Tracing in Art - Theft & Referencing
What is Tracing?
Tracing is the act of copying an image by drawing over its lines, especially through the use of transparent overlays. It’s limited to 2D visual arts and has become especially prevalent with the rise of digital drawing tools, but as a technique, it is much older than that. In fact, it can be traced back to the Renaissance, when artists sought to refine their compositions or to muddle a painting with sketches. This was often done by drawing on paper, then covering the back in charcoal or graphite and then tracing the original composition on top of the canvas, leaving traces of the line drawing. This way, a sketch could be transferred to a canvas before beginning painting, rather than working out the composition by drawing with graphite, erasing and redrawing, etc.
Eventually, a new technological advancement would come to change the world of art: the camera. With this, everything changed, and with this, artists soon realised you could project images onto a wall with a camera obscura, and then trace that projected image onto any material you like. Later, in the 20th century, the projector came, and the process got even easier. Today, we all have access to our own projectors and images through the use of a digital screen, but at the time, it was often reserved for the higher classes of artistic society.
Before these inventions, artists would often use a grid technique to get proportions and dimensions right. However, in the discussion of tracing, this technique is often not considered nearly as controversial as the art of tracing. While tracing remains controversial to this day, the attitude towards the technique has changed throughout time. Still considered by some as an excellent tool for practice and learning, other artists consider it nothing short of art theft and the worst kind of plagiarism.
Tracing has been used by famous artists like Leonardo Da Vinci, Andy Warhol, Georgia O’Keefe, Disney animators and many more. How come such a popular technique for the visual arts remains so controversial amongst some? Polish artist Stanisław Szukalski claimed to never use even reference photos for his highly realistic and surreal paintings, claiming that referencing and tracing kill creativity and the skill of the painter. But which one is it? Is tracing art just referencing the original material, or is it art theft?
Tracing the Consensus Through Time
The general view and consensus on tracing have changed throughout the years, and as with a lot of things, it depends largely on the times and technology of the era. When the camera opened up a new avenue for tracing possibilities, it was just viewed as yet another technique to refine and use when creating art. Eventually, tracing would be viewed more negatively as it allowed for more “non-artists” to create highly realistic compositions, drawings and paintings without spending thousands of hours practising. With the rise of digital screens and digital art in the late 20th century, tracing would come back into the artistic limelight, but soon gain a new kind of reputation.
Tracing never left, but it moved away from the professional art scene and moved into the homes and schools of public education. Tracing largely became a way to teach children, I recall in 3rd grade, where the whole class was taught the principles of tracing onto paper by using the natural light coming through the windows. You can, of course, also trace onto paper by putting it in front of a computer screen with the right light settings and tracing it there, but doing so may damage your screen. However, in the 1990s, digital drawing software was starting to become commonplace, and with the internet becoming more accessible and popular, websites began popping up dedicated to sharing art.
Tracing in digital art is possibly the easiest way to trace; simply layering images and changing opacity is very simple. It makes it incredibly easy to do linework and to do digital composition. This, coupled with the idea that digital art is already easier than traditional art, probably made a lot of gatekeepers and art elitists upset. A lot of critics were already quick to dismiss digital art as a medium, and this was only more fuel to that fire. Despite it, digital art has not only survived but thrived in the 21st century, but not without scandals and hiccups.
A lot of controversies in the digital art scene can be traced to tracing. In the 21st century, the internet has made digital art incredibly available, but also source material for art. Tracing is a shortcut, often, and in the space where consistency is rewarded, and time is money, a lot of people weren’t afraid to cut some corners to make their art. However, with access to the whole wide web, it wasn’t too difficult for internet sleuths to dig up the original material, and so the digital art scene would be plagued by plagiarism and art theft. People would trace not only photography and imagery, but sometimes digital art by fellow artists. People would steal poses, compositions, backgrounds and more from other creatives to add to their own work. This caused some very heated debates about the ethics of tracing, and overall, it seemed that most people were against the technique.
Tracing became associated with plagiarism, laziness and uncreativity. The people who took their art seriously, especially digital artists who put in the hours practising, referencing and creating compositions, took a firm stance against tracing as a practice. Consumers also took a dislike to traced art, and some artistic careers were ruined because of tracing allegations.
The consensus became: tracing may be used in private, for practising. But all publicly available and especially commercial works should refrain from the technique.
In recent years, however, that consensus has begun to shift once again. This is largely because of AI. People are now less concerned about whether people trace or not, and are more concerned if they’re using AI tools to create their artwork. Largely, the same worries are being expressed for AI as it was for tracing: It’s lazy, plagiarism, and it undermines the achievements of people who have put in the work to improve their artistic ability. Tracing is now viewed as a more methodical technique than previously, because, compared to writing prompts into an AI model, it actually takes some kind of artistic labour.
With technological advancements, you will always have people in favour of it and people against it. It brings about change in societal norms and views, and it’s the same for art. Art is an especially fluid subject, which changes constantly, and it’s a great expression of underlying ideologies, ideas and feelings in society at large. Thus, there is both aversion and creativity that come with new techniques and methods. There is both a laziness and an elitism, both crab mentality and a dream of liberation. The artist, just like man, is a paradox, and there is no telling how either will feel about anything today or tomorrow.
Final Words
Proponents of the technique claim that it’s not about copying imagery, but that it’s about understanding flow, form, and building muscle memory. Practising composition and proportions through tracing, they argue, sharpens eye and hand coordination.
While detractors argue that it’s just a lazy shortcut trying to bypass actual practice and skill. They claim that the technique is used more often than not, nefariously and that people use it to steal the hard work of others, and that tracing serves no other purpose than to copy and steal. They argue that it gives a false understanding and sense of composition, flow and form, and that the only muscle memory it creates is how to trace.
It remains a congested topic, and the consensus on the ethics and morals of tracing has changed throughout history. Prolific artists have used the technique to create unique artworks, but it’s also been used by people to feed off the success and work of others. Ultimately, tracing, like many other things, is a tool, and it’s more about how you use it, which determines its morals and ethics. Is there a right way and a wrong way to use tracing?
The Wrong Way of Tracing
Using tracing as a method to steal the work of others, or to blatantly copy another work of art without altering it in such a way that it becomes something creatively new, is the wrong way to use tracing.
Tracing to avoid having to practice or come up with compositions is the wrong way of applying the technique. Using it as a lazy shortcut to avoid having to do the boring part is a good way of avoiding growth and improvement. Using the technique not as a way to practice but as a way to avoid practising only harms your creative and artistic abilities in the long run.
Using extensive tracing in commercial work, or any professional work, you claim the creative and intellectual property. Is frowned upon, and it’s important to be cautious and respectful when it comes to creative and intellectual properties, especially when it comes to art. Tributes, covers and parodies all pay respect to the original work, and it’s important to be honest and open about these things when tracing, especially if it’s referencing work by others.
The Right Way of Tracing
Using tracing as a method to create new and unique compositions is a good way to use tracing. This can be tracing different aspects from different images to create new and unique imagery. Tracing to aid in capturing photorealism or to help create surrealist imagery is the right way of using the technique. It’s also always fine to trace your own work of course, especially if you want to change the composition or move, say, a sketch onto a new canvas, etc.
Tracing to practice linework, form and compositions is a good way to use the technique. One can’t be overly reliant on it, but teaching the fundamentals and especially teaching beginners or children is a good way to get rewarding results early on.
Tracing work for private use, like making birthday cards, inside jokes, etc is perfectly fine. I would even argue that flat-out stealing is okay in such a context. But that is as long as the work isn’t intended to make any money, and that it doesn’t reach a wide enough audience. If you wish to give a birthday portrait to your friend, tracing a photo is a fun and cheaper way to do it than hiring a portrait artist.
Tracing can be a part of your arsenal of tools, both as a creative and as an artist. There are wrong and right ways to use the technique; it can help supplement practice, but it can’t replace it. It remains a controversial technique, and undoubtedly, people will have different feelings on the subject. Ultimately, however, it’s more about how you use it rather than whether or not you use it.
Personally, it’s a technique I’ve only used to create small jokes for friend groups, and it’s not something I’ve ever applied in my art, neither as practice nor as a shortcut or help. Not because I’m entirely against it, I don’t think art necessarily follows strict rules, but rather because I’m not interested in using it as a technique. It doesn’t really do anything for me personally, I don’t find it fun, and I don’t find that it’s particularly helped me get a better understanding of the type of art I want to create. Who knows, that might change one day, or it might not. It’s up to you to decide whether you want to use the technique in your own work or not. Just be mindful and respectful about it.
