#art So my questions are:
1) Is this lesser art? Is drawing from reference more skill than art? More craft than art?
2) Tumblr HATES people like me. They accuse me of tracing or copying. (I never trace. It's all copied manually.) They say I'm stealing from others who actually created real art. Thoughts? (I'm not making money, not selling any. My art just existing is an insult/crime.) Thoughts?
1) I think that mere copying is closer to craft than art (they're not opposites, just two independent concepts), but you can find way to be original even without having to start from scratch. Many artists based their works on appropriating and remixing pre-existing works – their personal input came from HOW they reused other people's art. My suggestion: Learn about 20th-21st century artists, be inspired by the way they worked, and explore many ideas so you can find your own style
@miramarco I'm not even sure I can successfully "remix." For example, I knit, and have to follow a pattern. I've been knitting for *decades,* and even switching the yarn is really risky for me. It will usually fail.
In art, I just can't "see" something different than already exists, so creating something different is just trial and error, and consequently, a lot more error than I'd like.
Studying others who have done so is a good place to start, though. I'll check them out! Thanks!
@greermahoney You're welcome. Just a note on remixing: It's not just replacing one thing with another, it's also juxtaposing different works (or even several instances of the same thing) or moving them in a new context. There has to be a purpose, an idea behind that though, and that's what makes it art, in my opinion.
Of course, there is no art without trial and error. Keep experimenting, and also check out other artists' early works to see how much their styles changed through time