Separating Imitation From Plagiarism in Your Craft

I’ve received and read a few interesting comments regarding my post on developing innovation. Initially, I planned this to be a two-part meditation, but I believe it would be best to explain a few concepts a bit further before discussing techniques for finding your own voice in a project.

Let’s consider this post 1-point-5 in the series. And I’ll share a little bit about my early process to put this into context.

I got into sculpting at an early age with kiln-fired clays and Papier-mâché. I had what you might call the “Middle School” exposure to art. I wasn’t rocking any techniques that a kid in the 2nd grade didn’t have access to. So many years later when I wanted to get serious about sculpting and design, I knew I needed to get my hands on serious art techniques, materials, and processes. And I had to do this without the Internet as it is today.

To start, I read everything I could find and I tried every tutorial I could get my hands on. After developing a degree of comfort, I started copying the works of artists I admired – the designs that inspired me – because I knew that if I was going to get better, I needed to start collecting some positive sculpting experiences. I wasn’t ready to go off on my own designs, but I could replicate what I saw and start to feel my way through the process. I had a hunk of clay and an idea of how it should look at the end. All I had to do was figure out how to get there.

I was imitating. I was copying a design. And because I learned from the experience, I could start pushing things a bit further with my own concepts. I still use imitation – especially when it comes to creating skin textures – but I don’t plagiarize the designs or concepts of others. And that’s the important distinction that was missing in my earlier post.

Imitation: All learning starts with imitation. Someone demonstrates a process and you replicate it. You feel your way through it. And once you pick it up, you move onto the next. As I said in my previous post, imitation is a step even professional artists take to improve their skills. Copying the works of masters to try to discover what decisions shaped those remarkable paintings or sculptures is a common practice. Imitation is good, but you should recognize that as you become more comfortable, you start to build a comfort zone that will need to be overcome. We’ll talk about that more in the next post.

Plagiarism: Some artists are afraid that their designs aren’t unique enough or strong enough to stand out on their own. The fear of failure or rejection becomes so strong that they’re willing to steal the work of others to avoid feeling unsuccessful. Others might see the attention another artist’s work is receiving and seek to capture that recognition. They’re willing to trade their artistic integrity for a few quick “Good jobs!” Sometimes plagiarism crops up out of laziness. It’s easier to steal than it is to have to put the hard work into building a unique design or developing a level of skill that’s truly your own.

Now, someone might argue that there’s no distinction. “Copying is plagiarism.” I disagree. At the end of the day, it all comes down to intention. Are you imitating someone’s work to study it and grow as an artist or are you plagiarizing designs and passing them off as your own unique creations out of fear, jealousy, or laziness?

I hope my earlier comments from the first post in this series didn’t discourage anyone from using imitation as a learning process. It’s incredibly valuable – especially for artists ready to get serious about their craft or trying to build early successes with new techniques.

KingUnicorn is a guest blogger here at Grimvisions you can see more of his work at http://kingunicorn.blogspot.com/

Related posts:

1. Using Artistic Process and Innovation to Further Your Goals
2. Using Artistic Creativity and Imagination to Develop Innovation
3. The Monster and Artistic process

Tagged as: Art, imitation, Innovation, Inspirations, process, Technique