Do you ever stare at what someone else made? Do you notice the attention they get? And, you want the attention. You want someone to notice you, you want the applause, the “Good job, Bob.” The, “Come to the front of the classroom and show your drawing Anne.”
So, you copy what they did, you make what they made.
And, you hope you will get attention. You hope someone will like what you copied. And, if they do. If they do applaud. They are applauding the fake you. The copycat art, that is not really your heart.
What you really want — is to create from the depths of your stomach, your guts. You want to make music that is your own song. You want your paintings to be you. You want your writing to be your own writing.
You want to be original.
But somewhere around third grade. You stopped being original. The teacher never asked you to come to the front of the classroom to show your artwork. The teacher walked past your desk. She didn’t say anything to you. Then she stopped at Mary’s desk. The teacher said, “Oh look class! Look at Mary’s drawing. This is great. I like this.”
And Mary only drew that way for the rest of her life, because she liked the sound of the praise. She wanted to experiment, but she stayed on the safe path of praise. Drawing to please the teacher. Drawing to please the teacher. Drawing to please the teacher.
And everyone else in the class started to draw like Mary because they wanted to hear the teacher say, “This is great. I like this.” “This is great. I like this.” “This is great. I like this.”
If you want to copy someone. Copy their passion. Be passionate about being yourself. Be you. Click To TweetBe original
Original as an adjective means: present or existing from the beginning; first or earliest, and created directly and personally by a particular artist; not a copy or imitation.
Stop looking at what the other guy is doing. Don't look outside of yourself, look within. Click To Tweet“A poor original is better than a good imitation.”
― Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of someone else.”
― Judy Garland
Do you still want an A+
Your teacher is not watching you
xo
Pamela