Is paint by numbers a form of cheating? Is it okay to say that you are a true artist if you have only painted using the paint by numbers? Should you be able to take credit for the final piece that you paint? If you are an enthusiast of this particular art, then chances are that, such questions will linger in your mind.
Well when it comes to paint by numbers, it is not cheating. And after you complete a paint by numbers, you are a real artist even if you just did that. The following is the definition of art just in case you had some doubts about being an artist:
What is art and what makes you to be a real artist?
According to Leonardo da Vinci, art is : “The queen of all the science which communicate knowledge to every generations of the entire world”. If what you have painted is communicating some form of knowledge and can be viewed by the current as well as the future generation, then it is art. Da Vinci is one of the greatest artists to have lived on earth.
Literally, each painting of paint by numbers is known to communicate a message. It could be conveying intimacy without putting it in words. That is exactly what art is all about – communicating in various ways. And if you happen to get a certain piece, it will last for years because in most instances, paint by numbers are normally form acrylic kits, which are quite durable.
If you come up with something of the sort, then you definitely are an artist, that is, according to Da Vinci’s definition of who an artist is. But there are some people who take the meaning of art as it is in the dictionary. If you look at the Oxford Dictionary meaning of art: “It is an application or an expression of the creative skill of human and the imagination, which is typically in a form that is visual, such as sculpture or painting, producing work that is to be appreciated mostly for their emotional or beauty power”
In the Oxford definition, painting is right there. If you know what paint by number is, then it is painting and thus an art work which creates using surface pigments. In other words, it is a process which is artistic. And thus, paint by numbers makes you to be a great artist.
What is cheating when it comes to art?
Now that you know what art is, do you still believe that paint by numbers is cheating? it is not. The definition of cheating in painting is subjective and relative, especially when it comes to art. Take for example tracing, most enthusiasts and artists will say that tracing amounts to cheating. But if you think of it, tracing is all about copying someone’s work. And as long as you don’t take credit regarding it, it shouldn’t be cheating. In any case, when you copy, it has been an art for quite a long time and to some degree, it has been accepted.
That is why the legendry Pablo Picasso said that, great artist steal, good artists copy. That shows that, when it comes to art, there is no cheating. Because of uniformity, the Oxford Dictionary defines cheating as: “To deprive or to gain advantage over something via use of deceitful or unfair methods”
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