It's common knowledge to a lot of deviants by now that certain policies in deviantART has opened up loopholes that allows plagiarism of existing artworks, whether they are copyrighted or fan-made.

In response to this, a lot of deviants who are against plagiarism are very upset about seeing one plagiarism after another being approved as legitimate art and what follows is outrage from those who appreciate original artworks.

Although their motives aren't ill, they tend to get carried away, forgetting common sense and a lot of people who don't deserve it get caught in crossfires of the anti-plagiarists' anger.

This article is to educate anti-plagiarists on certain things they need to understand to reduce the amount of stray bullets in their rage against legitimatized plagiarism.


First of all, we all know that our most targeted issue within plagiarism is none other than unauthorized tracings of screenshots, scans, packaging and promotional artwork from popular animated series.
Fan-made artworks of popular series are not safe either.

However, I need to remind you that:


YOU CAN'T BAN TRACING.


I'm not going to say "Tracing is a valid form of art" and justify plagiarism or anything like that but it can't be denied that it's a method frequently applied in various artworks.

For example, in comic making. An inker traces the lineart of the penciler when making comic pages.
A similar process occurs when it comes to creating cels for animation.
There are also illustrators who make use of 3D rendering softwares to pose models for them to trace over for various illustrations and even for comic-making.

Here are a couple of examples from me:

This deviation was traced from this.
Also, this was traced from this.


You're probably going to say:


"But there's nothing wrong with tracing your own drawings!"


Yeah but the fact is, I traced.
If I said "I didn't trace", I'd be lying, right?

I have always used tracing to transfer a clean version of my artwork into another piece of paper.
If tracing was to be banned, then I'd be forced to freehand or eyeball everything I do which makes things difficult for me.


"But we're only banning the illegal tracings!"


That is the problem here.
Everytime you try to get your point across, it's always in a way where it's generalized and causes misunderstanding among other deviants and the admins.

Back then, I used to say things such as "FUCK TRACERS" but I realize how close-minded it was.

You should stop saying things like:

• "Ban tracing!"


• "Tracing is not art!


• "We don't want tracers here!"

Instead, you should say:

• "Ban art theft!"


• "Plagiarism is not art!"


• "We don't want art thieves here!

This way, those who trace from their own photos, 3D rendering softwares, stock or received permission to trace another person's artwork for fun don't feel threatened or offended.


"But tracing isn't going to help them draw! They're just going to trace for the rest of their lives!"


It's their life. They can go on tracing for fun and never learn how to draw seriously as they please.
Please remember such things as "used with permission".

IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO HAVE TRACING REMOVED FROM DEVIANTART.


"Then, what are we fighting for!?"


We're not fighting against tracing itself but the misuse of the tracing method to blatantly copy another person's artwork without crediting and/or getting their permission.

Remember how "vector=/=tracing"?
You should also realize that "tracing=/= plagiarism".

Like how vectors can be used for many purposes, there are many ways to plagiarize someone's art.

Right now, you should change the way you express your anger towards dA's policies where it doesn't target tracing specifically.


"You know, tracing doesn't help people with learning how to draw."


Yes it does.
There are people here in deviantART who learned how to draw by tracing and are capable of doing original artworks.


"But there are also those who never learn and only using tracing as a shortcut! How can you tell the difference?"


It's simple.

• A person who traces to learn will never post their traces in deviantART. In rare cases where they do, it will be in scraps, where people won't see it.


• A person who never learns from tracing and only using it as a magic crutch will post nothing but tracing for over a year. If they're really serious about drawing, they'd come up with something original within a year or two.

Also worth mentioning are deviants who are capable of freehand drawings but insert a few official-looking traces in between because they don't think their own drawings are impressive enough and wanted to make their galleries to look more pretty.


In arguments against plagiarism, I've seen people who learned from tracing getting attacked viciously by those educated in art schools who insist that their methods of learning are the correct way and learning from tracing is wrong (despite the fact that the ones who learned from tracing are capable of drawing original, freehand drawings).

This is another reason why anti-plagiarists are seen as offensive.
Flaming someone merely because they learned from tracing has to stop.


"But they're still allowing screenshots to be traced and posted as valid artwork!"


I don't know about that.
It appears that She Who Should Not Be Named has left dA. According to her messages, dA doesn't allow tracings where it perfectly resembles the original art, something she has been doing for some time.
Due to that, she has stopped posting her horrendous tracings and has removed herself to continue her disgusting plagiarism somewhere else.

GOOD FUCKING RIDDANCE.

Forbidding such traces was mentioned in a news article, so maybe they're finally starting to remove tracings from screenshot and other official media.

I don't know if this means that we can start reporting other trac-, I mean art thieves who do the same thing.
However, I still don't know why her plagiarisms are left on display.
If she's not allowed to post them anymore, shouldn't they be removed?


So for anti-plagiarists, I hope this has article has been educational and I also hope you rethink about how you spread your message in your fight against plagiarism and art theft.