Copying Art: When It's Okay, And when it's NOT
In the world of art on with the influences of social media and Pinterest, copying is RAMPANT. Is it 100% plagiarism and theft every time it happens? Or are there some grey areas?
Copying is a complex topic. On one hand you have copying to learn, which art students do all the time by going to a museum and creating what is called a “study” of a famous work to learn. On the other hand, you have huge corporations who steal artist’s designs and throw them on their sheet sets for profit. In between those two extremes the definitely are some grey areas.
You can and should be influenced by many different sources. You can and should learn techniques by copying a master (but not claiming it as your original idea). Like in freshmen comp 101, proper attribution is very important.
However, if you copy the trends, you will run this risk of making boring work. And then besides just being derivative, it’s possible to venture into ethically murky territory. You can become a plagiarizer, a copyright thief, and a jerk. Don’t be that person. If you’re a learning artist who privately making, copy all you want. The second you show it publicly, merely by posting to the internet and most definitely if you're trying to sell it, you are in murky ethical water.
Below is my guide of when it’s okay to copy, and when it’s not!
It’s cool to copy the techniques of other artists when you are in the research phase, the learning phase, or the technical development phase.
It’s cool to make exact copies of works by famous (and often dead) artists to learn (it’s called “a study”). If you show the work publicly, you will want to be clear about the source art.
It’s not cool to copy if you are a big company and you steal an artist’s ideas for your soap packaging or what have you. (This happens to many artists and it’s the WORST.)
It’s not cool to closely copy a single artist (or their techniques) and pretend it’s your idea (Happened to me!)
It’s not cool to grab a screen shot of someone else’s work, put a filter on it, and sell prints of it on Red Bubble. (Happened to me!)
It’s not cool to copy another artist’s technique and teach a paid class on it (Happened to me!)
IT IS cool to copy and learn from a lot of artists and makers…. like hundreds…. Thousands??? … And create art that is uniquely your own. In fact, no art is made in a vacuum and really good and original art must be made in the company of lots of other art and ideas.
I love to help artists make more art and make more money! I’ve got a free training called The Five Pillars of Selling Your Art Online—you should sign up because it will help you!
