The War of Art – Visual Book Summary Part I and II
Steven Pressfield’s The War of Art left an indelible impression on me (and many others I’m sure), so I decided to memorialize some of the lessons in a visual format. Both visuals were done by hand in one sitting, with calligraphy pens, no white-out and no first-try pencil marks. On occasion I would forget to breathe because I was trying to be so still. The first graphic visualizes principles from the first section of Pressfield’s book about what Resistance is and what forms it can take. The second graphic references how we, as aspiring artists or anything else, can defeat Resistance – by going Pro. I absolutely cherished the process of creating these because the principles are universal and timeless and because we all need a swift kick in the pants from time to time. This is the first of many visual book summaries I plan to do – all of them on books that have meaning and practical application in my life. Enjoy.
What a great idea!
Christopher, our conversations and some goading from others were the inspiration for this graphic. So thank you for that. And also, is this even in the ballpark of what you were thinking or would yours have been more flowcharty?
Found you via MarbleSpark and I’m glad I did — this is AWESOME! I’ll be back for sure…
Thank you, Jess! I’ll do more of them. It helped me to visualize the content and I hope it’s of value to others. Cheers.
Sunni – this book moved me hugely. Awesome to have a visual reminder of some of the key lessons. Keep going!
Phil
Really nice Sunni. I like the definitions of being a professional.
I found your blog via the workshop you did on visual note taking. You all are awesome.
They’re Steven Pressfield’s definitions of professionalism, FYI. But yes, they resonated with me wholeheartedly. What workshop on visual notetaking are you referring to? I’ve done many.
Me, too. It was like a manifesto and a call to action. Beautiful work by Pressfield. I hope you see part two as well – turning pro.
It was the Visual Note-taking 101 at SXSW ‘10. It was basic but fun and gave me some ideas. I just started taking notes that way after making my own odd L shaped notebook. I had no idea that others took notes like that until I saw the video. Made me want to get a job doing what you all do.
Sunni,
I think I showed you the result of what I had a few artists sketch up – even when combining flow chart mode & heavy illustrations – it seemed tough to follow. The beauty of your graphic is that you can start anywhere. The way I was advised by smart people like Dave Gray was to do a screen capture and record the sketch process. But I don’t have a voice like Bob the painter dude from Channel 8. So…
Resistance got me on this project because I haven’t yet developed the competence in visual thinking to push hard and I couldn’t figure out how to monetize the result. (I love it as a hobby but…) So you wonderfully enough, are significantly better equipped on both challenges.
Chris, I thought your artists did fine and I do think the idea is a great one. Let’s keep plugging away and we’ll see if there’s a way to make a project happen in the future…
Paul, anytime I hear that someone has gotten struck with the doodlebug, I’m happy. I’m glad you came to our panel and I’d love to see some of the work you create. Keep drawing!
[...] a nice lady named Sunni Brown took an idea I had a few months ago about visual book summaries, ran with it and became an even bigger star. She even got re-tweeted by Dan Pink. What a rock [...]
[...] contact AGENDA DESIGN, GRAPHIC RECORDING & GRAPHIC FACILITATION GRAPHIC DESIGN & ILLUSTRATION STORYBOARDING, INFOGRAPHICS & PROCESS MAPS « The War of Art – Visual Book Summary Part I and II [...]
Very nice!!! Congratulations from Brazil!
[...] Thanks to Twitter, my visual book summaries of The War of Art eventually made their way around to the author himself, Steven Pressfield. [...]
[...] War of Art – Visual Book Summary Part I and II | Sunni Brown http://sunnibrown.com/2010/05/11/the-war-of-art-visual-book-summary/ Steven Pressfield’s The War of Art left an indelible impression on me (and many others I’m [...]
So where can I order prints?
[...] Steven Pressfield’s The War of Art left an indelible impression on me (and many others I’m sure), so I decided to memorialize some of the lessons in a visual format. Both visuals were done by hand in one sitting, with calligraphy pens, no white-out and no first-try pencil marks. On occasion I would forget to breathe because I was trying to be so still. The first graphic visualizes principles from the first section of Pressfield’s book about what Resistance is and what forms it can take. The second graphic references how we, as aspiring artists or anything else, can defeat Resistance – by going Pro. I absolutely cherished the process of creating these because the principles are universal and timeless and because we all need a swift kick in the pants from time to time. This is the first of many visual book summaries I plan to do – all of them on books that have meaning and practical application in my life. Enjoy. 17 Comments [...]
I’m glad you asked. Now I’ll have to come up with a way to do that – you would officially have the 1st. I’ll write Hugh MacLeod and ask him – he’s got selling prints down to a science. Please standby. Thank you!
[...] wir unseren inneren Widerstand überwinden können. Sunni Brown hat sich dem Buch angenommen und es in zwei Zeichnungen zusammengefasst. [...]
[...] visual book summary by @SunniBrown – The War of Art http://sunnibrown.com/2010/05/11/the-war-of-art-visual-book-summary/ [...]
Thanks Sunni, I’m really looking forward to it. They’ll be a great addition to the office at home… where I so often meet resistance.
Yes, “resistance is insidious,” isn’t it? I’ll keep in touch. Thanks again.
[...] here. (I find the best websites thanks to zenpundit:) I was introduced to Sunni Brown via the visual book summaries she did of The War of Art. I’ve read different things people have written about the book in the [...]
Thank you very much for the visual summary.
Kind Regards.
I’m glad you liked it.
Sunni
[...] Credit: “The War of Art – Visual Book Summary” Part II by Sunni Brown. Photo Credit: The War Of Art Book Cover from Grand Central Publishing [...]
[...] few months back, before my recent blogging resurgence, I came across this visual summary of the book. It’s very nicely done, definitely worth taking a look [...]
I found your site from a link on Ed Dale’s (The Challenge 2010) site as he’s a big fan of “The War of Art”. Your visual book summaries are a fantastic idea and very well crafted which have inspired me to buy the book.
Cheers
I love it! A fantastic visual summary of a fantastic book. Thank you, Sunni. I will check whether you are selling them as posters yet.
An excellent job!
I am gonna buy the book.
Thanks,
Selami Ozlu
[...] A great visual summary of the book ‹ Previous Post The Problem of Language › Next Post SXSW – the Aftermath [...]
Sunni..
Those illustrations were great!!
I’ve been listening to The War of Art on audio, in my car for about 3 years now and I always seem to get something out of it with each listen. I will certainly add these illustrations to my arsenal of weapons I use to encourage me to fight the good fight against resistance. Thanks
This is so cool. Thank you for sharing.
It’s sort of like a mind map. It’s cool that I use mind maps when I set out to write. Makes sense to summarize visually too.
Sunni, what a great idea! I haven’t checked out the products yet, but I’d love a copy of the first doodle of Resistance. I just wrote an entry about it now in my journal and I’m currently fighting it. And I’ve been paid and published for my writing, too! That makes me sad and frustrated, that I’ve somewhat succeeded with my writing and yet still have to severely fight the Resistance. Oh, well. Here I go…
This is wonderful! I, too, was deeply inspired by Pressfield’s book. Hopefully you won’t mind if I link to your visuals (with credit, of course!)
Thanks again!
[...] up as much as possible from the Muse. Here’s another infographic from the same artist, Sunni Brown, in my last post about this. She pretty sums up what I just said in a way cooler [...]