As beginners we start by tracing to make copies of what we epitomize as what a franchise brand tells us is the best image of that thing we like; this is also how we study existing examples and conditions as architects. As artists the more we are taught to be original, the more we realize that tracing is just one type of art, that is more akin to photo-copying. If we like an original piece, we want a copy of that thing to have around us, it is natural to some extent. However the psychology of the “real thing” vs the “reproduction” or “fake thing” quickly becomes apparent in stories like ‘The Golem’ or ‘Frankenstein’ or ‘Pygmalion’ or ‘The Portrait of Dorian Gray’ or ‘He-Man vs Fakor’ and on and on.
My process of creating is a constant debate between hating everything i have done, and loving it. Thinking the eyes are too small, changing them, then wishing i hadnt. I will keep adding layers of paint until i convince myself i cannot improve it anymore. It might take years or months or days. Most people do not realize that we learn by copying, but forgeries are the same thing except for the criminal act of saying the copy “IS” the original. Here is an example of how critical artists create: we think the eyes are too close, then move them apart, and later realize our own are closer than hers. It is interesting some of the optical illusions that shading and perspective creates. And some people really do have different proportions by centimeters than the norm.
Random people might not know or care about one of my mentors, Thor Carlson, but he encouraged me to make my own versions of Tolkien’s characters. He did not like that my versions were so similar to the cartoon artists. Yet my style is a blend of both original professional painters, and corporate commercial artists and their brands. My style (whatever look it ends up being for any particular piece) is both the best I can do as an artist and that kind of creative blending is what I enjoy doing because it is similar to what we call “playing” except its also work. My work is not for everyone, but opinions are a study of their own.
I do not think we should make exact copies in the Art world or in the industrial commercial world. Even in a line of action figures, I think deviation on the paint job is as it should be; and certainly when a new line is produced it should be markedly distinguished in some way (even if it is just a maker’s mark and date stamp) from other sets. Historically professionals like historians and mechanics and collectors find their ability to distinguish differences important, compatibility aside.
For example when doing a portrait of a popular commercial character I might love the facial proportions used by the Filmation artist here, it is a very pretty face and it is certainly the ideal original for me that many of us respect or try to copy. I do keep copies of Filmation originals and cannot change what they are even if i wanted to, they exist and thank goodness no one can delete them from existence. I do not think I will try to copy it exactly, because people can make prints of this how it is, i cannot improve on it.
For the critics we can apologize (not that it will help), as I did with fellow fans – “Sorry im not doing an exact copy of Filmation, mainly for copyright reasons, but also because i have some other ideas for how i think the Sorceress should look based on my imagination. You can do your own. Im basing the design on the Filmation basics, but also considering the toy figure and other face types (from cartoon to real life). I have always thought not all women in the show needed the same tiny nose, i think a longer ‘beak’ is fine.”
With the MOTU Sorceress it is interesting that her facial measurements match my own, both vertically and horizontally (except i made her eyes wider on purpose). The tiny details of her nostrils and how im shading in a cartoon kind of way, are of course different than reality, and different than the original that i am not making a copy of for this project. As with Race, it is important not to focus on comparing things that are meant to be different in some ways AND similar in some ways are to each-other, because it becomes pointless and evil.
Social idealizations are a major psychological reason why so many females want surgery. However both with many real ‘deviant’ faces (there are more than you think) and cartoon faces, we can notice how the mouth can be larger than the average proportions, which are usually in line with the nostrils. Here the eyes also appear wider and further apart than usual. When we laugh our nostrils can become stretched by our mouths, all kinds of odd things that do not seem correct by ‘normal’ standards. So we know eyes can be closer or more recessed (set-in) than may be attractive to us, but our ideals of ‘beauty’ aesthetics are not the same as Art, they are an important part of how we perceive art and what we call ‘Art’, but Art is larger than aesthetics because Art is not just superficial. True Art makes us think, and not always in ways we like all the time; in fact critics will often not call it Art when it does that, but they are being silly and are wrong about that. True Art is not always ‘fine art’ or ‘high art’ or even popular, it can be literally trash made by commercial industry.
A good way to handle critics is to realize by allowing them to comment, you can gauge who is friendly and who wants to be receptive to your work in the future. Too often people give advice to be able to say they are the master, and you are doing it wrong. You can try to please them, but you wont know until its too let whether you can or not, so it is important to be equally critical what is popular or you are told you “must” or “should” do. The spirit of true Art is not about conformity, it is about freedom. Brand worship that tries to stop others is not the way of people who love imagination in a “brand” more than corporate conformity. As critics we can also try to be self-aware when we are too personally invested in our own desire to put someone else down; hey it happens because we do not all get along!
Thank everyone who offers real support! Remember beware taking advice from critics who will not pay you a cent, even when you do what they argue. Many people just want to argue and disagree, I find myself doing that even internally, and it tends to be more destructive than healthy or helpful if the conflicts are not resolved successfully enough to be able to practice art AND enjoy it. It is actually ok if other people do things different than we would if we were doing it or have done it before. Critics often do not care what your reasons for doing things different are, and their opinions might be part of a problem of public perception you are challenging. It is ok when art is not just tracing a commercial product, but if people do trace, it is ok to practice line study too.
As an artist who has been a teacher here is my advice: Remember kids, there is a difference between tracing, and doing your own version! Heh actually even when we trace we rarely copy it as good as the original. In Art it is better to make your own, as close as you want or as close as you can do to what you like, but it does not have to be just one source of inspiration that goes into what you make. Make it your own brand.
[more later]
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