How copying can make you a better painter, faster.

I suspect that all of us who love to paint want to improve, and to do so as quickly and easily as possible. There are all sorts of ways and methods out there that can help us, including of course regular practice.

But many of the great painters of the past learned their trade by copying from the masters who had gone before. This was how they learned and improved and became great themselves.

So what about us? Can copying a painting that someone else has done be of help to us, and who should we copy?

How does copying help us?

• It’s a shortcut to learning techniques. Those who have gone before us have already learned the techniques that we struggle with. By copying their paintings we absorb their knowledge and methods and so quickly learn the best ways to achieve the results we are looking for.
• It helps us develop our own style. We copy those we seek to emulate, those artists and paintings that inspire and excite us. If photorealism is your thing, then you will gravitate to copying photorealist paintings. If you are into the impressionists, you will naturally pick some of those to copy. This is an easy way to help you define your own style of painting.

Above is a painting by one of my favourite artists, Julian Merrow-Smith, and if you use the slider on the right of the painting you can reveal my copy. Remember, It’s not about making an exact replica, it’s about learning skills and developing your own style.

I learned so much in copying it.
I learned to mix the right colour and value and put it down in one stroke and then leave it alone, I learned a bit about his method of painting trees. I learned a lot about making the building shine in the sunlight by painting it a bit too light and the rest a bit too dark. I learned that a stroke of thick paint is better than several strokes of thinner paint.
And it took me less than an hour to gain all this knowledge!

Here’s a second painting, this time in watercolour, copied from another fabulous artist, the late Edward Wesson. His painting is on top of mine (slide the slider to see both).

What did I learn this time?
I learned to paint simply with simple shapes and one-colour washes. I learned to put down a wash and then leave it alone to dry (no fiddling), and I learned the value of a limited palette of colours. All good stuff!

So, in my view copying is not only good, but it is an essential way to learn to paint. Give it a go and see what you can learn!