Don’t Starve: Timeless Strategies for Thriving in the New Creative Age
Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative
Understanding Art Markets: Inside the world of art and business
How to See: Looking, Talking, and Thinking about Art
Question: What five books would you recommend to young people interested in your career path & why?
Answer:
- The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
- Drawing is Thinking by Milton Glazer
- How to See by David Salle
Daily Rituals: How Artists Work
In the Company of Women: Inspiration and Advice from over 100 Makers, Artists, and Entrepreneurs
How to Start and Run a Commercial Art Gallery
Scam Me If You Can: Simple Strategies to Outsmart Today’s Ripoff Artists
Art, Inc.: The Essential Guide for Building Your Career as an Artist
The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles
Meet Me in the Bathroom: Rebirth and Rock and Roll in New York City 2001-2011
Powerhouse: The Untold Story of Hollywood’s Creative Artists Agency
Sorrell, CEO of the communications house/ad agency, WPP, has a rather eclectic mix this summer:
- Powerhouse: The Untold Story of Hollywood’s Creative Artists Agency—James Andrew Miller
- Universal Man: The Seven Lives of John Maynard Keynes—Richard Davenport-Hines
- Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future—Ashlee Vance
The Disaster Artist: My Life Inside The Room, the Greatest Bad Movie Ever Made
Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art
Unsolicited, but here’s my advice for visual thinkers (and others) who want to be better writers:
[...]Cartoonists, because their work demands work from two disciplines (writing/art, poetry/design, words/pictures), are highly instructive when it comes to visual people learning to write, writers learning to make art, etc. (Check out Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics for more.)