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Art Inspiration versus Imitation
Today we are talking about art inspiration versus imitation and the two are very different things! When we are starting with anything new we all tend to imitate, we copy drawings and painting techniques to learn how things are done. And that is completely normal. But then there comes a time when we need to find our own way and use what we have learned to create something new that we can call our own style.
It’s great to be inspired by things we see all around us, including other artists. But, then we need to look at those things and take elements from them that we’d like to incorporate into our own work. That could be as simple as an artist inspiring you to try out a new medium or subject matter than you wouldn’t normally choose.
A quote from Austin Kleon’s Book Steal Like an Artist by cartoonist Gary Panter “If you have one person you’re influenced by everyone will say you are the next whoever, but if you rip off a hundred people everyone will say you are original.
What this means is that if you see an artist you like and just start painting in a style very similar to them, you will probably be considered a poor copy, but if you look at a few different artists and take elements you like from each of them people will think you are unique.
Some of the things we discuss:
- The difference between art inspiration and imitation
- How Sandra stopped taking classes with her mentor because she felt she needed to develop her own style
- Why doing lots of workshops or studying various artists is better than focussing on one all the time
- How even when we think we are being original, the chances are our subconscious has taking in inspiration we are not even aware of
- The fact that every takes inspiration from somewhere – you only have to look at Art Movements in History to see how ideas can spread.
- How we use inspiration boards
I also mention the project I will be starting on the 1st February called “Find Your Art Style Experiment” which i will be sharing on our Blog, Youtube and Social Media. You can find you more about it here https://kickinthecreatives.com/find-art-style-experiment/. We’d love to you join in or follow along.
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This week’s creative question
If for some reason you were no longer ever allowed or able to create artwork again, what other hobby, creative or otherwise, would you pursue instead and why?
The best answers will be read out on a future podcast.
You can Tweet us your answers @KickCreatives or let us know in the Facebook Group, which by the way if you haven’t already joined, I highly recommend that you do! We will put the question up there and also on the facebook page… and of course, on our Instagram page @kickinthecreatives.
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