We live in a time where the typical person is bombarded with beautiful images and amazing works of art via the web. We have gained access to a wealth of information that is not only good for students, scholars and intellectuals, but artists and other trades as well. Sharing knowledge of tools, techniques, and useful reference images has become common place with websites devoted to sharing free stuff for all sorts of industries.
Years ago when I first began to surf the web, it was quite difficult to find even a decent free resources at all, and so this revolution in sharing has been quite an amazing thing to behold as it has blossomed into what it is today. It has also forced everyone to step up their game considerably with the hopes of gaining a piece of the potential action that is to be had.
Now on facebook and social media websites, we see people sharing artists images from around the world. Beautiful video, photography, and mind bending works of art coming at us from all angles. I feel this has an enriching effect on us all, but there is a dark side to it for the typical underdog artists who is trying to make a living and some day a name for themselves. I am sure that I am not alone in the feeling that it has become extremely difficult for an unknown artists to impress anyone when creating something original.
Many people are used to seeing lavish special effects in film and TV and have the attitude that it is an easy feat to produce such effects, despite that they cost big studios millions of dollars. Many have become desensitized to these works of art as they continually get better and better, and I often hear people taking for granted the insane amount of combined talent and effort to produce such images.
Creating a unique work of art is not impossible, there is plenty of room for new creations, and still yet billions of variations in techniques to be explored. However there is an issue to contend with that is becoming more obvious to most artists, and that is the fact that people do not often relate to something new as well as something they have a history with already.
Many artists struggle with the emotion that it feels as though everything has already been done before, that everything is just a remix. Often times I have made a work of art, spending countless hours toiling away. Then when I show it to some people, they explain how it reminds them of something else that has already been done. All I can do is shrug and explain that I was initially unaware of the similarities between my work and someone else who came before me. Should I have done more research or is it OK that my work happens to resemble the work of someone else?
I typically let it slide, and move on to the next project or idea in the hopes that it won’t happen again, but time after time it does. It makes a person wonder, if being original is something that truly has become nearly impossible no matter how hard you try, so why not give in and just focus on recreating successful ideas? If an idea is already successful, it will most likely get a better response. Who wants to recreate the wheel slightly differently over and over again when it has been done and was successful enough the first time around?
I don’t typically scour the web to see if something has been done before when I have an idea, I just get right into making the art. Art always begins with some sort of idea, and sometimes there is no influence for the idea when we are purposefully trying to develop something original. We just think of something we would like to make and try to bring it to reality.
Creating original art can be a challenge because so many common themes have been done over and over again and keeping track of what has already been done is nearly impossible for an individual.
Furthermore, there is a new trend that has bothered me, or rather perplexing me. This is the expansion and growth of what we might call remix culture. Artists who are taking familiar characters and ideas from pop culture, and putting their own little twist to it. Creating derivatives of well known icons has become more common than ever. Some might call it fan art, some might call it blatant plagiarism. There is one thing for sure, it is very successful in becoming popular and getting attention quickly.
People love to see familiar characters recreated in a new way, in a new style, no one would deny that this is true. Just about everyone has some reboot that they like even more than the original. As well, artists love to take familiar and well proven concepts and recreate them because the hard part has been done, which is creating the original concept to begin with.
These artists are tapping into a well established fan base and riding on the coat tails of others hard work to build an audience for themselves. For these artists, it might seem like a win-win situation, since they are bypassing a lot of the struggle in climbing the mountain instead opting to take a helicopter and get dropped off at the summit. Yet many might not be aware of the murkyness where they are traversing because it has become such a popular trend. After all, it does seem that everyone is doing it.
In the case of fan art, one would think this is not such a bad thing. Many artists learn how to become good artist by studying what is already popular and creating a fan art version in their own style, or generating a faithful recreation of the original style. It rarely becomes an issue in fact, unless one tries to go commercial with such endeavors, such as when you try to sell a derivative of a work protected by copyright.
Another danger, is that if the derivative becomes popular enough or is highly controversial, it might take business or attention away from the original owner of the copyright. You can be sure big companies like DC, Marvel, and more will vigorously come after those who are potentially damaging their ability to make money off their copyrighted intellectual property. So these artists who are infringing always need to be somewhat aware that they are playing with fire.
So what is an unknown artist to do to get an audience? The trends we are seeing with the web are making it obvious that people often don’t identify well with original designs as much as they would with a design that is already well established through popular media. The explosion of talented artists utilizing the web to advance their skills makes it that much more difficult, ramping up the competition. Sometimes, it is only other artists who can appreciate the hard work going into some original designs, and I think we need to work together to promote each other and keep our spirits high in an age when others fail to see our efforts for what they are.
I have made a few fan art works myself, and hope I don’t some day get a take down letter saying they have to be removed. I didn’t generate a lot of attention, and none of these works are being sold, just shared freely. I think it is OK to make and share fan art or derivatives of well known works to get a small boost in attention on a small scale, but it should not become a business or common thing. Artists need to remain aware in the volume of attention we generate and be considerate of the kind of attention we generate using this approach. Most large companies don’t seem to mind as long as you aren’t bringing negative attention to their franchises or taking too many of their fans dollars away.
Let me be honest, copyrighting seems like a load of legal crap anyhow. If I can make the same design as you, why do you get to own it forever just because you made it first. While it does help one person to build empires, it also serves to hold another person down when they should otherwise be given a chance. If I can make a wheel and you can make a wheel, we should be able to ride on that wheel any way we choose.
The fact is, I feel that artists who copy popular works are in a way doing the copyright holders a service by advertising their franchise for free, showing the love you have for their products in flattering reproduction. Making a habit of selling derivatives is most certainly a really bad idea though despite its popularity these days, and this is a popular trend to get caught up because it certainly seems that everyone is doing it.
If you found this entry interesting, you should probably check out this fascinating documentary on the subject of remix phenomenon.
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/everything-remix/
