Victoria Semykina on Plagiarism and Creating Art

 

Above from Victoria Semykina's Instagram. Someone had copied one of her illustrations and passed it off as their own. Hers is on the left, and the plagiarized version is on the right. She posted this a week ago and I still think about it. She could "out" the person who stole her art and berate them, but she takes this as an opportunity to reveal a real hard fact about drawing for a living. While some amateurs may be looking for an easy key that solves the challenge of finding and creating the work, Victoria knows it's damn hard work. And it's rewarding work. The work is the point.

"A friend sent me this image, and wow… that familiar mix of ugh and amazement hit me right away. Is it 100% plagiarism? No, of course not. But the ‘inspiration’ is so obvious it might as well be waving at me.
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"I’m not here to name and shame—no internet drama today. Instead, I want to talk about something that’s been bugging me for a while.
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"To simplify, there are two ways to create art:
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"The first way is to get an idea, sketch, gather references, wrestle with colors, composition, and all the tricky bits. It takes time and effort. Eventually, after all that, you end up with something dreadful and start again. It’s exhausting. But I believe that’s also what makes art art.
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"The second way is when you take an image that already works. You tweak a few elements—swap a boy for a girl, a minor shuffle here and there—and... a 'new' piece is born! Quick, easy, and terribly convenient.
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"What worries me is that many new artists think this is a normal way to work. Some even go so far as to teach it—offering tutorials on how to 'borrow' and 'blend' into something 'original.'
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"But here’s the most important thing I wanted to say:

"When you train your brain to copy, it learns to repeat, not create. When you train your brain to create, it will become a fountain of ideas, showering you with new thoughts, new visions, and sparks. The mind, after all, is a muscle, and its greatest pleasure is invention.
 

"So, don’t rob yourself of that joy."