Inspired

This week, I decided to discuss how we use the world wide web to inspire us in our creative outlet. 

In my very first blog post, I had said that I would discuss how photo databases and creativity sharing on the internet has affected how we create.  

In the above pictures, we see two separate pictures of Toms; the Van Gogh painted Toms were found on one of my daily visited sites, etsy.com, and the second one is a picture of my very own hand-painted Toms that I made a few months ago. Before going on etsy.com, I had not thought of the idea to take my boring old canvas Toms into my own creation. Plagiarism? I think not. Inspiration? Very much so.

While surfing the Internet late one night last year, I came upon some henna art photos. This temporary skin tinting tattoo is a gorgeous piece of art used traditionally at Indian weddings. I fell in love with the intricate and flowy designs found in the markings. I was so intrigued by this art form that it inspired me to paint the picture on the right. Plagiarism? No. Inspiration? Yes.

As an artist, I am so thankful to have the world wide web to have as a reference. Painting the Eiffel Tower has never been easier. Instead of having to travel to Paris to sit in front of the real deal, we can Google the Eiffel Tower and paint off of a photograph. When asked to paint a bulldog, for a Louisiana Tech painting, I was very happy to have a photograph of a bulldog instead of having to find a live dog and make it stay in one spot for hours on end as I paint. 

Photo databases such as Google Images, Pinterest, Flickr, and Etsy have been found helpful in the life of  viewers in search of inspiration. Just as the ways we receive the news have changed (word of mouth, radio, television, email) so does how we receive forms of inspiration. Should we accept the Internet as a form of receiving inspiration as we do with receiving news online? Thoughts?

pinterest.com

Visual Perspective on Plagiarism

So at the end of last week's post, I shared two photos; one photo was Van Gogh's Starry Night, and the other painting was inspired by Starry Night. 

Showing a painting last week, I wanted to show another style of art; yes, it looks like a bunch of words and color, but it is print art. 

I chose this piece because of the topic of plagiarism versus inspiration in artwork. 

I did a little digging on Jim Jarmusch and discovered that he is an independent filmmaker in the United States. He is the creator of Stranger than Paradise, Dead Man (starring Johnny Depp), his most recent film Ghost Dog, along with many others. Studying film in New York in the late 70s, Jarmusch tested new ideas and learned under bright mentor filmmakers (Nicholas Ray and Amos Poe). He played music and joined the artistic movement. All of these experiences that had encountered were building blocks for his film creations.

After reading up on Jarmusch, the words to this art piece had an even greater meaning to devour the influences around you to make your work authentic.

The use of the retro typeface and color scheme reminds me of the indie style. The color scheme of contrasting colors draws the eyes to continue to read. If all the lines were strictly blue, this would create a probable loss of interest and eye appeal to the viewer. 

The repetition of the lines also assists in making the viewer read all the way from the top to the bottom of the piece. 

All in all, I believe that this piece not only verbally explains plagiarism versus inspiration, but I also think that the "pasted" phrases on the piece bring a sense of copying and pasting to it. 

Thoughts?

Dead Man (1995)

Creativity, Originality... What does it all Mean?

What is creativity?

When I think of creativity, I think of art; I think of a new song never heard before, an abstract painting that makes one stare deep into its individual strokes, a novel with an unforgettable plot, the list could go on and on.

Someone commented on my first post regarding how one defines and realizes true creativity.

Is there really such a thing? True creativity? How does one come up with a creative idea?

As an artist, I get my creative thoughts going with an inspiration or multiple inspirations. Normally this inspiration comes from music, my friends, and objects or activities I notice on an average day. Sometimes my inspiration is from a verse that I read in the Bible that morning; my inspiration comes from everywhere. Where inspiration is, creativity is sure to follow.

That brings me to my next question, originality. How does originality and creativity work together? What is originality?

According to the WordNet Search, originality is “being as first made or thought of.” So if a work of art is created straight from our thoughts, our creativity is original? Thoughts?

Enters the World Wide Web. How does this lovely creation affect how we think and how our original creativity is presented to the viewer?

At the click of a button, we can surf the vast expanse of YouTube and learn how to do anything from making an intricate graphic on Adobe Photoshop to building a hovercraft in your garage.

We can view the millions of pictures on Photobucket or Flickr.

We can follow blogs that introduce new ideas that we may never have thought of without reading their daily posts.

With all of these inspirations, we slowly begin to lose view of the line that separates inspiration from plagiarism.

Just as technology changes around us, so does how we receive inspirations. Does that mean I can copy an exact painting and call it my own original piece? No. However, I believe we can get inspiration from those art forms we see on the Internet.

Starry Night Vincent Van Gogh

Collaboration by 8th Graders inspired by Starry Night

Inspiration or Plagiarism? 

Awesome video created by cirkuit100

Creativity Online

While reading through the three areas of inquiry, I was drawn to the Creativity, Piracy, and Intellectual Property of inquiry. As an artist, the word creativity caught my attention and reading that new ideas in creativity were becoming few and far between, I couldn't help but want to dig deeper into this subject area.

With the use of the Internet, people have access to many databases of pictures, paintings, ideas, and other forms of creative outlet. Although having these items and ideas at the click of a button have proven to be helpful, I along with others wonder how it has affected a person's creativity. Are we depending on the creative ideas of someone on the Internet over our own? And if we are using other people's creative ideas, is that a form of plagiarism? Are people who share new ideas over the Internet losing recognition for their creations?

In the next posts, I hope to cover topics about photo databases such as Photobucket and Flickr as well as blogs and creativity sharing outlets such as Pinterest. I would like to research the effect these websites have on the creative ideas that humans have and if it is hindering us from reaching our full creative potential.