[nightmare]

well, i must confess. i'm a shameful copier of other people's art. and i'm not even good either! *sob*
its just that i learn by seeing how other people do it. then i draw pretty much the same thing and see how it works out. i'm sorry! i hope u won't come pounding on my door with pitchforks if u see a horrible rendition of ur work made by some little copier.
does anyone have tips/help for me? please?

[synj]

HISSSSSSSSSSssssss

[nightmare]

im sorry!!!
right now i'm attempting to get rid of this bad habit
but every time i draw something i suddenly think "oh, this looks too much like someone else's drawing!" and i wanna hide it. but is it so bad if i use someone's shoe, or that persons nose? *looks hopeful*

[faustgfx]

/me slowly and dead calm silently takes out the soul harvest scythe and polishes the bone blade....



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the not so resident caustic bitch, and the owls turned back the way they are.. even the foos ain't trippin' no more. 35983387 / [email protected]

[nightmare]

well, thats the end of my whole "honesty is good" theory.
all of a sudden i wish i hadn't opened my mouth. but u have to admit that at least i confessed at the risk of being slaughtered. there must be thousands of people who copy stuff but no one finds out until they stumble upon their drawing.

[Teem]

Well if pepole aren't gonna forgive you then start over, and change your name and produce original artwork. Or you could sit in the corner and cry...

[faustgfx]

oh come on, i can't draw worth a fuck either, yet do you see me crying?

crying 'cause of graphics stuff, that is. nevermind the usual whining.

my scythe is very forgiving! muhaaha




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the not so resident caustic bitch, and the owls turned back the way they are.. even the foos ain't trippin' no more. 35983387 / [email protected]

[Thorn]

Hmmm...the dark shadowy shapes are closing in...poor Nightmare. (*chuckle*)

Anyway, this is the way I understand copying from different art teachers I've had.
And they were divided in their opinions(just like this forum), and they had lots of qualifiers.

*Copying is sometimes used as a exercise to understand how a particular artist/art movement has solved certain visual and technical challenges*. And usually it was only the masters,dead people, that were studied in this way. (Because its safer, they don't fight back).

The idea behind the exercise is to get a feel for the style, and then transform it in some way, add something of your own. You keep doing that until you've learnt what you needed, and the end result is very different from where you started. An important part of this approach, too, is to study the thinking/the philosophy behind the style as well-what the artist is attempting to do or say with their work.

What else can I say...um

Oh yeah...Nightmare, as you learn more, become more confident, copying starts to change into "influence", which last I heard is a good thing. Just remember you have your own particular inner vision, and that deserves nurturing.

PS. I hope this doesn't sound patronising. I hate sound patronising. So my apologies if it does, Nightmare.

[Thorn]

If someone with a big scythe is looking for me, I'm sleeping.

(...why do I always post stuff when I'm just about to flatline? Talk about lead with your chin)...

[jasonN]

I agree with Thorn. You can't be an artist and say you've *never* copied anything. (Otherwise you would have to draw from life all the time, something people just don't have the time and resources to do)
Many artists copy as they learn and develop their skills. Once they have obtained the skills and 'influences' (as thorn pointed out) artists begin to churn out original pieces.

That's the way I see it


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-Jason :)

Click me!

ICQ: 24680551

[Rinaldo]

I would call upon a little saying that someone once bestowed upon me:

"Originality is the art of hiding your sources"

One has only their own experiances with which to build on.
Although I don't think copying someone elses work is a good or skillful thing to do, there are a huge number of really good artist who have obviously been heavily infuenced by others before them. As long as you realise that you have never really gotten there until your work able to be called your own, and you don't try to profit or pass off any work which is a total rip off as your own then........well, then I dunno but it's not as bad.
If I want to look into an artist's work I usuialy try and do everything that they do, not try and meld their style into my own. having discovered a bit about them, certian bits and pices fall into place without any consious effort.

I don't like the idea of copying. It depends on whether you are ripping everything off or just finding that your work has artifacts of other's style. Often I see something and it gets me thinking, I really like that posture or lighting and I decide to build on it changing everying else but still keeping whatever it is that I liked.
If people see their own art replicated from composition to lighting, then then will get more that angry. And likely others will back them up. Watch out.

[Dean Welsh]

I just wanted to say that I didn't copy these colors from Anywhere. Not even Real Life. it's 100% original Dean. BABY!!!!

[JohnGone]

Wow, I've never seen those colors before. Amazing! Whata are you going to call them?

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Gliebster

http://gliebster.com

http://digitalart.org

[Dean Welsh]

What Else would I call them?
I CALL IT ART!!!!

[mOO]

soul harvest scythe sucks dumb unique weapons my udderbreasts are much better :O

[faustgfx]

exactly, but i keep it in the stash 'cause it looks fucking cool.

i dig my unique whatever sword with +1 to all skills, otherwise it's shitty, but it adds to strength, dexterity, mana, faster attack rate, faster hit recovery rate, and since it's a one hand sword, i can use my god damned cool looking something or another ward shield with +1 to all skills and plus to strength and dexterity. . .

i'll stop.


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the not so resident caustic bitch, and the owls turned back the way they are.. even the foos ain't trippin' no more. 35983387 / [email protected]

[jasonN]

Rinaldo, you're so right. I agree. It all depends on what you mean by copying. There are varying levels. For example, blatant copying where a person copies lighting etc and uses the same media. This isn't good at all.

Sometimes people might copy or use a certain element (the figure for example) and then take the image further using their own creativeness or style. This is like how spooge reworks art on this board.

And other people might observe different artworks and take the elements that they want. After a while, the artist is left with a combination of techniques that form their own personal style. It's like when someone sees an image and thinks "that's a good way of drawing this/that" and keep it in mind next time they draw something similar to the image they saw.

I think it's alright, just as long as you are not profiting. Oh and I don't think the blatant copying thing is alright. If you do blatantly copy something, keep it to yourself as a personal exercise.
My two cents. Just had to clarify that for myself



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-Jason :)

Click me!

ICQ: 24680551

[nightmare]

well i don't blatently copy the whole picture. im really terrible at hands and feet, so i'll draw this hand or that foot from someone else's picture. most of my pictures are just sketching so i can't really copy the lighting. sometimes i'll do the same clothing. i don't profit from my art, and i've never claimed to be some sort of expert with my own unique style. so i guess im in the safe zone...
what a relief!

[Rinaldo]

If you copy from someone elses drawings you inherit their mistakes. Learn how to draw these things that you are having trouble with. or in the meantime use a photo as a reference.
This is very important, never learn how to draw things wholesale from another artist. you will add your mistakes to theirs. You will also not understand the reason behind the forms they are using.
If you look at an artist Like Akira Toriyama (dragon ball) you will se very thoughtfull, stylised, BUT in most respects correct anatomy. A big mistake a lot of people make, (and I use this example because there are aa lot of people who draw like Toriyama) is to translate his forms into square blocks and simple shapes when they are infact very sophisticated yet subtle characterisations of real world anatomy. If one is to look at live anatomy you can see the forms he is suggtesting with his comical style but they are so well thought out and subtle that any deviation will ruin their effectivness.
This will hold true for most artist but especialy people who have a non realistic style. Study them, copy them even, but do not learn from them.

[mantis]

Drawing has never been a trouble for me. When I started out at the age of 10 or 11 I was serverly hooked onto comics(hehe, I still am). I used to draw my own characters in the really nice poses I saw in the comics and I also tried to copy my favorite artists' styles. (I hate Joe Madaurie's style : It is way tooooo overused). As I progressed I developed my own style of drawing and following some tutorials as well as taking my highschool art class I am a pretty well equipped pencil artist. What I would suggest is to get your favorite art and try to draw your own character in its pose.

You could also take photos from magazines and try to pencil them. Whtever you do don't trace, thats just wrong.

On a final note. Art is art. Modern art can be a photo of cat hair duct taped to a chair. Basically what I am trying to get across is that if you like what your are drawing then stick with it. Your unique style is yours, none can take that from you. If you don't like drawing don't draw. Simple.

If everthing else fails, search for "drawing tips" on altavista.com.

BTW, I was at your site and I really liked it it. Not the design or the layout but all the content. Really good stuff in the wormhole and your photos are hilarious.

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Arpan . B
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www.stikik.com/koma
Halo 9 Studios