René Aigner's Sketchbook

[ReneAigner]

Ah man, I think you're doing me a bit of an injustice there ;) I tell people not to watch to many videos as well and if you look through my sketchbook you'll find life studies, studies from photos etc. in plenty.
Also in terms of technical subject matter, there are plenty of studies from references, none of which (at least to my knowledge) were designed by Scott or Feng. Why the influece comes through more in some paintings then others I can't tell (I found the damned feng painting myself a few minutes ago, see my edit^^).
I suspect that it actually has less to do with design itself and more with technique. The technique I used for the last piece was the same Feng used (I guess that's what I got from the video) and applied to the same subject matter you get that horrible copycat effect. I think that's something I'll need to avoid. You can see that with other people's work as well, someone does in inside-outside contrstruction of a vehicle in ballpoint pen? Looks like Robertson! Only not as good of course. I'll have to see how I can rid myself more from that.
I guess what I'm saying is that technique does influence design, and mostly on the surface layer. If you're no carfeul enough (like I was with the last piece), the surface layer of the design looks too close/very derivative.
Your point about how to take cues from nature is valid as well of course.