Is copying ever OK in illustration? When does inspiration turn into plagiarism? 👀✏️

Let’s talk about the big hairy thing that no one really wants to talk about… copying.

In this episode, we discuss inspiration, and how social media has changed things so much for illustrators. Trying on someone else’s illustration hat for too long can derail your creative career.

This one’s especially for you if you’ve ever felt like someone's getting a bit toooo inspired by your work, or you've though
“Ach, easy peasy. I could do that style!”
(And then felt a bit weird about it.)

We talk about:

• Why illustrators now mostly look at other illustrators for inspiration (and why that’s tricky)
• How social media has changed taste, trends, and originality
• The danger of trend-based work and being easily replaceable
• What actually makes a personal creative voice memorable
• Why copying someone’s style can feel successful… until it doesn’t
• Rebecca Green, ethics
• Being inspired vs copying and where that line really is
• Don't sand off all of your personality!
• Typos, wonkiness, we luv 'em
• A human made the work
• What to do if you think you’ve been copied (or fear you have)
• Authenticity 4eva

Byeeee for now!
x The Good Ship Illustration (Helen, Katie & Tania) 🚢✨

Come and say hello!

✏️ @thegoodshipillustration
🌏 www.thegoodshipillustration.com

p.s. We love answering your illustration questions. Click here to submit your question for The Good Ship Illustration Podcast 🎙

Transcript

Katie:
Okay, let’s talk about plagiarism. Big taboo, big scary subject. A posh word for copying. I’d never even heard the word plagiarism until I went to uni and I was like, what?

Helen:
Yeah. It’s just copying really, and it’s kind of time-based. People have always copied each other, but now, post-social media, we’re exposed to so much work. It’s like a massive sweet shop, especially early in your career. You think, “I like that. I’d like to be them. Or them with a bit of that on top.”

And you end up trying all these things out, which is great, as long as you can discard them and find your own voice.

Tania:
Before social media, we didn’t look at illustrators for inspiration in the same way. At art school, we had libraries full of fine art books, photography books. I remember copying ARD for a while because I was such a massive fan and I wanted to try that hat on.

Helen:
Illustrators now look at illustrators, whereas before we mostly looked at fine artists or photographers. It was drilled into us that it was a complete no-no to look at other illustrators for inspiration.

I remember buying old black-and-white photo books, sociology books, things like body language studies in America. Men in suits and hats doing strange things. That content became the inspiration.

Katie:
It feels harder now to go and look at a book than it does to scroll Instagram and be bombarded with other people’s work.

Helen:
Totally. I wonder what would happen if you did a social media detox and only looked at books on your shelves or in libraries. That might help you get back to your actual personal voice.

That’s what we talk about in Find Your Creative Voice. Being you, not looking like anyone else.

If you’re caught in trend-based imagery, whether that’s colour, subject matter, or style, you end up in a pool of people doing very similar things. And that makes you easily replaceable.

Katie:
If an art director is choosing between five people all drawing tiny heads and big feet from a low perspective, your competition is huge. But if you do something only you can do, they think, “I really want that weirdo.”

Helen:
Exactly. Their name sticks because they’ve never seen anything like it.

Katie:
Trends work for the first few people. But by the time you notice something’s working, it’s usually too late. You’re joining in after the fact, and you’re always the cheaper version.

Helen:
It really annoys me when I see Rebecca Green lookalikes in children’s illustration. Her work is genuinely extraordinary. But adopting someone else’s style is morally and ethically bankrupt.

And if your career takes off based on copying, you might feel trapped. Like you’ve started a lie and you can’t stop.

Tania:
You’ll hit a dead end eventually. The original artist is inspired by what’s inside them. You can copy for a while, but when you need to invent something new, it falls apart.

Helen:
You’re not just doing the other person a disservice, you’re doing yourself one.

Katie:
You can feel when someone has enjoyed making a piece of work. You can feel the emotion in it. When someone’s copying, it’s just surface-level. There’s no depth.

It’s like a cover band.

Helen:
Yeah. Knocking out the hits, but without the soul.

Katie:
I’ve wondered recently whether AI has scraped my website copy and is feeding it back to other people. Words feel less protected than images, but writing is a huge skillset. That took years to learn.

Helen:
And when people use too much AI, they just disappear. You can feel it. It’s glossy. People crave wonky now.

Katie:
Give me typos. Give me half-finished sentences. People want to feel that a human made it.

Tania:
I loved when Johnny Hannah crossed out a spelling mistake and redrew the letter next to it. That’s perfect. You don’t want glossy perfection.

Katie:
Instagram rewards that now. Quick, imperfect, human moments. Not everything polished and planned.

Helen:
Being inspired is fine. Try the hat on privately. Learn how something works. Just don’t stay there too long.

Katie:
Yeah. Take the hat off. Come back out.

Helen:
You can’t pretend to be someone else forever. The cracks show.

Katie:
See you next week.

All:
Bye!