When asked about the balance between student research and the final outcome, the thing that came up all the time was the "bizarre tendency" for some students to just try and copy what they were influenced by, rather than dissecting their interest and taking it a step further. This approach tends to be traceable back to their school days when they were encouraged to draw or paint from a photograph or picture they liked.

Research: rather than being simply influencing your work, or simply informing you what else is out there on the market, should inspire you to take new directions and create something even more unique and inspiring to others.

Very often though they were playing safe by copying the style of others, but "it is incredibly difficult to copy well and still retain your own voice." "When you copy something, you tend to see the flaws straight away."

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