Tonight i've been browsing through some old files in my HD. (Yep, one of those nights when cleanup turns into re-storing). And I bumped into some folders containing artists and pieces of work i found interesting at some point. And one peculiar thing I noticed was that almost all the artists I found in there were really different to me (aesthetically) Among these were Sigmar Polke, who for a long period of time was my favorite artist. Oldenburg, and Cy Twombly. I don't know why, but no matter how much i like them and how much i admire their way of thinking and processes, my work looks different. to my eyes at least. I bet that after reading this some of you might find some similarities of not; but the bottom line is that i am happy that at least i know I am not copying them blatantly or on the verge of considering myself heavily influenced.
Regardless, I don't think that looking like someone you like or admire is a bad thing. We all have to start somewhere. I once read this quote "it's not where you take it from, but where you take it to". The key about not falling into any sort of plagiarism of being accused of copying or "looking like" is to keep an eye open to everything. Rojas would always criticize me for spending lots of time "researching" when in reality i was just looking. If i had a poster assignment, i would look at posters; if i had to do a logo, I would look at logos... and so on. Even with all the "cool" animations i would find and love, my applied design was stagnant. So, to avoid this, just look at everything.. i mean STUDY everything you LOOK at. Who knows? maybe you can find a really obscure detail about a piece that will trigger your creative juices.. or to completely get you over it.