Okay it's no secret Cat Girl is my most popular print, hands down in my etsy shop, so it kind of makes sense I'd encounter this issue one day. I got alerted, by a lovely fan today, of Dania Piotti's etsy shop and in particular her Bat Girl work. There are a lot of thoughts running through my head so I'm going to try and flesh them out.
My Cat Girl on the Left and Dania's Batgirl on the right
1) I'm actually super flattered; for someone to copy my work to find their own voice I think that's actually a great thing!
2) I'm wondering if the voice is a little too similar?
3) I'm only here for a short time (as we all are) let's view creativity and art as a great/fun/inspiring thing!
I'm definitely not a confrontational person and I hate bringing anyone else down. I'm thinking, if I was Dania and I obviously liked the Cat Girl piece enough to borrow some ideas from it, I would be pretty shattered if this artist (aka Burntfeather) came back around and called me out or sent me an unhappy email.
I'm also confident enough in my own art practice, to not feel threatened and I don't value money too highly (although perhaps I should). I kind of want to flip it around and tell Dania that I'm glad she was influenced by Cat Girl, that when I drew her I had no idea she would end up in so many people's houses or even that someone, one day would take ideas from the piece into their own. I guess my only advice for Dania is to keep painting and drawing because one day she'll come up with her own Cat Girl and perhaps, someone out there will be influence by that :)
For all those creatives out there let's keep being creative, the World can never have enough art!
What are your thoughts, I know people have very strong views on this topic, I'd love to hear them :)
I think it is a little bit too similar and if i was inspired by you i would try to distance my work as much as possible from a copycat as i could...but when comparing it is not possible for me to see any interest in the other drawing,i think your is much better,ahahah.
ReplyDeleteAw Sara, you're sweet :) I think it's probably wise to grab influence from a whole bunch of people and you're voice will probably end up somewhere in the middle and unique!
ReplyDeleteHmm it does look pretty similar and it seems a little fishy.
ReplyDeleteI get inspired by a lot of stuff I see and a lot of times I find myself thinking "I wish I thought of that!" But I would never wanna take anyone's ideas, seeing awesome art work on blogs or etsy encourages me to come up with my own style and improve my drawings in general.
I understand that you want to steer clear of confrontation but maybe keep your eye out just in case!
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You are the sweetest! Love that you turned it around.
ReplyDeleteThis is obviously a copycat, and may I say uninspiring (the Cat Girl is unbeatable!). I think the best for anyone, no matter how fascinated by another artist/s, is to construct his/her own path by properly using this influence.
I encourage your attitude with this! I agree that is very flattering and that with time she sure will learn her own way of expression :)
I agree with what everyone else has said, you are such a sweet soul Fee :) geez she could have tweaked it more rather than just directly copying....maybe watch to see if that's the only rip off of your work that she does, if it happens again I'd say something. Yours wins hands down anyway xxx
ReplyDeleteThanks everyone, definitely all givers of sound advice :) If it does continue to happen I think an email would be helpful just to reinforce the awesomeness of trusting in yourself and your own creative ideas, everyone has them and maybe when you're starting out you don't believe enough in yourself, which is a shame.
ReplyDelete1. Yours is WAY better.
ReplyDelete2. Don't waste time/energy on copy cats, they're always late to the party.
Thanks for the love Adeline :)
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