From Copying to Emulating the Creative Process

Abstract

Until the beginning of the twentieth century, the most common way of learning to draw or to paint was to copy exemplary works. From Romanticism onwards, the progressive orientation in painting towards expression and a freer interpretation of reality gradually relegated this mode of learning based on master-apprentice relationships and on the idea of imitation. The ensuing decline of figuration and the tendency towards abstraction led to valuing the creative process to validate the final artwork outcomes. In creative processes, we operate formatively: we solve the problem posed through iterative testing and corrections. An alternative way of sparking ideation is to analyse how major artists work and to emulate them. Therefore, rather than imitating or copying a specific model, we propose to emulate an artist’s modus operandi or that of a certain artistic movement. The idea of process can be reinforced through preparatory sketches or by directly proposing serial work exercises that encourage creativity through intense production. Thus, learning how to combine, organise, and reuse the material produced based on solid references constitutes a production stage that leads to crystallising the process in the finished work. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024.