Copying for inspiration and motivation

As an aspiring artist, you always hear other artists and teachers say "Don't try to be like [insert famous artist here], you should develop your own style, don't copy, be yourself etc . . . "

All sound advice of course - nobody ever got very far by copying other people's work all the time. However, once in a while I get disheartened with my drawing ability, and I find that studying and copying the work of an artist I admire is one of the best ways to regain confidence in my ability. If, for example, I can copy a Kruger caricature, and see that my copy looks almost exactly like the original, then I know that my hand is capable of producing that quality of drawing, it's just my head that's interfering with the process. Most of the time, after copying a few pieces of quality artwork, I find my own drawings improving again. It's a great motivator.

I still haven't really established my own style of drawing and painting yet, but I think that any artist's style is usually derived from a combination of his/her own favourite artist's styles, so by studying their work, we come a step closer to developing our own style, eventually adding our own nuances which make the style fully our own. So get copying!