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Plagiarism is a topic that is under the spotlight not only in an academic context but in the art one too. Indeed, when you are a student in college and you learn new things and study fascinating topics, you might have to write a lot of papers where you expose your lessons. Plagiarism, no matter if it is in the academic field or any other field comes with severe consequences for those who commit it.
And if you are an artist who is looking to become well-known around the world for his art, you need to avoid plagiarism at any cost. Why? It comes with many consequences for yourself, your finances, and your reputation too. So, what about plagiarism in art? How can you avoid it and become a better artist?
Consequences of Plagiarism in Art
So, you are an artist who wants to create art that will travel around the world. As any other artist, for sure you have a muse, you have things that inspire you to create art, whatever form it may take.
However, it is crucial to avoid plagiarism in art as this comes with severe consequences for yourself. First of all, your image will be affected and plagiarism just damages it. This way, you just lose people’s confidence in your skills and creativity. Second of all, plagiarism comes with potential lawsuits or other legal actions. You need to respect intellectual property rights to stay away from these legal actions, so you need to avoid plagiarism as it may come with imprisonment.
And if you are found guilty, you may need to pay monetary compensation too. These are just a few of the reasons why plagiarism art is unacceptable and why is plagiarism bad. Art plagiarism is not tolerated, so you need to be careful. There is a website to check plagiarism that you can use before you launch your art. This website is extremely helpful not only to artists but to students who want to check their essays too.
Now that you know the consequences of plagiarism in art, how do you avoid it? How do you get inspiration without plagiarizing? Let’s find out.
How to Avoid Plagiarism in Art
No one says or has the expectation that you, as an artist, do not draw any inspiration from people around you, from other painters, writers, musicians, and so on. However, you need to avoid plagiarism in art at any cost, as it has negative consequences on your image and reputation. Here are a few ways you can do this.
Mixing Ideas
One way you can avoid plagiarism in art is to mix ideas. Any artist might have other artists they look up to and they can be inspired by their works. However, sometimes you may feel it is challenging to make the difference between your ideas and theirs.
And many of their ideas might be reflected in your artworks too. Well, in these cases, it is crucial to mix ideas and not focus only on one. You can have more than one muse you draw inspiration, but mixing ideas will keep you away from plagiarism.
Citing Sources
Even though this might just feel like a piece of advice for students who write essays, this is valid for artists too. There is nothing wrong with searching for inspiration in other artists’ works of art.
However, if you decide to use them in your artwork too, it would be more than wise to cite your sources.
Art has evolved tremendously in the past few years and if you are an artist who loves contemporary art, you probably know this already. So, always cite your sources so that you stay away from plagiarism.
Embrace Your Creativity
Even though you may feel that in some moments you have no inspiration, just taking a step back and thinking about your work of art might actually boost your creativity. Pause for a moment look for inspiration in other artists’ artworks and search for it within you. Embrace your uniqueness and expose it on canvas or paper. This is what will make you stand out from the crowd. This is what will make people appreciate you and your work, so do not be afraid to show it.
Final Thoughts
Plagiarism is a hot topic today as it is not tolerated in any context. Plagiarizing in art simply destroys your image and reputation. On top of this, legal actions and lawsuits might follow. To avoid plagiarizing in art, make sure you cite your sources and mix ideas. But more importantly, embrace your uniqueness and creativity.
By: Karl Bowman
Karl Bowman is a content writer and blogger. He is passionate about art, especially painting and drawing. His favorite artists are Salvador Dali and Pablo Picasso.
What do you think?