#CopyingToCreating

[gnevritual]

From Copying to Creating: My Turning Point

For a long time, I spent my creative energy copying photographs.

I wasn’t tracing — I was redrawing everything by hand, scaling it down, chasing perfect proportions, pushing for hyperrealism. I loved detail. I still do. But over time, I hit a wall. Something started to feel… empty.

A photograph already captures a moment — as seen by the photographer’s eye, their light, their angle, their emotion. The more I copied, the more I realized I wasn’t telling my story. I was just recreating someone else’s.

That realization hit hard. I didn’t know what my own style was. And finding it wasn't some magical moment where I just decided to be different. No. It took me years.

After stepping away from realism, I spent nearly three years experimenting — trying everything, failing, starting over, getting lost, discovering new ways to express myself. Slowly, very slowly, something began to form. My own line. My own language. And once it started forming, it evolved fast — like it had been waiting for me all along.

Still, realism was a huge part of my journey. It taught me discipline, precision, and how to truly see.

So today, I want to share one of my last fully realistic drawings — done with regular pencils on A4 paper. It reminds me of where I came from, and why I chose a different path.