COLUMNIST
Recreating an artwork
that you admire will
teach you a lot about
your technique
Ourcolumnist LAURA BOSWELL ponders
when copying another artist’s work is useful
- and when it can impact on creativity I^
came across the #drawitinyourstyle hashtag on social
media recently when I saw a copy of one of my prints
published as part of the Instagram challenge. The artist
concerned was delighted with her version and tagged me
in the post, completely unaware that she’d broken copyright
law. We exchanged polite words and sorted the problem,
but it got me thinking about the question of copying work;
when it is helpful and when it damages creativity.
Making copies of a master’s artwork has been part of an
artist’s education throughout history. Nobody is born with
the skills needed to make art and it makes sense to learn
from those with more experience. From birth, we instinctively
learn by copying; recreating an artwork that you admire will
teach you a lot. At art school, I spent a long summer
copying drawings by Henry Moore and Egon Schiele and my
skills improved no end. Copying to learn is not a copyright
problem, so long as your copy is not published, sold or
exhibited – and yes, social media counts as publishing.
Copying other artists becomes a problem for the copier
when it begins to impact on personal development. Every
artist needs to find a consistent personal voice; the thing
that separates us from everybody else, drives our choices,
and brings our art to life. Copying should be a springboard
to give developing artists the skills to make art, not a safety
net to save them from taking risks and making mistakes.
Law aside; a heavy reliance on copying is at best
distracting. An imitator is re-treading another artist’s path,
rather than forging his or her own. Producing a body of
work that is a derivative shadow of someone else’s
creativity is never going to be a recipe for fulfilment and
could quite possibly become one for a lawsuit.
Copying shouldn’t be confused with inspiration: seek
inspiration whenever and wherever you can. I recently
spent a happy afternoon with my painter sister flipping
through artworks looking for inspiration and answers to
questions we had concerning light in bright summer
landscapes. We picked on a dozen or more works by
various artists and we both returned to work with fresh
ideas, but with no interest in copying another artist’s work.
http://www.lauraboswell.co.uk