Things Are What You Make of Them: Life Advice for Creatives

Adam J. Kurtz's new book, Things Are What You Make of Them: Life Advice for Creatives, expands upon on a series he created for Design*Sponge. It is, as an Executive Publicist wrote when telling us of the book, "a heartfelt collection of handwritten essays that read as passed notes, sharing wisdom and compassion (and its fair share of snark) from one working artist to another. As wry and cheeky as it is empathetic and empowering, this deceptively simple, vibrantly full-color book will be a touchstone for writers, illustrators, designers, and anyone else who wants to be more creative, even when it would be easier to give up and just act normal."

Grace Bonney, founder of Design*Sponge and the (New York Times bestselling) author of In the Company of Women, writes in her foreword to the book that “One of the hardest things about running your own business is finding people to talk to about your fears, insecurities and dreams.” If you keep this book close, you'll always feel like you have a little help—an intellectual and emotional mirror with which to check and steady yourself, so you can get back out there and do your work. 

The good people of TarcherPerigee, the publisher of the book, we kind enough to share the visual excerpt below with us, so you can get a taste.

Excerpted from Things Are What You Make of Them: Life Advice for Creatives
Copyright © 2017 by Adam J. Kurtz
Reprinted with permission of TarcherPerigee, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC.
All rights reserved.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Adam J. Kurtz is a graphic designer, artist, author and illustrator. His first book, 1 Page at a Time, has been translated into ten languages, and his work has been featured in ArtReport, Cool Hunting, Design Sponge, Huffington Post, Fast Company, Time Out New York, AdWeek, Paper, and elsewhere. He has collaborated with Urban Outfitters, Strand Bookstore, the Brooklyn Public Library, and retailers and cultural institutions. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.