Should Artists Trace?

42 thoughts on “Should Artists Trace?”

1. I learnt by tracing X

2. Tracing isn't bad… BLASPHEMY!!!!!!

3. I don't hate it but I will tell them to try harder

4. i'm okay with it…the important thing (the most important thing) is

   FUCKIN CREDIT

   srsly talking. you must learn somehow. i stared using references

5. Tracing is really good way to learn to draw. But ofc one should never claim traced work as their own. Lisa is awesome!

6. Please can you tell us how we can draw by pencel

7. I agree with tracing being a great tool. If you're ever getting stuck on human anatomy or how to pose someone realistically, finding reference pictures and tracing over them give your brain so much more to work with in terms on how to achieve that certain pose.

8. I think tracing is a great tool too!

9. Tracing is a great tool Sam, well to me for the same reasons has PinkCoffee! Yep!!!

10. Great video! I think tracing is a good tool too, just don't rely on it if you want to be able to draw your own original art. ?

11. Gurl, I will fight you! I'm wearing a tank top and it's 68 degrees XD

    I am of the camp that as long as you aren't posting it AND claiming it as your own work, tracing is okay.

    I like that you referenced other artists too. (I adore Lisa XD)

    Artists who want to trace need to answer this question honestly: what is your reason for tracing? Are you trying to learn to better yourself, or are you seeking validation essentially by piggybacking off of someone else's work? One of the things I've noticed with a lot of these art topics is it isn't always a matter of right or wrong (unless infringement is involved) as much as is what you're doing going to help or hinder your progress? If you want to improve, but blindly trace for attention, that's just wasting time because you failed to delay gratification (grabbing attention vs making an effort to engage in learning). The results show in the kind of work you produce. If you are bent on holding onto "not tracing" principles, what are you doing to learn and better yourself that a tracer using tracing for educational reasons isn't. These beliefs may hold you back if it otherwise would allow you to progress much more rapidly.

    Good topic video ^.^/

12. tracing is okay as long as they aren't selling the art they traced.

    question
    is it okay to heavily reference a picture and not credit the original artist?
    also
    is putting your symbol on something you traced automatically saying you drew that all on your own with not tracing?

    i see people [mostly kids, 13-17] get all pissy and straight up bully harass someone for tracing.

13. PS If any of you guys wanna give tracing a try and don't know where to start, I have a stock account FULL of CC licensed photographs for you to trace! Just be sure to follow the rules and you're good to go! Link: https://awesomestock.deviantart.com/

14. I only trace my own drawings when I feel like I messed up on the original. I also only trace to test my proportions. Other than that, I try not to trace very often.

    Great video. I'm glad I discovered your channel. 🙂

15. This channel is pretty good and it has not enough subscription! And thanks, that there' re subtitles, I can learn my English 😛

16. Tracing to help you grow as an artist is a fine tool to have in your toolbox. Just don't trace someone else's work and call it your own. Thanks Sam

17. Thank you for adressing this! It really made me feel a lot better, about one time I traced and published it on a app just for drawings, but one of the admins called me out, for it and removed the post, I traced because it was a challenge and I had made 3 different drawings, all 3 were untraced but I deleted them all, because I tought they were terrible, so I wanted to make something quick, but I didn't want to trace everything, so I just traced what I found hard to draw (digital drawing btw), like hands, armor…. after I had a sketch of the character I just gave some touches of my own, because you had to mix it with another character, those were the rules of the challenge and that part I made without tracing, but overall the admin made me feel bad, because he didn't even let me publish it after and said tracing was forbidden on the app, didn't matter, if it was challenge, but I saw tracing everywhere on the app and further more everytime I published something traced or not he would always ask me for progress shots, and when I did he would ask for more, I guess he just didn't like me xD. (sorry for the long text, I gotta start watching your channel again, I missed it 😉 ^^

18. I only think a light box is okay if you drew your drawing in pencil Arana refine it that's fine to me because you drew it but if you're just racing in saying that sure are no I don't agree with none of that that's b***** that's taking away from the artist who put so much time in

19. Any chance you might make a video about how to effectively use tracing to improve at drawing?

20. Thank you so much for mentioning people with disabilities. Learning without tracing every once in a while is just hellish.

21. This was super informative and you're so engaging! Xxx

22. I only trace every now and then, mostly when I go through art block, but that is about it. I hate it when people give criticism on tracing, because it’s how I got my own art style(s) and I learned what the difference is between stealing the art and saying you drew it, instead of just takin the concept of the drawing, and learning about it in the process of tracing.

    I don’t know if that made any sense, but do with what my opinion is.

23. I didnt know that tracing existed unitil 10 years after I started drawing xD. As of now, I only trace my own art onto a better sheet of paper 🙂

24. Kinda like inking (or Lineart). Others call it tracing if there's a seperate inker for a certain art. They don't know that you still need artistic hands in order to to do that and tracing also requires din as well as vectoring or using a mouse to lineart.

25. I traced a few poses and some body proportions they were very helpfull

26. Hi Sam I'm learic and I just love your face And your ART my age 13??????????

27. Right now, I'm in a pickle with a discussion on Facebook about this topic. Where I am the only one that's agrees that tracing to certain degree is ok and where the majority of them are against it.

28. I don't like it when people trace then claim it as their own. About a month ago I made the copycat meme using the eeveelutions, as a first animation. Now someone thinks I traced it, but I didn't. I compared mine to other drawings and it looks completely different. 🙁

29. I think everyone freaks out way too much about this topic. Tracing a picture (one you take yourself or you have permission to use as reference) does not take away the skills of an artist who is able to free hand, nor does being able to free hand make you better than someone who traces. Drawing and rendering/colouring are very different skills. It's like saying because you milled the flour yourself you're a better cake baker than someone who buys their flour. They are totally different skills. Being able to free hand draw is an amazing skill, but that doesn't make your painting/colouring better. It's a totally different skill.

30. Thanks for the advice! This will help me with practicing realism.

31. You changed my mind!

32. I actually forgot about tracing letters when we were children. It really makes sense, I mean it really is helpful to train your muscle memory. I have never been one that is against it. There are people that even do a rough sketch and then trace their own work. I mean it is like saying you can't use a ruler to draw a straight line. It all depends on the artist, I think it is important to learn freehand. Art is supposed to be free. People shouldn't be putting rules on what is considered art and what techniques are only acceptable to be an 'artist'. Great video.

33. I think tracing is the best tool to improve the skill and learn new thing but making a master piece out of tracing line work and painting them is like a no no for me. (That's just my opinion)

34. I only think tracing is okay when it comes making proportions perfect and accurate like for a example a face of someone or a stock image.

35. I'm just starting out learning to draw and somebody suggested that I start tracing to build dexterity. I promise I still suck at drawing even if I end up using this method just to exercise my hand. I highly doubt that it'll make me good at drawing overnight but it seems like a good idea.

36. I trace. However, these posts are making me stop.

37. So tracing someone's signature on a check is okay…or is best to forge free hand? 😉

38. This girl could talk the head off a penny!!!

39. my views: mmm my teachers over at le college, told me it was perfectly fine to trace, as a learning medium and even in the professional field, to a certain level. In her words "work smarter, not harder, save time, you're gonna find yourself drawing the same thing, a lot" I find tracing very helpful in the sense that- my brain, my hand, arm, are learning the movements and shapes to form- when tracing, so that when I go attempt to draw whatever it is on a blank piece, the muscle memory kicks in and its easier to draw the form/ silhouette/frame . And of course over time you do end up building/finding your own style. I can honestly say my Coloring work is a lot better than my line work/line art, but- my line art has vastly improved thanks to tracing.

    the only problem with tracing is claiming the work as your own. and proudly flaunting it to family/friends/social media. Plus you are not really learning if all you do is trace one image every other day/week

    Great Video 😀

40. for me who has shaky hands, tracing has helped me with steadying the lineart of my artworks. and i feel that the more i do, the better the lineart when i free-hand. 🙂 so yes, tracing CAN be good and you can learn from that.

41. But what kind of questions should you ask yourself when you are tracing?

42. Tracing is only justified when you absolutely need the proportions to be mathematically exact. For instance, when I was doing some paleontological reconstruction, I had to trace the outlines of certain skulls because that defined the accuracy of the forensic reconstruction. Everything else was drawn freehand. Aside from from a situation like that, I think traced work has very little artistic merit.

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