Make Good Art
by Neil Gaiman
Published: May 14th 2013
(80 pages)
In May 2012, bestselling author Neil Gaiman delivered the commencement address at Philadelphia’s University of the Arts, in which he shared his thoughts about creativity, bravery, and strength. He encouraged the fledgling painters, musicians, writers, and dreamers to break rules and think outside the box. Most of all, he encouraged them to make good art.
The book Make Good Art, designed by renowned graphic artist Chip Kidd, contains the full text of Gaiman’s inspiring speech.
Make Good Art is a beautiful speech that Neil Gaiman gave in 2012. I liked how Neil Gaiman talked about how he made life choices. He had a goal of becoming an author that he imagined as a mountain in the distance. He looked at the choices in front of him and decided whether they got him closer or farther to that mountain. I thought that was great advice. This is a great gift book. It has beautiful typography. In a nutshell, here’s the six pieces of advice he gave:
1. When you start art you have no idea what you are doing. This is great.
2. If you have an idea, do that.
3. Deal with the problems of failure
4. I hope you make mistakes
5. Make your art
6. Get work how you can and do two out of these three things: good work, easy to work with, work on time.
Other tidbits of advice that I liked: make up your own rules since you don’t know what you are doing. Pretend to be the person you want to be. Enjoy where you are.
Book Review of Make Good Art on a Post-it
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About Neil Gaiman
Neil Gaiman was born in Hampshire, UK, and now lives in the United States near Minneapolis. As a child he discovered his love of books, reading, and stories, devouring the works of C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, James Branch Cabell, Edgar Allan Poe, Michael Moorcock, Ursula K. LeGuin, Gene Wolfe, and G.K. Chesterton. A self-described “feral child who was raised in libraries,” Gaiman credits librarians with fostering a life-long love of reading: “I wouldn't be who I am without libraries. I was the sort of kid who devoured books, and my happiest times as a boy were when I persuaded my parents to drop me off in the local library on their way to work, and I spent the day there. I discovered that librarians actually want to help you: they taught me about interlibrary loans.”
My name is Jessica. I love to read Young Adult and classic literature. I’ve been a book blogger for six years and I haven’t gotten tired of it yet. I’m a very curious reader. Writing about all the questions and thoughts I had while reading a book is the best hobby ever.
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