Artist Myth Buster #1 "Cheating?"

"Cheating?"

Really... is it actually possible to Cheat in the arts?
Let's first break-down the what cheating is.... So from the English dictionary I found this::

cheat

  [cheet]  Show IPA

verb (used with object)

1.

to defraud; swindle: He cheated her out of her inheritance.

2.

to deceive; influence by fraud: He cheated us into believing him a hero.

3.

to elude; deprive of something expected: He cheated the law by suicide.

verb (used without object)

4.

to practice fraud or deceit: She cheats without regrets.

5.

to violate rules or regulations: He cheats at cards.

6.

to take an examination or test in a dishonest way, as by improper access to answers.

Ok this is a bit interesting.... I'm a realist meaning I draw paint Nouns (a person, place or thing) that looks real. My body of work lies in this genre of Realism to Photo-realism and My newer pieces reaching Hyper-photo realism. basically if I draw a tree and you know it's a tree that's realism but Hyper-realism goes far beyond this to me if you can turn the painting in all directions and from any angle you view it, it looks like a photograph you've reached a Hyper state of Realism.

So let's get back to cheating... in the definition and the synonyms... related here. 

Synonyms 
1. mislead, dupe, delude; gull, con; hoax, fool. Cheat, deceive, trick, victimize refer to the use of fraud orartifice deliberately to hoodwink or obtain an unfair advantage over someone. Cheat implies conductingmatters fraudulently, especially for profit to oneself: to cheat at cards. Deceive suggests deliberately misleading or deluding, to produce misunderstanding or to prevent someone from knowing the truth: to deceive one's parents.  To trick is to deceive by a stratagem, often of a petty, crafty, or dishonorable kind:to trick someone into signing a note.  To victimize is to make a victim of; the emotional connotation makes the cheating, deception, or trickery seem particularly dastardly: to victimize a blind man. 8. swindler,trickster, sharper, dodger, charlatan, fraud, fake, phony, mountebank. 9. imposture, artifice, trick, hoax.

If this is the case I'm a cheater... Really, what I do fools the eye, tricks your perception.  this is funny, but there is a broader scope here in the the tunnels behind the dungeon. Where artists tend to wonder, and the question lies in tools of the trade. 

Now, let me start by saying I am a Freehand artist the majority of my work is done freehand no tools except the ones that work the medium, ie: brushes, implements etc... 

Now, through many venues, online research and the like, how to's and what not's that pop up in the wee hours surfing for inspiration or motivation. There lies a unanswered question.... Is that cheating? 

Old school Artist are some of the first to point a finger and say "You're Cheating" and modern artist bringing new light to what is a tool. Let's elaborate so you can understand, I am a portrait Artist I work freehand (from scratch  all calculations, are done from sight in my head and visualized to be transformed to whatever surface I'm working on.

Now lets take one subject done by me and others of the same genre... "Apples to Apples" as I say... Similar ending results. Now let's say Sally(a imaginary competitor) is given the same photo that I am to render. Sally uses many tools one being a projector. The image is projected to a wall or surface and Sally can trace the image and then draw or paint what she sees.

So, Is Sally Cheating?

or is it just the difference between using a calculator and doing long division?

Is it a tool? 

Then for that matter are these tools of my trade: 

light table

a calculator

a ruler

a grid

a camera

a monitor

a web cam

a mirror

of flip film (like drawing a slide-show in your history book) how Disney made original animation. 

Artist for centuries have been using tools for perspective and proportion and use to be called a Draughtsman or draughtwoman, or draftmans. An artist who draws like an Architect with tools.

And there are artist like myself who practice trompe le ole   

French for deceive the eye

an art technique that uses realistic imagery to create the optical illusion that depicted objects exist in three dimensions. Forced perspective is a comparable illusion in architecture

Interesting Right...
So where lies the cheating?

If the same result is achieved from the same image does it matter?

According to My Dad it did. He was my only instructor...He was an army vet who worked after his duty as a civilian for the Navy as an Engineer... An Extreme Logical thinker... once as a child we had some old how to books, and some old Disney slides. Well I was a kid and used the light table to "Trace" one of the characters. As I proudly presented my Masterpiece, and Daddy knowing what I was capable of on my own. Curiously Inquired How I got to my final result, and happily I explained. Well, he said "Hunny, that's cheating!" my head tilted up and pondered this, still standing proud of my work he said "You traced this! Tracing is not your art is you copying someone else's art, where is your skill,  I see you took your time and your lines are perfect you copied each one correctly but this only says you are a human Copy machine not an artist, and Disney has a "copyright" saying you can't do that... (he didn't mean Me personally as I was not going to sell it... He meant in general as to the population to protect their art) then he continued "I will bring this to work tomorrow  and make a copy (hmmm)" "My pride turned my happy face uposide down, I looked at him and "Nevermind, I get it" Well the old man had a point, and one I have yet to argue, so for me LONG Division it is.. and LONG is kind of an understatement as in this piece I recently completed in hyper realism.. 

Close up. Hyper-realism painting. THIS IS NOT PHOTOGRAPHY! 

Titled: "Over the line!"

1955 Chevy

18" x 24" Oil on canvas 

259 hours of work start to finish

Ghost signature

Now I'm pretty sure if i used a projector... It would of been done in less than half this time but in my Dad's analogy, where's the skill, the fun, and how can you be truly Proud if it is not truly yours. Well, thanks Dad nothing like taking the Long way home. He was a man who used to walk uphill both ways to school in 5 feet of snow with 90 lbs of books in his book bag and I say book bag as there wasn't Back packs Back then. So you can see My dilemma, Since every car ride Ever was the long way home, on cruise control at 35 mph with elevator music... "ARE we there yet" I asked myself that like 30 times during this Painting. I tend to find myself having to prove my work to be so called "Legit" so I have progression pictures and some videos that show start to finish. 

So what defines cheating... does it even matter to the Buyers... I would say NO!! There are artists out there using tools and getting paid Thousands in commissions let me rephrase Hundreds of thousands. Yes, some current artist are making upwards of $150,000.00 for works such as this. 

So here's my question 

Who cares if it's cheating or not... 

"Should someone who practices "From scratch charge more than someone who does this with tools in half the time?" that's a whole different question let's move on.

Now, on the other end of this Pendulum there are franchises popping up... who take your photo, COPY it in there "Machine" print it on a canvas, and then paint over it in oil. They can charge next to nothing like reproducing at Walmart on a canvas and almost the same price.

Here's the real question 

Is the Art of Realism a Dying breed?" 

From a few articles I have read Realist's who work from scratch like myself achieving Hyper-realism out of a World of over 7.2 billion people only 5000 can do this. We are becoming extinct, or are we the few with a true gift? 

I honestly do not think there is any right or wrong answer... 

Because this argument has gone on for Centuries... 

Some artist's would never tell you what tools or tricks of the trade they use, (what goes on in the dungeon stays in the Dungeon)  Probably because they were brought up like me and if they tell you not only would they feel they're cheating they admit they have been lying as well.

Others have a substantial clientele they don't care and reveal their choice of tools. 

Is copying on any level Cheating?

I guess the answer lies to the buyers are you buying the Art for the Art? the skill or the finished product or both... 

Does it really Matter, I guess not, because to know you sit on what is called a chair is a truth, factual answer. To know if someone is cheating in the arts, is in the hands of the appreciator if the truth is told to them. 

Take Bansky a world known artist recently, visited NYC he makes his own stencils. Hmm, is stencils cheating, well one could say no if you created your own, instead of one mass produced by a machine like at any craft store, but one can also say, what you do with that stencil is your art... Or here we go again. Anyway, he went to NYC to central park sprayed stencils on paper and signed his name starting at $60.00 each by the end of the day he took in $50,000.00 was it for the art, or because "He's Bansky" and his name proceeds him from past work? I don't think he's cheating using stencils, I think his art lies in where he places it for the finished product. 

You just can't say art is just a skill, so many factors make this one upside down out of the dungeon box business. 

So, i would love to hear your thoughts

Do you think it's cheating?
or
A tool?
or it doesn't matter how you get there as long as you get there?