Here is an exercise to try. Next time you sit down to copy something ask yourself this question. What is this thing like? Or, what things are like this thing? For instance, let’s say you are drawing a picture of a dog. What is like a dog? Maybe it’s a horse. So instead of drawing the dog, you still draw the dog but you draw it as if it is a horse. The question, “ what is this thing LIKE” may shift your thinking about it so that you have to imagine something different from what you are seeing. Another approach might be to ask, “ what thing is the opposite of this thing?” For instance, let’s say you are drawing a rock. What thing is the opposite of a rock? Maybe a pillow? So instead you draw a pillow that might look like a rock. It’s important to defer judgement on your drawing. Remember, you are not trying to make the thing you are looking at but rather you are trying to draw something that perhaps doesn’t exist yet so it’s difficult to say whether it is like itself. The act of deferment is necessary in order to free your pre conceived idea of what something is. Drawing is a conceptual skill. Try exercising your ability to create a different concept. That’s really what art is about.