About Art Theft\x85

I am under the belief that art theft is something that is very bad. However, I\x92m also wary of ever judging others, and I can\x92t accept the strong statement that copying any portion of someone\x92s art is stealing it. Over the years, I have viewed hundreds if not up into the thousands of different artists. Almost always, after viewing pages from any one artist for more than 20 minutes, my next 1-2 pictures will reflect strongly what I have just seen. If I see paw designs that I like, then I will copy them over and over again, however I will also copy the paw designs from several other artists. Everything from "The Lion King" and "Balto" to some of my favorite artists on the web. After a while though, these paws begin to look different from them. That\x92s the goal of my drawing, is to have my own vision presented. To take a conglomerate of what it COULD look like, and then draw it into what I want it for me to look like.

What bothers me tonight though is visiting some of my favorite artists and hearing them rant about art thieves. I\x92m worried that in some way I am an art thief. Yet as I look at my art and think on things, I can\x92t pinpoint any one artist who I would say definitively inspired this work or that.

Dark Natasha, Goldenwolf, and Kyute, your coloring has always inspired me. Being limited to coloring pencils can be hard, and looking at others who make them work is very helpful. You are wonderful artists, and I appreciate any of the inspiration I glean from you. If I\x92ve been inspired by others, I thank you also, but it\x92s hard for me to remember. I know there were others who\x92s coloring techniques I studied, much like my friends who go to art galleries study the way the paint is mixed, applied, and adjusted on a pallet, then painted.

Paws are particularly difficult for me, and I do appreciate everyone who\x92s paws I\x92ve ever studied. I remember one night in particular studying Goldenwolf\x92s paw on one of her artworks. I changed it though, adjusting it for my picture and how I needed the paw to look, you know? However, other than that, I can\x92t recall instances like that where I drew WHILE studying someone else\x92s art. I do have "Franklin" books, you know, the Turtle on PBS and Nickalodean? Franklin and his friends have helped me in many many ways. I urge everyone to check out the early editions of these books. The fur designs are wonderful, as are the overall character designs. Another great paw reference from my past has been "Robin Hood" by Disney. I used to sit fascinated at that scene where they\x92re celebrating and dancing and a bunch of furs are all clapping.

Muzzles, I must say that I love Balto for this one. Balto, The Lion King, and many other Disney movies. I\x92ve always been a fan of the Disney muzzle, with the one tooth showing, maybe two, and a certain look to it.

Ok, so why am I bothered? Because tonight I saw some artwork I had never seen in my life. I saw pieces that were blatantly copied, and then I saw other pieces that looked like it could have been me being featured as an art thief. Paw placements that I\x92ve practiced from watching my own dog, photographs of running and standing dogs, Balto, and All Dogs Go To Heaven were shown as being a copy from a piece of art I hadn\x92t seen before. This made me uneasy. Ok, I\x92ll buy that the particular artist was copying the original, and I won\x92t argue it, but it scares me that it was so similar to something I had done with no prior knowledge of that artist. A tail curling in a certain way was identified as a copy, yet I had seen that tail curl in Flight of Dragons and had practiced it so many times that it was scaring me to look at this. Again, I\x92ll buy it was a real copy and a real theft, but it scared me because it was similar to many pictures I had done. Muzzles and paws that I had seen numerous times on Balto, Lion King, Robin Hood, and me picking up my dog\x92s paw to trim her nails and noticing how they are formed and all it would take to make it handlike I saw featured as stolen parts from other works. I sat there trembling, remembering the night I worked hard to make a paw-hand and had looked at Goldenwolf\x92s pawhand, though also mixed with my dog, and whimpered.

There are SO many artists out there that have drawn the same pose that I have. There are so many artists out there who have drawn characters that look almost exactly like mine. I remember just the other night running across a bunny that was like my brown and white bunny fur, the markings were nearly identical, but mine was based on a pet I had as a child and in no way could have been based on his.

So I want to say this. If you feel like I\x92ve copied you, I\x92m sorry. I assure you it wasn\x92t intentional. If you ask me the inspiration for a work, I\x92ll tell you where I got it from. If I got it from you, I will always give you credit, but I\x92ve always done that, and very few of my pieces are consciously inspired from other\x92s art (except for that one night remembering copying one of Goldenwolf\x92s paws, I don\x92t remember ever doing anything similar to that, except with coloring techniques, and again that was a conglomerate of inspiration.)

One last note though, before I let myself rest over this matter. Everyone copies from someone. As I\x92ve mentioned, I like "Franklin" and one of the cartoons from this show had Franklin get mad at Rabbit for copying his technique of coloring clouds. Franklin drew them first, and Rabbit watched how he colored them, using the colors to make the clouds look more dimensional. Rabbit then colored his own clouds in that way, and Franklin called him a copy cat. Franklin was very angry at Rabbit, but when he got home, he looked up at one of his favorite posters and there were HIS clouds. He had copied it from the poster originally, but he had forgotten that when he was drawing them, assuming the inspiration he had gotten was unique entirely and not based on anything. He felt bad and told Mom and Dad, who then told him that if no one copied anyone else, no one would be walking, or talking, or growing a garden or any of the many things people do. Franklin apologized to Rabbit.

While I agree that plagiarizing a person\x92s character is wrong, as well as line by line copying I\x92ve seen where it\x92s obvious they had the picture in front of them while they were drawing/sketching, I find it hard to digest that just because someone\x92s fur is similar it\x92s a blatant art-stealing. There have been too many times I\x92ve drawn something, then come across something similar online. Of course theirs are usually much better. I can\x92t dismiss the thought that there have been times I\x92ve seen someone\x92s work, it\x92s slipped from my mind, and 2 or 3 months later I have inspiration and draw something very similar to it. All I can do is give my word that I have never put a drawing from someone else in front of me, copied it, and then passed it off as my own knowingly. Well, except for art books that have you draw the circles, then this feature, and then that, until you have a drawing exactly like the one in the book, but that\x92s a different matter all together.

Emily aka Lightflow