How Rick Rubin and Kanye West make groundbreaking creative work.

In some ways, the Craft phase is one of the least glamorous parts of the artist’s job. There is creativity involved, but it often carries less of the magic of exploration and more of the labor of brick-laying.

Sometimes our ideas come through bolts of lightning. Other times only through effort, experiment, and craft.

To keep the artistic output evolving, continually replenish the vessel from which it comes. And actively stretch your point of view.

We tend to think of the artist’s work as the output. The real work of the artist is a way of being in the world.