Who is your favorite artist and have you ever tried copying their work?
Do you feel like you are doing something wrong when copying a master's work? This is probably because when we were children we were taught that copying someone else's whatever was a no no, you don't steal and you don't copy. Learning by copying a master's work is not
like that unless you copy and pass it off as your own. You shouldn’t copy and then pretend it’s the original. That’s forgery.
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I was told when I was back at the Ameican Academy of Art that even the masters practiced and learned by copying others artists works. We were encouraged at the academy to head over to the Art Institute of Chicago and sketch and paint from the masters works.
There are so many good lessons to be learned when
emulating what the masters did in their work.You can learn what colors they used, along with learning their drawing style and compositions. You can learn how to paint particular objects or how they handled a loose or tight style. There are so many good lessons to be learned by copying a master's work and is probably a reason that taking a workshop from an artist you admire is so popular. When you take a workshop from an instructor whose work you admire you are learning and
taking in the knowledge from that instructor first hand. You don't have to guess how that artist worked. The Great thing about taking a workshop is you learn faster how the artist works and you don't have to guess like you do when copying from a master's work.
Pictured throughout this email I have paintings that I did many years back and I have kept them to look back at my progress. I don't sell them because they were part of my learning
process.
I have been asked, "can you sell a painting that you copied"? The answer is yes, but again, don't pass it off as you own. You should also sign it and after your name put ..... After (master artist name) examples of this are below each copied painting I did that are pictured throughout this email.
Copy a master's work and take a workshop, both are great for learning!
