Tracing seems to be such a hotly debated topic in many art communities. Thing is, it doesn’t need to be one. I think a lot of the controversy around it comes from people failing to account for differences in use and instead regarding it with only a single context in mind. And for most people who I see demonize tracing, that context is finished artwork.
So what is tracing? I don’t mean it in the literal sense. But what’s its role in the art world? What function does it serve? In my opinion, tracing is the training wheels of the art world. What do I mean by this? Well, most people learn to ride a bike with training wheels first. One they get the hang of that, then the wheels come off and they are down to the traditional, two wheels. Fast forward to competitive, high stakes riding such as the Tour de France, and of course nobody has training wheels on. They are far beyond that point, their skills are so developed that training wheels would offer them nothing and likely only hinder them.
Tracing lets someone get the feel for the shapes of something before letting them lose on their own. After all, while observation and mental translation of 3D shapes to 2D images is an important art skill, there is undeniable muscle memory involved. And you want to develop that memory properly. Unlearning something and breaking an incorrect technique is incredibly difficult; its much easier to just learn it correctly in the first place.
So as a learning tool, I think that tracing is wonderful and absolutely justified. However, if an artist has an interest in developing their skills further, then it’s important to eventually leave it behind. It familiarizes someone with the general shape of a 2D form, but like I said before, mentally translating 3D views and perspective to 2D drawings is also an important skill. And tracing simply does not work with that. Once someone has become familiar with the feeling of tracing a 2D shape from photographs, they need to move on to observation. Mastering the skill of observation and translation expands an artist’s skill set so significantly. They learn to choose angles, to foreshorten, to break complex shapes down into simpler ones, things that they will never learn if they continue to trace.
Now, as a tool for producing finished works of art, this is where things get a bit messier. Art is not always competitive. If someone is just drawing for pleasure and wants to trace, they’re not doing any harm. I mean, they are stunting their growth as an artist, but they aren’t stunting the success of others. Art can have such therapeutic and healing properties, and if someone does it for sure healing, tranquility, and peace of mind, I will certainly not police them for doing things the “right” or “wrong” way.
Even in a competitive scene, such as online or in-person sales, tracing only does so much. Sure, it can produce a great outline of a shape, but there is so much more to art than just line. There’s color, value, texture, pattern, etc, and tracing helps none of that. Someone who decides to trace and ignore any and all other art skills will likely end up churning out those ugly, tacky, silhouette-only pieces that are a dime a dozen on Etsy and Redbubble. They take up space and waste buyers’ time, but ultimately, those buyers will likely end up purchasing works by much more talented artists anyways, as such artists can bring so much more to their own works. Same goes for the commission scene as well.
Especially now when there are genuinely harmful and malicious practices going on in the art world (yes, I am talking about AI art), I just don’t think tracing is capable of doing much harm. The only time I can ever see it being truly negative is when it is used in acts of plagiarism. However, that’s not an issue with tracing itself, but with plagiarism, and I don’t think tracing’s ability to be used to plagiarize should be used to discredit the concept itself.
When you get down to it, tracing at its best is an excellent learning tool. At its worst it is a loophole for a single facet of art and it cannot make up for shortcomings in other facets. I really think that some artists get upset about tracing not because they believe it is genuinely harmful, but because they have a bit of an ego. They think there is a “right” way to do art, and that tracing is not part of that “right” way. But I have learned that, in moral terms, the world of art is very grey. There is so little that is objectively correct or incorrect. There are certainly things that an artist will prefer over other, I myself have many preferences, but those are not truths. Artists need to pick their battles and hills to die on, and tracing is a hill that very rarely worth it.
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The tracing paper featured in the thumbnail is Bienfang’s. You can buy it here: Amazon.com: Bienfang Sketching & Tracing Paper Roll, White, 12 Inches x 20 Yards - for Drawing, Trace, Sketch, Sewing Pattern
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