Let’s Talk About Art Theft
It’s not always as black and white as you think.
It’s time to reframe how we talk about and react to copying.
There’s a troubling trend going on within the art community, especially on Instagram.
And no, I’m actually not talking about art theft itself (though, let me be clear, I am not a fan). What I’m referring to, and what I want to delve into today, is how people respond to copied or stolen art.
I’m sure you’ve seen it—the Instagram stories that call out brands or other artists for copying in the most vilifying terms. The posts that show the side-by-side comparisons of “mine” vs. “theirs” and encourage followers to send angry dm’s to the perpetrator. The highlighted screenshots of heated conversations between artist and foe that are shared and hate–liked hundreds of times.
People weirdly love seeing and participating in these confrontations (I’ve been guilty of this, for sure). They love getting mad when there seems to be such a clear right and wrong. Everyone enjoys being a bit of a vigilante when the cause is so obviously black-and-white.
But…what if it’s not so black-and-white after all? What if we’re missing something, here?
Let’s break this beast of a thing down and try to look at copying in a few different ways.
Graphic from Austin Kleon (www.StealLikeanArtist.com)
What is Copying?
First of all, we should talk about what actually constitutes “copying”. It seems like a straightforward thing in theory, but in practice, it’s often not as crystal clear.
One of the big things people often misconstrue is the difference between inspiration and copying. Check out this graphic from Austin Kleon’s book Steal Like an Artist. It does a great job of explaining what separates the two.
There is a real culture of fear in our community around copying—people are afraid that they will unintentionally steal something, or accidentally make something that looks too similar to something else, and that they’ll get called out, shamed, or worse. Some artists get so anxious about trying to make something that’s 100% original that they end up stunting their own creativity and end up in a rut.
Well, people, I’m here to tell you that you’re never ever going to make something that’s 100% original. We are products of our environments—what we see and experience in our daily lives builds our context and creates the pool of inspiration that we can draw from. True creativity is taking bits and pieces out of that inspiration pool, shuffling them around, and, like Austin Kleon says, “remixing” them to form something new.
The best we can do as artists and human beings is to be as aware of our influences as we can and avoid any intentional ripping-off. Credit where credit is due. What else can we expect from ourselves? We are not super-humans who can somehow intuit that someone, somewhere on the other side of the world has also decided to put palm leaves and bunny rabbits on their greeting card….And even if we could know that, that doesn’t mean we’d have to avoid the same subject matter. It would simply mean we need to find a way of remixing or rethinking those things to make them our own.
You Can’t Own a Style
Another thing to remember about copying is that no one can “own” a style, a medium, or a subject matter. I’ve seen many people get confused about this, even some high-profile artists at the top of the game! While it may be frustrating to see someone imitating your unique mark making or the specific way you create your art, you can’t stop someone from making, say, food art or paper art, just because you did it first.
Marketing expert Seth Godin says it best: If you’re seeing people moving into your niche, “get better instead of getting angry.”
If anyone thinks they can find one style or subject that works for them and cling to it forever, comfortably, with no disruptions or competitors, life is gonna kick them in the butt.
Don’t waste your time complaining that people are following in your footsteps—that means what you’re doing is working. Instead, keep going so that you’re always a couple steps ahead. Be the one who pioneers, not the one who hoards what they already have, and you’ll find your life and your career will become a lot richer.
Another option, one that has actually been life-changing for me, is to turn your “competitors” into your collaborators!
When I had the idea to create a class for letterers about art licensing and announced it in my Instagram stories early last year, Ilana Griffo responded saying she had the same idea and was planning her course. My initial reaction was total disappointment. Someone had already thought of it, and she’d probably do a better job than me. I could have easily just given up right then and assumed that niche had been filled. But, I rallied and decided that, with all my “community over competition” talk, I should probably try to put my money where my mouth is and stop moping. So, I reached out to Ilana and asked if she’d consider creating the class together. Fast forward a year, and we have a hugely successful online course and a wonderful friendship. Thank goodness I didn’t throw in the towel!
The Grey Area of Copying
Now that we’re more clear on what copying is and isn’t, let’s consider what you should do if you think you’ve been copied.
If I’ve learned anything in my time on this earth, it’s that there’s not a lot that’s absolute. There’s usually some flexibility, some give-and-take, that makes the “right” and “wrongness” or the “yes” and “no-ness” of a situation a little unclear.
Unless someone has produced a direct 1:1 copy of your artwork, you’re probably facing a bit of grey area. And when there’s grey area, it’s never a great idea to jump to a quick conclusion.
Before you start accusing or letting yourself get angry and passionate, before you hop on Instagram to blast the perpetrator in front of your followers, make sure to understand as much of the situation as possible.
Some things to consider might be:
1) How directly did they copy my work? What is the same/different? Could this be a coincidence or a misunderstanding?
2) Who copied my work (A person? A corporation? An in-house designer working for a corporation?) and what is their perceived motivation? (Profit? Practice?) How might that effect my reaction?
3) How will this alleged copying directly effect me in the present and future?
You will never regret the time spent considering the grey area; you’ll only regret the moments that you didn’t, after you’ve mistakenly accused or hurt someone.
Thinking about the issue from the other party’s possible perspective will help you calm down and view the situation from a more empathetic place. I’m not asking that you let people walk all over you, but rather that you put in your due diligence and try your best to be the kind of person who leads with kindness and understanding.
Here’s an example of a time I was wrongly accused of copying by someone who was a little too quick to a conclusion, and how we turned that experience into a positive one…
INSTAGRAM DIRECT MESSAGE:
Her: “Hi Katie, I saw your post today with a birthday card that says [birthday card headline here]. The design is lovely, but I wanted to talk to you about the phrase. I used that phrase in my entry for the…lettering challenge you hosted, the idea being that I could use it for a licensing portfolio at some point. To my knowledge, it’s my original phrase—I didn’t pull it from anywhere, and a quick google search doesn’t bring up anything….You were tagged in my post, so I know you’re likely to have seen my piece….
I realize your piece is quite different, but your use of the phrase still bothers me. I’m disappointed in the idea that a successful artist would take a quote from a novice artist and use it for their own profit, especially when that quote is pulled from a lettering challenge you ostensibly created to help artists at the start of their careers.”[The message goes on to ask me to remove the image unless I can prove that the use of that phrase predates hers.]
Me: “[Name of person], this is a card I designed last year for [company name]. Sending you the time stamps…
[I sent her photos of time stamps on my file, plus a photo of the card on Instagram that predated her creation date].
Me: “Hey, I realize artistic theft is a real thing and can be very frustrating, but I wish you would have done your research a little more before reaching out to me like that. I would absolutely never steal from another artist and if you would have just scrolled down further in my feed you would have seen I posted this card multiple times and it predated the lettering challenge.
I wish you good luck in your endeavors but also that you may proceed with a little more caution and understanding of where other artists are coming from. We should all try to support each other as much as possible.”
Her: “I’m so sorry! I appreciate you sending me the time stamps. I truly thought I had come up with that phrase….I deeply apologize for having accused you of taking it. I hoped I was mistaken, which is why I reached out to you privately, and I’m glad that I was, though now I feel terrible for having reached out at all. Please continue to make beautiful art, I really do admire your work.
And if you’d like me to take down my own post…I’m happy to do so….”
Me: “It’s okay, definitely don’t take yours down. I think this may be a good reminder that we don’t always have the full picture, and of the value of focusing on community over competition. On Instagram we see a lot of stealing or artists getting fired up and calling people out for copying, and it’s easy to get protective and think that people are kinda out to get us. But that attitude only fosters more anger and protectiveness, and that’s not super conducive to a healthy artistic community.”
Her: You’re absolutely right. A friend of mine had a pretty lousy experience with artistic theft recently, so I guess I’m just a bit jumpy at the moment. Thanks so much for taking the time to talk to me about this, I really appreciate it.
[We chatted a bit more about this and ended it all on a friendly and encouraging note.]
So, all in all, an ultimately positive interaction. It was an exercise for me in keeping my cool when being wrongly accused of something, and it was an opportunity for her to learn more about how to approach a potential copying incident.
A good rule of thumb for whenever you’re engaged in a confrontation, whether you’re the accuser or the accused, is to assume at some point you’ll have to show that conversation to your mom.
Make her proud, people!
How to Respond to Theft Like Your Best Self
So, let’s say you’ve decided that you have indeed been stolen from—your art has been blatantly copied. You have no doubts. Your art that you’ve spent hours, or weeks, or months painstakingly creating and pouring your heart into, was freaking taken from you.
That SUCKS.
I understand how awful that feels. As artists, we work so hard to differentiate ourselves, and we do it honestly. We put in the hard work. So to see someone else literally stealing that work for their own gain just totally turns our stomach.
Your feelings of anger, disappointment, resentment—all of those are valid. But, it’s how you manage those feelings and respond to the situation that matters most.
Consider this question when deciding what to do next: “What response will benefit me and serve my goals the most?” Keep your eye on that bigger picture and don’t let your emotions take you down a path that really doesn’t help you in the long run.
If you’re feeling the urge to turn to social media to “out” the perpetrator, make sure you do it in the service of your business’ goals, in a way that will represent you how you want to be perceived. You might try picturing the most “boss” version of yourself—the ideal you—and mirror what that person would do.
If people are profiting from your work (and therefore taking potential profit away from you), if you’ve been stolen from continuously, if your brand is getting muddied by the copycats—all of these things cause your business harm, and you may well benefit from taking action against the accused thief. You may decide to send a cease-and-desist letter and, if necessary, take legal action and sue for profits and damages.
Personally, in a situation where my business was being hurt by a copycat, my most boss self would lawyer up and kick their butts behind closed doors without breaking a sweat…like it was just another day at the office.
If you’re not sure if you were copied or not, I would err on the side of letting it go and moving on to bigger and better things. I know, that can be friggin’ hard. But remember to think of your big goals and vision for your future. Confronting every person you suspect might have copied you is cumbersome, and it’s just going to hold you back from the bigger, more fruitful work you could be doing.
Go Forth and Set An Example
So, how can we, as a community of artists, move forward towards more of these best-self reactions to copying and less of those quick-to-anger reactions? How can we focus on creating a space that is geared towards support and community over fear and protectiveness?
We can set examples for each other, share with each other, and teach each other.
We can talk more about how to get inspiration without copying (again, see Austin Kleon’s book Steal Like an Artist). We can share past experiences with theft in a constructive way—what did we learn, how will we grow? And we can demonstrate how to handle these tough situations through our own actions.
Go out there and show ‘em what you’re made of!
