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Art rant by clubsofmeloncholy
I’ve been wanting to make an art rant because I’ve heard some silly happs and I think it’s time certain things are talked about. I’m not good at coordinating my thoughts, and I want a discussion on this because I’ve always wondered what others thought about this besides crazy woofboos or weabutts. (warning I’m making this rant after just waking up)
So art involves using a lot of techniques, whether you’re drawing an eye, sketching a body, texturing a body, coloring, etc.There’s been a big issue about “originality” and being defensive about who did what first, and how no one really did what they think they did first?
My friend once told me that her acquaintance had private messaged her about a picture she made, the picture contained sweets and such and she was asking her to credit her because she used “her coloring technique”…Expardon me? You mean that coloring technique you picked up from another artist, that picked it up from another artist? that coloring technique?
Originality is a weird topic because not a lot of things are as original as they seem, I’ve seen people chew out others for mashing up two animals into a hybrid? Or referencing they way a characters hair layed on the ground? I guess I’m going to talk about referencing first then get into originality?
I think it’s kinda normal to reference certain aspects of other artists art, while still learning from drawing from real life, because that’s how we learn in general. I believe art class even teaches us to do this when we are learning of a famous artist, referencing techniques they picked up and attempt them ourselves. I will look at others art and go “I like how they did the eyes, I wonder how they do it?” I’m always curious to learn the techniques of others and I think that’s pretty normal considering how people learned/were taught. I don’t sit there trying to trace a picture, or steal a character and run, I’m merely wondering about the techniques used to sketch and color.
When I was just learning how to draw I would watch youtube speedpaints/ sketches/ etc, or go to live streams and try to copy how an artist would sketch because that was easier than trying to read a book. I would try to draw anime characters, or manga characters, y’know like how some people would try to draw didney. That’s how I learned, I’ve talked to enough artists to know they started heavily referencing somewhere, but do you truly think they stopped referencing? Nope. Most likely what happens is they make other artist friends, or start taking a class and reference from them, asking a friend their techniques or learn techniques in an art class about learning from professional techniques. Weird huh? I understand respecting an artist, not copying their stuff, but at the same time, maybe instead of attacking someone inspired by another, wouldn’t it be easier to just point them to tutorials? I’ve noticed some of the nicer artists give tutorials, demo, or even show them over to how they learned how to do stuff. Don’t shoot them down for wanting to get better, everyone may start trying to draw like one of their favorite artists, after a while they pick up multiple other favorite artists and their style warps from all the things they love from different techniques. And I’m pretty sure style is a form of a technique? style= they way you draw eyes bodies hands or color etc, pretty sure that means “technique I’ve picked up over the years” which is from watching others, tutorials, demos, or getting help from friend artists.
I think we should all work on being more encouraging instead of attacking each other? I still get hounded by my past issues that I can’t even try to correct which sucks, but I think that maybe everyone can look forward and try to work on their own things and potentially set a new artist on their way? Sorry for the scattered thoughts, and this became longer than I thought it would so i’m going to save the originality rant for another day and another time. so yeah… you can turn this into a discussion and such, if anyone has any comments they need to make besides you’re a piece of shit for thinking this way, that’d be appreciated. Art
Art rant
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Comments
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It's important to not steal someones design, but it's ok to reference technique in art in how someone colors and lines or anatomy. It's a normal thing as long as you're not stealing someones art
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i agree. there are a few instances where i've seen someone copy every aspect of another persons style, down to the coloring, so that it was hard to tell their art apart from the artist they're copying.
This is when i think it's wrong, but it's an exception and i don't see it often.we all learn from and take aspects from artists we admire. But the end result should be your own unique style, comprised of all the elements that influenced you the most.
when someone is a complete carbon copy of one artist, it seems like a waste, like they didn't have their own style to find in the first place. In these few cases i feel like they are stealing from the original artist in a weird way....not enough to go all white knight, but i really don't like it.
99.8% of the time tho, people are taking aspects from numerous places and just like you, i say more power to them.
a long time ago i found a person whose entire gallery was lions in Disney TLK style. On a lot of their pictures they had the nerve to say "do not copy or steal" i know they probably meant don't directly trace it, but it was still super ironic because most furry artists start with things like TLK and Sonic styles.
things like coloring styles are harder to trace but it's the same principal, you can't really own it or claim it.
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I agree completely, pulling together a lot of different styles rather than just being a carbon copy of an existing artist is important. I've seen people who've started out with a some what disney style and branched off into their own thing like the artist Jubilations.
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I find it hard to believe that anyone could make a firm argument denying that learning from others and experimenting with styles and techniques used by others isn't an important part of the learning process for artists, both new and old; and I certainly haven't ever read one. I believe that, even when we aren't thinking about it, artists who are passionate about their profession/hobby are constantly processing what they see in the world around them and considering it— not just the natural world around them, but everything they see, including the others' artwork. Personally, I can't look at someone's work without analyzing the aspects of the art, especially things like linework, color, and how they drew specific things (eyes, hands, etc . . .) Not only do I think that's normal, I think it's really important!
There are certain instances where I find referencing and taking inspiration from other artists inappropriate and disrespectful, however. I'm not even going to bash people for tracing or eyeballing or heavy referencing (who'm I to say what works for someone else?) but things like that shouldn't be posted, imo. At the bare minimum, not without permission from the artist and proper credit (though I personally still wouldn't post something like that because I think it reflects poorly on me as an artist, not so much the because of the fact that I did it — because again, I believe people should be able to do whatever the hell they want to practice in the privacy of their own sketchbooks — but I wouldn't want something heavily referenced or traced being used as an example of my work.
That brings me to another example of things I think are inappropriate. Learning and being inspired from a vast multitude of sources goes hand in hand with being an artist in my mind. If someone wants to completely emulate another artist's style once for funsies, and gives proper credit, and clearly states 'hey I wanted to give ________'s style a whirl!' I don't see anything wrong with that either (and again, artists can draw what they want in private for fun and for practice.) However, what I do sometimes see and what I don't think is morally acceptable is when people intentionally emulate another artist's down to every detail and sell commissions in that style for cheaper than the artist they are referencing. In that instance I don't consider it to be harmless, because the person is essentially profiting off the artist by offering a cheaper (in multiple senses of the word, usually) version of their "product" so to speak. If you wanna get me really mad, talk to me about other artists commissioning the people who do this. >:(
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P.S. I definitely have personal opinions about whether or not tracing, heavy referencing and things like can be a good way to practice, but I didn't feel it was relevant to what I was saying (also, I will always believe that people should be able to confidently draw what they want in private, aka the things they don't share/post, and not be shamed or guilted for that . . . If it's not being shared it can't hurt anyone and I get so sick at the thought of people making artists feel guilty for what they draw in private on their own time.)
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I've dealt with artists that get mad about having people be inspired by them, but not to the last detail usually for minor things. I'm not going to call out names cause I've seen a couple of artists do it, but it's ridiculous to just sit there and nitpick at the small things when someone just see's a thing they like and goes " Can I put this on my character?" or "can i put this in my art?" I've seen small details put on characters, but that's kind of a normal thing for people to do imo cause that's how everyone made a character, or make characters. I do agree that someone shouldn't be a carbon copy of another artist and should branch out style wise by pulling together multiple favorite artists sources because that's how a lot of people have learned to do their own thing. But everyone is too scared of people stealing now and get defensive and attack people for minor things.
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Yeah, there's no reason for people to be attacking other artists for small details of a work resembling the way that they (the attacker) draws/paints/whatever. Honestly, I feel like there's a problem with the attitude of the artist who is going around attacking people who draw remotely similar to them. Unless it's the fans doing it (which I know is sometimes the case) in which case . . . what the heck? People shouldn't be attacking people in the name of their fav. In most cases poor fav is probably stressed as hell because they're uncomfortable with the idea of their fans chewing people out on their behalf.
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It tends to be a mix of both, the watchers sending a message to the artist and the artist attacking with the watchers, or sometimes the watchers attack but the artist doesn't say anything. It's sad to watch, but it's irritating as well to watch an artist try to discourage other artists due to being over protective. But if someone doesn't want to show how they specifically do something because a coloring technique is their "original" way of doing it, they could re-direct someone to a tutorial or something but choose not to.
I'm not saying they have to help, but maybe making a list of helpful tutorials they use might be draw people away from asking them how they do stuff? But I also think it's still silly to get angry about the way "I color, pls say u referenced me kthnks" or something.
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Yes, lets stop fucking attacking each other.
I'm way for that.what the fuck happened since oekakiART.
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I think the whole Original the character of 2008 (the age of shadow the hedgehog )
And then the necessity of being original has become a huge thing.-
It really has and vast majority have NO CLUE how to not just flip the hell out about someone being identical.
but if you tell them they look like someone famous they would love it wouldn't they.
but NEVER another living or dead artist better have the same shade of green in their made up personal characters or the po po's gunna smash your door down.in a distant land long ago i think people used to casually talk and have fun when they had similar interests rather than who liked it first.
sounds like they got bored.
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Tooth.Bones
this journal hits me hard... ;A;