As a person who used to trace when I was younger and is an artist now, it depends on HOW you trace. If youre using it to get better at anatomy or to get better in drawing in your own style, then thats fine! but if your tracing someone elses art without permission or credits, or is just tracing to do it and not saying you did and passing it off as your own art, then that's unacceptable.
I use to trace over art and colored it posted on Instagram as mine eventually when I learned it's bad I deleted my whole Instagram account cuz I felt guilty. Now I do my own art
@@ThatSlayerguyatleast you recognised ur mistake and now look, you draw your own art! even though tracing has its benefits, ofc dont post it and say its yours 😭 (when i was tracing like i was maybe 5-6, so i didnt have socials and maybe that was a good thing bc knowing me i probably wouldve posted it too LMAO😭)
@@tequt omg i just reread that forget what i said before, youre totally right 😭 im so tired of plagiarism also n then just changing colours and passing it off as yours? kinda insane...
Im for 15 years in the art community and working 4 years now in the professional scene. Tracing is a skill you should def learn. It saves so much time. Like trace your own hand or anatomy. Define your shapes by tracing. If your using someone elses art. Its better to keep it for yourself due to moral reasons and ofc plagiarism. Simple
Hell yeah. I find that sometimes I do something I really like in my sketchbook and want to reproduce it as a finished piece and I will 100% trace that thing over to the finish paper to save so much time. It’s mine, I free handed that in my sketchbook, I can reproduce it any way I want. And tracing someone else’s work can really give you a feel for how the line work is done. I know I can see the way a line looks but can not reproduce it for the life of me because of the illusion of depth . So I trace it a few times to get the hand feel for the line and to see just how subtle the curve or bend is or just how close the lines are, then try doing it again free hand. Very helpful.
I had to make my own reference for a hand that wasn't clear in another reference image, I did a drawing first for blocking in but still looked wonky, I made the same pose with my own hand holding a coffee cup and took a picture, I then traced the picture that I myself took and edited it into the drawing.
I feel like there is no right or wrong with art, it's how you use it like how you trace. If you trace and try learning from it then that's perfectly okay. But if you claim it as yours without the artist's consent then that's not okay. Tracing can be used as a tool to learn from it, not just copy it, if you want to learn anatomy by tracing then go ahead just don't claim it as yours you still need to provide credits, That is how tracing should be used.
The only wrong is if you're taking others' work and claiming it as your own 👍 I trace shapes over my own hands all the time because sometimes fingers are just fucking weird! Idc as long as the end product looks fine
Actually, when I was going through my longest and most stubborn art block, the only way I could produce a piece of art is when I traced another artist’s artwork, of course I never profited off of it, but it made my inspiration come back and before I knew it, I went back to drawing, ironically it was the method that made me create one of my most original art pieces to date lol.
Letting the mind rest, and still excersising tbe hand, my favourite way if dealing with artblock. I find tracing with shapes/studying the artwork or picture also works for me
I wanted to share a long story of why i am currently copying other's works, but your comment is basically a short and clear embodiment of what I basically wanted to say XD And there i was thinking I invented this genius idea. Lol me. But yeah. I am in the deepest longest artblock ever and crawling out of it is a challenge. I can draw whatever i want. But I realised that my head often gets in a way of my work. It constantly stopping and sabotaging me from creating. So I just turn on a video to relax, open pinterest and mindlessly redraw whatever it offers. I dont post these works, also, I am trying to mark what I made original, what is a copied work and list an author if have their name. And this works out amazingly well for me! I managed to draw almost every day for the last 2 months! It marvelous! I had 2 years straight of wanting but not being able to draw at all. Now, thanks to this copy-drawing, I got myself used to the action, warmed up, and in a mood to create my own work, FINALLY. I am also very happy to see that I am apparently not alone in this. I am also thinking of studying and doing master copies of paintings. I already copied 2 of Van Goh works and loved the process. I hope stereotypes of copying or tracing being completely bad and produced only by beginners dont take over. I had been drawing for around 10 years and these stereotypes affected me as well. I wish I realised of this trick much sooner, because it would have incredibly helped me, when I was at my lowest and really needed art back in my life, but couldn't because of artblock and a ton of enxiety.
@@Splat654 I'm sorry to hear you've been struggling through a long art block. Always keep in mind that sometimes, art block is caused by non-art issues. Whether it be mental health, unchecked problems, or even a lack of sleep, anything can cause you to feel unmotivated. If tracing random things from Pinterest helps you, then that is amazing and I hope you can find your artistic spirit again. Ironically, what helped me draw more was quitting art as a career. I kinda realized, way too far down the road, that art is really only a hobby for me lol. Now that I've found my real path, I'm much happier, and art is much easier for me now. I have been drawing more recently than I have in the last few years. Like I said before, sometimes we struggle with art for other reasons.
Tracing was something I did in primary school in art class, but once I turned 11 or 12 it was time to really learn how and why, form, light and shadow, perspective and proportions actually work. That just takes lots of practice and really looking at studying what you are drawing. Most people have phones now and can take photos anywhere so it’s great to do that too. And taking, tracing and drawing your own photos will also help in developing your own look and style as well. Now is definitely the best time to take up something like art or music with so many good resources available for free or at quite a reasonable cost.
for me personally, i only trace for poses, and typically I have to change the anatomy of the pose anyway. I have a hard time making up poses let alone knowing how they should look, so tracing/referencing poses for my own art. another time where I will actually trace is when painting animated characters, I can't replicate styles very good and I'm painting anyway
The only cases of tracing I understand are stuff like consistent animations,/animatics, in the Beyblade manga with the Beyblade tops to save time, no matter the generation you’re looking at (OG, Metal Fight, Burst), a guide to fix something, and as a practicing method. I’m not gonna go into a hissy fit for merely tracing as long as you’re honest about it. Hell, I used to trace and use bases during my early DeviantArt days, but they ended up being some crutch or something I depended on too much, and it messed up the artstyle I had at the time (dem long ahh legs I think, but it could be something else that caused it). After I stopped using bases (using the body and slapping stuff on top of it) and tracing stuff, and spent years on developing my own artstyle with actual resources and references, my art started to look better.
I love drawing only from my head! It takes months of slowly absorbing the image through osmosis. Quick ref browsing 10 mins or less and then maybe doodle that lol some that day. But I own a projector, a light box and and iPad Pro. I will trace if it seems to be the right thing. Let a person who has not devoted their life to creating art or illustration trace anything they want… let them try as hard as they like heck let them have a team of 10. It won’t ever look like a genuine work
Tracing, under the right conditions, is invaluable. There are even tracing tools like artist transfer paper, the Artigraph, and the Camera Lucida. I believe it’s the intention and the amount traced. I will use tracing for gesture and framing so I’m set up on the page properly. I also use tracing to transfer my work to another paper or canvas. I don’t see any problem with that. I know how to draw without aids but it’s nice to speed up the process sometimes.
0:29 OMG you got me off-guard with the Tekken 5 opening Sparking⚡️ **laughs in Bryan Fury** just _EXCELLENT!_ Now I'll go learn Tekken's artstyle, DORYAA
Tracing or copying the artstyle is a double edged sword. One side it's beginner's most basic way of trying to learn and make characters based on well known artists you like and love then slowly find a new way to improve and adapt your style into it. Hiro Mashima Sensei (author of Fairy Tail) made his characters based on Oda Sensei's One Piece artstyle, then slowly evolve to create his own artstyle. Edit: nowadays they doing this for quick clout 😰
It's easier to just say "Tracing is wrong" because I feel like so many people blur the line. I think it's fine to trace your *own* art for animation and comics because it can help things look consistent. But then I've seen people use a screenshot to trace a character from an animated shows and never "credit" anyone because animators are often a face-less artist. They don't feel guilty about it because they don't believe they are stealing from an artist.
Something I do is I make my own 3d model using blender or whatever and pose it and trace it and in my opinion that is fine but you should never trace over someone else’s drawing unless it’s just practice and you don’t post it or you credit them
Tracing is one of the best ways to learn anatomy and art styles. For practice it's helped me so much. But i see the issue of tracing then claiming the artbas your own.
When i was younger i would trace, i think when youre a kid its okay because it helps with muscle memory. From there i would look at something and draw it bigger, now i can just draw whats in my head and if i cannot i look up many refences to help
Man, I'm so fed up with a kid I follow on Instagram. He makes fanart (Disney, video games etc) that seem flawless and then he makes his OC (he has more than 50 by now) and they are good, but seem as drawn by someone else (unless he forgets to draw hands from drawing to drawing)!!! I started looking for photos of the fanarts and 90% are traced. The other 10% I guess I can't find the original picture.
If tracing would be a real big problem, for some users who use clip studio paint u have an option of 3D models. Most of the time people use this when they don't find the reference they like or if they struggle with something. Some people consider this tracing because it stays 'something' u trace. The problem? Its no one's refrence or picture ( well its clip studio paint) and consider that people use this for many things ( animation,art,webtoon.. )
Personally, I've concluded there's 3 instances where tracing is ok: 1. You're learning 2. You have a deadline and your livelihood depends on it 3. You're tracing your own work
I traced art once. Needed a reference for a Slugcat so I just used a promotional piece. Less than an hour later I deleted the art. Made me feel sick looking at it. Tried doing the pose myself. Felt way better. Looked less polished but I did it myself. Slept good that night. I then proceeded to draw too many Slugcats again
Heres how it works: If you trace a photo, thats fine, as your using it as a base, and arent really stealing anything. If you trace art, then thats art theft, and it usually looks bad anyways. If you use someones art as a reference for a pose, hairstyle, character ref (IF YOU CREDIT THE ARTIST), ect then thats ok as long as its not that heavy. If you trace a base made for public use, that is perfectly ok, but its best if you credit the original artist
I have sometime tracing someone art but I never post it because I think it's not a right thing to do. I just keep it for myself and practice to draw the same picture without tracing it, but if you tracing someone art and post it and also claim you are not tracing, you should shame on yourself. So many people work so hard to learn and you choose to trace someone art and pretend like you are genius.
It's kind of sad that the issue of "tracing is bad!" "tracing is cheating!" comes up again and again every few months/years and it's the whole other generation of kids being exposed to toxic mindsets/videos first than understanding a whole another perspective on it.
I don't even plan on learning to draw, but sometimes I trace anime characters, color it and keep in my room just for fun, I shouldnt feel guilty right?
I think tracing should never be used in professional art. You should at least be able to copy it from just seeing instead of tracing imo and you should never use any reference that isn't yours if you're really going for 1:1 copy of the reference. I saw an amazing artist just recycling a pinterest girl and getting into a gallery with that, it's crazy! As long as someone else can detect that it's copied so easily you're really doing something wrong and not working enough on your art. [I'm studying fine art for 4 years now and you wouldn't pass with such behaviour. You even have to justify using your own reference photos so heavily, that it's not even fun anymore]
Fun fact: Some of the most famous artists used a camera obscura (the original camera that works simularly to a projector) to trace images from real life. The difference is that they traced things FROM REAL LIFE. They also never claimed the paintings or drawings were theirs - they only used the method as a form of practice and study.
I do have to say that tracing over pictures of anatomy helped me improve my understanding of the shapes and lines that go into each part and has really helped my anatomy skills develop. I think it is to do with me being a pattern based learner so it probably doesn't work for everyone. (Just to clarify I have never actually posted any art made by tracing and I think if someone directly copies another person's work and posts it claiming it is theirs, they are in the wrong)
For me tracing helps in bettering my ability to make line art/cleanup. That being said i would never showcase that kinda thing online. That's practice buddy, not art.
I’ve used others art as a REF for a pose I like for when I’m drawing, I’ll change what I want to and that literally it, though even then it’s rare cuz I tent to find refs from photographs for my poses. I do think tracing over someone else’s art and posting it is wrong but if the artist is okay with that and just says “credit me” then it’s okay, unless it’s a direct trace with only a colour palette change then just no. It is better to trace from real life pictures as you get a better understanding of anatomy since artists stylist bodies a lot but it won’t hurt at the start, some parts of tracing is cheating but some art not and that’s how I see it what was said at around 11:00 explains it pretty well
I deffinitely learned the basics of how to see the shapes in a body reference by tracing those shapes over a human photo reference. But the traced poses always come off a little stiff and static, they lack movement and artistic exaggeration. So I dont like to trace and mash together poses anymore, and find it more useful to use the ref as just a ref and not trace over it. But I truly believe I'm only able to draw anatomy as I do now, because of my pose tracing phase. I exclusively used real humans so my proportions are now a lot more realistic and how I want them, cause Ive broken down the shapes in relation to eachother *directly* . But tracing something else thats stylized/other ppls art has never helped me. Style studies have- deliberately identifying what makes an artists style what it is and trying to emulate that on my own. The point of those tho arent to directly replicate someone elses image with a few changes, its to try your best and learn from it. Traced "style studies" give you a replication with far less learning and understanding than actually taking the time to think trough both how the original artist accomplished their style, but also how *youre* gonna replicate it.
Non artists: You're tracing that's terrible..... Every Artist everywhere: It's how you start to learn muscle memory... you literally trace letters to learn to write.
When I trace, it's usually one-off things that are harder to draw: when I drew my Nomad character for a Cyberpunk RED game I included the car. I'm not big on cars in the best of times, and drawing a cyberpunk car was totally out of my league so I just traced a car from the 2077 game. I probably won't draw anything like that again, so it would've been a bit of a waste of time to actually learn how to do it in my opinion. Although it also has to be said that I don't post my art.
I trace sometimes, but only ever my own drawings and photos. I have built up a library of tens of thousands of photos that I've taken that I can use if I need to. That way it's still my own work that I'm using
I mean, it’s only bad if it’s done as plagiarism. Tracing as: -Practice -education -Understanding shape language -Getting good forms (in the case of tracing objects/limbs) -Creating or mimicking a background (in cases of editing a traced piece to fit an art style better) … should be more normalized.
I used to trace poses a few years ago and i now realise that i didnt show any improvement in my art from tracing, currently i just draw basic shapes for objects and touch it up.
Something that has been bothering me is that a lot of comic book artists use 3d modles for thier backgrounds, and then trace over them. And I think that often leads to some really dull, lifeless backgrounds.
i would have said tracing helped me make better art but then i found out that what ive been doing apparently doesnt count and goes by another name? ( that name being art reconstruction)
I think some of the only times its appropriate to trace is by using a character model sheet for getting a character accurate to what you want for animation, or another appropriate way i can say is only acceptable is if a CHILD does it too learn, grow and understand how art actually works, thats just what children do and how they learn, by mimicking
i think the only times ive traced were 2020 alter ego danagnronpa and kohaku from hit webseries makemon and hit game nine tailed okitsune tale smoking a fat blunt
It’s OK to trace a little bit when you’re younger, but as you get older, you’re going to have to learn to start drawing on your own and perfect your craft. After all there is somebody who repeated we traces, but they still managed to incorporate their own our style, such as loves23 who traces over artwork a vizziepop art work as in quick edits but she doesn’t do it all the time so tracing is OK to extent if you take it beyond just straight up stealing someone’s art nest consider art death and that’s no good🙅🏾♂️
im not saying tracing a FULL peice is good like mentioned tracing is valid if you are studying art styles like trying to get the right eye for whatever art style or just referencing it but if your taking a whole peice thats not and wont be okay.
Im still surprised how this is still an argument, tracing your own hand is fine, whats ISNT fine is when you trace other people’s work and claim it as yours😅
It depends how you trace honestly. If you just trace the lines of the artwork, fuck that, that wont help you get better. But if you use it to understand a drawing better, the perspective and anatomy, its fine. You dont do that by just blindly tracing it, you do that by actually analysing the piece, why the artist did it like that and by breaking it down into shapes to make it more graspable and actually get something out of it. Thats how I do it when I have issues with getting a pose from a reference. I trace it. While I trace, I finish all hidden lines you dont see in the reference and break it down into shapes to understand what I can do to draw this pose without tracing. That helps. That has helped me atleast. Just tracing the lineart doesnt though and anyone who tries to tell you it does is stupid. Edit: That said, I dont trace a lot to begin with. I mostly do traditional which is a completely different animal to digital and for which tracing has also helped me, but I mostly got better just by practice in general. Also, I'm not a professional artist, I'm a hobby artist that wants to get to their full potential. I want to understand anatomy to achieve that and if I cant get there with Tutorials, trying and observing, I resort to tracing. Only then.
I have been drawing 15 years of my life, and yes, I still trace. BUT. I don't trace to make a final piece, nor do I trace to pass something off as my own. When I want to reference the anatomy of something, like a hand, body or clothing in a photo, I find that everything surrounding what I am trying to reference is distracting and it makes it harder to see the overall shape I am trying to. So I will trace the original image, and then I will reference the trace because it is easier on my ADD brain to see just the thing I want to see and not all of the colors and background and stuff that distracts me. I am still referencing, I just took out all the extra irrelevant stuff. I don't use the trace itself as anything other than a clearer reference. Simple lines make ADD brain behave lol
10:14 I came to the conclusion of tracing my own hand when the going gets tough. xD I learned to not trace my hand one to one because the pretty anime boys I draw would have chubby lady hands. xD Tracing can in some ways help you get better. But dont rely on it as a crutch.
I agree! Free base-to-use or tracing for personal practices is OK but claiming artwork that isnt yours is not okay. Tracing in general is not a tool to depend on and steal but for uses of practice and observation.
I IDK how this """body""" crap works! i want to become an artist *traces everyday to learn without posting or sharing about it NEVER!* *posts what i learned instead of the thing i copied*
I used to trace over art and colored without crediting the acutal person it posted on Instagram as mine eventually when I learned it's bad I deleted my whole Instagram account cuz I felt guilty. Now I do my own art and i proud of it
@@MohammedAgbadiI have a question if I use an artist fanart as a reference to draw my own does it considered tracing? Because in your video do you told us heavy referencing is is frowned upon in the art community but even if I heavily reference fan art I'm always trying to make sure it's not the exact copy. Is it fine than?
@@ThatSlayerguyreference and tracing is very different. Reference is just looking at another image and trying to replicate some aspects of it on your own. Tracing is directly drawing over a drawing.
Hirohiko araki, the creator of jojos bizarre adventure, is heavily referencing models on fashion covers or pictures for the famous poses of his own characters. This is well known among the Jojo Fandom but Noone really thinks badly of it. I think this is because araki is known to be passionate about fashion even having collabed multiple times with fashion brands like Gucci, Balenciaga, converse etc. When people see the reference I think they see it more as paying homage to the original as opposed to stealing from it or something like that. So the relationship between the artist and whatever is used as tracing material or reference seems to matter as well.
I know this is 2-week-old but tracing is different from referencing. When you trace and use the outcome as one of your original work, you build nothing (adding details won’t count). Meanwhile, when using references, you study the reference and recreate what you see. Tracing with a right mind can help developing your memorized image gallery tho, but it should be for practice only. Ofc people can trace the image they took themselves or their old artwork, but when tracing others’ artwork and claim it their art, it’s disgusting.
Just so people know, Tracing is a VALID technique to save time in a professional setting. Game designers use it ALOT, animators do and comic artists who work with teams do too! It's to make sure styles remain consistent, or if you're say needing to make 100 different outfits for a model that's in a game like a Warhammer RTS and you have hundreds of individual units and need to decide on a uniform look for the army /regiments. Actually, the art book that came with Warhammer Online has THE BEST EXAMPLES OF THIS in practice! They use the one image of a dwarf or skaven and trace over the image to create many variations of clothing for the models. It's really interesting to see it in professional production work. Also PLEASE stay away from the anti/pro ship discourse. It will keep you sane.
I would legitimately use it for a manga/comic if I had a complicated object I needed to draw a lot. Just make a 3d model of it, trace the shapes, add detail, and boom.
If you are tracing with permission then of course it is a viable technique for consistency. Using it to steal art and then claim it is not ok. Just ask Disney.
My old art teacher would yell at us for using a reference, not even tracing, because "you are not a real artist if you can't draw/come up with something yourself". Gave me a really bad complex for quiet a while and even now I struggle using a reference. As long as you trace to learn or to just get the base of something going, it should be fine. Wish my teachers would have had the same mindset about art as you do.
This is so stupid. How are people expected to learn how to draw without referencing reality? Referencing is quite literally the *backbone* of art, since art is representing reality. Like. How do people can miss the mark THIS badly???
Back in my day we had “bases” taken from anime and manga and people would use them to draw their own characters and OCs. TikTok would lose their damn MINDS.
My coworker used one the other day to help her make an OC! I haven't drawn art In years and all this AI gen art drama is wild an lowkey discourages me from picking it back up. 😅
I am an artist who uses a lot of 3D models in my art so I can quickly set up reference pics for my art. I trace over them using them more so as a lose guide for my final drawing and will gladly make adjustments as needed (years of study taught me where fixes meed to go). Doing this actually taught me how to freehand perspective, draw with confidence, and break down my figures a lot more easy. My art has improved a lot over the time I've been doing this and I can also get my work done faster.
Raises hand. I made a drawing of one of my newest character then I traced over it, then took that trace and traced over it. Every iteration made my character look even better each time. So... yes?
I personally found tracing wasnt bad idea, its really help me to understand the basic shape by making a breakdown of it first. Not blatantly just tracing it. Because of that, i can know if something off with my artwork, like the anatomy is weird or the foreshortening is absurd. Personally, i found fundamental is pretty hard to learn for someone who cant draw, like me for example. To understand fundamental, i should draw first, to create muscle memory for myself first (which by tracing). then the fundamental fix the issue i had, if i have no idea what to do with my artwork. My method can be right and wrong for some, but since i enjoyed that method, so i still drawing until now
Especially stuff like anatomy. That shit is so hard and tbh I feel like good knowledge of especially the human form isn’t treated with enough respect (I see so many people treat it as a “basic” skill, when it’s genuinely so challenging). Tracing is amazing for complex forms like that.
So, in art school, we actually did use tracing as a method of learning, but the key way to trace with intention. You weren't just copying lines, but really thinking about the reason the artist made those decisions. These were NEVER passed off as original works or finished pieces. As an illustrator I've used tracing over my own photos as a shortcut when on a deadline, though I prefer not to because it always feels less dynamic.
I used to trace over PNGs of Animal Crossing characters and then color them in again. I never shared the characters or claimed any of the art as my own. I saw it more as a coloring book than anything.
I find tracing real life photo or things really helped me to expand my knowledge of things especially unusual things like a controller, wild animals or certain rural landscapes, which is useful for budding or young artist. It also teach you how you can add a spin onto things that you ref or traced, a deceptively hard skill to learn once you have your own style or trying to go for a style in a professional work. Tracing other people's work is fine if you're interested in studying their style and credited them, but nowadays people do this just for internet clout without crediting. Its just sad tbh that to them art is nothing more than a clout tool like selling a brand
I’m a 14 year old artist and tracing does help me a lot! I use it for chibis and front facing!!!!! Seeing this video is helping me form my own solid opinion as well!!!! :)
As a 16 yo artist i would recommend deconstructing drawings into basic shapes instead. Tracing is a good way to learn but by personal experience my art quality increased since i started to sketch with basic shapes instead. But well, i'm not your boss; it's your art, your way to improve it!
my suggestion would be for you to immediately draw (the same/similiar drawing) freehand after you do a traced drawing. This way you actually commit what you learned to memory. it also forces you to do more repetition which is also great for learning. In fact I, as a rule, always draw freehand first, and then trace if I'm having issues, and then drawing it again a third time (freehand). This is mostly useful when I'm doing studies of art (copies for learning).
controversial take maybe, but tracing photos (not drawings) really helped me learn anatomy. My best early portraits were drawn AFTER i traced the reference image. I then threw out the tracing and drew it freehand. It helped me get a sense of the features and the space between them. It also just helps you learn to stop drawing what you know and actually start drawing what you see.
I always get so mixed up when people bring up tracing art because in my mind the whole "trace it and then present the traced piece as original" thing isn't on the table. It's so far removed from the table that I forget it exists. I forget that people do it, and that's what a lot of people are talking about. Well, I often use tracing when I want to learn a character design... I'm sure this is a "me" issue, but when I'm trying to learn how to draw a character, I have a hard time seeing a shape breakdown immediately from the original art. So I trace it to make a simplified, uncolored copy, focusing on what I feel is important for the shape language of the character/ creature/ object, then break my tracing down into shapes, so I can understand how to draw them in different poses and angles. Another thing I've gotten into is using models for the more dynamic angles and 3-point perspectives I struggle with. I understand that CSP comes with 3d models that you can manipulate right on your canvas, for those of you who may have that, but for the rest of us who may not have such direct access to that kind of service, there are websites like Magic Poser. None of the models match my characters perfectly, but once I get the positioning and an understanding of what the foreshortening is *supposed* to look like, it's pretty easy to simply sketch my characters' shapes over the posed model. This also allows me to feel out how my characters shapes squish and stretch at these angles, making it easier to reproduce similar angles later without needing to spend time making a model pose again.
2:02 I rose my both my hands irl bc this what is what my art journey was like. When I was younger (like 8 - 9 yo), I sucked at drawing, but I loved it, it was a wonder full experience but I always came out not as good as I saw others' drawings, then I realized I could trace a good drawing that I liked, of course I didn't knew it was a bad thing I was just a kid, I started a basic sketches and shapes that I learned with my art teacher to keep things where it should be before I started traced. I kept doing exactly that for years, I even made a Instagram account to show traced art, until late 15 yo me learned that tracing was bad and I was plagiarizing art, I felt bad af , deleted all my posts and stopped drawing all together for 1 years bc of the guilt, after 16th birthday I stared drawing again bc of boredom, without any references and no tracing I made a okay-ish to acceptable drawing, I was not as the same level as the old drawing I made with tracing but it was a certain improvement to when I was 9. Straight and continuous lines without trembling, without feathering the line art, shadows and where the light comes from, I learned things that I didn't even knew I actually learned, I didn't even knew anatomy but the humans I made where definitely more human than before, I improved I didn't knew I did but it was enough to relight the passion for art that I had. Yes, tracing do make you indirectly better at art even if don't even know what you're doing, speaking from experience. But it doesn't speed your progress tho, 3 months of learning the fundamentals will do better than 7 years of tracing lmao.
Tracing can build up line confidence and helps you learn anatomy. I use it to study other people's art, but if I've traced it I never post it. I just keep it to myself. It can help if you keep your brain turned on and make sure you're learning while you do. If you trace a 3d model however I think its perfectly fine. Work smarter not harder am I right? There's so much more you have to do after the initial tracing of the 3D model. I'm planning on making a webtoon and so I've been tracing 3d models because I don't have enough mileage anatomy wise to get them out consistently. But its something I'm not going to do long term. Someday I want to draw without that crutch.
a small tip for those who think tracing or use tracing to learn: dont trace it form the hole but instead tey to mark out the basic shapes. and try to see how the basic shapes become the finished producked. tracing can help people learn if you use it the right way. just tracing art line from line wont do much to help but studing the pose and other shapes in the art can help you get a better understanding of it. but thats just a small tip ^^ just make sure its chill with the artist before hand or just dont post it.
ok dude just because tracing never helped YOU learn anatomy doesn't mean it won't help some body. personally, trying to learn from soley from shapes and forms and blocking out anatomy made my art look stiff and uninteresting for years- and it still never helped me with the structure of a head. then i started tracing photographs to understand the contours and the goopy blobs that are muscles and fat. my art rapidly improved in just a few months. you definitely need to be cognizant and always be tracing intentionally, and ONLY during practice, but it really did help my art like nothing else ever did. why would tracing be taught in schools if it wasn't a good way to learn?
As a young artist, when I used to copy art pieces I like, I disnt trace but copied from sight (and never posted it because its not mine), this helped with understanding proportings, placement and style. I only traced the image in specific times, and that method was on another piece of paper to trace the part to understand how to recreate it. Tracing should only be used for yourself and not for posting which I agree with, I just only recently started drawing poses without references (only sometimes since there is a lot for me to learn) and I don't trace, only using inspiration from other artists. And this really shows the break between beginner artist who traces to understand and a more understanding beginner artist where tracing isn't even needed. Some people who trace can actually draw good but maybe aren't confident enough to make a pose or just have malicious intent. Tracing ia fine just don't say it was yours and don't make money from it, it's so simple that it's hard to understand a tracer's mind, there are more cons then pros but I guess they are too braindead to actually think
i trace 3d models or photos to practice the flow of poses, and how the anatomy works when the body does that sort of thing, or mb different body types. i dont usually post those, unless i just put guidelines over the 3d model then do it myself. im a visual learner though, and i will remember anatomy and that sort of pose better if i spend time replicating it. never over other ppls art. only 3d models, photos uploaded TO be references, or pics of myself. my fav thing to do is trace it, then try to freehand it by only looking at it, then try and do it on my own. i usually give up before step 3 of that tho. im working on it LMFAO
*_what do you think about tracing art, be honest..._*
it's not that bad if the person gave credit.. but if not.. I hope they are a little kid cause that I can understand 😃
Tracing references is completely fine, but tracing on other people’s stuff (including copyrighted material) is NOT ok.
personally im not a big fan of tracing, but if its for reference then idk tbh
I literally know about this little bit, but I mostly agreed tracing someone else's art is wrong
Tracing your own art is fine, and I accept the idea of tracing references for key points but anything else is ridiculous
As a person who used to trace when I was younger and is an artist now, it depends on HOW you trace. If youre using it to get better at anatomy or to get better in drawing in your own style, then thats fine! but if your tracing someone elses art without permission or credits, or is just tracing to do it and not saying you did and passing it off as your own art, then that's unacceptable.
I use to trace over art and colored it posted on Instagram as mine eventually when I learned it's bad I deleted my whole Instagram account cuz I felt guilty. Now I do my own art
that's not tracing, thats plaigarism. the first example of it in this video is not even a trace, its a crop of the original with the colors changed.
@@ThatSlayerguyatleast you recognised ur mistake and now look, you draw your own art! even though tracing has its benefits, ofc dont post it and say its yours 😭 (when i was tracing like i was maybe 5-6, so i didnt have socials and maybe that was a good thing bc knowing me i probably wouldve posted it too LMAO😭)
@@tequt omg i just reread that forget what i said before, youre totally right 😭 im so tired of plagiarism also n then just changing colours and passing it off as yours? kinda insane...
@@selfryedi had a fan accout for a youtuber when i was ten and i use to trace art work of them
Im for 15 years in the art community and working 4 years now in the professional scene. Tracing is a skill you should def learn. It saves so much time. Like trace your own hand or anatomy. Define your shapes by tracing. If your using someone elses art. Its better to keep it for yourself due to moral reasons and ofc plagiarism. Simple
thanks for the tips, i hope i can do art professionally one day :D
Hell yeah. I find that sometimes I do something I really like in my sketchbook and want to reproduce it as a finished piece and I will 100% trace that thing over to the finish paper to save so much time. It’s mine, I free handed that in my sketchbook, I can reproduce it any way I want.
And tracing someone else’s work can really give you a feel for how the line work is done. I know I can see the way a line looks but can not reproduce it for the life of me because of the illusion of depth . So I trace it a few times to get the hand feel for the line and to see just how subtle the curve or bend is or just how close the lines are, then try doing it again free hand. Very helpful.
I had to make my own reference for a hand that wasn't clear in another reference image, I did a drawing first for blocking in but still looked wonky, I made the same pose with my own hand holding a coffee cup and took a picture, I then traced the picture that I myself took and edited it into the drawing.
@@felicianomiko5659 it just saves so much time. Heck even use some AI for color references and shading
Sometimes I’ll trace the shapes of a certain pose but I draw with a mouse, which makes it exceptionally hard to draw. I’m much better drawing by hand.
i swear being an artist is so hard these days :sob:
can't even draw in peace anymore fr
@@MohammedAgbadi “can you draw m -“ “ *NO* “
This is why I hate Pinterest so much, people posting there are mainly stealing art and repost without crediting :/
it's all either stolen, uncredited art or mindless ai spew now :/
bro be sitting like a news reporter in business
lmfaoooo stop lmaoo
I feel like there is no right or wrong with art, it's how you use it like how you trace. If you trace and try learning from it then that's perfectly okay. But if you claim it as yours without the artist's consent then that's not okay. Tracing can be used as a tool to learn from it, not just copy it, if you want to learn anatomy by tracing then go ahead just don't claim it as yours you still need to provide credits, That is how tracing should be used.
This is off topic but same pfp! :D
The only wrong is if you're taking others' work and claiming it as your own 👍 I trace shapes over my own hands all the time because sometimes fingers are just fucking weird! Idc as long as the end product looks fine
Actually, when I was going through my longest and most stubborn art block, the only way I could produce a piece of art is when I traced another artist’s artwork, of course I never profited off of it, but it made my inspiration come back and before I knew it, I went back to drawing, ironically it was the method that made me create one of my most original art pieces to date lol.
i just trace my own old sketches/old art when i'm super artblocked and it actually helps!! somehoww
Letting the mind rest, and still excersising tbe hand, my favourite way if dealing with artblock. I find tracing with shapes/studying the artwork or picture also works for me
Heh......unconsciously studying, training the motor skills without realizing it
I wanted to share a long story of why i am currently copying other's works, but your comment is basically a short and clear embodiment of what I basically wanted to say XD
And there i was thinking I invented this genius idea. Lol me. But yeah. I am in the deepest longest artblock ever and crawling out of it is a challenge. I can draw whatever i want. But I realised that my head often gets in a way of my work. It constantly stopping and sabotaging me from creating. So I just turn on a video to relax, open pinterest and mindlessly redraw whatever it offers. I dont post these works, also, I am trying to mark what I made original, what is a copied work and list an author if have their name. And this works out amazingly well for me! I managed to draw almost every day for the last 2 months! It marvelous! I had 2 years straight of wanting but not being able to draw at all. Now, thanks to this copy-drawing, I got myself used to the action, warmed up, and in a mood to create my own work, FINALLY. I am also very happy to see that I am apparently not alone in this. I am also thinking of studying and doing master copies of paintings. I already copied 2 of Van Goh works and loved the process. I hope stereotypes of copying or tracing being completely bad and produced only by beginners dont take over. I had been drawing for around 10 years and these stereotypes affected me as well. I wish I realised of this trick much sooner, because it would have incredibly helped me, when I was at my lowest and really needed art back in my life, but couldn't because of artblock and a ton of enxiety.
@@Splat654 I'm sorry to hear you've been struggling through a long art block. Always keep in mind that sometimes, art block is caused by non-art issues. Whether it be mental health, unchecked problems, or even a lack of sleep, anything can cause you to feel unmotivated. If tracing random things from Pinterest helps you, then that is amazing and I hope you can find your artistic spirit again.
Ironically, what helped me draw more was quitting art as a career. I kinda realized, way too far down the road, that art is really only a hobby for me lol. Now that I've found my real path, I'm much happier, and art is much easier for me now. I have been drawing more recently than I have in the last few years. Like I said before, sometimes we struggle with art for other reasons.
Tracing was something I did in primary school in art class, but once I turned 11 or 12 it was time to really learn how and why, form, light and shadow, perspective and proportions actually work. That just takes lots of practice and really looking at studying what you are drawing. Most people have phones now and can take photos anywhere so it’s great to do that too. And taking, tracing and drawing your own photos will also help in developing your own look and style as well. Now is definitely the best time to take up something like art or music with so many good resources available for free or at quite a reasonable cost.
for me personally, i only trace for poses, and typically I have to change the anatomy of the pose anyway. I have a hard time making up poses let alone knowing how they should look, so tracing/referencing poses for my own art.
another time where I will actually trace is when painting animated characters, I can't replicate styles very good and I'm painting anyway
The only cases of tracing I understand are stuff like consistent animations,/animatics, in the Beyblade manga with the Beyblade tops to save time, no matter the generation you’re looking at (OG, Metal Fight, Burst), a guide to fix something, and as a practicing method. I’m not gonna go into a hissy fit for merely tracing as long as you’re honest about it. Hell, I used to trace and use bases during my early DeviantArt days, but they ended up being some crutch or something I depended on too much, and it messed up the artstyle I had at the time (dem long ahh legs I think, but it could be something else that caused it). After I stopped using bases (using the body and slapping stuff on top of it) and tracing stuff, and spent years on developing my own artstyle with actual resources and references, my art started to look better.
I love drawing only from my head! It takes months of slowly absorbing the image through osmosis. Quick ref browsing 10 mins or less and then maybe doodle that lol some that day.
But I own a projector, a light box and and iPad Pro. I will trace if it seems to be the right thing.
Let a person who has not devoted their life to creating art or illustration trace anything they want… let them try as hard as they like heck let them have a team of 10. It won’t ever look like a genuine work
Tracing, under the right conditions, is invaluable. There are even tracing tools like artist transfer paper, the Artigraph, and the Camera Lucida. I believe it’s the intention and the amount traced. I will use tracing for gesture and framing so I’m set up on the page properly. I also use tracing to transfer my work to another paper or canvas. I don’t see any problem with that. I know how to draw without aids but it’s nice to speed up the process sometimes.
0:29 OMG you got me off-guard with the Tekken 5 opening Sparking⚡️
**laughs in Bryan Fury** just _EXCELLENT!_
Now I'll go learn Tekken's artstyle, DORYAA
Yeah. I never thought I would hear this song from the art channel.😄
Tracing or copying the artstyle is a double edged sword.
One side it's beginner's most basic way of trying to learn and make characters based on well known artists you like and love then slowly find a new way to improve and adapt your style into it.
Hiro Mashima Sensei (author of Fairy Tail) made his characters based on Oda Sensei's One Piece artstyle, then slowly evolve to create his own artstyle.
Edit: nowadays they doing this for quick clout 😰
I would trace, but only out of necessity so I can get better at my art. ⭐️🦋💜
It's easier to just say "Tracing is wrong" because I feel like so many people blur the line. I think it's fine to trace your *own* art for animation and comics because it can help things look consistent. But then I've seen people use a screenshot to trace a character from an animated shows and never "credit" anyone because animators are often a face-less artist. They don't feel guilty about it because they don't believe they are stealing from an artist.
Tracing is completely fine as long as you credit the person you traced from.
Something I do is I make my own 3d model using blender or whatever and pose it and trace it and in my opinion that is fine but you should never trace over someone else’s drawing unless it’s just practice and you don’t post it or you credit them
Tracing is one of the best ways to learn anatomy and art styles. For practice it's helped me so much. But i see the issue of tracing then claiming the artbas your own.
When i was younger i would trace, i think when youre a kid its okay because it helps with muscle memory. From there i would look at something and draw it bigger, now i can just draw whats in my head and if i cannot i look up many refences to help
Hey I'm a artist wanna be, and drawing traditionally but I still respect you digital artists
i began by tracing, then i began tracing with eyes and now i draw myself, it really depends on how and when in the journey
Man, I'm so fed up with a kid I follow on Instagram. He makes fanart (Disney, video games etc) that seem flawless and then he makes his OC (he has more than 50 by now) and they are good, but seem as drawn by someone else (unless he forgets to draw hands from drawing to drawing)!!!
I started looking for photos of the fanarts and 90% are traced. The other 10% I guess I can't find the original picture.
If tracing would be a real big problem, for some users who use clip studio paint u have an option of 3D models. Most of the time people use this when they don't find the reference they like or if they struggle with something. Some people consider this tracing because it stays 'something' u trace. The problem? Its no one's refrence or picture ( well its clip studio paint) and consider that people use this for many things ( animation,art,webtoon.. )
3:28 Bro leon caught me off guard 💀
i was looking for this comment so badly
Personally, I've concluded there's 3 instances where tracing is ok:
1. You're learning
2. You have a deadline and your livelihood depends on it
3. You're tracing your own work
Ya’ll, I thought I would burn in art hell for the rest of eternity if I ever traced. Thanks for this lmao
Personally, I never traced and I don’t respect it. There’s better ways to learn how to do art you don’t need to trace
I traced art once. Needed a reference for a Slugcat so I just used a promotional piece. Less than an hour later I deleted the art. Made me feel sick looking at it. Tried doing the pose myself. Felt way better. Looked less polished but I did it myself. Slept good that night.
I then proceeded to draw too many Slugcats again
Heres how it works:
If you trace a photo, thats fine, as your using it as a base, and arent really stealing anything. If you trace art, then thats art theft, and it usually looks bad anyways. If you use someones art as a reference for a pose, hairstyle, character ref (IF YOU CREDIT THE ARTIST), ect then thats ok as long as its not that heavy. If you trace a base made for public use, that is perfectly ok, but its best if you credit the original artist
When i was 12 i used to trace my mmd models and now at 17 i am now teaching myself
Those drawings of Leon scarred me
1. Generate art in sd
2. Trace it
3. Fix mistakes
4. ...
5. Profit
That's just art theft with extra steps
@@kingnightmarevin i steal art everytime i use references. Just with extra steps.
can you make a video about the "officer rex" incident on tiktok?? i can never understand those dirty excuse of people
I have sometime tracing someone art but I never post it because I think it's not a right thing to do. I just keep it for myself and practice to draw the same picture without tracing it, but if you tracing someone art and post it and also claim you are not tracing, you should shame on yourself.
So many people work so hard to learn and you choose to trace someone art and pretend like you are genius.
The worst part is when you find it on pinterest and try to credit them but you cant find the artist's name😭
It's kind of sad that the issue of "tracing is bad!" "tracing is cheating!" comes up again and again every few months/years and it's the whole other generation of kids being exposed to toxic mindsets/videos first than understanding a whole another perspective on it.
what pissed me off most is there're apps which allow people to trace every piece they want on paper.
Tracing somehow taught me lighting
I don't even plan on learning to draw, but sometimes I trace anime characters, color it and keep in my room just for fun, I shouldnt feel guilty right?
Not at all
No, relax 😊😊
If tracing is a sin, some 2D animators have a lot to talk about
That fucking outro caught me so off guard wtf 😂😂😂😂
I think tracing should never be used in professional art. You should at least be able to copy it from just seeing instead of tracing imo and you should never use any reference that isn't yours if you're really going for 1:1 copy of the reference. I saw an amazing artist just recycling a pinterest girl and getting into a gallery with that, it's crazy! As long as someone else can detect that it's copied so easily you're really doing something wrong and not working enough on your art. [I'm studying fine art for 4 years now and you wouldn't pass with such behaviour. You even have to justify using your own reference photos so heavily, that it's not even fun anymore]
Fun fact: Some of the most famous artists used a camera obscura (the original camera that works simularly to a projector) to trace images from real life. The difference is that they traced things FROM REAL LIFE. They also never claimed the paintings or drawings were theirs - they only used the method as a form of practice and study.
How can tracing be cheating if drawin's'not a game?
bro spitting bars
I do have to say that tracing over pictures of anatomy helped me improve my understanding of the shapes and lines that go into each part and has really helped my anatomy skills develop. I think it is to do with me being a pattern based learner so it probably doesn't work for everyone. (Just to clarify I have never actually posted any art made by tracing and I think if someone directly copies another person's work and posts it claiming it is theirs, they are in the wrong)
3:27 LEON
You know I wasn’t expecting to hear Sparking from Tekken 5 but I appreciate it a lot
For me tracing helps in bettering my ability to make line art/cleanup. That being said i would never showcase that kinda thing online. That's practice buddy, not art.
I’ve used others art as a REF for a pose I like for when I’m drawing, I’ll change what I want to and that literally it, though even then it’s rare cuz I tent to find refs from photographs for my poses. I do think tracing over someone else’s art and posting it is wrong but if the artist is okay with that and just says “credit me” then it’s okay, unless it’s a direct trace with only a colour palette change then just no. It is better to trace from real life pictures as you get a better understanding of anatomy since artists stylist bodies a lot but it won’t hurt at the start, some parts of tracing is cheating but some art not and that’s how I see it what was said at around 11:00 explains it pretty well
3:32 not Leon Kennedy GYAT
I deffinitely learned the basics of how to see the shapes in a body reference by tracing those shapes over a human photo reference. But the traced poses always come off a little stiff and static, they lack movement and artistic exaggeration. So I dont like to trace and mash together poses anymore, and find it more useful to use the ref as just a ref and not trace over it. But I truly believe I'm only able to draw anatomy as I do now, because of my pose tracing phase. I exclusively used real humans so my proportions are now a lot more realistic and how I want them, cause Ive broken down the shapes in relation to eachother *directly* . But tracing something else thats stylized/other ppls art has never helped me. Style studies have- deliberately identifying what makes an artists style what it is and trying to emulate that on my own. The point of those tho arent to directly replicate someone elses image with a few changes, its to try your best and learn from it. Traced "style studies" give you a replication with far less learning and understanding than actually taking the time to think trough both how the original artist accomplished their style, but also how *youre* gonna replicate it.
Non artists: You're tracing that's terrible..... Every Artist everywhere: It's how you start to learn muscle memory... you literally trace letters to learn to write.
When I trace, it's usually one-off things that are harder to draw: when I drew my Nomad character for a Cyberpunk RED game I included the car. I'm not big on cars in the best of times, and drawing a cyberpunk car was totally out of my league so I just traced a car from the 2077 game. I probably won't draw anything like that again, so it would've been a bit of a waste of time to actually learn how to do it in my opinion. Although it also has to be said that I don't post my art.
I trace sometimes, but only ever my own drawings and photos. I have built up a library of tens of thousands of photos that I've taken that I can use if I need to. That way it's still my own work that I'm using
I mean, it’s only bad if it’s done as plagiarism. Tracing as:
-Practice
-education
-Understanding shape language
-Getting good forms (in the case of tracing objects/limbs)
-Creating or mimicking a background (in cases of editing a traced piece to fit an art style better)
… should be more normalized.
I used to trace poses a few years ago and i now realise that i didnt show any improvement in my art from tracing, currently i just draw basic shapes for objects and touch it up.
Something that has been bothering me is that a lot of comic book artists use 3d modles for thier backgrounds, and then trace over them. And I think that often leads to some really dull, lifeless backgrounds.
I traced in the past and do it rarely.. And tried to Do my own art now 😌
i feel much better and i got inspirierd by pokemon art😊
It honestly depends on what you're tracing there's a difference between tracing an aspect of the artwork versus every single line crease and detail
i would have said tracing helped me make better art but then i found out that what ive been doing apparently doesnt count and goes by another name? ( that name being art reconstruction)
3:23 GYAAAAAAAT
I use tracing to figure out the anatomy of a reference and how it is used for my reference as a beginner.
does it still count as the bad type of tracing if im just tracing my own art, or would people still get pissed off?
I think some of the only times its appropriate to trace is by using a character model sheet for getting a character accurate to what you want for animation, or another appropriate way i can say is only acceptable is if a CHILD does it too learn, grow and understand how art actually works, thats just what children do and how they learn, by mimicking
At first glance, you look like a masterfully made oil painting.
3:20 dayum HE THICK!!
3:25 more thickness
i think the only times ive traced were 2020 alter ego danagnronpa and kohaku from hit webseries makemon and hit game nine tailed okitsune tale smoking a fat blunt
It’s OK to trace a little bit when you’re younger, but as you get older, you’re going to have to learn to start drawing on your own and perfect your craft. After all there is somebody who repeated we traces, but they still managed to incorporate their own our style, such as loves23 who traces over artwork a vizziepop art work as in quick edits but she doesn’t do it all the time so tracing is OK to extent if you take it beyond just straight up stealing someone’s art nest consider art death and that’s no good🙅🏾♂️
My opinions on tracing is; cool, just use it for practice, or stuff like that, just dont take credit for the traced art.
im not saying tracing a FULL peice is good like mentioned tracing is valid if you are studying art styles like trying to get the right eye for whatever art style or just referencing it but if your taking a whole peice thats not and wont be okay.
Im still surprised how this is still an argument, tracing your own hand is fine, whats ISNT fine is when you trace other people’s work and claim it as yours😅
It depends how you trace honestly.
If you just trace the lines of the artwork, fuck that, that wont help you get better.
But if you use it to understand a drawing better, the perspective and anatomy, its fine. You dont do that by just blindly tracing it, you do that by actually analysing the piece, why the artist did it like that and by breaking it down into shapes to make it more graspable and actually get something out of it. Thats how I do it when I have issues with getting a pose from a reference. I trace it. While I trace, I finish all hidden lines you dont see in the reference and break it down into shapes to understand what I can do to draw this pose without tracing. That helps. That has helped me atleast.
Just tracing the lineart doesnt though and anyone who tries to tell you it does is stupid.
Edit: That said, I dont trace a lot to begin with. I mostly do traditional which is a completely different animal to digital and for which tracing has also helped me, but I mostly got better just by practice in general. Also, I'm not a professional artist, I'm a hobby artist that wants to get to their full potential. I want to understand anatomy to achieve that and if I cant get there with Tutorials, trying and observing, I resort to tracing. Only then.
I have been drawing 15 years of my life, and yes, I still trace. BUT. I don't trace to make a final piece, nor do I trace to pass something off as my own. When I want to reference the anatomy of something, like a hand, body or clothing in a photo, I find that everything surrounding what I am trying to reference is distracting and it makes it harder to see the overall shape I am trying to. So I will trace the original image, and then I will reference the trace because it is easier on my ADD brain to see just the thing I want to see and not all of the colors and background and stuff that distracts me. I am still referencing, I just took out all the extra irrelevant stuff. I don't use the trace itself as anything other than a clearer reference. Simple lines make ADD brain behave lol
This video is very inciteful 😻🧊‼️ - ice cube
10:14 I came to the conclusion of tracing my own hand when the going gets tough. xD I learned to not trace my hand one to one because the pretty anime boys I draw would have chubby lady hands. xD
Tracing can in some ways help you get better. But dont rely on it as a crutch.
the morality behind tracing heavily depends on the artist intention
W mindset
I agree! Free base-to-use or tracing for personal practices is OK but claiming artwork that isnt yours is not okay. Tracing in general is not a tool to depend on and steal but for uses of practice and observation.
@@wee7861Exactly
@@wee7861 Free to use bases also made up a majority of the 2010s internet. Anyone else remember the cat lick pfp? lmao
I IDK how this """body""" crap works!
i want to become an artist
*traces everyday to learn without posting or sharing about it
NEVER!*
*posts what i learned instead of the
thing i copied*
I used to trace over art and colored without crediting the acutal person it posted on Instagram as mine eventually when I learned it's bad I deleted my whole Instagram account cuz I felt guilty. Now I do my own art and i proud of it
we're proud of you!!
@@MohammedAgbadiI have a question if I use an artist fanart as a reference to draw my own does it considered tracing? Because in your video do you told us heavy referencing is is frowned upon in the art community but even if I heavily reference fan art I'm always trying to make sure it's not the exact copy. Is it fine than?
@@ThatSlayerguyno it doesnt. References are a must to use
@@ThatSlayerguyreference and tracing is very different. Reference is just looking at another image and trying to replicate some aspects of it on your own. Tracing is directly drawing over a drawing.
Glad you learned from your mistakes.
Hirohiko araki, the creator of jojos bizarre adventure, is heavily referencing models on fashion covers or pictures for the famous poses of his own characters. This is well known among the Jojo Fandom but Noone really thinks badly of it. I think this is because araki is known to be passionate about fashion even having collabed multiple times with fashion brands like Gucci, Balenciaga, converse etc.
When people see the reference I think they see it more as paying homage to the original as opposed to stealing from it or something like that.
So the relationship between the artist and whatever is used as tracing material or reference seems to matter as well.
Referencing and tracing are two completely different things
Yeah but that’s because it isn’t an example of tracing…it’s referencing.
I know this is 2-week-old but tracing is different from referencing. When you trace and use the outcome as one of your original work, you build nothing (adding details won’t count). Meanwhile, when using references, you study the reference and recreate what you see. Tracing with a right mind can help developing your memorized image gallery tho, but it should be for practice only. Ofc people can trace the image they took themselves or their old artwork, but when tracing others’ artwork and claim it their art, it’s disgusting.
Just so people know, Tracing is a VALID technique to save time in a professional setting. Game designers use it ALOT, animators do and comic artists who work with teams do too! It's to make sure styles remain consistent, or if you're say needing to make 100 different outfits for a model that's in a game like a Warhammer RTS and you have hundreds of individual units and need to decide on a uniform look for the army /regiments. Actually, the art book that came with Warhammer Online has THE BEST EXAMPLES OF THIS in practice! They use the one image of a dwarf or skaven and trace over the image to create many variations of clothing for the models. It's really interesting to see it in professional production work.
Also PLEASE stay away from the anti/pro ship discourse. It will keep you sane.
I would legitimately use it for a manga/comic if I had a complicated object I needed to draw a lot. Just make a 3d model of it, trace the shapes, add detail, and boom.
If you are tracing with permission then of course it is a viable technique for consistency. Using it to steal art and then claim it is not ok. Just ask Disney.
My old art teacher would yell at us for using a reference, not even tracing, because "you are not a real artist if you can't draw/come up with something yourself". Gave me a really bad complex for quiet a while and even now I struggle using a reference. As long as you trace to learn or to just get the base of something going, it should be fine. Wish my teachers would have had the same mindset about art as you do.
Sounds like something my old art teacher would do tbh
It sounds like you’re old art teacher graduated from a daycare
This is so stupid. How are people expected to learn how to draw without referencing reality? Referencing is quite literally the *backbone* of art, since art is representing reality. Like. How do people can miss the mark THIS badly???
L teacher
Jeez my old teacher practically made us use reference…
Back in my day we had “bases” taken from anime and manga and people would use them to draw their own characters and OCs. TikTok would lose their damn MINDS.
You're making me feel so old even tho I'm barely 25y.o (26 in 4 months)
My coworker used one the other day to help her make an OC! I haven't drawn art In years and all this AI gen art drama is wild an lowkey discourages me from picking it back up. 😅
I am an artist who uses a lot of 3D models in my art so I can quickly set up reference pics for my art. I trace over them using them more so as a lose guide for my final drawing and will gladly make adjustments as needed (years of study taught me where fixes meed to go). Doing this actually taught me how to freehand perspective, draw with confidence, and break down my figures a lot more easy. My art has improved a lot over the time I've been doing this and I can also get my work done faster.
Raises hand. I made a drawing of one of my newest character then I traced over it, then took that trace and traced over it. Every iteration made my character look even better each time. So... yes?
_slow claps slow claps_
Good technique. Just don't use it on other people's art, only yours. Bases are fine if they're for practice.
cool, I'm very jelly of you :))
I also trace over my old drawings while making improvements of what I learned. I love seeing the progress
Tracing actually has made me better. when i actually started drawing on my own I was SIGNIFICANTLY better than before i started tracing
I personally found tracing wasnt bad idea, its really help me to understand the basic shape by making a breakdown of it first. Not blatantly just tracing it.
Because of that, i can know if something off with my artwork, like the anatomy is weird or the foreshortening is absurd.
Personally, i found fundamental is pretty hard to learn for someone who cant draw, like me for example. To understand fundamental, i should draw first, to create muscle memory for myself first (which by tracing). then the fundamental fix the issue i had, if i have no idea what to do with my artwork.
My method can be right and wrong for some, but since i enjoyed that method, so i still drawing until now
Especially stuff like anatomy. That shit is so hard and tbh I feel like good knowledge of especially the human form isn’t treated with enough respect (I see so many people treat it as a “basic” skill, when it’s genuinely so challenging). Tracing is amazing for complex forms like that.
So, in art school, we actually did use tracing as a method of learning, but the key way to trace with intention. You weren't just copying lines, but really thinking about the reason the artist made those decisions. These were NEVER passed off as original works or finished pieces. As an illustrator I've used tracing over my own photos as a shortcut when on a deadline, though I prefer not to because it always feels less dynamic.
I used to trace over PNGs of Animal Crossing characters and then color them in again. I never shared the characters or claimed any of the art as my own. I saw it more as a coloring book than anything.
I find tracing real life photo or things really helped me to expand my knowledge of things especially unusual things like a controller, wild animals or certain rural landscapes, which is useful for budding or young artist. It also teach you how you can add a spin onto things that you ref or traced, a deceptively hard skill to learn once you have your own style or trying to go for a style in a professional work. Tracing other people's work is fine if you're interested in studying their style and credited them, but nowadays people do this just for internet clout without crediting. Its just sad tbh that to them art is nothing more than a clout tool like selling a brand
I’m a 14 year old artist and tracing does help me a lot! I use it for chibis and front facing!!!!! Seeing this video is helping me form my own solid opinion as well!!!! :)
As a 16 yo artist i would recommend deconstructing drawings into basic shapes instead. Tracing is a good way to learn but by personal experience my art quality increased since i started to sketch with basic shapes instead. But well, i'm not your boss; it's your art, your way to improve it!
@@witheri2um OOOO OKAY :) I will try work on the shape thingy things to help me learn!!! Thx sm! Your the best :D
@@Abagofsouhiyori good luck ;D
my suggestion would be for you to immediately draw (the same/similiar drawing) freehand after you do a traced drawing. This way you actually commit what you learned to memory. it also forces you to do more repetition which is also great for learning. In fact I, as a rule, always draw freehand first, and then trace if I'm having issues, and then drawing it again a third time (freehand). This is mostly useful when I'm doing studies of art (copies for learning).
Sin.
controversial take maybe, but tracing photos (not drawings) really helped me learn anatomy. My best early portraits were drawn AFTER i traced the reference image. I then threw out the tracing and drew it freehand. It helped me get a sense of the features and the space between them. It also just helps you learn to stop drawing what you know and actually start drawing what you see.
I always get so mixed up when people bring up tracing art because in my mind the whole "trace it and then present the traced piece as original" thing isn't on the table. It's so far removed from the table that I forget it exists. I forget that people do it, and that's what a lot of people are talking about.
Well, I often use tracing when I want to learn a character design... I'm sure this is a "me" issue, but when I'm trying to learn how to draw a character, I have a hard time seeing a shape breakdown immediately from the original art. So I trace it to make a simplified, uncolored copy, focusing on what I feel is important for the shape language of the character/ creature/ object, then break my tracing down into shapes, so I can understand how to draw them in different poses and angles.
Another thing I've gotten into is using models for the more dynamic angles and 3-point perspectives I struggle with. I understand that CSP comes with 3d models that you can manipulate right on your canvas, for those of you who may have that, but for the rest of us who may not have such direct access to that kind of service, there are websites like Magic Poser. None of the models match my characters perfectly, but once I get the positioning and an understanding of what the foreshortening is *supposed* to look like, it's pretty easy to simply sketch my characters' shapes over the posed model. This also allows me to feel out how my characters shapes squish and stretch at these angles, making it easier to reproduce similar angles later without needing to spend time making a model pose again.
2:02
I rose my both my hands irl bc this what is what my art journey was like.
When I was younger (like 8 - 9 yo), I sucked at drawing, but I loved it, it was a wonder full experience but I always came out not as good as I saw others' drawings, then I realized I could trace a good drawing that I liked, of course I didn't knew it was a bad thing I was just a kid, I started a basic sketches and shapes that I learned with my art teacher to keep things where it should be before I started traced.
I kept doing exactly that for years, I even made a Instagram account to show traced art, until late 15 yo me learned that tracing was bad and I was plagiarizing art, I felt bad af , deleted all my posts and stopped drawing all together for 1 years bc of the guilt, after 16th birthday I stared drawing again bc of boredom, without any references and no tracing I made a okay-ish to acceptable drawing, I was not as the same level as the old drawing I made with tracing but it was a certain improvement to when I was 9.
Straight and continuous lines without trembling, without feathering the line art, shadows and where the light comes from, I learned things that I didn't even knew I actually learned, I didn't even knew anatomy but the humans I made where definitely more human than before, I improved I didn't knew I did but it was enough to relight the passion for art that I had.
Yes, tracing do make you indirectly better at art even if don't even know what you're doing, speaking from experience.
But it doesn't speed your progress tho, 3 months of learning the fundamentals will do better than 7 years of tracing lmao.
Tracing can build up line confidence and helps you learn anatomy. I use it to study other people's art, but if I've traced it I never post it. I just keep it to myself. It can help if you keep your brain turned on and make sure you're learning while you do. If you trace a 3d model however I think its perfectly fine. Work smarter not harder am I right? There's so much more you have to do after the initial tracing of the 3D model. I'm planning on making a webtoon and so I've been tracing 3d models because I don't have enough mileage anatomy wise to get them out consistently. But its something I'm not going to do long term. Someday I want to draw without that crutch.
a small tip for those who think tracing or use tracing to learn:
dont trace it form the hole but instead tey to mark out the basic shapes. and try to see how the basic shapes become the finished producked.
tracing can help people learn if you use it the right way. just tracing art line from line wont do much to help but studing the pose and other shapes in the art can help you get a better understanding of it. but thats just a small tip ^^ just make sure its chill with the artist before hand or just dont post it.
ok dude just because tracing never helped YOU learn anatomy doesn't mean it won't help some body. personally, trying to learn from soley from shapes and forms and blocking out anatomy made my art look stiff and uninteresting for years- and it still never helped me with the structure of a head. then i started tracing photographs to understand the contours and the goopy blobs that are muscles and fat. my art rapidly improved in just a few months. you definitely need to be cognizant and always be tracing intentionally, and ONLY during practice, but it really did help my art like nothing else ever did. why would tracing be taught in schools if it wasn't a good way to learn?
As a young artist i trace but i don't trace people art. I usually just trace on poses or pictures for anatomy. Does that count as tracing?
That is mostly considered as a learning experience
As a young artist, when I used to copy art pieces I like, I disnt trace but copied from sight (and never posted it because its not mine), this helped with understanding proportings, placement and style. I only traced the image in specific times, and that method was on another piece of paper to trace the part to understand how to recreate it. Tracing should only be used for yourself and not for posting which I agree with, I just only recently started drawing poses without references (only sometimes since there is a lot for me to learn) and I don't trace, only using inspiration from other artists. And this really shows the break between beginner artist who traces to understand and a more understanding beginner artist where tracing isn't even needed. Some people who trace can actually draw good but maybe aren't confident enough to make a pose or just have malicious intent. Tracing ia fine just don't say it was yours and don't make money from it, it's so simple that it's hard to understand a tracer's mind, there are more cons then pros but I guess they are too braindead to actually think
i trace 3d models or photos to practice the flow of poses, and how the anatomy works when the body does that sort of thing, or mb different body types. i dont usually post those, unless i just put guidelines over the 3d model then do it myself. im a visual learner though, and i will remember anatomy and that sort of pose better if i spend time replicating it. never over other ppls art. only 3d models, photos uploaded TO be references, or pics of myself.
my fav thing to do is trace it, then try to freehand it by only looking at it, then try and do it on my own. i usually give up before step 3 of that tho. im working on it LMFAO