The Family Tree

If you try to devour the history of your discipline all at once, you'll choke. Instead, chew on one thinker – writer, artist, activist, role model – you really love.

Study everything there is to know about that thinker. Then find three people that thinker loved, and find out everything about them. Repeat this as many times as you can.

Climb up the tree as far as you can go. Once you build your tree, it's time to start your own branch. Seeing yourself as a part of a creative lineage will help you feel less alone as you start making your own stuff.

The great thing about dead or remote masters is that they can't refuse you as an apprentice. You can learn whatever you want from them. They left their lesson plans in their work.

(Excerpt from STEAL LIKE AN ARTIST by Austin Kleon)