By
Armand Cabrera
I was having an interesting conversation with an art group about process. How you make a piece of art, the actual process you go through, goes a long way in determining the individuality of the image and the style of the artist. I was surprised at how many artists felt that they could freely use anyone’s work as the basis for their own work without compensation or approval from the original creator.
Alfred Guilou
I’ve always argued for creating an image devoid of outside influences. The reason is simple, it gives the image and all of its elements a cohesive intent and unique viewpoint that is missing when people cobble together and copy other peoples work and try to repurpose it as their own.
Arthur Wardle
Artists lose their chance at an individual style and a unique point of view all because they undercut the process of actual creation. By not doing the work to develop a scene on their own, they don’t do any ideation or very little of it. They try and repurpose other work by outside sources. They go looking at how other people have handled the same subject. They give up on creating for copying someone else’s designs or compositions. They piece together disparate information, lighting and intent trying to skip the most interesting part of making an image, the design.
Pietro Fragiacomo
This ends up with the image failing to have any cohesive idea or looking like another artists work, or even worse, actual plagiarism. From the very start they have abrogated the creativity to someone else. All of the creative decisions and even the reference for those choices are someone else’s work. The only thing they leave themselves is the mere rendering, the least creative part of the process.
Ivan Fedorovitch Choultse
To build a body of successful personal work a sincere artist must fall in love with all parts of the artistic process of picture making. Forget about superficially copying the work of artists you admire, Become their equals by emulating their quality and working habits and then express your art with your own style.
Francisco Pradilla Ortiz
Great post Armand! Very insightful. I think this is particularly true of the whole plein air movement. So many of the paintings look identical in a rush to "paint the scene in the shortest amount of time with the fewest strokes!" The most important part of painting is the time spent thinking of the concept and design before the brush is even picked up.
I agree with eden. So many plein air paintings are the same.
Your post puts my thinking cap on, thanks.
I agree with you. I am so far from where I want to be as an artist, but can't let myself take shortcuts to a "pretty picture". I have a number of friends who are content to copy from others or blindly follow another's path. I may never be as good as many other artists, but I have reached a point in my journey where I must find my own way. I spend lots and lots of time experimenting and reading and looking. I know that within myself is something special that I must do, I'm still searching. I may not find it my way, but I surely will not find it any other way.
You are a great artist. I admire you, your work, your work ethic and your vision.