When does Harmless Copying become Plagiarism?

One of the best ways to learn how to draw is by studying the techniques of other artists.

By looking carefully at their mark making methods and practicing them ourselves, we can learn so much. In fact, a really great way of getting to understand how the mind of an Artist works, is to have a go at copying their work as closely as possible.

But When does Harmless Copying become Plagiarism?

The difference between copying someone else’s work in order to try to learn new techniques, and out and out plagiarism is huge. There is no harm in copying something you find online and even posting it yourself, as long as you make it clear that you have done so and that you credit the original Artist… And if you don’t know who the Artist is, then it’s still important to say where you found your reference. If you don’t do this, or worse still, you pass it off as your own work (plagiarism), you are not only doing yourself harm, but also the original artist.

What’s to Gain by Copying someone else’s Art?

Copying is a wonderful way to learn from others, but ultimately most artists want to find their own style… A style that makes them easily recognisable from other artists. So have fun, copy, learn, but then use what you have learned to improve your own work. This way you can be truly proud and say ‘I drew that’.

Happy creating!