The Big Fat Copycat Hoax

I’m going to lay out my opinion about copycats right at the start. If you can’t handle what you read in this paragraph, perhaps this article isn’t for you because you’re not ready to consider its points. Other artists aren’t your competition, and it’s petty and trashy to act like they are. It’s especially true when you conduct yourself like a child and gossip, seek revenge, and attempt sabotages.

If you’ve been a professional artist or maker for more than a couple of years, then you’ve probably run into this issue or know someone who has. The dreaded “copycat” who has jewelry, resin art, watercolor paintings, wood crafts, wind chimes, photographs, or whatever you’re making, which looks like yours. So how do you deal with a copycat?

Trust but verify

It would be best if you first understood whether it even matters that someone is doing something like what you’re doing. Please assume that the other party is making something because they like to, they believe they’re good at it, and hope to continue to earn a living making things as they discover things to make. Haven’t so many of us gone to Pinterest, seen a cool thing to make, and then made a few to learn the basics of the skills involved? People selling those things just decided to keep going. Having this assumption rather than one where the other party is trying to steal your customers, kill your business, and end your future is much healthier, and also more likely. Keep your rage in check. It’s often not even justified to begin with.

Clarification: Are you doing something that involves intellectual property, copyrights, or trademarks that you own? If yes, then the other party isn’t a copycat; they’re criminals. That’s a different issue entirely, and you should handle it with cease and desist letters at a minimum, if not lawyers. If this is what you’re dealing with, this article won’t help because it’s not addressing your situation.

Being petty is petty

The people I’ve seen complaining about copycats all act the same way: they act like a heinous crime was committed and that something truly unique was destroyed. I’ve yet to see an instance where the petulant outrage of these “victims” was justified. They send nasty emails, sometimes make public spectacles in person or online, and behave like children. They justify their actions with weak excuses and shoddy logic. Typically they say things like “I was doing this first,” “people keep telling me someone is copying my work,” and “where is your integrity?”

In my experience, there is one common trait among the people that get angry, petty, and sometimes just plain stupid because they perceive “copycats” as some kind of threat. They all think they’re special. Without exception, each has behaved in a disrespectful, childish, and entitled manner. All of them have acted as if creating something almost entirely unoriginal in form or execution is somehow solely theirs, not to be done by anyone else within their petty, small sphere of knowing.

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I was doing this first

This excuse is the lamest of them all because it implies that either they believe no one else can do the thing until they die or retire. It’s even lamer when these folks argue to limit which venues at which others sell. They act as if their creative business is part of a franchise with a locked-in sales district where only they can sell the widgets. “I sell these widgets at Acme Farmers’ Market, so you can’t sell widgets there or any other market I’ve chosen to do.” Last I checked, “dibs” doesn’t work as a business strategy, and the likelihood that you were actually first is slim.

People keep telling me…

This phrase is a passive-aggressive statement that may or may not be accurate. Either this person let’s others determine when they’re angry or no one actually said it to them. Either way, it displays a lack of willingness to engage in real adult conversation about concerns.

Where is your integrity?

Using the same foundational supplies, techniques, and processes will never yield something entirely unique. Whatever you make, there are probably at least 25,000 people on Etsy, eBay, and Pinterest doing it. They get their supplies from the same place; they watch the same YouTube videos, took a class learning the same techniques, or read the same instructions you did. It isn’t a question of integrity just because you don’t like not being the only one to take some common wholesale supplies, use the same techniques as a hundred thousand YouTube artists, and sell the thing locally.

Who did it first? Are they purposefully copying you or do they genuinely not even know who you are? Are they copying you, or do you both use the same foundational suppliers and follow the same generally accepted process(es) for creating your finished work? What’s being copied? What genuine creative expression can you point to in both pieces?

If you feel the need to write a petty, angry email accusing someone of copying you, then you should know two things. First, it’s a shitty move no matter how “right” you think you are. It will come back on you because this stuff finds its way into the public eye eventually. Second, unless they’re duplicating your intellectual property (copyrighted, trademarked, patented, etc), then they’re not doing anything wrong. You may not like it, but that’s just the fact of working as a professional in a creative field.

Vague specifics

It’s hard to convey this kind of topic without narrowing down some specifics, but let’s be honest, there is an exhaustive list of specifics I could choose from. I’m going to pull a few examples from my professional career because those are what I can speak to.

I paint a lot of watercolors. Most of my art is digital these days, not all, but most. That approach fits in with my professional goals and the workspace I have. I’ve painted a lot of coastal birds, they’re something I’m kind of known for at my local markets. There are many other watercolor artists painting coastal birds in this area. Some of which are at the same markets I regularly attend. To perfectly illustrate how I view these watercolorists that paint the same birds that I do, and how I absolutely celebrate their hard work and their skills, I’d like to point out that we all know each other. I go to their art exhibitions, and we root for each other. We celebrate each others success. We don’t view each other as competition. In fact, I have work from many of them on my official Wall of Art from All the Insanely Creative People I Know™!

On the other end of the spectrum, a friend of mine was accused of copying a jeweler, and a separate resin artist. The jewelry in question is a mass-produced pendant blank from a large wholesale supply company, in which glitter and resin were added. They’re pretty, but I don’t think my friend would disagree when I say that these items are hardly creatively unique or original. They don’t require much skill to assemble either. The accusing jeweler decided to make a stink on Facebook, acting as a victim of some kind of heavy crime over an unskilled, unoriginal dab of resin and glitter. It backfired because the skilled metalsmiths who actually make the components for their jewelry called her out for bitching about someone else using the same wholesale blanks, not actually “making jewelry”.

The resin artist sent a petulant email accusing my friend of copying because they both make ocean/beach-themed resin-coated items and shapes, like mermaids, sea turtles, etc. The blank shapes are available wholesale, so they’re going to be the same. Again, using specific wholesale supplies doesn’t prevent anyone else from using them. The look will be similar because the theme, materials, and processes are the same. Of course they’re not identical because it’s two different people doing their version of the process. For example, my friend uses real sand for the “beach” part and then the resin waves look like they’re rolling up onto it. The other person uses sand-colored paint. If this person starts using sand are they now a copycat of my friend? Will they justify it because, in their mind, their work was copied first and all bets are off?

Instead, consider discovering someone’s work similar to your own as a fucking wake-up call to be more original. I can’t stress this enough to every artist reading this article. Stop using wholesale foundational supplies if your goal is to be known as an original artist. If you want original settings to plop the resin and glitter into, then actually make the fucking settings. If you want original shapes for resin art, then design some, cut them out, or work with a manufacturer to cut out your unique designs.

Whew! Okay, this isn’t the kind of article I usually write here. Still, I had to because I find this kind of professional victimhood destructive for the arts and market vendor communities. By the by, this information applies to market organizers as well. Denying someone a seat at the table because you already have one person selling something is dumb. It halts improvement to the quality of work and the expansion and experimentation within a medium. I’m not saying admit them all or have one category be 50% of your vendor roster, but limiting to 1 or even 2 is silly in most cases.

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