{"id":7989,"date":"2013-12-22T18:29:26","date_gmt":"2013-12-23T02:29:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/?p=7989"},"modified":"2013-12-23T09:37:11","modified_gmt":"2013-12-23T17:37:11","slug":"copy-the-masters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/2013\/12\/22\/copy-the-masters\/","title":{"rendered":"Copy the Masters"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Millet-the-Sower-115\"<\/a><\/h6>\n
\"Van-Gogh-after-Millet-115\"<\/a><\/h6>\n
Top<\/em>, Millet, bottom<\/em>, Van Gogh.<\/h6>\n

One of the things we artists have to deal with is the admonition from parents and friends that we’re not supposed to copy. In their minds, all art has to be altogether original or it’s somehow fraudulent.<\/p>\n

What they mix up are the concepts of originality with that of craft. In many ways the former can’t be taught, but the latter must be. In fact, originality without craft is generally not very impressive.<\/p>\n

So, how do you learn if you don’t copy?<\/p>\n

Tell me any other field where this is not absolutely expected. I would hope my doctor learned his art from a whole host of other doctors before he starts getting original on me.<\/p>\n

So do we think we’re somehow guilty of forgery if we take some other painting and copy it? Ok, if we try to sell it as if it were that original, that’s illegal, but that’s not what I’m talking about. What I’m talking about is for the sake of learning. And if someone does want to buy it, then you sign it with both your names, like “Hyatt, after Van Gogh.”<\/p>\n

Vincent Van Gogh copied a number of other artists, by the way, like his idol, Jean-Francois Millet. As I think about it, he didn’t include Millet’s name with his in the signature. But then his was different enough. He was learning from Millet but applying his own approach too.<\/p>\n

And that’s how it almost always is. You learn from another by copying another, but in the end, it’s still you. In can hardly be otherwise. As much as you are different than anyone else, so will be your work.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, know that the masters copied their masters, and you should do it to. It’s true in all the arts, and everything else. You’ll get better faster.<\/p>\n

Without it you can hardly get started.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You are an original, that’s a given. But it doesn’t mean you don’t learn from others who have gone before. They did. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7989"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7989"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7989\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8250,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7989\/revisions\/8250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}