1. Tracing is not bad, heres why: Tracing generally gets a negative stigma around it, yet few acknowledge that in high school, college, and even professional art-settings tracing is a completely normal practice. Personally, I don’t trace, I don’t think it helps or encourages improvement in anyone’s art skills; however, I can understand why many professionals opt to do so. 2. So, when is it okay to trace? It’s OK to trace any media you’ve created yourself, so this may be pictures, videos, old drawings, etc. OR media you've been given explicit permission to use. At times I think it’s ok to trace live-action, main stream media from tv shows or movies if the intention is to create realistic fan art; if you choose to do so, you must give proper credit to the media you’ve traced (and to be honest, I personally wouldn't suggest doing this, but to each their own). 3. When is it not okay to trace? It is never ok to trace artwork/photographs/videos (with the exception of main-stream media as I explained above) that you did not make and that you don’t have permission to trace. Personally, I’m perfectly ok with any of my artwork being traced/recolored/etc. as long as I’ve been given proper credit, but most artists are not okay with this. I'd suggest checking in with the artist first (see the last section 8, for more info about tracing on scratch). 4. Is it acceptable to trace modeling apps? If the app is considered to be open source, then likely yes (I suggest reading the user agreement before doing so). Many artists creating web comics do this (its more common than you may think!) to be able to do advanced poses quickly and keep consistency. 5. Why do some professionals/art students trace? I’m not a professional or a full-time art student, but from my understanding, it’s often just to get a perfectly accurate sketch to use for realistic drawings/paintings/etc. I opt to measure or use a grid (and even then that’s usually only if I’m being commissioned or if I’m in a rush) rather then tracing since I believe it supports your free-hand drawing skills a bit more than tracing does. On top of that, many professional artists and students already have advanced-intermediate drawing skills, of course improvement should never stop no matter what level your at, but I think that free hand drawing is more important for beginners than it is for experienced artists. Either way, the main reason I've heard from professionals themselves is that tracing is just faster, and I don’t doubt the skills of professionals who trace. Often professionals/students who are on aggressive schedules (basically all artist) need to pump out new artwork every few days, and sketching for a particularly large piece can add hours or even days on to the process. 6. Is tracing ever applied to stylistic art? Yes, it often is. Many artists trace from modeling apps (I talked about it briefly above) for anatomy reasons. I don't think doing that encourages development in anatomy skills, but is acceptable for those needing to produce many drawings in a short amount of time. 7. Is using bases bad? I'm sure many would disagree, but I don't think it is. As long as three things happen: 1. If your using a base, you need to state that you are. 2. You need to credit who created the original base. 3. You have permission to use the base your using (See section 8) 8. Can art be traced on scratch? I've noticed that most artists on scratch don't like hearing this- but scratch operates under a creative commons license, meaning that you posting artwork on scratch is giving consent to it being traced/recolored/copied/etc (with proper credit ofc). See section 3.6 of "Terms of Use" https://scratch.mit.edu/terms_of_use . It's still important to note that most artists are not okay with their work being traced, but then again, you wouldn't be breaking any guidelines if the traced artwork is posted on scratch as long as you've given proper credit to the original artist (the same cannot be said for all platforms, refer to each platforms guidelines).
*Open to friendly debate/conversation in the comments* This is not meant to be a rant, its meant to be educational, and break the very negative stigma around tracing. Note that all of this is my opinion based on conversations I've had professionals/full-time art students/etc, and my own research. This is also not meant to bash other artists, the scratch team, or professionals/working artists/art students. Please stay safe, and stay inside regardless of your medical status. Not sure if this music choice matches the project (it obviously doesn't), but oh well... Music: Duke Ellington - Take the A Train
