I’ll start with a massive caveat – I’m just sharing my own experience. I don’t rely on art as my main source of income, in comparison to a professional full-time artist - there’s a difference. I totally respect that for some artists, pursuing legal avenues is what’s right for them.
I have been guilty of copying - there, I’ve said it. If I’m honest, it was borne out of a sense of frustration, having worked so hard for a year both painting and posting on IG back in 2016, with zero success in selling. So I copied an artist; she blocked me – and I don’t blame her! What’s hilarious is at the time, I couldn’t quite figure out why I couldn’t see her posts anymore - like duh 🙄. Now in my defence, I wasn’t blatantly selling this copied art, but if someone had slipped into my DM’s asking to buy it, I would have sold it. That didn’t happen either, so I gave up painting for a year… but that’s a story for another post.
Tables have turned and now my work has been copied and even sold through stockists. Artist friends are the best at dobbing, they’re normally more upset about it than me. I know some of you will be saying well that’s Karma baby, but I just understand that you’re fair game if you have a style that is popular and selling. So here’s where I’ve landed on when it comes to copying:
🟣 There is nothing new under the sun – all artists take inspiration from other artists or copy some elements.
🟣 The older I get the more I realise that I don’t control a whole lot – people included.
🟣 I try to stay in my lane and just focus on what I’m doing.
🟣 I continue to put my work out there because I’m always going to be ahead of the copycats.
🟣 There’s this intangible or ‘other’ value that gets created once you’re an established artist with a distinct style. OG artist + OG style = X factor. It’s an intangible thing where collectors want that artwork style because you have painted it - copies just don't hold their weight.
🟣 You’re the OG and that can’t be taken away from you.
🟣 Most copycats seem to morph over time into their own style, because no one wants to stay camped out being a copycat! 😹🙀😽😻😸😾
Love to hear ‘your take’ on the whole copying thing?
