<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> Cheating requires a perpetrator and a victim. If you don't make a victim of yourself, or of those who view your art, then there is no cheating. Such an artist has freedom to create unencumbered by creativity-deadening influences of society. Such an artist doesn't cheat - even when doing things others perceive as cheating.
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I'm not sure that I agree, Ross. Cheating on an exam might make you the victim and the perpetrator. But as to "if you don't make a victim of yourself, then there is no cheating", that I find hard to swallow. If I take a superb human model that I found on the internet (I cannot model people, at least not yet), load it into a Lightwave scene and render it, I must, by my own honesty and integrity, inform the viewer what I have done.

Does my informing them remove the "cheating" aspect? Yes, I think so. But, what have I accomplished from an artistic standpoint. I have been honest to myself, and yet produced something in which I can take no pride. This is primarily why I will not use pre-made, ready-to-use models in my work. I will learn to model them myself, for my own peace of mind. This is why I cannot bring myself to use Poser (again, no offense to the Poser users out there). Did you ever think about that name, and what it means? POSER. What is a Poser, in modern vernacular? A fake, a fraud, someone trying to live up to something they'll never be (Oh God, I've lit the flames now [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img] ) Not that it refers to the users of Poser, I just think the name is a bit funny considering its' use in modern jargon.

Back to the point, I don't think my son is "cheating" by tracing, and he does learn alot by repeating the strokes of someone with a much higher skill level than himself. I was just pointing out that I can always tell that the work is something he could not have done (yet) without tracing, and he always lets on that he did in fact trace, and I can really tell he takes no pride in a tracing of someone else's work. If he draws something nice himself, he will hang it on the 'fridge and show it to Mom and be very proud of it. Fundamental difference.

As to music, I grew up playing guitar, and of course you always learn others work before ever attempting anything of your own. Those with prodigal talent often spin away from this very early, and begin writing their own compositions at an early age, but most of us must toil with copying the work of others for a long time before reaching a skill level that allows improvisation or composition. Many bands make a nice living coming as close as possible to the sounds of the original song. These are called "Cover Bands", and for good reason: they're simply "covering" the music someone else wrote and performed. Cheating? Naw, they're just trying to make a living, and have a little fun at the same time.

Maya said "people don't get after you for playing another's composition". Think about the Hip-Hop stars that sample others music and use it in their own songs. People get after them (namely copyright attorneys!) But that's not to this point, and is only an observation.

As to the Xara X Forum, I hate to say this, since I used to frequent the forum often, but there is a bit of snobbery going on over there. If it's not Xara, 100% Xara, designed, made, drawn, created, textured in Xara it's not "allowed". God forbid you import an EPS or another file. This attitude is just detrimental to the creative process. Not everyone over there is of this view, obviously, and moderator Gary is seemingly open-minded, but there are those who will ignore/flame anything that isn't 100% Xara. Their loss, I guess.

I see I've rambled on enough here. Very interesting thread. I hope I haven't offended anyone, I'm just expressing, as they say, "my 2 cents".

Brett