Should artists TRACE? • Tracing, studying and referencing (examples / speed paint)

Hello everyone and welcome back to another video! Today we are talking about a pretty big subject: tracing, and if it is ok. I will explain the difference between tracing, studying and referencing with examples! We also go through my horrible DA account from years back. This video is extremely long and I apologize for that but I wasn't able to cut in down any further, I will be leaving chapters here for you to jump around if you want:

Places you can find me

[renjuoyyenruoj]

I think tracing can be used as a tool to learn preportions (i know becuase i sat for hours studying the body) but of course you should not steal art, but tracing is honestly great and useful. It is basically using a reference that you are changing the art. If you use as a tool to help your artwork it is amazing but you shoulf try to reframe from posting it.

[MobileDecay]

I’m tracing to improve my drawing. I would never lie about it being original. Plus I have no expectations for what I draw besides killing time in quarantine.

[anonymoususer]

I trace, but No! I do not copy the same exact drawing. I trace the proportions of the face or maybe the clothes but then I draw the Eyes or The Flow of the hair, lighting, etc all on my own. I find it hard to draw things from scratch due to my vision problems (Severe Tunnel Vision and Color Blindness) and Tracing some things help build a base or a rough sketch of what I want. 🤷🏻‍♀️.

[miaedits]

i trace but i never claim it as my own. i don’t even post it! its for myself to see. i do it because it helps me find my art style. (which im working on) reasons?


1) it helps me see what i like drawing most. i get to explore every single detail and try it out for myself!

2) its fun to trace! i like to explore others art and see if i like it.

3) i like to edit them. as in color it in cause its fun. give it my “spin”

4) i give my own spin on it. i used to copy it directly but as time went on i started to trace less and just do the little details of the artwork.

i have more, but im too lazy. so bai.

[bootsfan]

Actually tracing teaches you muscle memory, form, negative space, etc. As long as you aren't tracing stylized stuff it's nbd how would you tell the difference of a realistic drawing of a photograph and a traced one if they are both done skillfully? You can't

[mysticaltreeirl]

While watching this video I was tracing...

My own sketch 👏👏

[Nothinghereismeallisnot]

When I was first learning anatomy, I usually traced portraits and naked men and women. To me(anyway), that way is perfectly fine as long as you don’t post it. But when I did that, I would trace it, yes, then I would redraw it again and again for a while until I get it exactly right without tracing.

It really helped me, since I’m not very good at doing something without muscle memory:

[lukejack]

I trace from photographies and I'm not ashamed of it. When I trace I just use the posing and the contours, then I completely change the whole drawing to make it my own personal art.

[ArtOfShannonLee]

THANK YOU! For goodness sake, so many people do not understand what is and is not acceptable. IT IS OKAY to trace and copy at HOME, in PRIVATE, where you're not gaining in some way for that person's work but you CANNOT distribute directly copied or traced work in a way that people may think it is yours. Gaining (earning money or even just getting social standing/compliments) from someone else' original work is freaking ILLEGAL! Why do people think they can get away with it? Nobody wants their work to be copied directly and distributed by someone else so why would they think it is okay for them to do it? 'Copying', 'stealing' and 'tracing' are words which are tossed around so much and people confuse what they mean so PLEASE DO MAKE ANOTHER VIDEO ABOUT STUDYING! I have had one of my character designs recoloured by an inexperienced artist before and they did not know that it was not enough for them to simply change the colouring and flip the image horizontally if they wanted that creation to become their own work. They did credit me as 'inspiration' but in truth they were not studying or referencing my art, they traced it directly and used my design to enter a competition which, had they won, would have meant they gained something by taking advantage of MY WORK. They were too young or inexperienced to understand this at the time so I simply told them not to do it again, rather than growling. However, it concerns me that so many people don't get it!

Sorry I seem so mad lol I just agree with you and this kind of cheating annoys me so much for these reasons:
-It is dishonorable because pretending that a traced artwork is your original work is lying;
-It hurts the original artist! Even if you don't earn any money or get any fame from copying someone else' work, the original artist worked their butt off for years, doing real studies and using referencing properly, to get to a level where they can create good work. For someone to just copy it quickly and pretend it is theirs, without putting in any genuine work, is SO disrespectful to the original artist and EVERY real artist (any artist who works hard). It makes it seem like the tracer/copycat doesn't care about art at all and if someone knows that this is wrong but deliberately copies someone's work, puts it online and pretends it is theirs, anyway, they're not a real artist to me. They're a fraud and they SHOULD get into legal trouble for that.
-Experienced artists take copycats less seriously because it is so obvious when someone is cutting corners! It makes them seem lazy because they won't put any real work into learning to draw PROPERLY. If people do not know how to learn to draw without cheating or ripping off/hurting other artists, they just need to watch this video or any of the MANY tutorials all over the internet. There is no excuse for this to keep going on now-a-days.
In the art community we're meant to treat one-another with respect.

Excellent and polite video. Thank you so much. <3

[travtastic]

"Good artists take. Great artists steal" -Picaso Also, I recommend reading the book "Steal like an Artist". It's not what you think. It's really good.

[mischalecterTV]

I don't understand why people who learned to do art online or at a art class always hate on tracing. Not only do insanely recognized and professional artists trace, but many renown artists centuries ago also imitated other artists.
Professional artists who can sell a painting for up to millions admit that that they have traced, learned from tracing, and even imitate others art to learn and adapt.

Of anyone traces as means to learn, I wouldn't sit so high and mighty when literal professionals in the industry who are highly regarded in the art world have done the same.

I blame the new digital art age for saying it's bad.

[axkela]

I only traced when I did digital drawings, I don't have any device designed for drawing and it was pretty difficult for me to draw. So I traced and I felt genius, now I realize that it was stupid of me..

[visual]

Tracing is ideal in the tattoo business. Not cuz we ain't got the skills, it's cuz we ain't got the time. It all depends on the intention behind what you are trying to create and why.
A small example - printing out a sheet of paper filled with straight lines. Tracing over them to train your straight lines. It's a muscle memory thing.
We all learn differently and use different modalities of learbing methods each of which may be more applicablento ones learbing than another.
If you feel like u faking it, but you love tracing, and u are a beginner for example, make sure that you are implementing every single stroke of that image into your brain.!
Thanks for the conversation, the awesome content and though provoking subject matter. Blessings to you allxxx

[tomatodoggo]

For me, tracing is okay until you claim a traced art as your own or post it anywhere. I trace sometimes because it's useful to me (i never post them anywhere or claim it mine). And here is why i trace

1. I see the wonderful work i have made (even if it's traced) and believe that if i practice enough, i can make maybe even better art than this myself

2. It lets me get used to different shapes and helps me develop my own art style

3. It gives me some teaching about hands, shading, eyes, nose, ect... and lets me understand how different artists deal with those things

4. It's really fun and keeps me interested in art.

5. It lets me try to draw different things in different art styles and see wich one i like

6. It lets me see what kind of things i like to draw

[jessjones]

I take bits and pieces from magazines and just mash them together, and what i come up with looks completely different from my found images. I might use the same colour palette though sometimes, i don't think there's any harm in that. I love doing it, it's so inspirational, and i would have never have thought of that idea without combining found things.

[dickbiggerson]

You dont think it trains your eye, and hand to follow lines? I agree it tracing does not teach you to it teaching you lost of hand eye coordination.

[GrimSchwede]

so the difference between right and wrong with tracing is depended on the level of tracing. If it is a loose trace, it's OK, if it is an exact trace of the contours it's not... gotcha... Love your portrait at 12:30 by the way..

[notmyles]

If I were to trace of anything I just do it o try and adapt the style for instance I traced Donald Duck pictures and now I can draw pictures of cartoon ducks from memory so I just use it to learn styles

[Heytherechamp]

Can I trace my own work if I want to move it from one type of paper to another?

[thomasrainbow]

This is a great video because it encourages young aspiring artists to learn how to actually make art and one of the best ways to do that especially for illustrators and concept artists. Keep in mind though, there are no rules to making art. In certain industries like illustration and concept art, yes there is. And being aware of copyright and having sensitivity towards other artists work is important. Tracing is still ok, but you are not creating anything new. That is the point of art.. to create something new from your own perspective and style. If you use tracing or outlining as a tool from photographs for a painting and actually paint the painting in your own way and style that is fine. Especially if you get permission from the photographer (see Andy Warhol or any realist painters). Don't make an exact copy, but steal like an artist and create something new. Tracing when trying to create a character like above will get you nowhere. Learn what she is telling you here if this is the kind of art you're trying to make. The personality you invoke will appear and your style will find you.