Creation, Copies and Shoddy Knockoffs.

Copy, from Latin copia, from co- (together) + ops (wealth, resources).

Copying is in our nature, our history, our biology, like in DNA replication, a process where two DNA molecules are created from one single original molecule. It is the key component of the process in which our parents' traits are passed to us, creating a copy of what they are.

Generating wealth, value, together, is what created the molecules that formed the matter in which stars, galaxies, planets were born, where humans developed and evolved by copying cells, tissues, features, culture.

The Chinese writing system can be traced back to the Shang Dynasty, established around the year 1600 BC and succeeded by the Zhou dynasty around 1045 BC. Fast-forward to the 4th century AD, Japan started developing their own writing system, borrowing from their neighbors’ well-established system.

The wasei kanji or wasei-kango (和製漢字), Japanese versions of Chinese characters, would later be borrowed back from Japanese to Chinese.

Copying is more than just a random reproduction of something useful or interesting, it is a way to share knowledge, to improve, to come up with something good that feels unique.

In painting, masters such as Van Gogh with his “Breton Women (after Emile Bernard)” and Picasso’s “Luncheon on the Grass (after Manet)” strengthened their skills by copying other master’s works.

Modern 3D artists digitally reproduce classical sculptures with the same intent, to later craft captivating creative pieces, building up on the copying process.

As Austin Kleon says in his book “Steal Like an Artist”:

“What a good artist understands is that nothing comes from nowhere. All creative work builds on what came before. Nothing is completely original.”

This also applies to the text you are reading right now, a product of my love for creation, for learning. Since I was a kid, I was curious about how things were made, what I needed to do to become more than a spectator.

After I started learning 3D modeling, the feeling of taking an empty viewport and shaping objects and characters out of simple polygons hooked me up instantly. That same motivation quickly took me to other creative fields.

I would later become a developer, addicted to that feeling of creating things from scratch. I was fortunate enough to have awesome tutors and to have met incredibly talented people along the way.

During that time, valuable lessons have been taught to me. I once met a fellow artist at a game dev event, he was about the same age as me and grew up with the same entertainment products and references.

After some time working together and planning a possible collaborative project, he came up to me one day with a “new” idea.

He had envisioned a concept for a game about an outsider driver arriving in a new city, where he would have to overcome different rivals in street racing events to gain respect. Those events would be sequentially arranged in a list, which the player would have to beat one by one until he would become the #1 racer in town.

Sounds familiar?

Yes, that’s basically the main plot for Criterion’s 2005 racing game Need For Speed: Most wanted, a game we both played a lot as kids. Upon hearing the pitch, I used a Brazilian expression when I said maybe the idea needed more work in order not to become Most Wanted’s “primo feio”, which literally translates to “ugly cousin”, basically meaning “shoddy knockoff”.

Why did that happen, though? Shouldn’t copying produce a fresh, entertaining new result, or at least strengthen our skills somehow? After all, if we go back to Steal Like an Artist, Austin also states:

“The human hand is incapable of making a perfect copy.”

And:

"Remember: Even The Beatles started as a cover band."

Well, what follows that last quote actually answers these questions:

“ Paul McCartney has said,

’I emulated Buddy Holly, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis. We all did.’ ”

This friend of mine was a very talented artist, he had good painting skills and knew his way around development in general. What he lacked, though, were references.

While trying to learn new things or think of new ideas for personal projects, he would often rush past the part of gathering references. He was frequently frustrated with the quality of his creations, and that came mainly from the fact that he would never draw inspiration from artworks or artists he liked.

He would usually wait for someone to show him how to do things, what steps to take next, like that girl in the Junji Ito’s “Whispering Woman”.

Creation reaches its final form when the references come together and become something else. Michael Stevens, creator of the YouTube channel Vsauce inspired me to start researching and writing about my ideas, even more so after I watched his TEDx talks on questions and data weight.

However, I needed more than that to bring my personality into my texts. Similar creators such as The Nerdwriter, CHMTech and other video essays inspire me with their passion for the topics and the way they conduct their research.

The final push I needed to turn my thoughts into words came from a now defunct blog by Izzy Nobre, a Brazilian content creator who has an incredible talent for writing funny, entertaining stories about just anything.

Personal experiences and preferences play a major role in making your creations become more than just knockoffs. For me, that comes from the way one should look at teaching and learning. I believe succeeding in anything comes from improvisation, problem-solving and exploration, which is closely related to copying and creativity.

Rhonda Rousey explains that the source of her flawless arm bar technique was an injury she had that prevented her from properly doing that move in her fights. She would then simply combine other techniques she knew to create a new one, which would allow her to perform the arm bar again. She basically referenced herself, her own prior knowledge of Jiujitsu.

Mitch Lucker, the late vocalist for American deathcore trailblazers Suicide Silence, once said in an interview that, apart from the band Rings of Saturn, he doesn’t listen to metal at all. When questioned about that, he explained:

“I never listen to metal. Because I'm in a metal band, so I play metal all the time. The last thing I want to do is listen to metal and have it inspire what I'm doing in my band, and I don't want to sound like anybody else. I want people to be behind us and sound like us.”

Pioneers that are considered unique, that don’t sound like anybody else, tend to be disconnected from individual themes and genres, specially their own.

There weren’t any ‘nu metal’ acts to serve as reference for its originators Korn, Deftones and Coal Chamber to incorporate rap-styled vocals into heavy, low-tuned, groovy instrumentals. Instead, they drew inspiration from death metal, thrash, funk, punk, industrial, and even EDM music.

Killswitch Engage and Shadows Fall formed after the breakup of the bands Aftershock and Overcast, hardcore bands with a heavy style that refused to be called ‘metal’. From that refusal to fit into pre-determined genres, metalcore was born.

Speaking of which, legendary New York hardcore band Biohazard, at first, also denied being part of any specific genre or movement, guitarist Billy Graziadei said in an interview for a Brazilian website:

“I think the world is better when people make efforts to be original and do something different. When we started, we didn’t fit in the music scene. There are so many influences in our music that we quickly became ‘pariahs’!

I loved it, not being accepted, it was normal for me. It was funny, when we played with hardcore bands, they said we were metal, when we played with metal bands, they said we were hardcore.

Then, we played in a festival with Cypress Hill and Red Hot Chili Peppers … we were outcasts in the music industry … just the way I like it.”

Whether you are mashing up what came before you to become something similar, a remix, or displaying a punk rock rebellious attitude to become your own thing based on completely different references, don’t be afraid to copy, it's inevitable.

As long as your creative output comes from small ‘thefts’ from those you look up to and from past experiences that shaped who you are today, you should be safe from bringing any ugly cousins into the world.

Explore, cooperate, modify, create.

Copy that?