Originality

I recently got an anonymous comment on my blog addressing the fact that I sometimes cover peoples creations that are just reproductions of designs from Real Life. The author of the comment I guess feels that it isn't something noteworthy to just reproduce an item.

I was a little confused by this, although I can see a point. Personally, I would say I do hold an 'orriginal' design in higher regard than a straight reproduction. But where its tricky for me is deciding where a design becomes original.

It's no secret I have my sources of inspiration, inside SL and outside (RL). My textures and clothing have a hand drawn look, obviously because I have learned a lot from Toast and Nylon. My shading techniques are straight from Cory Edo herself. The way I have started to cut prims is totally mimicked off of what I have seen Makaio Stygian and others do. People often confuse my work for Juro Kothari's and Ingrid Ingersoll's, who has been friends since I was a newbie, or even since before SL. Beyond that I have a great admiration for some RL architects and designers that comes through in my buildings, furniture, clothing, and accessories.

Have I ever copied something I have seen it in RL? Of course I have. And I am not alone here. I would be a far richer man if I had a dollar for every designer dress I have seen reproduced in SL. There have been times where I have been caught down right staring at someone in RL or an item in a store, catalogue, on a commercial asking myself, "Isn't that the dress so-and-so released in SL a few weeks ago?"

I think the basic truth is, kill me if you want for saying this, but true originality is very rare. But consider how many people have reproduced a Le Corbusier item, and yet they are all different interpretations of the original design inside SecondLife. I have seen the same dress hand drawn and photosourced, but obviously based off the same item from RL. But the way they have been created, the approach, the way its presented etc makes them different and unique from each other. Doesn't that make it original to some degree?

This sort of copying isn't unique to SL, look at any RL designer and you can trace them back to their inspirations and influences. Other artists and styles that show through in their work. Look at how simple things such as a chair can be made a billion different ways, all based off the same simple idea. People take an idea, they reproduce it and maybe build on it, tweak it here or there. How many tweaks does it take for something to be original? 1? 5? 10? I guess my point is, we all reproduce to some degree, some of us take more artistic license with it, and others reproduce exactly. Making something exact is REALLY hard, sometimes its easier to take artistic license, but you have to be creative then and make sure your creation doesn't loose anything (whether that be functionality or aesthetics etc) by your changes. Personally I'm in no position to judge what kind of content is better. Each approach has it's own challenges.

If you don't agree with me on all that, that's fine. A more simple and straight forward answer to the anonymous poster's comment is that my goal with this blog is to simply feature quality content. The specific designer that was referenced makes high quality reproductions, and there are people, including myself who are interested in such items. So I will continue to feature them.