By Dustin Cabeal

There is no better way to describe Creative Struggle than to use the tagline. If I did that though, this would be an incredibly short review. Creative Struggle is a book of illustrations that take quotes, biographies, interviews and anything else that a famous creative person may have said and put them together.

The results are sometimes humorous illustrations of a famous person’s advice of sorts. For instance, the best one in the book comes from Steven King and is about a desk. I’m not going to spoil it, and if you’re familiar with King, you might even already know it. That’s not the point of the book though, it’s not a quote/interview guessing game, but instead, just fun illustrations attached to them. That’s why the tagline reads: “Illustrated advice from Masters of Creativity.”

That is Gavin Aung Than’s goal, to present a lot of different takes on creativity from people that have lived from every time. DiVinci, Bach, it’s the greatest hits of creators. Think of it like Bill & Ted, but without the air guitar greeting… and Bill & Ted… or Rufus. Okay, it’s nothing like that, but it is a collection of great quotes. Than does a remarkable job of curating the content to leave you feeling uplifted and inspired. Just don’t read it at night before you go to sleep or that inspiration will be fleeting.

The artwork is a good match for the style and tone of the story. Than has a clean style that’s a bit cartoony, but it matches the character’s picked. It’s like MAD Magazine had a well-adjusted baby. The coloring is magnificent, ranging from vibrant, to scaled back black & white. It keeps the art from being dull and changes up the presentation of each story.

The one and only downside to a book like this is that it gives you very little reason to read it twice. Unless you’re just in dire need of inspiration and motivational advice, but even then I couldn’t see people reading the entire book, but instead looking for their favorites. It’s a decent book that’s for sure, but it’s a one and done story that at least leaves you feeling hopeful and inspired.

Score: 3/5

Zen Pencils - Creative Struggle
Gavin Aung Than
Andrews McMeel Publishing