When I was a child, if I created a good drawing I would run up to my dad and try to show it off. His first question was always,”Did you trace that”. The second question was, “Where did you come up with the image”.
If, for instance, I drew an image of Spider-Man. An original image, not traced. He would tell me that it wasn’t my drawing because that character was someone else’s. If I drew a drawing while looking at a real photo he called it copying… Copying, tracing, borrowing from other people’s work all meant I didn’t get the praise I was so desperate to have.
The result is I have a hard time creating art without feeling like I am doing something wrong. Trying to find a project that feels completely original is an impossibility and therefore it is better to embrace the fact that we can not create anything that is 100% original.
