Can u help me? I'm a young artist and quite confused abt this topic u see I entered a contest at school I referenced upon a photo and the product looks super similar yet u can identify the differences on it very easily and looked like it was another's art and I just took it. My upper class men and judges didn't believe me. They disqualified me into making plagiarised art. Im just sad cuz it took me a long time doing it and putted my whole effort. May u please clarify what wrongs I did so I can do better on art and as an artist in the future. I hope u recognize this thank u! :))))
The comment about patience resonated with me. We’re getting more used to immediate results. I’d love to hear your take/a video on increasing your “artistic patience or stamina”! Thank you so so much for sharing all of your wisdom.
This makes me remember when I was acused of plagiarism in a high school subject. It was about a science lab report that I worked with a tiny group of people. Obviously we were sharing some stuff in our papers because we did the experiment together. But when everybody presented their report ( I'm not stupid, I know plagiarism is bad. So, obviously I use paraphrasing and citation ), the rest of my group just copy what I did. ( but I have the fault too because I share my document cause I thought they will use it as reference only ). Also the teacher didn't like me so everyone blame me and even though I try to defend myself, nobody belived me. Since then plagiarism is something that scares me a lot. I'm study animation in college now and I know there are a lot of images, sources or even other artists that we admire that constantly influences us all the time by different types of social media. So whenever I draw, I'm always asking myself is this really original and unique ? I tried always to be true to myself and my art. But it's also difficult to show a new idea that is not being already taken by someone else. I don't want to pass through that experience again because it really hurted me a lot.
That's so awful, we're sorry you were blamed for that. At least now you're probably the most original person in class! Thank you so much for watching :) - Mia Rozear, Art Prof Staff
Honestly I think especially in this day, many students need to be explicitly taught how to think creatively. The act of synthesizing multiple inputs into something original is difficult, especially nowadays when we typically just "Google it" befor we even try just thinking about it. Maybe some students just don't know how to be original or what that even looks like anymore.
That's a really good point, googling things seems to be the default before even taking time to understand the prompt/assignment. Hopefully true originality still exists somewhere! If you liked this video, you might also enjoy this one about photo references: th-cam.com/video/E1HQ9AkvZVc/w-d-xo.html -Mia Rozear, Art Prof Staff
I teach middle school art and I think the underlying reason that students plagiarize artwork is because they don't believe they have the skill for that particular project and they think they can get away with it. I am planning on explicitly teaching plagiarism to my students next year because it is hard for students to conceptualize why plagiarism is so harmful to the artists that created the original work and ultimately, harmful to them because you learn nothing from that project/experience.
This is really interesting, thank you so much for sharing your experience! That will help your students immensely as they move forward :) - Mia Rozear, Art Prof Staff
I had an AP student who plagiarized almost her entire portfolio, but I didn’t catch it until after we submitted the portfolio to College Board. We had to contact the College Board and they forfeited her portfolio and her grade in class was lowered to a D. One assignment I have recently given my students is to do an “original fan art” piece. There are ways to get students to think outside the box by using images found in pop culture or done by other artists. We have examples of major artists who have done that and their work was considered original because it was repackaged somehow. I am not 100% convinced that in this day and age that would be acceptable, but it can be a springboard for learning, for creativity, and for growing as artists.
Assignments that inspire creative thinking are always great! The line between plagiarism and inspiration can be so thin sometimes, but as long as an artist is consciously thinking about it that's a good sign. - Mia Rozear, Art Prof Staff
There is actually an art forger who started out small and ended up painting millions of dollars worth of fake art. He was eventually caught and spent a lot of time in jail.
Art Prof: Create & Critique the artist, Beltrachi, did not forge any actual artworks, he only forged the signature. All of the artworks he produced were actually his interpretation of the artist he was “copying”. As a matter of fact major art museums and collectors have refused to reevaluate some of the works they suspected to be made by Beltrachi simply because the works were considered to be some of the best examples of the artist whose signature was placed on the artwork. There is a documentary you need to watch on this “forger”. In my opinion Beltrachi is a genius. He slapped the so called art experts and collectors in the face by proving that the name on the artwork should never be the only reason someone buys the artwork. We all know that art has become a commodity and a very fun way for people to launder money.
One art history teacher I know has ditched the traditional essay, in favour of having students do shorter written reflection questions tied to weekly readings, as well as in class reflections, and then a main project where you usually have to organize an exhibition related to the course topic - choose 5-6 art objects and you usually write about 750 words about the object, and how it fits the theme of your exhibition which you also wrote about, in around 1,000 words. Then a conclusion. You hand in the idea for your exhibit early on, and meet with the teacher about it and do an elevator pitch about your exhibit. Oh, before that you workshop it with classmates as well. So it’s harder to cheat on this kinda project. She’s done this too with film studies - five or six films related to a theme. Haven’t seen people cheat in studio art courses. There was one painting teacher who didn’t like students projecting there reference to trace it out and another teacher who was totally fine with it and did it himself for very intricate works. But that’s just the start. They encouraged people to get their own references - it’s there own photo of a street scene or whatever. In a nonstudio course one classmate bragged about getting his girlfriend to write a weekly journal entry for him that we had to do. Like self reflection in a journal. Easiest thing ever. I kinda wanted to say something and I did to him, I was like dude the teacher might figure it out. It was a first year class and ultimately I didn’t say anything. He wouldn’t go far if he kept doing that in upper level courses.
I love the exhibition project idea your art history teacher designed. We had very similar projects in grad school- exhibition + short essay / press release. I got so much out of those kinds of projects! -Lauryn, Art Prof Teaching Artist
Plagiarism is becoming such a big problem in the industry that we now have to give everyone elaborate "art tests" before hiring them. Professors really need to crack down on it. There might be some element of not understanding how heavily they should reference, but we see instances like you described where the illustrator's portfolio was basically all copies of other illustrators. For an art director or production director, there's a big difference in recognizing an artist has done master copies or photo studies in their portfolio vs copying another artists work. There is no excuse for it. Seriously if you need reference, at least transform from another medium like using screen shots of a film.
Wow, I've never heard of "art tests" to prevent plagiarism! That's crazy, but necessary I suppose. Hopefully passionate artists will strive for originality over convenience! Thank you so much for watching :) if you liked this video, you might also enjoy this one about self promotion mistakes in the art world: th-cam.com/video/7yWd88vOnnw/w-d-xo.html - Mia Rozear, Art Prof Staff
Hey, i'm an eleventh grader from germany. :) Plagiarism is a constant occurrence in my school's art class. I believe that the problem is, that most of them lack in originality, ingenuity and have not yet found their own drawing style (which you can't really expect at 15/16/17 years though). When the teacher introduces the new topic everyone naturally takes their cell phone out and googles for “inspiration”. In the end they paint it themselves and learn to a certain extent the technique from copying their templates found on the Internet, but their own performance is missing. And I think a big reason is the pressure you have already mentioned; online they see technically flawless works of art everywhere and are now putting pressure on themselves to have to perform at the same level. I also noticed that the teachers usually rate technically clean, impressive copies without a proper idea better than their own originality, which of course takes a certain risk of going wrong and subordinating the pure technique to the idea behind them - which of course encourages the students even more in what they do. Thank you for always creating such entertaining content and I’m really looking forward to the next livestream . ;)
That's a really good point! A lot of times teachers will value technical proficiency rather than originality, which tells students they don't need to be original in order to be successful. Hopefully our channel can help spark some creativity! If you liked this video, you might also enjoy this one about photorealism: th-cam.com/video/zVAkdgRe8QE/w-d-xo.html Thank you so much for watching! - Mia Rozear, Art Prof Staff
_fstl I am a high school art teacher in California. In my class I encourage students to copy master drawings so that students would improve their technical skills. This practice has been at the foundation of all artists since the beginning of time. Once you feel that your skills have improved, the next step, or maybe even in parallel with master drawing copying, you should be working from life. Life drawings are extremely important to train your eye to observe. Once the “training” reaches a point where your creativity can take over, then original work is ready to be taken to the next level. I find that all these things play an important role in the development of the artist.
I went to school in Germany too and our teacher actually gave us a fun plagiarism assignment: to "copy" the motives of 3 different artworks of our choice into one artwork of our own but to do it in a way that the teacher would not be able to immediately find the originals online. You got 100/100 when it took him more than 5 minutes He never found mine :) You bet that was the most creative this class ever got
What do you do when your art is plagiarized or ripped off in one way or another? I've had recurring problems with it, including an incident in which an artist I was renting studio space from, copied my work. Now, she made some minor changes to hers, so it wouldn't have bothered me as much....except that she then went and taught classes to students, to teach them to make work like mine! She's more established as an artist than I am, so I simply left the studio and quit working in that medium (because there was no other studio space available here). It's irritating to me; people should mine their own souls for their work instead of copying someone else's.
That is so crazy, I'm so sorry that happened to you! Sadly, when you're an artist with an established style/work ethic, everyone will be gunning for you and what you have :( The good news is that you will have the most genuine approach to that style of work no matter what, since it came from you! It is still discouraging though - Mia, Art Prof Staff
I did a pottery class and was making a very specific slipware tile where I had created a stamp of a deer to make them. A fellow student (overseas studying in UK) wanted to take it and use it - just straight copy, and she really couldnt get at all why I had an issue with that - I think it was a cultural thing partly - I got the impression that all that was expected and admired and valued in her background was success, and not originality. I had offered her the materials and coaching on how to make her own, but she wasnt interested at all in that…..😐😬
That's so sad... It's crazy how so many people assume they can just take designs and concepts like that! It was so nice of you to even offer extra help... - Mia, Art Prof Staff
This was an interesting and informative video. I thought it was weird that one of my remote art teachers required us to take photos next to our classwork but now I know why. We also had to post halfway done work. A few times I forgot to take photos of my half-way done work but I just turned of extra photos to compensate.
The whole point in art is the process ... I mean if would be awesome if all our work is Awesome ... but .. the process is what makes it so wonderful .. The degrees of improvements you see overtime.
I don't know what art school is like, but when I took drawing in college and jewelry in college, I wanted to learn how to draw and how to make jewelry. The jewelry class was an art class which is totally useless if you want to get a job as a jewler, and the drawing class was way too focused on being creative while not teaching any skills like perspective,, proportion, composition, technique, etc...although one assignment which I hated but was valuable was doing a still life in complementary colors. Dont get me wrong, I loved jewelry class, but I am not a creative person at all. Im a very analytical person, so I'm never going to have a career as a jewelry artist or a regular artist, but had I been taught the skills, I could have like, painted portraits with a good likeness or got a job as a jeweler.
Everyone learns and creates artwork differently, so there's no shame in going about it analytically! In fact, that can help you a lot with things like metalsmithing and working with 3d materials. Thank you so much for watching! If you liked this video, feel free to check this one out about perspective: th-cam.com/video/gYSS-moRSms/w-d-xo.html - Mia Rozear, Art Prof Staff
I could never understand why anyone would go to school to learn something, only to copy someone else's work. What has that student paid for, gone to school for, to just copy someone else's work? These people have got to have some kind of inferiority complex or something? How will they ever survive in the real world? I was a biology major and eventually left the university, as there were so many people paying others, such as TAs, to do their work, to get copies of exams ahead of time, etc. Some of these people go on to become doctors, nurses, pharmacists, etc. Darn scary that some of these people were going to be dosing medications, yet some couldn't do a basic algebr problem, and didn't know much of anything about chemistry. Some had parents paying their way into school, too. We ran across a few that came to work in a laboratory I worked at. They didn't last but a few days. Scary! I had heard about it before I went to that university, and honestly, I would have anyone pass a test for me in person before I would hire them for any work, and many companies are doing exactly that, even for engineering, medical positions, and yes, for artwork. It would seem we need to instill values in children, that for some seems to be lacking. I would suggest having students take pictures, as you showed, and perhaps as they go. It only takes a second and is a good verification. This has been a problem for at least 40 years, that I have seen 1st-hand. It isn't fair for any of the other students who are doing the work and are there to learn - especially when teachers grade on a curve, which I wouldn't at all recommend. Seeing so much plagiarism, parents paying under-the-table for young people to get into a school, making donations to get their kids into a school or program cast a shadow on the school as well, and undermines the school's reputation. Sometimes, corruption runs so deep that I honestly would hire a candidate from other schools, or at least run them through an on-site test. I've seen medical centers do just that, as far back as 30+ years ago. That way, those who aren't qualified don't get the job, and thus, aren't usually a problem. Plagiarism should be discussed in schools as young as elementary school, middle school, and high schools, so kids understand that it is not OK and that using and/or copying AI isn't OK, either. I'm glad you addressed this issue. Hopefully, those thinking about it will be deterred and not waste other people's time, their money, and the risking reputations of schools and themselves by being lazy and not even trying to do anything original. If you are reading this and thinking of cheating, DON'T! And don't be pushed into it, such as parents paying to get you a slot in school you didn't earn your way into, doing other people's work or whatever. Stop being lazy, and do your best work, as that is truly your work. I would much rather see someone struggle and learn than see someone who just skids through on other people's work, and has no skills and cannot perform, and has no self-esteem (or worse, thinks they can get paid on other people's work.) People who cheat through school and don't struggle to learn generally don't survive in the real world in any professional workplace - not art, not anywhere, and wind up doing something else for work, like flipping burgers or cleaning tables, which is FAR less interesting, and pays far less in the long-run.
This is how a lot of contemporary artists I know are, they just copy pictures from movies or photos from Pinterest or tumblr and it’s like… why not just be creative aren’t you supposed to be an artist? Not a copy machine?
Here much later, but I want to say that I think if a student skews an image just a pittle( stretch it ever so slightly for example), reverse Google image and other sites don’t pick up the image :( it is hard for teachers
Oh yes, I've had that trouble with Google Image reverse search as well. 😞 There was a student in our undergrad program who would take images from Tumblr and paint them and call them his own. Wasn't ever picked up by reverse search, but someone recognized the image from something they saw online. -Lauryn, Art Prof Teaching Artist
....as someone who took a main art class in highschool, i honestly completely understand the insane amount of copy-pasting and plagiarism that was going on there. Even if you would like to, you simply do not have the time and mental capacity to put 6-12 hours of work into one single assignment that will be only a small part of your grade in this one single class while you know full well that in 2 weeks you will have to go onto the next assigned artistic marathon. In all honesty, our highschool art class, if you had a minimal level of skill, was the easiest one to cheat on out of the whole curriculum, and every single one of our tiny course did it for this exact reason. Myself included of course. I am a very creative person but to put a creative idea into a format polished enough to earn you a good grade takes time, time that at least in high school i did not have.
I think burnout is also a HUGE reason why people might choose to take the easier route, and I completely understand it. It takes so much mental energy to create great art, it's impossible to always be "on"! It does suck to watch other people pass without trying, though... - Mia Rozear, Art Prof Staff
I had an engineering graduate student to submit me the weekly article (they can write any subject), when I started to read, I could tell that it's totally impossible for him to write such an article - I turned on my Google Search and it's the 1st article that's on the Google search, he just copy and paste every single word, not even change any word at all. That's when I told the whole class what the word 'plagiarism' means; the other student simply insert a phrase into her writing and I told her that's also plagiarism - I had to tell her if she quotes from another writer's writing, she has to put parenthesis for that phrase.
It's getting tougher to be a figure artist if you don't have the ability to photograph multiple figures for a painting. I have revisited former works from previous classes. Ie I repainted the same composition, hoping to do better. I never thought of it as plagiarism. Or using a stock photograph as a source for constructing a composition as plagiarism.
Hi there, I am late to this discussion yet after seeing this video and the stream from 10/11, I feel that plagiarism is very harmful to the student because throughout the entire process the student is having an internal dialog about their lack of ability. I always heard that "you only cheat yourself" but, in my opinion, it is the painful psychological state of feeling less than or lacking in talent and skills. It must be terrible to have that internal dialog that leads us to that edge.
You're right, there's such a societal pressure to be technically amazing at artwork that plagiarism is somewhat accepted-- for example, as long as it looks good, a student can do what they want. However, originality is far more important, at least in my opinion! Thank you so much for watching :) - Mia Rozear, Art Prof Staff
I used photographic references from Pinterest to make art which were almost like the photo itself and people wanted to buy it . I’m still in highschool and I was definitely in the photorealistic phase when I began watching art prof. Watching a lot of your videos I’m able to understand the importance of subject matter and originality (thanks a lot!) so I’m leaning more towards it lately. But I’m very proud of all the paintings I did before because it did take a lot of technical effort. However I did post my old artworks on Instagram and other social media platforms and people said they wanted to buy it Is it right to sell my artwork? I really don’t know please guide me
I'm going off instinct, so please follow up with someone more knowledgable in industry. I would think if you are using your own original pictures no problem. If it is an open source image you shouldn't have to worry too much. List the source image and where you found it to be safe. If it is copyrighted you need to get legally valid permission to copy and sell your work from the copyright holder. That might involve fees and/or royalties. Hope this helps.
I know of someone who plagiarized a watercolor flower and was only given a warning at the HS level. Was allowed in the art honor society- there was no doubt speck for speck and staining in the watercolor- it was found on like 20 sites. It isn’t ok! I understand learning and working once I an awhile for practice and say it is based so and so.
Ugh, that's awful! Yeah, doing a master copy is totally different from making an artwork for an assignment and claiming it's your composition and idea. -Lauryn, Art Prof Teaching Artist
If you are in a school. And you consider cheating in any way. You either don't want to learn but only have the diploma, or, your school sucks and the only value they offer is the diploma. Your desire to cheat is a sign of a real problem.
4:13 re the guy copying the Japanese comic, surely they expected you to submit the originals of artwork? Especially 15+ years ago? It sounds like you were allowed to just photograph your project and submit the photos. That seems weird to me. Or could you say you'd created it digitally? We're you allowed to submit digital artwork back then? Was it even possible (without really expensive software?)... What about nowadays?
@@artprof I've never been to art school but I would have assumed that most coursework would have to fit in a standard art portfolio and you'd be expected to submit that. Also I heard that they teach you to sign everything you do (1) because it's good practice and (2) so there can be no doubt who produced what!
I think social media and the pressure to be great on younger generations nowadays makes students desparate to be the best. And they resort to things like this to hold up that facade.
I'm curious what your experience with more subtle forms of plagiarism? Plagiarism that may or may not be Plagiarism. For example a composition that takes elements from other artworks bur rearranges it or 'remixes' it. I also wonder where you where you draw the line between quoting and referencing other art and plagiarism?
I'd say (in my opinion) it varies case by case. Inspiration vs appropriation vs plagiarism, it can be very hard to determine between the three! - Mia Rozear, Art Prof Staff
The funny thing about copying junji ito is his style is so unique to him particularly the teeth that i think even none artists like myself would recognise it immediately. It Fry's my brain because he could actually draw but all he did was copy
Hi! I'm not sure what you mean by "public photo," (maybe you mean "public domain?") but it really depends on the situation, as in some circumstances it's allowed under "fair use." The problem is that "fair use" is interpreted really differently by many people, so nothing is clear cut. I recommend you watch this stream we did, where I interview a lawyer, he explains a lot of it: th-cam.com/video/UqU7d0dvc6E/w-d-xo.html -Prof Lieu
So, I have two lecturemates in my classes that I know for a fact that they plagiarized multiple people's essays (They took different paragraphs from different people, including me) Someone even blatantly copied a typographic work on Pinterest. Also, this dude literally took my character design work, traced it and completely recoloured it.
Awful, really sorry you had to deal with that. This stream might help you: Copyright Law for Artists: Ask a Lawyer! th-cam.com/video/UqU7d0dvc6E/w-d-xo.html
So, please What's z case 4 a student's own work, zat's done after a lesson & steps of an artist, who taught it over a Pinterest public photo reference ?
That sounds like a very specific case that we would need to see the artwork/reference to decide! With things like this it can depend on specifics to nail down. I'd say that as long as the artist is making the piece their own-- i.e., not a direct copy-- it should be fine. - Mia, Art Prof Staff
I don't get it really..because when it comes to me: I'd rather be a bad artist than steal someone elses work and treat it like my own. Because...I want to be able to do it myself! That's the whole point of being an artist isn't it??? It's about me and how I see and capture the world! I understand that some people are RLY desperate to make art their career...but...where do they think this is going to lead them?
I feel that it is fine to try the techniques and such of another artist through their drawing, but do not post it or claim it as yours. Just use it for self practice of something new or a technique you’re not good at.
why do you HAVE to have your own art style when there are so many. And why do you think that an art style NEEDS to be owned in general in a shared human community. why do you feel that you can't you have the freedom to make any kind of art styles you want.
I make originsl paintings from my imagination, so do not understand why people have to be so lazy. similarly photo realism is in my mind not really worth it as I do art to be different from others, also a photo is the exact same image. My inspirations are the impressionists, but I have been told by several arty friends that I have a distinctive style of my own.
Watch our stream on How Do You Recognize Plagiarism? th-cam.com/video/hawLAMQW-5Q/w-d-xo.html
Can u help me? I'm a young artist and quite confused abt this topic u see I entered a contest at school I referenced upon a photo and the product looks super similar yet u can identify the differences on it very easily and looked like it was another's art and I just took it. My upper class men and judges didn't believe me. They disqualified me into making plagiarised art. Im just sad cuz it took me a long time doing it and putted my whole effort. May u please clarify what wrongs I did so I can do better on art and as an artist in the future. I hope u recognize this thank u! :))))
The comment about patience resonated with me. We’re getting more used to immediate results. I’d love to hear your take/a video on increasing your “artistic patience or stamina”! Thank you so so much for sharing all of your wisdom.
Yes! Here is a video on patience while chasing success: th-cam.com/video/mJQI8PKt1P8/w-d-xo.html -Prof Lieu
This makes me remember when I was acused of plagiarism in a high school subject. It was about a science lab report that I worked with a tiny group of people. Obviously we were sharing some stuff in our papers because we did the experiment together. But when everybody presented their report ( I'm not stupid, I know plagiarism is bad. So, obviously I use paraphrasing and citation ), the rest of my group just copy what I did. ( but I have the fault too because I share my document cause I thought they will use it as reference only ). Also the teacher didn't like me so everyone blame me and even though I try to defend myself, nobody belived me. Since then plagiarism is something that scares me a lot. I'm study animation in college now and I know there are a lot of images, sources or even other artists that we admire that constantly influences us all the time by different types of social media. So whenever I draw, I'm always asking myself is this really original and unique ? I tried always to be true to myself and my art. But it's also difficult to show a new idea that is not being already taken by someone else. I don't want to pass through that experience again because it really hurted me a lot.
im so sorry, its horrible how they just used you but i bet ur in a better place now than they are :p
That's so awful, we're sorry you were blamed for that. At least now you're probably the most original person in class! Thank you so much for watching :) - Mia Rozear, Art Prof Staff
Honestly I think especially in this day, many students need to be explicitly taught how to think creatively. The act of synthesizing multiple inputs into something original is difficult, especially nowadays when we typically just "Google it" befor we even try just thinking about it. Maybe some students just don't know how to be original or what that even looks like anymore.
That's a really good point, googling things seems to be the default before even taking time to understand the prompt/assignment. Hopefully true originality still exists somewhere! If you liked this video, you might also enjoy this one about photo references: th-cam.com/video/E1HQ9AkvZVc/w-d-xo.html -Mia Rozear, Art Prof Staff
Sad, but true.
I teach middle school art and I think the underlying reason that students plagiarize artwork is because they don't believe they have the skill for that particular project and they think they can get away with it. I am planning on explicitly teaching plagiarism to my students next year because it is hard for students to conceptualize why plagiarism is so harmful to the artists that created the original work and ultimately, harmful to them because you learn nothing from that project/experience.
This is really interesting, thank you so much for sharing your experience! That will help your students immensely as they move forward :) - Mia Rozear, Art Prof Staff
I had an AP student who plagiarized almost her entire portfolio, but I didn’t catch it until after we submitted the portfolio to College Board. We had to contact the College Board and they forfeited her portfolio and her grade in class was lowered to a D.
One assignment I have recently given my students is to do an “original fan art” piece. There are ways to get students to think outside the box by using images found in pop culture or done by other artists. We have examples of major artists who have done that and their work was considered original because it was repackaged somehow. I am not 100% convinced that in this day and age that would be acceptable, but it can be a springboard for learning, for creativity, and for growing as artists.
Assignments that inspire creative thinking are always great! The line between plagiarism and inspiration can be so thin sometimes, but as long as an artist is consciously thinking about it that's a good sign. - Mia Rozear, Art Prof Staff
There is actually an art forger who started out small and ended up painting millions of dollars worth of fake art. He was eventually caught and spent a lot of time in jail.
Wow, that's crazy. Thank you so much for watching! - Mia Rozear, Art Prof Staff
Art Prof: Create & Critique the artist, Beltrachi, did not forge any actual artworks, he only forged the signature. All of the artworks he produced were actually his interpretation of the artist he was “copying”. As a matter of fact major art museums and collectors have refused to reevaluate some of the works they suspected to be made by Beltrachi simply because the works were considered to be some of the best examples of the artist whose signature was placed on the artwork. There is a documentary you need to watch on this “forger”. In my opinion Beltrachi is a genius. He slapped the so called art experts and collectors in the face by proving that the name on the artwork should never be the only reason someone buys the artwork. We all know that art has become a commodity and a very fun way for people to launder money.
Tom Keating?
One art history teacher I know has ditched the traditional essay, in favour of having students do shorter written reflection questions tied to weekly readings, as well as in class reflections, and then a main project where you usually have to organize an exhibition related to the course topic - choose 5-6 art objects and you usually write about 750 words about the object, and how it fits the theme of your exhibition which you also wrote about, in around 1,000 words. Then a conclusion. You hand in the idea for your exhibit early on, and meet with the teacher about it and do an elevator pitch about your exhibit. Oh, before that you workshop it with classmates as well. So it’s harder to cheat on this kinda project. She’s done this too with film studies - five or six films related to a theme.
Haven’t seen people cheat in studio art courses. There was one painting teacher who didn’t like students projecting there reference to trace it out and another teacher who was totally fine with it and did it himself for very intricate works. But that’s just the start. They encouraged people to get their own references - it’s there own photo of a street scene or whatever.
In a nonstudio course one classmate bragged about getting his girlfriend to write a weekly journal entry for him that we had to do. Like self reflection in a journal. Easiest thing ever. I kinda wanted to say something and I did to him, I was like dude the teacher might figure it out. It was a first year class and ultimately I didn’t say anything. He wouldn’t go far if he kept doing that in upper level courses.
I love the exhibition project idea your art history teacher designed. We had very similar projects in grad school- exhibition + short essay / press release. I got so much out of those kinds of projects! -Lauryn, Art Prof Teaching Artist
Plagiarism is becoming such a big problem in the industry that we now have to give everyone elaborate "art tests" before hiring them. Professors really need to crack down on it. There might be some element of not understanding how heavily they should reference, but we see instances like you described where the illustrator's portfolio was basically all copies of other illustrators. For an art director or production director, there's a big difference in recognizing an artist has done master copies or photo studies in their portfolio vs copying another artists work. There is no excuse for it. Seriously if you need reference, at least transform from another medium like using screen shots of a film.
Wow, I've never heard of "art tests" to prevent plagiarism! That's crazy, but necessary I suppose. Hopefully passionate artists will strive for originality over convenience! Thank you so much for watching :) if you liked this video, you might also enjoy this one about self promotion mistakes in the art world: th-cam.com/video/7yWd88vOnnw/w-d-xo.html - Mia Rozear, Art Prof Staff
Hey, i'm an eleventh grader from germany. :) Plagiarism is a constant occurrence in my school's art class.
I believe that the problem is, that most of them lack in originality, ingenuity and have not yet found their own drawing style (which you can't really expect at 15/16/17 years though).
When the teacher introduces the new topic everyone naturally takes their cell phone out and googles for “inspiration”.
In the end they paint it themselves and learn to a certain extent the technique from copying their templates found on the Internet, but their own performance is missing.
And I think a big reason is the pressure you have already mentioned; online they see technically flawless works of art everywhere and are now putting pressure on themselves to have to perform at the same level.
I also noticed that the teachers usually rate technically clean, impressive copies without a proper idea better than their own originality, which of course takes a certain risk of going wrong and subordinating the pure technique to the idea behind them - which of course encourages the students even more in what they do.
Thank you for always creating such entertaining content and I’m really looking forward to the next livestream . ;)
That's a really good point! A lot of times teachers will value technical proficiency rather than originality, which tells students they don't need to be original in order to be successful. Hopefully our channel can help spark some creativity! If you liked this video, you might also enjoy this one about photorealism: th-cam.com/video/zVAkdgRe8QE/w-d-xo.html Thank you so much for watching! - Mia Rozear, Art Prof Staff
_fstl I am a high school art teacher in California. In my class I encourage students to copy master drawings so that students would improve their technical skills. This practice has been at the foundation of all artists since the beginning of time. Once you feel that your skills have improved, the next step, or maybe even in parallel with master drawing copying, you should be working from life. Life drawings are extremely important to train your eye to observe. Once the “training” reaches a point where your creativity can take over, then original work is ready to be taken to the next level. I find that all these things play an important role in the development of the artist.
I went to school in Germany too and our teacher actually gave us a fun plagiarism assignment: to "copy" the motives of 3 different artworks of our choice into one artwork of our own but to do it in a way that the teacher would not be able to immediately find the originals online.
You got 100/100 when it took him more than 5 minutes
He never found mine :)
You bet that was the most creative this class ever got
What do you do when your art is plagiarized or ripped off in one way or another? I've had recurring problems with it, including an incident in which an artist I was renting studio space from, copied my work. Now, she made some minor changes to hers, so it wouldn't have bothered me as much....except that she then went and taught classes to students, to teach them to make work like mine! She's more established as an artist than I am, so I simply left the studio and quit working in that medium (because there was no other studio space available here). It's irritating to me; people should mine their own souls for their work instead of copying someone else's.
That is so crazy, I'm so sorry that happened to you! Sadly, when you're an artist with an established style/work ethic, everyone will be gunning for you and what you have :( The good news is that you will have the most genuine approach to that style of work no matter what, since it came from you! It is still discouraging though - Mia, Art Prof Staff
I did a pottery class and was making a very specific slipware tile where I had created a stamp of a deer to make them. A fellow student (overseas studying in UK) wanted to take it and use it - just straight copy, and she really couldnt get at all why I had an issue with that - I think it was a cultural thing partly - I got the impression that all that was expected and admired and valued in her background was success, and not originality. I had offered her the materials and coaching on how to make her own, but she wasnt interested at all in that…..😐😬
That's so sad... It's crazy how so many people assume they can just take designs and concepts like that! It was so nice of you to even offer extra help... - Mia, Art Prof Staff
This was an interesting and informative video. I thought it was weird that one of my remote art teachers required us to take photos next to our classwork but now I know why. We also had to post halfway done work. A few times I forgot to take photos of my half-way done work but I just turned of extra photos to compensate.
Thank you so much for watching! We're glad you liked it :) - Mia Rozear, Art Prof Staff
The whole point in art is the process ... I mean if would be awesome if all our work is Awesome ... but .. the process is what makes it so wonderful ..
The degrees of improvements you see overtime.
I don't know what art school is like, but when I took drawing in college and jewelry in college, I wanted to learn how to draw and how to make jewelry. The jewelry class was an art class which is totally useless if you want to get a job as a jewler, and the drawing class was way too focused on being creative while not teaching any skills like perspective,, proportion, composition, technique, etc...although one assignment which I hated but was valuable was doing a still life in complementary colors. Dont get me wrong, I loved jewelry class, but I am not a creative person at all. Im a very analytical person, so I'm never going to have a career as a jewelry artist or a regular artist, but had I been taught the skills, I could have like, painted portraits with a good likeness or got a job as a jeweler.
Everyone learns and creates artwork differently, so there's no shame in going about it analytically! In fact, that can help you a lot with things like metalsmithing and working with 3d materials. Thank you so much for watching! If you liked this video, feel free to check this one out about perspective: th-cam.com/video/gYSS-moRSms/w-d-xo.html - Mia Rozear, Art Prof Staff
My mom literally liked another student's plagiarized piece more than my own painting😔
That's horrible!! Original work should always win out :( - Mia, Art Prof Staff
Thank you so much Ma'am😁
I could never understand why anyone would go to school to learn something, only to copy someone else's work.
What has that student paid for, gone to school for, to just copy someone else's work?
These people have got to have some kind of inferiority complex or something? How will they ever survive in the real world?
I was a biology major and eventually left the university, as there were so many people paying others, such as TAs, to do their work, to get copies of exams ahead of time, etc.
Some of these people go on to become doctors, nurses, pharmacists, etc. Darn scary that some of these people were going to be dosing medications, yet some couldn't do a basic algebr problem, and didn't know much of anything about chemistry. Some had parents paying their way into school, too.
We ran across a few that came to work in a laboratory I worked at. They didn't last but a few days.
Scary!
I had heard about it before I went to that university, and honestly, I would have anyone pass a test for me in person before I would hire them for any work, and many companies are doing exactly that, even for engineering, medical positions, and yes, for artwork.
It would seem we need to instill values in children, that for some seems to be lacking.
I would suggest having students take pictures, as you showed, and perhaps as they go. It only takes a second and is a good verification.
This has been a problem for at least 40 years, that I have seen 1st-hand.
It isn't fair for any of the other students who are doing the work and are there to learn - especially when teachers grade on a curve, which I wouldn't at all recommend.
Seeing so much plagiarism, parents paying under-the-table for young people to get into a school, making donations to get their kids into a school or program cast a shadow on the school as well, and undermines the school's reputation. Sometimes, corruption runs so deep that I honestly would hire a candidate from other schools, or at least run them through an on-site test. I've seen medical centers do just that, as far back as 30+ years ago. That way, those who aren't qualified don't get the job, and thus, aren't usually a problem.
Plagiarism should be discussed in schools as young as elementary school, middle school, and high schools, so kids understand that it is not OK and that using and/or copying AI isn't OK, either.
I'm glad you addressed this issue. Hopefully, those thinking about it will be deterred and not waste other people's time, their money, and the risking reputations of schools and themselves by being lazy and not even trying to do anything original.
If you are reading this and thinking of cheating, DON'T! And don't be pushed into it, such as parents paying to get you a slot in school you didn't earn your way into, doing other people's work or whatever.
Stop being lazy, and do your best work, as that is truly your work.
I would much rather see someone struggle and learn than see someone who just skids through on other people's work, and has no skills and cannot perform, and has no self-esteem (or worse, thinks they can get paid on other people's work.)
People who cheat through school and don't struggle to learn generally don't survive in the real world in any professional workplace - not art, not anywhere, and wind up doing something else for work, like flipping burgers or cleaning tables, which is FAR less interesting, and pays far less in the long-run.
Absolutley!!! It's such a waste to cheat. I can't comprehend why people go out of their way to do it. - Mia, Art Prof Staff
This is how a lot of contemporary artists I know are, they just copy pictures from movies or photos from Pinterest or tumblr and it’s like… why not just be creative aren’t you supposed to be an artist? Not a copy machine?
Here much later, but I want to say that I think if a student skews an image just a pittle( stretch it ever so slightly for example), reverse Google image and other sites don’t pick up the image :( it is hard for teachers
Oh yes, I've had that trouble with Google Image reverse search as well. 😞 There was a student in our undergrad program who would take images from Tumblr and paint them and call them his own. Wasn't ever picked up by reverse search, but someone recognized the image from something they saw online. -Lauryn, Art Prof Teaching Artist
Some end up in jail for stealing others work. Not worth it to me.
Totally, I agree - Mia Rozear, Art Prof Staff
....as someone who took a main art class in highschool, i honestly completely understand the insane amount of copy-pasting and plagiarism that was going on there.
Even if you would like to, you simply do not have the time and mental capacity to put 6-12 hours of work into one single assignment that will be only a small part of your grade in this one single class while you know full well that in 2 weeks you will have to go onto the next assigned artistic marathon.
In all honesty, our highschool art class, if you had a minimal level of skill, was the easiest one to cheat on out of the whole curriculum, and every single one of our tiny course did it for this exact reason.
Myself included of course. I am a very creative person but to put a creative idea into a format polished enough to earn you a good grade takes time, time that at least in high school i did not have.
I think burnout is also a HUGE reason why people might choose to take the easier route, and I completely understand it. It takes so much mental energy to create great art, it's impossible to always be "on"! It does suck to watch other people pass without trying, though... - Mia Rozear, Art Prof Staff
I had an engineering graduate student to submit me the weekly article (they can write any subject), when I started to read, I could tell that it's totally impossible for him to write such an article - I turned on my Google Search and it's the 1st article that's on the Google search, he just copy and paste every single word, not even change any word at all. That's when I told the whole class what the word 'plagiarism' means; the other student simply insert a phrase into her writing and I told her that's also plagiarism - I had to tell her if she quotes from another writer's writing, she has to put parenthesis for that phrase.
It's getting tougher to be a figure artist if you don't have the ability to photograph multiple figures for a painting. I have revisited former works from previous classes. Ie I repainted the same composition, hoping to do better. I never thought of it as plagiarism. Or using a stock photograph as a source for constructing a composition as plagiarism.
Hi there, I am late to this discussion yet after seeing this video and the stream from 10/11, I feel that plagiarism is very harmful to the student because throughout the entire process the student is having an internal dialog about their lack of ability. I always heard that "you only cheat yourself" but, in my opinion, it is the painful psychological state of feeling less than or lacking in talent and skills. It must be terrible to have that internal dialog that leads us to that edge.
You're right, there's such a societal pressure to be technically amazing at artwork that plagiarism is somewhat accepted-- for example, as long as it looks good, a student can do what they want. However, originality is far more important, at least in my opinion! Thank you so much for watching :) - Mia Rozear, Art Prof Staff
I used photographic references from Pinterest to make art which were almost like the photo itself and people wanted to buy it .
I’m still in highschool and I was definitely in the photorealistic phase when I began watching art prof.
Watching a lot of your videos I’m able to understand the importance of subject matter and originality (thanks a lot!) so I’m leaning more towards it lately. But I’m very proud of all the paintings I did before because it did take a lot of technical effort.
However I did post my old artworks on Instagram and other social media platforms and people said they wanted to buy it
Is it right to sell my artwork? I really don’t know please guide me
I'm going off instinct, so please follow up with someone more knowledgable in industry. I would think if you are using your own original pictures no problem. If it is an open source image you shouldn't have to worry too much. List the source image and where you found it to be safe. If it is copyrighted you need to get legally valid permission to copy and sell your work from the copyright holder. That might involve fees and/or royalties. Hope this helps.
Claudine Gay. 50 times. She resigned, but Harvard is allowing her to teach. Integrity void on behalf of her and the board.
I know of someone who plagiarized a watercolor flower and was only given a warning at the HS level. Was allowed in the art honor society- there was no doubt speck for speck and staining in the watercolor- it was found on like 20 sites. It isn’t ok! I understand learning and working once I an awhile for practice and say it is based so and so.
Ugh, that's awful! Yeah, doing a master copy is totally different from making an artwork for an assignment and claiming it's your composition and idea. -Lauryn, Art Prof Teaching Artist
If you are in a school. And you consider cheating in any way. You either don't want to learn but only have the diploma, or, your school sucks and the only value they offer is the diploma. Your desire to cheat is a sign of a real problem.
4:13 re the guy copying the Japanese comic, surely they expected you to submit the originals of artwork? Especially 15+ years ago? It sounds like you were allowed to just photograph your project and submit the photos. That seems weird to me. Or could you say you'd created it digitally? We're you allowed to submit digital artwork back then? Was it even possible (without really expensive software?)... What about nowadays?
It would make more sense in the covid/zoom era of school, but I agree that's fairly strange! - Mia, Art Prof Staff
@@artprof I've never been to art school but I would have assumed that most coursework would have to fit in a standard art portfolio and you'd be expected to submit that. Also I heard that they teach you to sign everything you do (1) because it's good practice and (2) so there can be no doubt who produced what!
I think social media and the pressure to be great on younger generations nowadays makes students desparate to be the best. And they resort to things like this to hold up that facade.
Yeah, I definitely agree :( - Mia Rozear, Art Prof Staff
I'm curious what your experience with more subtle forms of plagiarism? Plagiarism that may or may not be Plagiarism. For example a composition that takes elements from other artworks bur rearranges it or 'remixes' it. I also wonder where you where you draw the line between quoting and referencing other art and plagiarism?
I'd say (in my opinion) it varies case by case. Inspiration vs appropriation vs plagiarism, it can be very hard to determine between the three! - Mia Rozear, Art Prof Staff
My best photograph was stolen and someone created merch and sold it :(
That's horrible! Art theft is insanely common these days, we're so sorry that happened to you :( - Mia, Art Prof Staff
The funny thing about copying junji ito is his style is so unique to him particularly the teeth that i think even none artists like myself would recognise it immediately. It Fry's my brain because he could actually draw but all he did was copy
I need to learn more about Junji Ito and his style, I knew of his work but had no idea there were excess layers like this! - Mia, Art Prof Staff
@@artprof I think he's good at drawing teeth because I believe he used to be a dentist I love his work particularly lovesickness and uzumaki
if you were to use a public photo as a reference for your art, and other people create art based off of that same image, is it considered plagiarism?
Hi! I'm not sure what you mean by "public photo," (maybe you mean "public domain?") but it really depends on the situation, as in some circumstances it's allowed under "fair use." The problem is that "fair use" is interpreted really differently by many people, so nothing is clear cut. I recommend you watch this stream we did, where I interview a lawyer, he explains a lot of it: th-cam.com/video/UqU7d0dvc6E/w-d-xo.html -Prof Lieu
@@artprof thank you so much!
One of my classmates took a photo from the internet of a guy and put a filter on it and said "i did this u just say i didn't bc you are worse
That's unbelievable!!! We are so sorry you went through that, at least you know you're way more productive than they are! - Mia Rozear, Art Prof Staff
So, I have two lecturemates in my classes that I know for a fact that they plagiarized multiple people's essays (They took different paragraphs from different people, including me)
Someone even blatantly copied a typographic work on Pinterest. Also, this dude literally took my character design work, traced it and completely recoloured it.
Awful, really sorry you had to deal with that. This stream might help you: Copyright Law for Artists: Ask a Lawyer! th-cam.com/video/UqU7d0dvc6E/w-d-xo.html
So, please What's z case 4 a student's own work, zat's done after a lesson & steps of an artist, who taught it over a Pinterest public photo reference ?
That sounds like a very specific case that we would need to see the artwork/reference to decide! With things like this it can depend on specifics to nail down. I'd say that as long as the artist is making the piece their own-- i.e., not a direct copy-- it should be fine. - Mia, Art Prof Staff
I don't get it really..because when it comes to me:
I'd rather be a bad artist than steal someone elses work and treat it like my own. Because...I want to be able to do it myself! That's the whole point of being an artist isn't it???
It's about me and how I see and capture the world!
I understand that some people are RLY desperate to make art their career...but...where do they think this is going to lead them?
I know-- it's never a sustainable solution! I've never understood the thought process either... - Mia, Art Prof Staff
I feel that it is fine to try the techniques and such of another artist through their drawing, but do not post it or claim it as yours. Just use it for self practice of something new or a technique you’re not good at.
That's a great way of looking at it, thank you so much for watching! - Mia Rozear, Art Prof Staff
why do you HAVE to have your own art style when there are so many. And why do you think that an art style NEEDS to be owned in general in a shared human community. why do you feel that you can't you have the freedom to make any kind of art styles you want.
The new art style is having no art style, haha - Mia, Art Prof Staff
I make originsl paintings from my imagination, so do not understand why people have to be so lazy. similarly photo realism is in my mind not really worth it as I do art to be different from others, also a photo is the exact same image. My inspirations are the impressionists, but I have been told by several arty friends that I have a distinctive style of my own.
Impressionists are a great reference for style! That's wonderful :) thank you so much for watching! - Mia Rozear, Art Prof Staff
To me the dandelion could respresent the loneliness under covid.
Oh that's a great read! - Mia Rozear, Art Prof Staff