Steal Like an Artist: Challenge Day Eleven

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How do you feel about stealing ideas?

Today’s Prompt: “Steal Like an Artist” Look up one Wild Wonder Teacher and Steal Ideas

I can tell you are already having some strong feelings about today’s prompt. Maybe it is because the word “steal” has such a negative connotation. Perhaps you would prefer to use the term “Open Source” as my friend and nature journaler Akshay used it in this interview. Maybe you will feel better with the word “steal” is you hear it from John Muir Law’s mouth. As you probably know, John Muir Laws, is the foremost instructor and promulgator of modern nature journaling. In this blog post he describes how he steals like an artist. Jack, as JML prefers to be called, also always recommended “stealing ideas” when doing nature journal shares on field trips. So today, let’s research some of the Wild Wonder Teachers and find one to steal some ideas from.

Steal like and artist in 8 steps

First, skim through images from various teachers.
Next, choose one of the teacher’s whose style resonates with you in some way.
I chose Debby Kaspari. Even though I don’t have pastels and won’t be able to do the technique she shares in here class I found her other work appealing when I looked at in online. She also did a lot of sketching in tropical rainforests which I am interested in.
Choose specific images of theirs and start to deconstruct them. Try to look for specific techniques that they used. Identify the specific techniques you want to emulate. For example, I am interested in Debby’s use of graphite for directional shading on birds and plants. I want to emulate that, partly because I feel like I need improvement in that area.
Take screenshots of the images you like. You can crop just the portion you are interested in “stealing” ideas from. I suggest printing these.
Finally, do the work. Pin the art up on the wall, draw on top of it, dissect it mentally. Copy it, modify it. Use the same technique they use but with a different material. Then use the same material they use but with other techniques. Read about them, try to get inside their head. Look at their work upside down. Put their art under your pillow at night. Take photos of their work then turn them into black and white or manipulate the contrast in a photo editing program.
Go back to your own work. After immersing yourself in copying and dissecting the work of another you have to go back to your own work. Stop thinking consciously about the artist you are stealing from. Your brain will make the synthesis for you.