Should Art Techniques Be Secret?
I'm a writer, painter, dancer and musician. At the moment, all of these things are my hobbies - and of all of them, I only intend to make writing into any kind of profession. And I mean I really want to make writing my profession: I'm in my third year studying Creative Writing at University, and currently am making plans to continue into a Master's next year.
That said, if anyone asked me how to write, I'd be willing to help.
Obviously I can't spare hours of my time teaching people one-on-one exactly how I write (or paint, or dance, or play the piano), but I'd always be willing to give advice or do a little article giving advice on how to improve yourself. I don't consider other writers to be competition, stealing away my chance at being a writer. I see them as people I can learn from, people to bounce ideas off of. People I can chat to about how mad it is, trying to be a writer! Two of my best friends are on the same course as I am, and we all want each other to succeed - we all want to help each other as much as we can to succeed.
So I get confused when I see stunning artwork like this:
[source]
... accompanied by the artist saying, 'Please do not ask me how to make these.'
They go on to say that their Etsy store (where they are selling Nebula in a Bottle necklaces for pretty reasonable prices, to be fair) is their only source of income. I understand the urge to say this: they don't want people to be able to make them for themselves. They want them to buy their necklaces. But some people (okay, me) honestly can't afford to buy from artists - not because the artist is over-priced, but because I just don't have lots of money to spare.
I'd imagine, surely, that most people would buy from the artist regardless. Going out and getting materials to make the necklace yourself is a pain, and can turn out to be more expensive that just buying it. But if you have the materials lying around anyway, it can be great to learn from your favourite artists.
***
Another example of this came from EPBOT's site last year. She decided to have a go at making one of Merimask's designs for herself.
[Merimask's design]
[EPBOT's design]
She gave a description of how she made the mask using leatherworking - something she learned specifically for this project - and provided credit and links to Merimask's Etsy account to encourage people to buy from it. She even mixed up the design a bit to create exactly the mask she wanted, being creative rather than directly copying the design in front of her. And yet she still received criticism:
'Artists do not care for those who copy their designs anymore than writers care for plagiarist. Try being creative instead of copying.' (Anonymous comment)
I thought that EPBOT's husband gave the best response to this:
'This isn't photocopying a piece of art or profiting from anothers idea. It's learning to create something amazing while giving all of the credit to the original artist, something incredibly rare on the internet.'
Almost immediately after this was posted, EPBOT wrote a post saying she was going on hiatus due to receiving hateful comments. I have no idea whether it was because of that particular comment, but ... it seems likely.
And recently, months after the EPBOT kerfuffle, Merimask posted this Journal entry saying that art thieves are stealing her designs and cheaply reproducing her work. I feel awful for her. Art theft sucks. But then again, these people aren't photocopying either. I'm not sure if they're using her name when they sell these masks (which is definitely wrong), but they are still having to buy the materials and to go through the process of creating their own versions of her masks. They're learning from her designs.
Honestly, I want to take Merimask's side in this, because I love her designs and I know she deserves every penny she gets for each of them. But all of her masks are over $100. There's no way someone like me (a poor student scraping things out of the 70% Off Bargain Bin) can afford a mask that costs that much. But I might be able to afford one that's $30, if I compromise on the quality.
Merimask says on her Journal that she's willing to 'fight this if I have to take a second mortgage out on my house. It's a matter of principle now,' which completely undermines the idea that she's trying to protect her investment. Is she angry because she's losing money to these people, or just because they're mimicking her designs? The latter seems a little childish to me.
***
Going completely the opposite direction, one of my favourite visual artists, Jenny Dolfen (on DeviantART and WordPress), has a whole section of her blog dedicated to watercolour painting tutorials.
[source]
In her tutorials, she doesn't just teach technique - she literally shows you how to paint the exact drawings she has painted. I would never have even started learning to use watercolours if it weren't for Jenny Dolfen's tutorials. Now, watercolour is my favourite medium.
Her online tutorials are free resources, but Jenny Dolfen also holds a yearly watercolour workshop in Germany, for which you have to pay. And at that workshop, she occasionally has her students paint over her own line art.
LEFT: Jenny Dolfen's painting [source]
RIGHT: A student from the workshop's painting [source]
Jenny posted that student's painting in her DA Journal, alongside piles of original art, and gave no comment on the fact that it's using her line work. I can only assume she thinks the same way as I do. Artists who are learning sometimes need to start with someone's else's work. Sometimes you need to copy before you can learn to be original.
I'm not sure if I agree with selling artwork when you've been using another person's design for inspiration, but EPBOT didn't sell her mask (and she hasn't made others to sell, either), and got hurtful comments nonetheless. If I'd wanted to make a Nebula in a Bottle necklace, I would also have been making it for me. Not to mass produce and sell. I imagine the majority of artists asking for tutorials from these artists are like me: they want to learn from people they admire.
I don't think art techniques like these should be secret. I think it's a good thing if people want to learn to how make things. To some extent, it can be a good thing if people do create and sell cheaper copies of things - that's kind of how capitalism works (whether or not capitalism is a good thing is a discussion for another day). Why can't Merimask keep making top-quality masks and selling them for the best prices, while other people make them cheaper, but for poorer quality? Why can't I learn how to cheaply make a pretty bottle necklace, if I can't afford to buy one? This is how I learned to paint: for free, from artists who shared their skills. It seems strange to me that other artists would be so stingy with theirs.
Anyone else have an opinion on this? Should artists be keeping their techniques a secret, to protect their investments and preserve their designs, or allow other people to copy and learn from them?
That said, if anyone asked me how to write, I'd be willing to help.
Obviously I can't spare hours of my time teaching people one-on-one exactly how I write (or paint, or dance, or play the piano), but I'd always be willing to give advice or do a little article giving advice on how to improve yourself. I don't consider other writers to be competition, stealing away my chance at being a writer. I see them as people I can learn from, people to bounce ideas off of. People I can chat to about how mad it is, trying to be a writer! Two of my best friends are on the same course as I am, and we all want each other to succeed - we all want to help each other as much as we can to succeed.
So I get confused when I see stunning artwork like this:
[source]
... accompanied by the artist saying, 'Please do not ask me how to make these.'
They go on to say that their Etsy store (where they are selling Nebula in a Bottle necklaces for pretty reasonable prices, to be fair) is their only source of income. I understand the urge to say this: they don't want people to be able to make them for themselves. They want them to buy their necklaces. But some people (okay, me) honestly can't afford to buy from artists - not because the artist is over-priced, but because I just don't have lots of money to spare.
I'd imagine, surely, that most people would buy from the artist regardless. Going out and getting materials to make the necklace yourself is a pain, and can turn out to be more expensive that just buying it. But if you have the materials lying around anyway, it can be great to learn from your favourite artists.
***
Another example of this came from EPBOT's site last year. She decided to have a go at making one of Merimask's designs for herself.
[Merimask's design]
[EPBOT's design]
She gave a description of how she made the mask using leatherworking - something she learned specifically for this project - and provided credit and links to Merimask's Etsy account to encourage people to buy from it. She even mixed up the design a bit to create exactly the mask she wanted, being creative rather than directly copying the design in front of her. And yet she still received criticism:
'Artists do not care for those who copy their designs anymore than writers care for plagiarist. Try being creative instead of copying.' (Anonymous comment)
I thought that EPBOT's husband gave the best response to this:
'This isn't photocopying a piece of art or profiting from anothers idea. It's learning to create something amazing while giving all of the credit to the original artist, something incredibly rare on the internet.'
Almost immediately after this was posted, EPBOT wrote a post saying she was going on hiatus due to receiving hateful comments. I have no idea whether it was because of that particular comment, but ... it seems likely.
And recently, months after the EPBOT kerfuffle, Merimask posted this Journal entry saying that art thieves are stealing her designs and cheaply reproducing her work. I feel awful for her. Art theft sucks. But then again, these people aren't photocopying either. I'm not sure if they're using her name when they sell these masks (which is definitely wrong), but they are still having to buy the materials and to go through the process of creating their own versions of her masks. They're learning from her designs.
Honestly, I want to take Merimask's side in this, because I love her designs and I know she deserves every penny she gets for each of them. But all of her masks are over $100. There's no way someone like me (a poor student scraping things out of the 70% Off Bargain Bin) can afford a mask that costs that much. But I might be able to afford one that's $30, if I compromise on the quality.
Merimask says on her Journal that she's willing to 'fight this if I have to take a second mortgage out on my house. It's a matter of principle now,' which completely undermines the idea that she's trying to protect her investment. Is she angry because she's losing money to these people, or just because they're mimicking her designs? The latter seems a little childish to me.
***
Going completely the opposite direction, one of my favourite visual artists, Jenny Dolfen (on DeviantART and WordPress), has a whole section of her blog dedicated to watercolour painting tutorials.
[source]
In her tutorials, she doesn't just teach technique - she literally shows you how to paint the exact drawings she has painted. I would never have even started learning to use watercolours if it weren't for Jenny Dolfen's tutorials. Now, watercolour is my favourite medium.
Her online tutorials are free resources, but Jenny Dolfen also holds a yearly watercolour workshop in Germany, for which you have to pay. And at that workshop, she occasionally has her students paint over her own line art.
LEFT: Jenny Dolfen's painting [source]
RIGHT: A student from the workshop's painting [source]
Jenny posted that student's painting in her DA Journal, alongside piles of original art, and gave no comment on the fact that it's using her line work. I can only assume she thinks the same way as I do. Artists who are learning sometimes need to start with someone's else's work. Sometimes you need to copy before you can learn to be original.
I'm not sure if I agree with selling artwork when you've been using another person's design for inspiration, but EPBOT didn't sell her mask (and she hasn't made others to sell, either), and got hurtful comments nonetheless. If I'd wanted to make a Nebula in a Bottle necklace, I would also have been making it for me. Not to mass produce and sell. I imagine the majority of artists asking for tutorials from these artists are like me: they want to learn from people they admire.
I don't think art techniques like these should be secret. I think it's a good thing if people want to learn to how make things. To some extent, it can be a good thing if people do create and sell cheaper copies of things - that's kind of how capitalism works (whether or not capitalism is a good thing is a discussion for another day). Why can't Merimask keep making top-quality masks and selling them for the best prices, while other people make them cheaper, but for poorer quality? Why can't I learn how to cheaply make a pretty bottle necklace, if I can't afford to buy one? This is how I learned to paint: for free, from artists who shared their skills. It seems strange to me that other artists would be so stingy with theirs.
Anyone else have an opinion on this? Should artists be keeping their techniques a secret, to protect their investments and preserve their designs, or allow other people to copy and learn from them?