#55 II Where to find inspiration - Tutorial
Here's the first tutorial requested for Ask the Maker, kindly asked by the lovely nightbulbs :) For all the images in this tutorial, hover for the source/maker.
In the light of recent events, should we call it this way, I think this « guide » (here again a loose term) was much needed. I wanted to write it for my own personal needs first because I have ( Read more... )
I've always wondered about the proper use of inspiration, especially in inspiration-type communities where we're given a set of inspiration icons and other things. It's difficult to draw the line. But of course, the ones you made as 'copying' examples would be blatant. I think it can be unclear at least for newer makers if that's actually the way those challenges are intended.
Tutorials and PSDs are another interesting thing. I've been lucky in that I don't think my tutorials have ever been used step-by-step to recreate something, but I've seen pretty blatant use of the psds shared by some other makers and it makes me sad. I always assume that when someone shares a PSD, it's still only meant to be inspiration/a look at their process, rather than a resource to be used directly for your own stuff.
Do you think copying is always intentional, or do you think it can happen subconsciously? Like maybe someone has seen a really good concept somewhere but doesn't remember where and sort of ends up thinking it was their own idea. I'm pretty good at being super aware of where I've seen certain things, but I know that a lot of people aren't really good at remembering everything so for example if you've seen a really good icon of a specific cap used a certain way, you might later use the cap in a very similar way simply cause your brain has a vague impression that that's the way the cap looks good, even if you don't actively remember the original icon. This is why I usually give 'copycats' the benefit of the doubt. I don't automatically assume they're doing it intentionally. Instead, I assume they're just kinda dumb for not realizing where they've seen their ideas before :p but of course the more detailed the copying is, the more likely it gets that it's been intentional.
Do you think copying can happen to a maker's general style, or just specific icons? Is a 'style' too general and broad for any specific maker to get to claim it exclusively theirs? I don't know why but I often worry that some of the icons I make resemble someone else's style too much. I'd never intentionally copy anyone's specific icons or even their styles but I still stress about this a lot :s
Anyway, it sounds like you've had some problems with people taking your ideas, and that sucks :/ I really hope it won't happen again.
Thanks for writing this, it was a very interesting read!
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I ask myself the same question! And since unlike you I don't always remember when and where I saw something, when I get some cool ideas, sometimes I end up worrying that maybe not every part of it is my own. Anyway I always try to remember even more when I get this kind of doubts, hoping I don't copy someone else's work by mistake. This also because I understand the feeling, since it happened to me to see some works (not here on livejournal though) with a bunch of elements "too inspired" by my own.
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especially in inspiration-type communities where we're given a set of inspiration icons and other things.
I think you're totally right about this. Most of newer makers come from tumblr where the "inspired by (x)" is on every post, and the difference between actual inspiration and plain copying is erased. In the iconing word, we're more picky about it because we're smaller and everyone "knows" everyone or almost. It brings us back to what I'm trying to say : we don't talk about this enough. Maybe we're not clear enough about what "inspiration" is in the iconing world. Challenges built upon inspiration posts (that I LOVE) can be confusing. We know how it works because we've been here a long time, but newer makers dont.
Tutorials and PSDs are another interesting thing.
It is indeed and I agree with you. PSD and tutorials shouldn't be reproduced, it should be a mean to see the process other makers use which can be very different from our own. We can learn new techniques, new ways of doing this. That's why I love guide more than actual single-icon-tutorial because some people won't learn a thing by reading a tutorial. They're going to reproduce it and that'll be the end of it. With a guide, you "guide", you show the way, but you don't walk for them. Here again, maybe the fault comes back to tumblr where psds are often shared and used without modifications... :/
Do you think copying is always intentional, or do you think it can happen subconsciously?
I do think it can happen subconsciously, and I agree with you on giving copycats the benefit of the doubt. I will never jump at someone because they made something "similar" to what I did. Coincidences can happen (I mean look at screencaps challenge, sometimes 2 icons are very close and no copying was involved!), and even when you saw the way a maker worked on a screencaps and months later, subconsciously, you do the same, it's not the end of the world. Copying 1 icon isn't either. What I don't accept is copying everything in an icon, and doing it with a lot of them. Here you see the "will" of the maker, the conscious choice, the will to keep going at it.
Do you think copying can happen to a maker's general style, or just specific icons?
That is tricky! What is style? In my mind, I can more or less categorize every maker into a style : colorful, textful, busy composition, bright colors, muted colors, simple background, texture-full etc... And we don't own that. What we own is the way we built an icon, for example if I use 2 screencaps a certain way with a certain text... I don't own stars for example, those are Photoshop's and using them in an icon won't be copying. The way I use them tho, the placement of it etc, could be considered as copying. The "style" of every maker is, to me, the way they use the resources they have. If someone use a paint texture in a certain way, a VERY particular way (here again, everybody is free to use paint textures), then it's their style. If they use a font with a certain effect, and they do that on a lot of their icons, and nobody does it this way, then it's their style. I don't know if I'm very clear XD. I don't really know if you can copy someone's else style entirely because we don't own category of icons... If suddenly you want to make muted icons, will it be considered as copying makers who makes them often? I don't think so. So maybe you can just copy specific icons, specific elements and ways of doing one... But even if the icon you make looks like someone's style, I don't think it's awful. There are makers who have similar styles, it doesn't mean they're ripping off each other. We're all inspired by what everyone in the community makes. It's too bad you're stressing over it, it should not be such a big deal. We should talk about it more! Making it less like an awful awful horrible thing which should get your head chopped off!
I think it's over now and won't happen again :) Thank you for reading it and participating in the debate!
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