They say imitation is the highest form of flattery, would you agree?
Now imagine this: You’re an artist who has been painting for 10 years, you’ve built up a unique style of working, developed a design that’s really popular, sales are good and you’re making a living from it – sounds great so far doesn’t it.
Now imagine this: You’re scrolling through the Internet one day and you fine someone has replicated your work, perhaps its one or two pieces, perhaps its your entire collection. You instantly spot your work, however you notice the poor quality and the cheap price tag, how do you feel? Now let me ask you again….
They say imitation is the highest form of flattery, would you agree?
Has your answer changed? Would you feel, upset, disappointed, angry, worried! This could affect your sales, your income, your reputation and even your livelihood. The style you have worked so hard to achieve has been stolen! As strong as that word is, it is a form of stealing there are no other word for it.
Ask yourself: Would you steal from a shop?
It’s great when you’re an artist starting out, to be able to go online and access so many beautiful paintings at a click of a button. We now have the freedom to scroll through pages upon pages of artwork in various styles and mediums by artists all over the world. You see a painting and just love it, you wonder how the artist manage to achieve such fine brush strokes, you wonder about the medium they used and how they produced such a stunning painting.
Its ok to be influenced by someone’s style, but don’t replicate it; don’t steal it, what’s the point? If you are passionate about art and what you do why not have your own imagination and develop your own style that someday someone will come across and say ‘wow, how did they do that’ and not ‘I can’t believe they have stolen my work’ what person do you want to be? Put yourself in their shoes when you think ‘well its obviously selling, perhaps I will do that’
I’m not for one minuet suggesting you might be that person, but its something to think about. I have heard so many horror stories from artist who have had this done to them and its not nice, if I found someone copying my work it would make me feel sick to the stomach.
I will be writing an article soon about ways you can protect yourself against this happening to you and I really hope it doesn’t it wont be a good feeling.
