Why it almost always feels annoying/threatening to see people replicate your style/work, even when they admit it?
I think over the years I’ve shaped my style of my work, and sometimes when I see people clearly getting inspired by me, or even being on the edge of copying, and even when they admit it, I still have this feeling of negativity and threat? I feel like I’m very experienced in my work, but at the same time still very young, so maybe it comes partly from generally being young and competitive and having something to prove. I have this issue specifically when the work that is inspired by me is actually good. I saw a post, and this person was supporting me, but then they made a work that’s very similar to mine, and few people tagged me in the comments, to what the artist replied that they love me, so this is nice. But I might’ve felt bit less negative if they straight up tagged me just in the description, since the work is super similar. But I guess everyone has different perception of how credit should be given. I‘m just curious, is this normal and common among many artists, or it’s a trauma response? I think you can’t be an artist without trauma though hahaha. What do you think?
P.S. I try to get over this and actually focus on appreciating the fact that I have an impact, which helps the feeling of being threatened.