So I'm not much of an artist, trying to learn but not too good at the free hand stuff. Whether it's down to my shaky hands or just not feeling like it's good enough. I find myself tracing every now and again, to try and get as accurate as possible. When I do it though, I feel a certain amount of shame. I feel like I'm cheating and therefore can't take pride in my work because it doesn't feel like it's mine. So my question is this, how do you feel about tracing? Is it cheating or does it not really matter? Is it just a legitimate method, and as long as someone's up front about it then there isn't a problem or artists, both experienced and up-and-comers should just avoid the method completely?
I personally dont care if other people trace or not. I aint no artist, but I personally prefer drawing while looking at the thing I am drawing. One method I use to draw, is to not use long lines, but small yet sraight lines. I dont know how to explain this meathod, but thats how I usually draw.
It really depends. Completely tracing someone else's art and then coloring in on your own doesn't really make it your art since well... someone else did the sketching for you. Now, I use reference images and sometimes I use tracing to help understand how to draw some of my own things. Like for example, I'll see someone who drew a Pokémon's tail a certain way and I want the tail I'm going to draw to look similar to that. I'll trace over the tail to see how I should bend my lines with part of the tail by tracing it and then I can figure out how I can finish the rest in my own. It's not like I traced pixel for pixel on someone else's art for my own, but instead used a reference and tracing to get an idea on how to do it myself.
I say it is, but only for practice. Tracing is okay so long as you don't submit as "your" art. People don't like it when their art gets traced, as it is a form of plagiarism. But as long as you trace purely for practice purposes, and then actually sketch it out in your own style without tracing, then it's officially your art.
I agree with Becca, it should be used for practice. I think tracing can really help beginning artists who struggle to come up with original works by forcing them to examine other's art in detail. They can learn what makes that art look good and hopefully apply that to their own stuff after a while. Personally, I only copy art to get used to a certain character's design before creating it again differently and in my own style.
I suppose tracing could be used for practise exercises for drawing, but shouldn't be relied on too much. If somebody does trace another persons' artwork, they should ask permission first. Other than that, I don't really have too many strong feelings about it. As long as you're not plagiarising somebody else's work, I don't really have an issue.
Tracing. The method newbies will often use. To me, it's only a practice method and shouldn't EVER be considered a method for actual art. Tracing is fine if you want to practice lines, anatomy, or whatever. But when you use it as your go to method, thats where it's a problem.
Personally, I think it's a decent method for starters to create something that approaches the quality of the original. However, in order to improve your skills, you'd need to study anatomy etc otherwise you'd never be able to create anything original.
Like most people said, tracing is really good for practicing, but not for published art work! I started out tracing Pokémon characters from a book when I was seven, and colored them in for fun. As long as you use tracingfor practice, you're not hurting anyone so go for it!
Well I'm late to the party, but I agree that its a very early practice method that shouldn't be relied on. If you need reference then its best to draw from said reference without tracing to improve. So use it for practice only~
I say tracing by itself is not an honest art form but it an excellent tool for training one's drawing ability early on it helps teach your hands movement and how to draw things little more and such. Help you further your own skills in drawing or art if that your goal
This is an interesting question. It is still your art even if you trace it because you put in the effort to replicate it but is it really though? I would suggest tracing is fine till you get a better grasp of free hand drawing which you should try out as you get more experienced.
It's always interesting to see an old piece with a new style, like the official Pokémon art hyper-realistic or something. Even if you traced the lines to start, as long as you're taking a new angle on it, it's yours. However, if you just try to replicate the art exactly, that's not a good thing. You can do it to start, but it's a bad idea to adopt it as your main style. #MissingNo
Sometimes I'll trace something if it's just a certain area I'm having trouble with. I tend to do it with feet a lot because feet and legs are so hard to draw for me. It can be good for checking proportions too, although that's more like resizing something that's already been drawn rather than tracing over it from the start. Like with anything else, there's muscle memory involved in it, so it's a good way to learn. Completely tracing something that someone else did though is essentially theft, unless the original artist specified it as a template that other people can use. I haven't seen many templates like that lately, but I remember them being pretty popular back when I was in high school. When I first started really improving with my art, back when I mainly did traditional art, one of the problems that I had was that any time I erased, there was no getting rid of a line completely. So something that I started doing was making a sketchy version of a picture on one side of a paper, then making a darker, more accurate line on top without erasing once I had a design I liked. Then I would flip the paper over and put a blank paper underneath it so the line would show up better and then I would trace the finished line art on the back of the sketchy version. Eventually I realized that I didn't even need to trace the line art and I just started to color it in while using the line art on the back of the paper as a guide. Oddly enough, the initial sketchy line arts and coloring over the finished version are pretty similar to how I do my digital art too. It translates oddly well, with the major difference being the use of layers rather than multiple sheets of paper. As for blatant copying, the rule I was taught back in high school was that a piece had to be 50% different from the original for it to be considered your own. That can be difficult to quantify, of course, but it's a good guide to start with.
There seems to be plenty mention of tracing others' artwork here already and I agree with most of it. Tracing photographs doesn't look to have been mentioned though which is interesting! Tracing another artist's work can be good for practice but I would recommend tracing reference photographs instead. You don't have to worry about style interfering with the object being conveyed and can apply your own style to it, which would make the image qualify as your own art in my opinion. If you combine different photographs to build a composition of traced objects you would be getting good form and linework practice while making something original that you could advertise as your own. Probably for the best to mention that tracing was involved though, especially if you plan to sell your skills. You might hit a wall eventually if someone requests something that can't be traced... Drawing freehand is a good test of the skills you acquire through tracing anyway, it's good to have a balance of both.
I think most people agree on it being a great way to practice, but not the brightest idea if you're trying to make full-blown art.
