Hey, artist! Tracing art isn't BAD.

This is not an art advice so take this with a grain of salt. I, unfortunately, met someone who blatantly, rudely attacks another person because that person allegedly trace drawings. That rude dude always brings up that topic any chance he get and it's getting ridiculous so I had to step up.

Tracing other artist's artwork is not entirely bad IF the intention and purpose are pure. Before you go down into the comments and throw stuff at me, take a deep breath, relax your mind, and absorb every word before you turn on keyboard warrior mode.

Tracing is usually taken as a negative word for copying someone's art. However. every artist on the surface of the earth, dead or alive, prominent or not, displayed in the Louvre museum o stuck in the four corners of your room has at least traced something, anything in their lifetime. Even the famous Picasso or Van Gogh or so I read somewhere.

As I was browsing through Facebook, I saw a post on a group that I follow, Loish's digital art group, that ultimately prompted me to write this article. The comments were especially very helpful and encouraging towards tracing as long as you give credit or some changes in your version or even "steal" from multiple images to make a whole new picture. Here are some of the comments that I liked.

It got me thinking that as an artist, we grow up drawing by tracing or copying our favorite characters then we tweak them a little to create "our original character" based on that character. Ultimately, as we improve in our art, we are able to make our own original character with our own original design. In every endeavor, we must start from somewhere right? Even a baby learns by copying the people around them. Well, that example was almost far-fetched but I think you get the gist of what I'm trying to say.

To give you a proper example, take Isayama Hajime, author of Attack on Titan. I watched an episode of a Japanese TV show called "JiroJiro Ariyoshi" that did a special documentary about Isayama Hajime as a "hats off" for finishing Attack on Titan. In that episode, his editor, Kawakubo, revealed his thoughts on the first time he worked with Isayama. Take a look at this image first.

The image on the left is the first release of Attack on Titan on Shounen Jump. It looks like a normal serialization in a readers eye but Kawakubo, Isayama's editor, revealed that Isayama story was very interesting; that's why he was chosen to publish on Shounen Jump however his drawing was so poor that he had to cover it with huge letters to compensate for the sad art. Personally, I had the same sentiment as his editor when I tried to read the manga.

What Kawakubo made Isayama do to improve his art is... you guessed it, trace other mangaka's art. He made him trace and trace and trace until he has improved his drawing over time.

I hope you are now convinced that tracing is a common practice in art. I admit I do trace, mainly because it saves time and there are times that I'm stuck with anatomy so I trace to get the right angle or pose. In short, I use it as a reference, though heavily at times. Tracing, at least for me, is equal to using the traced art as a reference. I think it's the fastest way to learn anatomy but instead of drawing lines over a reference art, a better way to learn anatomy through tracing is "blocking" or taking each body part and breaking it down into simple shapes. Once you get muscle memory from repeating this step, you will be able to create your own character designed by yourself.

Here are some old and ancient artworks of mine that is heavily influenced or just a rip off of the anime I used to watch that time. It's time to play "Guess which anime are they inspired?!"

But it’s not all rainbows and sunshine, there are still unethical practices that some artists do such as deliberately not crediting the reference art they traced, lying about that fact, and refuses to do better when caught. If you are an artist reading this and do these things, you are a low as the bully in my intro phrase. Yes, there is no such thing as bad publicity but instead of being known for your talent, you are just famous for being a copycat. If that's what you are after, I won't judge (but I'm judging).

We can agree to disagree in terms of our own perception and opinion towards tracing in art. However, harassing and bullying another person just because they do not agree with you just makes you a sore-ass loser for not giving constructive criticism. Gatekeeping in art does more harm than good because art evolves constantly without us noticing. If you find someone who goes against what you stand, educate them but if they do not agree with you, let it go and move on.

Okay.. my fingers are itching to roast that person in this article but it would just be ironic to what I’ve just preached. It’s hard to control our own temper sometimes but every minute is a chance to try. But don’t blame me if I snap, though. LOL 😝

Hey, artist! Are you triggered? Did this article make you uncomfortable or gave you feels? Let's talk about it in the comments.

References:

Loish' digital art group : https://www.facebook.com/groups/351011035412946/permalink/408851529628896

JiroJiro Ariyoshi in Japanese article : https://tmbi-joho.com/2021/03/20/jiro-aot/

Some images are not mine. Thank you @JiroXShin for allowing me to use your art as thumbnail.

I'm crimsonowl, an artist in progress trying to make a living out of art, an NFT creator, a cryptoblogger - just a Random girl in the blockchain.