Thanks to @Salt3y ^^^ I've been thinking about this for a while, but that project spurred me to actually do it! haha sorry for making a clickbait title :p Click, space, or right/left arrow keys to navigate. Explanation is in the Notes and Credits! people get really fired up about tracing / art stealing in this community, and in some cases they're right to be upset -- you should never trace or copy art, or take an image, and then claim that it belongs to you! (although on Scratch, technically if someone gives credit to you, they are allowed to re-use whatever you post here, so be aware of that.) However, there are ways that the method of "tracing" can be incorporated into learning about drawing and the structures/shapes that artists use in their work! Process is down below~
**IMPORTANT -- In the case of this kind of activity, because it's a direct study you should not claim the art as your own even though you technically "drew" it. Or if you do, you must make it clear who the original art belonged to! Shoutout to Pikseart, a professional artist whose work I used as reference here (on the left side). Go check them out, they're super cool! The characters are from Emara: Emirates Hero. No one is surprised lol Alright bois girls and nonbinary sworls 1. Pick some art that you like. It could be just one if you don't have much time, or select a series of them to do that share some similarities! Do a tracing over this art, but only the most basic structures as you can. How can you break down the drawing into its fundamental shapes? Pay attention to angles; see if you can find triangles particularly, as those tend to have good directionality to them. (this doesn't always work for more complex shapes, but it doesn't hurt to try). ***If you'd like to learn more about breaking down the drawings or photos of other people, I'd recommend Ethan Becker on YouTube - he's a professional animator and storyboarder, and his videos are really funny and informative! 2. Put that tracing aside, and now try to draw those basic structures again on another paper / in another place, using the original art as reference nearby. 3. Try to add on the details now, using the sketch you just made! (you can use the original art as reference again, but try to do it in just glances now) 4. Put the original art and your drawing side by side. What differences do you notice between them -- structure wise, not style! Something about the perspective? Or is the gesture / action not quite the same? 5. (I forgot to do this on the first example, but the other ones have it) Make another attempt at the drawing. Try to change the structure of the drawing to match with the original, and take note of them. Why were they different? You probably noticed that by the end of it, most of my drawings (on the right) look pretty similar to the originals... and yet those drawings did not come off of tracing the original directly. Weird, right? Afterwards I did some original sketches of my own (albeit somewhat in a hurry). I love this artist's sense of gesture and I tried to make my own stronger, although of course it's gonna take a lot more practice to really get it down! They really have this ability to push the chest forward and manipulate the shoulders, as well as put body parts in different perspectives (which I tend to have trouble with) and maintain a sense of flow even through the legs (I usually end up bending them instead of letting them be drawn straight.. but I didn't bother practicing them rn cause Im in a rushhh)
