We here at ~stop-tracing have heard the excuses. This time, instead of knocking down the arguments that support tracing, I present to you reasons to not trace.

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1. Tracers don't improve.

Tracing is a really really good way to learn how to... um... trace.

Any good art teacher will tell you this- it's simply not a good way to learn. So many professionals, teachers, drawing books, and so on and so forth will tell you one key thing: "draw from life."

It helps. It looks like it's hard, but it does help immensely, and it's not so hard once you train your hand and eye to work together. When you're tracing, you aren't thinking. Your hand and eye aren't really working together. You're just mindlessly going over the lines. You're being a human Xerox machine.

Some people think that tracing helps you "get a feel" for how to draw the human body- this is simply not true. Anything you trace is going to be in 2D- even photos. A picture you trace over is a flat version of real life, and to draw, you must learn to think 3D.

The human body can take on trillions and trillions of different poses, and you can't trace them all to "get a feel" for them.

In the end, tracing will only hold you back!

Here are some other resources I'd like to present to you as backup for these claims.

Here is a wonderful article about tracing from Portrait-Artist.org about tracing.

"Thinking and skill is learned by thinking and practice – not by copying or tracing solutions or replicating somebody else's ideas." From this page.

2. Tracers don't get real comments.

When you trace and show it to someone, you are taking credit for work someone else did.

People will fav it. People will say they love it. But you can't get real crits, you can't get real praise. You will only get comments that belong to the original artist whose work you traced.

It's empty and pointless and a waste of time. And eventually, you'll either get frustrated that you can't actually draw, or you'll just get bored.

"My real drawings aren't good enough" isn't an excuse for this site. deviantART has no quality standards.

We all have to start somewhere. Be brave. Post your real art. Get real comments and ask for real critique. It hurts, it's difficult, but you will improve. And when someone tells you things like, "Wow, I really admire your art, it's so unique!" or, "You have improved so much since I first started watching you!" it will feel wonderful. You'll just want to draw more and more and more!

And guess what? There's probably someone out there that's way worse at drawing than you. Heck, maybe you could give them some pointers and help them improve.

3. Tracers can't legally sell their work.

It's true! Tracing is plagiarism. You can't sell plagiarized work. Well, you can, but it won't be fun when you get busted- and excuses like "I don't really know how to draw" will not save you.

However, if you stop tracing, use better learning methods, and keep practicing and practicing- you will eventually be able to sell your work. And on that note, since you'll know how to actually draw, you'll be able to do commissions rather than just sell prints!

4. Tracers can't make original characters.

There is a distinct difference between using elements you have seen in other characters to make your own, and taking someone else's character and changing them around a bit to make them "original."

Let's use a metaphor.

When you build a house from the ground up, but use a few architecture ideas that you've seen elsewhere- with your own flair. That's your work. You can say, "I built this house. Is it awesome or what?" and people will be like, "Dude. You have some mad skills. For sure."

When you move into a house and remodel it- it's someone else's work, with some of your work nailed to it. If you say, "I built this house because I added stained glass windows and repainted it," people are going to laugh at you.

Let's face it- no character is completely and totally original. My characters aren't completely original. I'll draw them, thinking, "OMG this is so totally original" and then look at something else I've read or watched again, and find similarities, and wonder if I subconsciously re-used the ideas or if it's a coincidence or what.

It's okay to use ideas from elsewhere- it's pretty much all we can do. All we have to go on is what we've seen before. But you can do SO MUCH BETTER than recoloring a character you like from a game or an anime. Sephiroth with Groucho glasses is still Sephiroth- that's what people are going to see.

5. Tracers can't show off.

Everyone likes showing off a little, right? It's nice. An ego boost once in a while is good for the soul, and as long as you aren't being an egotistical pain in the arse, there really isn't a problem. Artists need hard work, critique, and practice, but encouragement is another essential part of the diet.

When people see your drawings, lots of them will be interested. They'll wonder- often ask- "Did you draw this? How do you do that? that's amazing! Wow!"

_{I know this because I am a creepy stalker who regularly does this to people who are drawing. And also because people do it to me.}

It feels good. And they might even ask you to draw them something, and if you're feeling nice enough, you just might want to do that for them.

It's much, much more impressive if you draw it for them right there, on the spot, out of nowhere. They'll be amazed. They'll run around showing it to people. People might crowd around and watch. It might get annoying. But mostly, it is delicious ego-boosting goodness.

And for the person on the other side, it's fascinating to watch someone create something beautiful out of what seems like nothing.

But nobody wants to watch you trace. It's a yawn-fest. If they've seen the picture you're tracing, there's nothing to be curious about anymore. They won't sit on the edge of their seat anticipating your every pencil stroke. In fact, a lot of people will think you're pretty lame. You can't actually draw? Oh. Boring.

When you learn to create by yourself, it will be much more rewarding.

6. Tracers have no freedom.

When you learn to draw on your own, you are free to express yourself as you please. You can create whatever you want; sure, it's not easy, but you can do it.

When you trace, you always need something to "base" your "drawing" on. If you want a certain pose, you have to go out and find it. Maybe you can't find the right size. Maybe you can only find that pose for boys and you need a girl.

Tracing is a ball and chain. If all you do is trace, you'll be forever constrained to it.

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Shameless self-promotion:

Here are some stamps that are related to the content of this article.





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