Hey guys, first off before I do anything else I'm going to apologize for the light because it's really really bright right now But if I close the light then it's dark and if I go over there it's kind of messy because my kids so like I have to stand right here Anyway, today I just want to talk to you about a A big question that I had when I first started and I know that other people have dealt with this too because I actually see it quite up I like just on other people you know post on other people's content I've seen a lot of articles and stuff or basically the question is is it okay to copy someone else's artistic style? All right, and my short answer would be yes, but only when you're learning Okay, and I think that this is also a very common answer and I actually dealt with this up until recently It wasn't until I actually kind of agreed with this conclusion So as many of you know, I started off with the polych style And actually let me show you that one that one right there is a kind of an example But I have other ones in fact, let me let me actually grab one that was kind of more recent. Okay So this is actually an example of like my the polych style, right? So you know obviously it's gloss and ammo it's thrown And you can see a lot of my things anyway I really okay, so I like the polych stuff. I really enjoy making them But the problem is that I recently realized because I had read this but it didn't you know Sometimes you see something but you don't believe it until it happens right till it clicks and It recently clicked for me that Although I started on the polych style and I enjoy it and that and that's the style that I first sold overseas Which was like my first international sale is a huge deal for me It didn't dawn on me that the thing that I was creating these polych style paintings Wasn't me, you know, and I mean like I was creating them and obviously he can't make them anymore because he's dead and It you know people recognize that stuff. Okay, so let me put it this way when I make a polych style painting people intrinsically know What I was trying to do all a lot of people know who polych is or they've seen the work So when they see mine they're like oh, yeah, I've seen stuff like that But they they don't know who he is but they've seen it right they recognize it. That's the important part That's good because If people value that type of painting then it makes it easier for me to sell them mine The problem lies in that I I Had started with the style because it got me into painting But then I kept doing it from time to time and I wasn't following, you know a specific path now It's it's okay to start somewhere and to learn right I posted this I put this in another video About how it's okay to learn something but if you don't develop your own distinct style Then it's hard for people to recognize the work as yours Does that make sense? So While people look at a painting like that and they're like oh, yeah, that's that's like Pollock At first I I used to enjoy hearing that oh, yeah, yeah, I'm doing the right thing. I'm gonna be like Pollock But now when I hear that and I think that it makes me think oh Okay, well, that's great that they recognize that as the Pollock style painting and Pollock but But they don't equate it with me You know what I mean now if you have a style that's like that it's gonna happen You know, I believe that there's nothing quite there's nothing unique in the world. There's just kind of reiterations of the same things right well It's okay if that's your style right but I was doing it because it was like Pollock and It got me a lot of attention and a lot of people liked it and I was able to you know I have videos of how to make these paintings and people love it. I was like oh that must be what I should do. I should just keep following them But over time I realized that that's not me that's Pollock. So is it okay to copy it? Yes When you're learning but I had to realize that Okay, this isn't me. I'm not doing it because I want that to be my style I'm doing it because he did that and now I'm doing it too Because that's how I got started. I kind of had to evolve to this place where After doing a bunch of experimenting with different materials and styles I realized that like okay, that's not me. That's not my style and It took a while for me to realize this about a year actually into it and I realized you know I tried a bunch of things and I kind of liked some of the other things But I just kept going back to that because it was comfortable because it's what got me started But it wasn't what I wanted to do So what I would say is that yeah, it's okay to To copy another style if you're learning to kind of get the idea of how to use a material or how to do certain brush strokes or Our technique or something like that. It's good to learn But if you're copying it because that's what someone else is doing and you're trying to pass it off as your own Then it's not you. I mean you can do it and it's yours and you made it and that's a unique piece that only I made but People are gonna recognize it for Paul like not for me. I mean let's be honest so Ultimately my point would be that yeah, it's okay to copy a style to learn Absolutely and you I would I would go so far as to say to try a dozen styles to kind of learn Different techniques and to kind of get acquainted with the materials or to You know to learn kind of the ins and outs of what you're trying to do I mean a lot of even writers there's writers out there that would rewrite books of Famous writers to get the idea to get the to build the muscles per se like the mind muscles or the physical muscles Like the repetition or the thinking process of how to do that thing and that's great That's okay. I mean that's a great place to start. Why not follow someone who's already successful I mean and kind of go through what they do but you can't just copy what they do and pass it off as your own I've I've actually done that with some of my paintings like in trying to copy a particular style or artist and It's not that I obviously created a copy of their work So it's my own and I can sell it because it's a unique piece But I was doing it for the wrong reasons. I didn't do it because like my style is that I did it because I was copying them And it was easier for me to copy someone then to develop my own or to master it and Now I've kind of I finally like understand my own technique and my own style and yeah You can have different styles, but my my overall point is yeah, it's okay to copy to learn But I would challenge you not to get stuck in the mindset of only Following a style because someone else did it or copying particular works and trying to pass them off as your own It's great to learn, but it's not great to just follow it because someone else is already doing it and it's easier Okay, so that's pretty much it. That's my argument. What do you think like do you think it's okay to copy artistic styles? Or do you think that you have to come out with something original? Do you well how do you even think that there is such thing as unique as in nobody else in the world has done it or is doing it or will do it because I don't believe I believe everything is a Reiteration of something else, but what do you think I'm curious? Just please leave a comment in the comments section below or on my website and I will get to you back on there as well And if you haven't checked out my other videos or subscribe, please do that and I've got other links that you can Definitely check out when you get a chance But I really enjoyed talking with you today. Please let me know what you think and I'll see you guys in another video. Take care