Is Tracing Cheating in Art?
Do you consider tracing to be cheating in art?
That’s a question I have heard a few times before. It makes me chuckle.
Cheating who exactly, I always want to say?
Let’s figure out when and if tracing might be useful to your art practice and then discuss the advantages and disadvantages of tracing.
Does it take more skill to do the drawing freehand?
Sure. More skill and more time.
Do ‘real’ artists trace?
Oh yes.
Of course, that also begs the question what is a ‘real’ artist.
For these purposes I suppose we could say professional artists. And yes, they do. For some tracing can be a bit of a necessity.
An artist that takes portrait commissions will be quite likely to trace, in order to ensure that they have accurate proportions for their subject. In portraits it is exacting proportions that create a good likeness of a person… or pet!
Commissioned artists have to be able to achieve this and do it quickly enough to make the process affordable and sustainable.
Artists that paint really large scale murals will often use a projector so that they can trace their large subject onto the wall without creating distortions. Quite important if you want to get paid for your mural, one imagines.
Now, just in case you are thinking this is laziness born of modern technology, let’s not forget the camera obscura which we know was used by artists in the 1600s.
This was an early iteration of the projector, but even that was likely not the first instance. There are some that theorise that prior to 500 BC, palaeolithic cave paintings were inspired by camera obscura effects that were achieved through tiny holes in tents or in screens of animal hide.
So tracing is not a new idea or a lazy one. It serves a purpose.
Advantages of tracing
We have already covered the first two advantages or benefits of tracing. Tracing offers both speed and accuracy.
If you are wanting to get on with the fun and relaxation to be had when you are watercolour painting, then tracing is a viable option to consider to get you painting as soon as possible.
In fact, I offer a free line drawings guide for that purpose. (If you haven’t already done so, you can find it in the big pink bar at the top or bottom of this page)
Speed and accuracy are not the only advantages though.
I believe that even if you trace you are starting to train your artist hand and brain in some small way. As you trace you are learning to pick out the edge of your subject. There is value in this alone. Learning to see and create edges is an important step in your drawing and painting journey.
As you trace a line around the edge you see, you are also developing a little muscle memory.
Your hand is practising drawing flowing lines and getting a feel for the effect of varying pressure on the quality of a line.
Your hand and brain are learning to work together to create shapes out of lines. These are building blocks for your developing drawing ability.
Even if you think you can’t draw, I don’t think you should let that put you off trying your hand at painting if you have a mind to.
Everybody starts somewhere.
If you need to trace to get going, then do it. But please don’t think that you can’t draw or have left it too late to learn. If that is what you are thinking, then you might be interested to hear that I have the perfect mini workshop for you!
It is free.
It is fast, and it will :
let you take the test to see if you have what it takes to be able to draw
teach you the Golden Rule of Drawing and even
offer a pro trip to take your drawing to the next level.
If that sounds like something you would like pop your deets in the form below and I will send it to you by email.
Yes, I’d LOVE to hear about the free workshop called ‘Think You Can’t Draw’
I also really want to point out that for a beginner, everything is new so there is a lot to learn. There is plenty more to drawing in terms of rendering the image whether that is in your drawing medium (like a pencil or pen) or in paint.
So when you start painting what you have traced you are still learning. But if you don’t ever let yourself get to that point because you don’t want to trace then you may be missing that opportunity altogether!
Disadvantages of tracing
So is tracing so great everyone should do it?
Not at all. As I said, it serves a purpose.
But it can also be a crutch and you don’t really want to be reliant. One can get into the habit of tracing and feel more and more reluctant to attempt drawing. Please don’t let that happen to you…drawing is fun!
If you only trace then you are limiting yourself to only being able to draw a particular photo. That might even limit the size you are able to work in.
It is also so much better to be able to confidently add things in and take them away to create a unique composition of your own.
And of course to draw from real life - you definitely want to be able to do that too. Tracing won’t get you there.
I think that there is something of a stiffness to a traced line. When you draw a line freehand it takes on a more expressive quality.
Your skill at rendering may eventually be able to make up for this shortcoming of tracing, but I tend to feel that there is usually something a little clunky and stilted about a traced line.
It is a wonderful thing to feel complete ownership of your creation. To know that you took a blank page and transformed it into a lovely painting with your own two hands is tremendously satisfying.
Yes, you feel almost as good even if you traced it to start with, but drawing is a joy of its own.
I talk to lots of people who tell me they would like to paint but say they can’t because they don’t believe they have the skills to draw. I’m actually quite glad when they do these days, because that is a topic I have thought and talked about so often that I decided to put it into a free workshop. 🤗
Oh yes, I mentioned that already… scroll back up to enter your details if you want to be notified as soon as that free workshop is ready.
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