BOOK REVIEW: THE ART OF YOU
I was influenced by instagram to grab this book by James McCRAE because of the fun format intermixing design and story to get the point across. As a creative who has found herself in a mix of different mediums, I’ve been searching for some guidance or knowledge or, if I’m being honest - permission to just LIVE and trust my creative guidance. This book was a quick read and one that was visually stimulating as much as thought provoking and I can’t wait to share my findings below!
Book title: The Art of You: The Essential Guidebook For Reclaiming Your Creativity
Book author: James McCRAE
Favorite part of the book: Again, one of my favorite parts was the added visual imagery to supplement the words. Particularly since I was coming off reading a bunch of self help that is nothing BUT text. I also appreciated that it comes with bite sized chunks of inspo - meaning I could pick this book up and flip it open to a message from the Universe. Lastly, I appreciated that there were “creative playtime” suggestions at the end of every “chapter” giving suggestions, prompts, and ideas to take action on what you’ve learned in the pages before it. You know I love taking action.
What was my favorite quote:
”Becoming a living embodiment of your art is about having self-awareness and purposefully showing up in the way you want to be perceived.”
and
”The process of making art (just like the process of life) is never perfect.”
Things I responded to: There’s a segment talking about making bad art on purpose and I think that’s something that I have forgotten about and need to do to delve deeper into my work as a creative. Like, I stopped doing youtube videos because they were subpar. There’s a quote from Bowie in the book that states: “Always go a little further into the water than you feel you’re capable of being in. Go a little bit out of your depth. And when you don’t feel that your feet are quite touching the bottom, you’re just about in the right place to do something exciting.”
Something in the book that stayed with me: Just do it. Get it out. It is your job to create what comes to you. You can have the negative thoughts, you can have the obstacles, but your job - your MISSION - is to do what it takes to create. Be bad at it, make a mess, keep showing up, do the damn thing.
Ideas explored by the author:
-create the right environment to foster your creativity
-set intention before doing any sort of creative work
-a calm nervous system = more creativity
-action is required alongside ideas: you need both
-consistency is the key to success (I’m seeing a common theme in the books I’m reading lol)
-play. play a lot.
-let your work be seen. let your work be critiqued.
-get. your. work. out. there.
Book rating: 4/5
Cat Tax for sticking to the end of the post.
