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Today we’ll discuss the question – are master studies cheating? Is it okay to copy works of other people? Let’s get into it!
Master Studies
A master study is the recreation of an existing art piece, usually one made by an art master of the past, but could also be a contemporary master.
The intent behind these is LEARNING. It’s a study.
You use the study to get into the mind of that artist, and understand why they did things the way they have.
Here are some of the artists I mentioned in this episode, for inspirational purposes (:
Marc Folly – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gD4fuUMH3Ts
Viktoria Prischedko – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZZIGDfgY0w
The classic school of thought, from what I’ve been exposed to – encourages master studies to be as close of a replica as possible to the original. This teaches you about hard work, effort, focus and patience.
I however tend to take a more lenient approach. I love to learn the basics behind the original – why the particular composition was chosen and the basic technique applied to create the piece. But that’s about it. To me, there’s a lot to be learned by doing a smaller, quicker version of the original.
The Benefits of Master Studies
Let me briefly list some of the HUGE benefits of doing master studies:
- Learning from the BEST
- Forcing yourself to break past your current level and comfort zone
- Learning how much effort is required to produce something great
- Opening your horizons and continuing to push the envelope and improve (preventing stagnation)
So… Are master studies legit? Is it cheating?
No! Not in my opinion. As long as you’re honest with yourself and others, as long as you DON’T take credit for work that’s not your own, as long as you mention you’re doing a study based on X artist’s work – I’m perfectly fine with that.
In fact, I do MANY of these, and have learned a lot from them!
So go for it!
I hope you enjoyed this one!
Here’s where you can find me online:
TikTok – @Liron.Yan
YouTube – Liron Yanconsky Art
LinkedIn – Liron Yanconsky
Pinterest – Liron Yanconsky
Instagram – @LironYanIL
Twitter – @LironYan