Why tracing is bad

Others are lucky enough to own a lightbox. I know at least several people trace over the screen of their iPad or laptop! The method I used was to quickly shade lots of tone onto the back of the printed photo and then draw over the top. I printed to 'draft' to save ink and a lot of the detail was lost making it very difficult to see what I was actually drawing over. Because tracing seems so straightforward and error-free, there's a tendency to do it quickly and almost a bit carelessly for me anyway.

I later noticed that a number of important lines around the eyes for example were out of place - only by a few millimetres - but on a small drawing that can have a noticeable impact. Look at my printout of the reference below:. From the top of his cap to the bottom of his chin is about 15cm. His face is about the size of the palm of my hand - a good size for a pencil sketch. Look at my pencil next to his eye.

That gives you a sense of how small that eye is, especially as he's squinting somewhat. The smaller your drawing is, the more that small inaccuracies matter. If you're a few millimeters off on a piece of art the size of your wall, it's irrelevant. If it's a drawing the size of your palm, you're in trouble from the start. So tip 1 if you're going to trace - Do it slowly and carefully, especially for things like portraits and figures, and complex perspective.

Oh, and if you're tracing the way I did, tape your photo down to stop is slipping out of place! When most people trace, they draw definite lines and hard edges. But there aren't that many thin, sharp edges in real life. Most borders between two shapes or that define a shadow area, are actually soft, slightly blurry lines with some thickness to them.

Let's go back to my photo above and zoom in on the eye:. Can you see how there aren't actually that many thin, sharp lines? It's small blocks of shadow and soft, defocused edges the lines you see are my trace marks. When you trace this eye, you have to make a best guess as to where to draw hard edges. And you have to remember that your traced lines are just a guide. Later on, when you're shading or painting, you'll need to convert them into blocks of tone or soft edges. Tip 2 - Keep the reference photo you have traced over, close by.

And there's no reason why you have to trace only hard edges. If you're using transfer paper or my method above, you can trace areas by shading them slightly rather than just using lines. Just bear in mind that not all mediums i. Depending on the medium and style you choose for your drawing or painting, a lot of the time you're going to end losing part or all of your initial outline. It gets covered in paint or pastel or charcoal, or whatever.

However you arrive at the initial lay-in, whether it's through tracing or some other method, it's only ever a starting point. As I shaded my tracing, what was abundantly clear to me right from the start, was how little I trusted the outline sketch. My eyes were constantly moving back and forth between the reference photo and my paper, just as they always do!

For me, the drawing process especially for a portrait is one of constantly comparing and looking for abstract shapes. I spend as much time, if not more, looking back and forth as I do making actual marks on the paper. Tip 3 - Remember that a traced outline is just a starting point. Don't let it fool you into thinking you no longer need to observe.

That would be sacrilege for art instructor, surely? I believe that everyone who takes an interest in making art, whatever medium, whatever style, should absolutely make it a priority to learn how to observe like an artist.

You need strong observational awareness to make the kind of art that you're really satisfied with. You can learn to draw most subjects through observation relatively quickly, even if you think you have no natural artistic ability. The exceptions are the human figure and in particular, portraits To draw these successfully by eye requires a lot more practice and time. The margins for error are so much smaller compared to say landscapes, still life and animals. For most hobby artists, I think it can make sense to use tracing or a grid to start off a portrait.

If you're not entirely comfortable with that, bear in mind:. Draw size for size. This is significantly less challenging than scaling up or down. You could also have your reference on an iPad but be careful not to zoom in or out and forget to go back to the original size. To help with the above, ghost a horizontal line across from the top of the head on your reference and make a mark on your paper for the top of the head. Then do the same for the bottom of the chin. You can take it as many steps further as you like - marking the height of the eyes, nose and mouth for example.

Consider drawing a vertical centre line on your printed reference obviously you can't do this on an iPad. The centre line should split the nose vertically in two to make it easier for you to see whether one side of the face is more visible than the other.

Consider drawing a line through the centre of both eyes and to represent the centre of the mouth. This will help you get the slope of the eye line and mouth line correct, and with that in place, it's much easier to add the individual features. Keep a ruler to hand. If you're dead set again tracing you might feel like using a ruler is cheating too, but it's not if you use it as a feedback tool. For example, draw the eyes in as best you can and then check with a ruler to see if you've got the size and distance between them correct.

Drawing size for size makes it easy to check. The smaller you go, the bigger the impact small errors will have. Making art is supposed to bring you pleasure. That's the only criteria for success and you have absolutely nothing to prove to anyone. If tracing allows you to get to the stuff you enjoy most, more quickly i.

If you feel like you're cheating yourself out of the satisfaction that comes from being able to draw by eye, then make it a goal to learn that skill. Fill sketchbooks with studies that don't matter, that are for your eyes only.

It's well worth the time and effort! And when it comes to a very tricky subject that you have to get right, like a portrait for a friend or loved one, allow yourself to trace.

But this would slow the process and not affect the finished result. Therefore, tracing becomes a tool of the professional artist. And it does not make sense not to use a tool that saves time. Those that feel that tracing is cheating sometimes do not fully understand the full process of drawing and painting.

Tracing may be used to establish the contours, but the task of completing the work is far from over. Skill is required to complete the piece. If the artist is not skillful, it will be painfully obvious in the final work. The artist uses a graphite transfer to do so — a method of tracing. While the contour lines may be established through tracing, the work still must be finished through skillful application of paint.

The artist must be knowledgeable of light and shadow, texture, form, color mixing, and application of the medium. Tracing does not aid with any of these aspects. This applies to any medium that the artist may use to complete their work.

Every medium requires a level of skill to finish. Most artists that use or have used some form of tracing are clearly representational artists. For most, the accuracy of the subject is important. Portrait artists, working on a commissioned piece, must be sure that the work looks like the subject. And while tracing does not guarantee that it will, it certainly helps in the beginning stages of the work.

Artist David Hockney and physicist Charles Falco researched artists throughout history and concluded that many used some form of tracing to develop their work. Published as the Hockney-Falco thesis , their findings led them to believe that the following artists also used some form of optics to trace…. So then, what should you do? I think that it ultimately depends on where you are in your artistic development and how you view the process of creating.

If you are still developing your drawing skills, it is my opinion that you should avoid tracing. Focus on pure drawing from observation. Draw from life as much as possible. Once your drawing skills have developed, then tracing can become a tool that saves time.

One that you do not have to use. Reserve it for subjects that require the upmost accuracy. And even if tracing does become a tool in your artistic toolbox, your drawing skills should be practiced and honed continually.

Drawing is fundamental and you should be studious about continuing your development, no matter what your current skill level may be. If you view the act of creating to be more about the process, then you are likely to believe that tracing is some form of cheating. So your perspective and feelings about art will influence what you personally believe. Watercolor Pencils vs. The projector trace allows me to get to the shading so much faster.

Many artists of old used the camera obscura to achieve this goal. I was a commercial artist for thirty years. Today I am retired and enjoy watercolor. I often trace, but not always. I agree that for the sake of time tracing is acceptable, however, I enjoy the process of drawing as well as painting. That shows a lack of compassion and encouragement to the greats, beginners, and children who want to explore Art.

I think you may have misunderstood her. Resulting in the finished piece not being good. Plus as a beginner at the start it helped me break it down into sizeable chunks that were not too overwhelming which is very important as sometimes you look at your reference and it looks a bit scary. Or is that cheating too? They are all tools. And my grandson whose nickname is Buddha. I agree with you,if it makes you happy,do it. When I was child I learned to draw birds by tracing them from a book,over and over, now I can draw them,straight out of my head.

I feel the same as you. Although I do enjoy drawing and I am learning how to improve my skills I am a beginner I also enjoy colouring and painting so sometimes I trace the basic outline of an image onto watercolour paper, then get out my paints and very much enjoy adding all the details.

I have a difficult time with proportion, so this saves me time and hair pulling. After I have the outline traced, I erase the border and start my drawing. I look to make quality work and some facial features are difficult for me to get accurate.

The nose, especially. I think tracing is just another tool to use and helps get to the painting process quicker if time is an issue. As I newbie to the art world, I use the grid method. Is that cheating also? It is very time consuming but it helps with proportional accuracy. But still, I am reluctant to do it. I work in a n art studio and it is absolutely atrocious how much tracing i see my co workers doing!

One of my so called best friend Oscar Jenkins is the biggest abuser of art tracing. One time he even stole some work from me! Did you ever told him that? Talking about moral and then dropping real names haha. Also if everyone is doing it maybe you are the problem. Real artists are born with the talent. Tracing is absolutely cheating, because it fakes artistic talent.

There is something pure and impervious to challenge to those with the gift. They know how to picture something in their minds and create it with their hands.

This is going to be an unpopular post, no doubt. They want to and try to, but there will always be something missing. You are so wrong. I mean yes, artists need to have some talent, too, but most of it is effort and practice.

I can say that. I put so much effort in it — in painting the person, choosing colors, painting background, details, etc. What a joke of an article. I trace because I have a vision condition called Strabismus. I can draw anything in front of me, because I learned techniques to do so. However, I like to draw comic book and sci-fi style images from my imagination.

Due to my vision issues, I have a real hard time getting proportions right. I use a 3D art program to set up models and props. I can render it, trace the contours of the bodies, then draw in the details manually. I admire and appreciate artist who can draw manually. However, there are many forms of art and many ways for people to express themselves creatively.

I think people should judge the final outcome, not the process. BTW, I am just a hobbyist and not a professional artist. Say I decide to draw a horse in a field. How much artistic skills do you need to draw the horse hoof. If eliminating the tulips in the south 40 acres ruins the painting I would question claim to fame, or go study tulips and horses. I believe that the most important issue is did I get to know my subject enough to accomplish what I intended, communication with the viewer.

Are you trying express as much to viewer as possible, to help reviewer feel what I felt when I was creating. Before the Renaissance, artists were considered no different from tradesmen, working-class labor with no real knowledge or intellect. Images in the Byzantine era were very flat, one-dimensional with no real artistic talent involved from a mental standpoint.

The main talent was enduring long hours, securing tiny bits of glass or colored ceramic pieces onto a a surface. Most of those pre-Renaissance artists were anonymous because what they did was manual labor, not high art of any kind. Along came the magnificent paintings of the Renaissance with perspective, depth, overlapping figures and incredible photo-realistic paintings.

The artist was suddenly elevated on the pedestal of inspired genius. But now history has exposed them for the cheaters they are. The camera obscura was just that-a camera-and the skills required were probably more manual labor that high inellect.

So the artist was unduly elevated to a status he did not deserve. Did they ALL do it? Yes, and they even traced with brushes over lens-projected color, light and shade within the painting, just like tracers do today, but that is a discussion beyond the scope of this post for now. So if you are tracing, you are elevating yourself undeservedly, and-rest assured-history will find you too and expose you for the fraud you are. History has found and exposed tracers on Deviant Art.

History has found and exposed James Cameron, director of Titanic who was sued by artists for tracing their work on his movie set. History has found and exposed comic book artists who traced entire pages and panels without attribution to the real artists.