5 Copying Art Ethical Benefits

Copying artwork from another artist you admire comes with benefits as long as you keep everything transparent. You can use it as a study tool to your advantage. It will help sharpen your art skills and reshape your design skills over time.

Copies I Have Done With Pencil

Copying Art Benefits

Copying artwork is nothing new. Even Renaissance artists were known to copy previous artists to help speed up their learning curve.

Some of the benefits I thought might inspire you to start copying your favorite artist out there:

• You will learn how to see better in the sense of understanding the picture before you. This comes from observing and copying.
• Pick up the artist(s) style and build muscle memory to draw more like them.
• Avoid learning things other artists do and how it does not inspire you.
• Copying will eventually bore you, leading to a desire to create your own art.
• Your artwork will begin to resemble all your favorite artists you have copied. Basically, you will be a copy of all their styles combined into your “Artistic DNA.”

Will you get in trouble for such practices? Let’s find out.

Copyright And Plagiarism

Copy, don’t steal. There is a vast difference. You should be fine if you are not claiming their work as your own. If you are copying for the sake of studying, you are completely fine.

I would suggest making a small note similar to a signature on that artwork piece mentioning the artist you copied.

By doing so, you can recall whom you copied, and it’s originally their work, not yours.

Artist Credit On Copying Art

If you plan on posting your copied artwork online, once you are done copying a sketch or a painting from your favorite artist, ensure they are fully credited.

Be completely transparent about your process; explain that you copied that piece for the sake of a study, which is your result.

Who knows, if the artist is contemporary (alive), they might see what you have done and how you admire their work; this might give you a chance to connect and build a relationship with them.

No guarantees. Just mentioning it’s possible.

And your family, friends, and the rest of the world that come across your work will appreciate what you have produced and how you have provided credit where it’s due.

In the next paragraph, I will explain how you will gain inspiration from this copying art.

Inspiration From Masters

I am a huge fan of Karl Kopinski’s work; you can see some of the sketches I have copied in this post.

Karl’s work has inspired my style; I already sketch like him in some ways, even though I have years of training ahead of me before I can process quality artwork.

I am not trying to tell you that you and I will skip 30+ years of training because we “copied” a few pieces.

My point is, you will notice by copying art and building up your copyist skills, over time, it will speed up your skills to imitate the ones you look to.

Then that will cause inspiration to bubble from with you, which leads to my next point: imitation. Let me explain.

Imitate And Then Innovate

If you are copying artwork, modifying it slightly, then claiming it as your own, that’s a big no-no. Never do that. It’s bad practice: You will build a reputation for ripping artwork off and possibly getting into legal trouble.

Here are my steps to help you copy and create the right way:

1. Start by tracing: Make it easy on yourself by taking a tracing paper and tracing the artwork. You might have to print it first or flip open your artwork collection sketchbooks.
   
   For obvious reasons, you can trace paintings as long as it’s not the original piece but a photocopy.
   
   
   
2. Now that the easy-on-your-brain tracing task is complete, place the artwork you wish to copy before you and start sketching it from general shapes down to detail.
   
   What I am trying to say is to think of the overall shapes the artwork is made from. If this part is too challenging and I am confusing you, don’t worry about it at the moment.
   
   Start sketching for now, and I’ll make a post exampling general-to-specific later.
   
   
3. Make sure you’re drawing from the top-left when beginning your sketch if you are right-handed—Top-right for left-handed people.
   
   If you’re all over the sketch, place a paper sheet under your drawing hand to help prevent smudging. You can read more about right-hand and left-hand drawing control in my other article by clicking here.
   
   
4. Once you’re done copying the artwork, put it away.
   
   
5. After taking a break, create your own original piece based on what you copied—but from memory and not directly trying to steal the study piece.
   
   
6. Taking point 5, let me cite an example: If you copy a character sketch, after completion, put everything away. Then create an original character sketch that does not steal parts from what you previously copied.
   
   
7. Following point 6, I would advise making some thumbnail sketches. Basically, small sketches of your character design. Then collect some photo references to back up your imagination sketches.
   
   If your character is wearing 15th-century medieval armor and sitting on a throne, it’s a good idea to get some images of medieval armor suits, thrones, and other trinkets you wish to add to your illustration.
   
   
8. Following this guideline will help you take the sketch you copied and use what is in your mind to combine the artist’s style into your own original artwork. This exercise will build both your copyist and creative illustration skills.
   

I hope my tips have helped you wrap your mind around the concept of tracing, copying, and creating. Speaking of wrapping up, I’ll summarize my points below.

Conclusion

Becoming a copyist is a great skill in your artistic arsenal. It will help you build up your art skills faster and pick up a combination of all the artists’ styles into your unique style.

Tracing and copying are beneficial but do not mistake them for your creative drawing ability. Learning to create original illustrations and concepts is a skill that must be practiced independently.

Taking what you copy and creating your own work is a powerful combination.

Copying Art FAQ