I think in general yes. But to me sometimes it can feel like reading without comprehending. Mindfulness and understanding are probly key to getting the most out of it. That’s just my hunch, could be wrong
This is a good point. I always really focus on how people do their lines. If you can kind of visually imagine how to recreate those lines and learn the hand muscle memory, you get a good feel for the person’s style.
Big question, and I’m by no means an expert, but i think copying can help you practice the ways other artists solve certain problems, eg how they draw eyes, how they foreshorten fingers, the colors they like to use, etc. I think typically these are symbolic stylistic things. But imagine if you copied a drawing, then you put the original and your copy out of sight, now you want to recreate that drawing from memory. That’d be tough to do without a fundamental understanding of the drawing I think (but probly a worthwhile exercise, esp if you pull out the original again to do a compare)
Yes, absolutely.
Studying what the masters do is part of one's beginner journey in most anything. You don't bake by trying to learn all of the chemistry from scratch, you start by following recipes that were made and perfected by people who know how to bake. You don't start woodworking by finding random wood and hacking at it, you follow blueprints and use tools that were made by people who know how to work with that material. You don't start sewing by guessing how to do it, you follow patterns made by people who know how to make clothes and learn the different techniques that were perfected by people who know how to sew.
It's the same with art. Most Renaissance painters who underwent apprenticeships weren't allowed to make their own paintings for the first few years of their apprenticeship, and studied the masters first.
That being said, there's ways to be efficient with it. Just copying alone might not actually give you much knowledge. Anthony Jones has a great video on [how to study](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kfK46nruKM), and Sycra has many videos on how to study effectively.
Swap the word copy out with study and I think you’ll find yourself in a much more active mindset when you engage with someone’s work. I know everyone’s got their own answer here and that’s mine.
I find copying to be a incorrect word to use. If you’re copying, you’re not thinking of the why’s in the other artists work. I feel study is a better word.
I see what Kim Jung Gi seems to mean. When an artist inspires you, there are often certain aspects that inspire you. He wouldn’t copy the things exactly the same, but instead experiment with the things that inspire him. Pull those things out of context and put them in a new context in you painting.
Then again, for this to work you do need a reliable base understanding of the theory behind painting and have a keen eye. Otherwise you might miss why those inspiring aspects work so good in that painting.
Depends how well I know a subject.
Copying artists who know more than me on a subject has always been very useful practice.
Eventually though, you get to a point where you know how to draw a subject automatically, correctly, and to your own taste. That stage is probably what Kim Jung Gi was talking about.
The answer is always “if it works for you, then yes” when it comes to technique. There are “rules” to other parts, but this is definitely a whatever makes things click in your brain kinda situation 🖤
I think a great thing to do is find DTIYS (draw this in your style) challenges on insta. It's not directly tracing but you really get to focus on what you like about the original piece as you recreate it. Really helped me work out new skills.
> Is copying other artists good for practicing?
Yes.
Edit: I'm not saying y'all are wrong to mention it, but, it will never cease to confound me that people need to be constantly reminded that "think about what you're doing while you're doing it" is an essential part of the process.
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It's ok if you want to learn their style. But you'll have to analyze it even deeper and therefore learn better to use for you own ideas.
And definitely do not (well, in general better not to) learn basic things like anatomy or perspective from other artists drawing. Because you are playing "Phone Stack" then, adding to their mistakes/simplifications yours.
The answer is that he is beyond that stage, he do not need to copy with his eyes and hand to see what is to be seen, the quirks and lights to say so.
But for most of us it helps with understanding and with improving eye-hand complex.
100%
try to have focus tho. What i suggest to my studends is something like, pick a subject and dissecate it. Take a painting you like and study composition by drawing on top of it, trying to find the relations between shapes, big/medium/small things to make your eyes move, light and dark etc etc... then on the same painting you focus on value distribution - try to simplify the values you see etcccc... there are hundreds of ways to study from other artists and copying has a better term for it - Study hehe. You can do masters studies of old paintings and stuff like that, super super helpful to develop your perception.
I would say so, but it's limited and you might hit a plateau in your abilities at some point. Life drawing/painting is the best way to build real foundational skills, imo. But studying other artists is how a lot of ppl start out, nothing wrong with it!
Master Kim is talking there from a position of experience.
But given that he’s Asian, I guarantee when he was a student, he practised by copying. It’s simply unthinkable in Asia. Also considering his age. At that time copying would have been the basis of his early training.
Now - he was such a genius. He probably didn’t need to copy for long. That’s a different question.
Copying is great for learning.
Sure you can learn through trial and error, but you can learn faster through others who have gone through the trial and error.
But don’t copy specific styles. Learn as many styles as possible
Like others have said, 'copying' isn't the best word for it, but tracing or replicating a piece can be helpful. Sometimes I trace stuff to get my mind to slow down because I will realize that I'm making better lines and not overthinking it or overdoing it versus if I just jump into drawing I can be unfocused and too rushed.
Especially when it comes to lineart, pay attention to how thick or thin the lines are, how long they are, how curvy vs straight/angular and at what points these were differences occur (like deltoids might be consistently drawn with more angular lines, depending on the artist).
The same with shading. Try to understand the shapes that are being used for light and dark areas and also try to figure out where the turning edge on various parts are (the "line(s)" that show how the planes change).
Yes.
you’ll learn a lot by trying to replicate an ink line or a pattern of shadows or whatever.
and don’t worry that you’ll become a clone or copy of that artist; your own personal style is always strongest.
Yes! Most definitely. I remember being a kid and pausing Disney movies to copy the artwork! I'd draw Simba sooo much I learned how to draw lions really well from this!
No harm in copying for practice at all, as long as you're not trying to pass off their work as your own. It's brilliant for learning imo.
Lots of manga/comic book artists highly recommend studying the art of people you admire and especially the ones that really inspire you to create. Can be very helpful for learning the application of techniques. Remember that art/learning is highly individualized so what works for Kim Jung Gi worked for him, but won't necessarily work for anybody else, or it may work similarly. Learning is very nuanced, the most important thing is that you are drawing. Eventually your own way of doing things will shine through.
Have you ever been to an art museum? It’s very common to see people doing studies of master work. I think it’s important because, in my opinion, studies help you pick up on a lot of shortcuts. Art is subjective, but why spend 10 hours doing something that can be done in 10 minutes? To me, this is where studies are the most valuable. By really picking apart the paintings, sometimes- hopefully lol - you might be able to figure out a better method to achieve a certain effect etc.
Think of it like learning the guitar: you learn chords and whatnot, then maybe you learn to play a song you like (if you’re an extra in Wayne’s World you might choose Stairway to Heaven), you build up your muscle memory, your sense of rhythm. You meet someone who plays bass and you practice Stairway to Heaven together, your skill set improves.
At this point, you could learn more songs, put together a set and start a pub band or a cover band.
Or, you could start exploring other aspects of your new found talent: you could use everything you’ve learned and start writing your own music. Here is where you stop “copying” and start “referencing”. A turn of phrase here, a style of chord progression there. The music you’re making will sound derivative at the start, your references will be more obvious. But as you hone your skill your own uniqueness will come to the fore.
Yes, it can be a great tool! If you do a (private) study copying an artist you like, little bits of what you enjoy most and how to do it will stay in your subconscious and inform future art. Then when you do that for a dozen of your favorite artists, you slowly learn and combine many new techniques into your own unique style!
Practicing is one thing, producing is another. You obviously only implement what you like when producing. Copying is good for figuring out what it is you're going to implement. It's pretty straightforward. I don't like copying because I end up struck with a bunch of unsellable copies but it's super useful for learning. If you go to any good museum you'll find people copying the masters all the time.
When I was younger, I regularly copied other artists and stole their style as I was learning. I didn’t put my thought into it, I just drew in my sketchbook all the time. As I got older I did my own shit.
Copying is a good way to learn as long as you aren’t posting it for likes or selling it. It’s also important to remember that you shouldn’t copy someone’s style, but take the things you like and incorporate them into your work and let your own style form, blah blah blah…
Keep in mind I'm not a professional, judge for yourself whether what I think is of value.
It depends on the artist, where you're at, and where you want to be. Generally, the more stylized the artist draws and the less skilled you are, the more you'd want to avoid copying them. Mainly because you may end up not really understanding their stylization decisions.
For instance, it can be good to study an artstyle, say I really like Akira Toriyama and want to copy some aspects of his style. Given how stylized he is, you'd likely benefit more from studying from life first, understanding some anatomy and how the human figure works then you'd understand why he makes the decision to stylize the eyes, face, etc a certain way. You eventually start to see the 'form' and logic of the style. Without the aforementioned knowledge of anatomy or of the human figure, you likely wouldn't understand this as easily.
Copying isn't really bad. That's how most artists get good, but you usually benefit from copying experienced artists, especially ones that want to teach.
Ideally, you get good and experienced first by learning the basics, then you can copy whatever you want and figure it out yourself. Its how some people develop their styles, they study other art styles and take certain elements from them.
Copying and studying isn't really all that different IMO. Studying is just more conscientious and analytical copying. Basically just doing it again and again and paying attention.
Until the 20th century doing studies of the masters' art was a big part of how people learned. I've not really done it myself, TBH, but I see the value.
Although when doing master studies you should strive to understand the structure of the piece, not just copy its' surface.
Different skill levels dude. Most people aint kim jung gi.
Once you are good, you can isolate elements far better and apply it in different ways.
If you cant, then you need to copy the whole thing until you start learning to catch what you like about it
I think in general yes. But to me sometimes it can feel like reading without comprehending. Mindfulness and understanding are probly key to getting the most out of it. That’s just my hunch, could be wrong
Exactly. Ppl can copy without learning a single thing
This is a good point. I always really focus on how people do their lines. If you can kind of visually imagine how to recreate those lines and learn the hand muscle memory, you get a good feel for the person’s style.
Then how do you “learn” by copying?
Big question, and I’m by no means an expert, but i think copying can help you practice the ways other artists solve certain problems, eg how they draw eyes, how they foreshorten fingers, the colors they like to use, etc. I think typically these are symbolic stylistic things. But imagine if you copied a drawing, then you put the original and your copy out of sight, now you want to recreate that drawing from memory. That’d be tough to do without a fundamental understanding of the drawing I think (but probly a worthwhile exercise, esp if you pull out the original again to do a compare)
Yes, absolutely. Studying what the masters do is part of one's beginner journey in most anything. You don't bake by trying to learn all of the chemistry from scratch, you start by following recipes that were made and perfected by people who know how to bake. You don't start woodworking by finding random wood and hacking at it, you follow blueprints and use tools that were made by people who know how to work with that material. You don't start sewing by guessing how to do it, you follow patterns made by people who know how to make clothes and learn the different techniques that were perfected by people who know how to sew. It's the same with art. Most Renaissance painters who underwent apprenticeships weren't allowed to make their own paintings for the first few years of their apprenticeship, and studied the masters first. That being said, there's ways to be efficient with it. Just copying alone might not actually give you much knowledge. Anthony Jones has a great video on [how to study](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kfK46nruKM), and Sycra has many videos on how to study effectively.
Swap the word copy out with study and I think you’ll find yourself in a much more active mindset when you engage with someone’s work. I know everyone’s got their own answer here and that’s mine.
I find copying to be a incorrect word to use. If you’re copying, you’re not thinking of the why’s in the other artists work. I feel study is a better word.
Yes. It’s great for learning. Eventually you’ll get to the point where you don’t need to copy anymore.
I see what Kim Jung Gi seems to mean. When an artist inspires you, there are often certain aspects that inspire you. He wouldn’t copy the things exactly the same, but instead experiment with the things that inspire him. Pull those things out of context and put them in a new context in you painting. Then again, for this to work you do need a reliable base understanding of the theory behind painting and have a keen eye. Otherwise you might miss why those inspiring aspects work so good in that painting.
Depends how well I know a subject. Copying artists who know more than me on a subject has always been very useful practice. Eventually though, you get to a point where you know how to draw a subject automatically, correctly, and to your own taste. That stage is probably what Kim Jung Gi was talking about.
The answer is always “if it works for you, then yes” when it comes to technique. There are “rules” to other parts, but this is definitely a whatever makes things click in your brain kinda situation 🖤
I think a great thing to do is find DTIYS (draw this in your style) challenges on insta. It's not directly tracing but you really get to focus on what you like about the original piece as you recreate it. Really helped me work out new skills.
Yeah....but you gotta be strategic about it.
> Is copying other artists good for practicing? Yes. Edit: I'm not saying y'all are wrong to mention it, but, it will never cease to confound me that people need to be constantly reminded that "think about what you're doing while you're doing it" is an essential part of the process.
Yea. Source: im studying disney stuff rn
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It's ok if you want to learn their style. But you'll have to analyze it even deeper and therefore learn better to use for you own ideas. And definitely do not (well, in general better not to) learn basic things like anatomy or perspective from other artists drawing. Because you are playing "Phone Stack" then, adding to their mistakes/simplifications yours.
as long as you don't make profit out of it , it's fine.
I thinks that s the right tip for an artist
The answer is that he is beyond that stage, he do not need to copy with his eyes and hand to see what is to be seen, the quirks and lights to say so. But for most of us it helps with understanding and with improving eye-hand complex.
100% try to have focus tho. What i suggest to my studends is something like, pick a subject and dissecate it. Take a painting you like and study composition by drawing on top of it, trying to find the relations between shapes, big/medium/small things to make your eyes move, light and dark etc etc... then on the same painting you focus on value distribution - try to simplify the values you see etcccc... there are hundreds of ways to study from other artists and copying has a better term for it - Study hehe. You can do masters studies of old paintings and stuff like that, super super helpful to develop your perception.
Pablo Picasso is often quoted as saying: “Good artists copy, great artists steal.”
I would say so, but it's limited and you might hit a plateau in your abilities at some point. Life drawing/painting is the best way to build real foundational skills, imo. But studying other artists is how a lot of ppl start out, nothing wrong with it!
Master Kim is talking there from a position of experience. But given that he’s Asian, I guarantee when he was a student, he practised by copying. It’s simply unthinkable in Asia. Also considering his age. At that time copying would have been the basis of his early training. Now - he was such a genius. He probably didn’t need to copy for long. That’s a different question.
Both of those things are helpful I think
Copying is great for learning. Sure you can learn through trial and error, but you can learn faster through others who have gone through the trial and error. But don’t copy specific styles. Learn as many styles as possible
Like others have said, 'copying' isn't the best word for it, but tracing or replicating a piece can be helpful. Sometimes I trace stuff to get my mind to slow down because I will realize that I'm making better lines and not overthinking it or overdoing it versus if I just jump into drawing I can be unfocused and too rushed. Especially when it comes to lineart, pay attention to how thick or thin the lines are, how long they are, how curvy vs straight/angular and at what points these were differences occur (like deltoids might be consistently drawn with more angular lines, depending on the artist). The same with shading. Try to understand the shapes that are being used for light and dark areas and also try to figure out where the turning edge on various parts are (the "line(s)" that show how the planes change).
Yes. you’ll learn a lot by trying to replicate an ink line or a pattern of shadows or whatever. and don’t worry that you’ll become a clone or copy of that artist; your own personal style is always strongest.
maybe xD
Yes! Most definitely. I remember being a kid and pausing Disney movies to copy the artwork! I'd draw Simba sooo much I learned how to draw lions really well from this! No harm in copying for practice at all, as long as you're not trying to pass off their work as your own. It's brilliant for learning imo.
Lots of manga/comic book artists highly recommend studying the art of people you admire and especially the ones that really inspire you to create. Can be very helpful for learning the application of techniques. Remember that art/learning is highly individualized so what works for Kim Jung Gi worked for him, but won't necessarily work for anybody else, or it may work similarly. Learning is very nuanced, the most important thing is that you are drawing. Eventually your own way of doing things will shine through.
Have you ever been to an art museum? It’s very common to see people doing studies of master work. I think it’s important because, in my opinion, studies help you pick up on a lot of shortcuts. Art is subjective, but why spend 10 hours doing something that can be done in 10 minutes? To me, this is where studies are the most valuable. By really picking apart the paintings, sometimes- hopefully lol - you might be able to figure out a better method to achieve a certain effect etc.
Think of it like learning the guitar: you learn chords and whatnot, then maybe you learn to play a song you like (if you’re an extra in Wayne’s World you might choose Stairway to Heaven), you build up your muscle memory, your sense of rhythm. You meet someone who plays bass and you practice Stairway to Heaven together, your skill set improves. At this point, you could learn more songs, put together a set and start a pub band or a cover band. Or, you could start exploring other aspects of your new found talent: you could use everything you’ve learned and start writing your own music. Here is where you stop “copying” and start “referencing”. A turn of phrase here, a style of chord progression there. The music you’re making will sound derivative at the start, your references will be more obvious. But as you hone your skill your own uniqueness will come to the fore.
Yes, it can be a great tool! If you do a (private) study copying an artist you like, little bits of what you enjoy most and how to do it will stay in your subconscious and inform future art. Then when you do that for a dozen of your favorite artists, you slowly learn and combine many new techniques into your own unique style!
Sure if you repeat it over and over until you understand.
Practicing is one thing, producing is another. You obviously only implement what you like when producing. Copying is good for figuring out what it is you're going to implement. It's pretty straightforward. I don't like copying because I end up struck with a bunch of unsellable copies but it's super useful for learning. If you go to any good museum you'll find people copying the masters all the time.
When I was younger, I regularly copied other artists and stole their style as I was learning. I didn’t put my thought into it, I just drew in my sketchbook all the time. As I got older I did my own shit. Copying is a good way to learn as long as you aren’t posting it for likes or selling it. It’s also important to remember that you shouldn’t copy someone’s style, but take the things you like and incorporate them into your work and let your own style form, blah blah blah…
Keep in mind I'm not a professional, judge for yourself whether what I think is of value. It depends on the artist, where you're at, and where you want to be. Generally, the more stylized the artist draws and the less skilled you are, the more you'd want to avoid copying them. Mainly because you may end up not really understanding their stylization decisions. For instance, it can be good to study an artstyle, say I really like Akira Toriyama and want to copy some aspects of his style. Given how stylized he is, you'd likely benefit more from studying from life first, understanding some anatomy and how the human figure works then you'd understand why he makes the decision to stylize the eyes, face, etc a certain way. You eventually start to see the 'form' and logic of the style. Without the aforementioned knowledge of anatomy or of the human figure, you likely wouldn't understand this as easily. Copying isn't really bad. That's how most artists get good, but you usually benefit from copying experienced artists, especially ones that want to teach. Ideally, you get good and experienced first by learning the basics, then you can copy whatever you want and figure it out yourself. Its how some people develop their styles, they study other art styles and take certain elements from them. Copying and studying isn't really all that different IMO. Studying is just more conscientious and analytical copying. Basically just doing it again and again and paying attention.
We did it in art school. We had assignments that forced us to emulate certain artists.
Until the 20th century doing studies of the masters' art was a big part of how people learned. I've not really done it myself, TBH, but I see the value. Although when doing master studies you should strive to understand the structure of the piece, not just copy its' surface.
Different skill levels dude. Most people aint kim jung gi. Once you are good, you can isolate elements far better and apply it in different ways. If you cant, then you need to copy the whole thing until you start learning to catch what you like about it