Quote: I have seen many people become good at copying…

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Quoted by Jamie on June 15 2010:

I have seen many people become good at copying, but then never think to apply what they learned to their own drawings. Applying something from what you study tests you to see if you actually understood what you copied.

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John K, Application of Studies

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2 comments so far

JZ 15 Jun 10

Great quote, Jamie.

A friend and I had a related conversation recently. As kids we learn by copying — especially kids that are learning to draw. Copying is a great way to learn but it seems we stop copying either as we get older or, maybe more precisely, as we increase our mastery. We become “too good” to copy others.

For adults it seems there is a stigma attached to copying (maybe confused with plagiarism). Sure, plagiarism is wrong, but copying for personal use, for exploration, for learning should never be frowned upon or avoided.

I know my childhood was spent drawing from Garfield comics — I still love the beauty of Jim Davis’ lines. And early in my working career learning HTML , and later CSS , meant viewing source and taking apart other websites (thank you Jeffrey Zeldman, Doug Bowman, and Todd Dominey).

Andy Cook 16 Jun 10

This quote is awesp,e! I see this all the time in the software world

Apple has the ease of use and innovation built into it’s culture, and it’s competitors just copy. Since the competition doesn’t take a step back and think “Why is Apple succeeding?” and instead opts to just copy, they never win. You gotta learn from copying, and then start thinking for yourself.