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linapoo
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#1
Old 07-08-2010, 04:06 AM

Is it 'okay' to trace, copy, or eye-ball artwork?


I don't think so unless the person get permission from the original artist. (Unless it's one of those laughable 'How To Draw: ____" books which are meant for you to copy.)

Referencing is another ball-park. Say you need a reference for a cartoon character, right? Somebody drew it. But you don't copy the image completely. You drew the cartoon character in a completely different angle, used different expression, and also drew the character with your own original style/flare. That's not copying. That's not stealing. It's fanart. It's your own interpretation of that character at that moment in your mind. But if you took that same cartoon character, and copied it's artwork completely as you see, that's copying. That's not good. Not good at all.

If you trace, copy, etc it's totally disrespecting the original artist. You're basically saying you cannot think. By copying, you're being lazy. You're 'stealing' so to speak.

So yeah. I don't like it. I do think that its helpful for beginners to practice and get the hang of things. To get an idea of how they can draw and pull things together. But beginners should not use it as a base or template. It should be strictly practice and doodles only, for their eyes.

HappyStarr
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#2
Old 07-08-2010, 11:34 PM

Well, obviously tracing and copying are a legal matter, if the person is trying to sell them. I can't respect someone tracing a piece of art and trying to sell it for $100. It wasn't their own work and therefore should not even be up for sale at all. Tracing and Copying should be reserved for practice, with the exception of preservation and repair artists whose entire job is to trace and restore the art that was already there. But THAT is well beyond tracing something out of a book.

I've learned the hard way the copying a painting really IS a lot of work. The end product is right in front of you, but you have no idea how the artist got there. So you spend forever mixing paints and trying different techniques to accomplish the same thing. We spent about a month and a half on our Copy project in my painting class. And then he FORCED us to stop because we were all going out of our minds with OCD.

So, copying and tracing can be extremely beneficial, not just to beginners. It's something that can show you how another artist achieved a successful piece of work. And you can use whatever you learn and reapply that kind of knowledge to your own work. A lot of my art teachers, that are professionals in the field and hold galleries and such, keep a notebook of studies where they do exactly that: copy another person's work for study purposes.

As for references, I think it's BEST to try to find someone in real life that will pose for you, or at least go take your own photos. It will save you a lot of money and legalities. Otherwise, find someone with decent reference photos specifically posted for your reference and properly accredit them. Save the "go online and look up a cartoon picture to reference" for your private journals. I have one project that I used someone else's photo for, but I refuse to scan it and post it online until I contact the person about it and see what they say. If they say no, then it remains for my own personal files.

I can't agree that copying is disrespectful, though. In fact, it really is flattery. It means you found something about that image that connected with you and you felt so moved that you wanted to create something similar. It means you really like their style or whatever message they had to say. I DO encourage everyone to discover their own ways of doing things and their own art styles, but it is a form of a compliment to copy someone's work.

Bakanatorz
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#3
Old 07-09-2010, 01:48 AM

What do you have to say about Vectoring then?
Vectoring screenshot and such.
Let's not forget the famous DA post making itself look so terribly ignorant by saying that copying is good, even good artists did it , like Andy Warhol!

I agree with you on some points , but I differ on the ' I do think that its helpful for beginners to practice and get the hang of things.' since most of the time , when copying some one elses already pre-made artwork, you don't really understand what you're doing , you're only seeing the surface without any knowledge whatsoever about basic things like <anatomy, perspective, how the body bends,etc >

In my opinion none of those options are good and are a pure dishonour to the artist, referencing , on the other side ,is a completely different thing.

Tezonic
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#4
Old 07-09-2010, 02:00 AM

I usually use reference pictures on my art to help me understand how I would like my final picture. For example, I take a picture of myself in a pose.. Try to mimic the way I look. Than sometimes, I have no clue how the shading to a sunset looks so I look it up on google. Not like, I'm actually taking their idea. I just use a piece of it to help me fully understand how to make my artwork better. Though, knowing that I don't sell my artwork..might be the plus.

I used to copy when I was younger. It seemed perfectly fine when you have no clue it was illegal, but why haven't we taught the children that copying is bad at such a young age? Probably, since we would like them to learn something new..How to simply draw? ^_^' Than again, I learned that it wasn't a baseline or template for art. I started to get ideas from my interest and so on.

I personally think tracing & copying is stupid varying on how & who it was done, without right from the original artist. Yet, I do believe most of us had done it before, especially as children. Final thought, it's okay to some degree in which it is done.

IadulDraculai
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#5
Old 07-15-2010, 12:08 PM

I don't think tracing and copying, even vectoring, is acceptable in the art community or anywhere else for that matter.

Using another person's piece as a reference is one thing, but tracing it is quite another.
Even being 'inspired; by another piece of work is common among professional artists (particularly in the graphic design community), but copying, and/or tracing is plagiarism.

As for finding a reference, the point of a reference is to get an idea of the perspective and proper proportions, not to copy the actual pose. Don't worry if you don't get it right right away, you're not supposed to. The point is to work up until you don't need references to draw any more. I used a ball-jointed doll for this, as well as awkward snapshots of my friends taken at odd moments, but never the exact picture taken, even if it is mine.

As a kid, I never copied/traced art, and I never have to this day. Even as a kid I knew it was wrong, becuase it's stealing a thought from a person, and I always hated it when other kids did it, because it meant they weren't putting any real work or originality into it.

muffin08
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#6
Old 08-06-2010, 08:55 AM

I can see this being a great learning tool to get a feeling for using your hands for drawing. It can be really daunting for someone to take on the responsibility of knowing what to draw and what would make a good drawing if they just want to learn.

Of course this should only be for practice and not sold, or said to be your own. :)

**Edit

Regarding vector art, I am a vector artist. Vector art does not mean tracing, and even sometimes a photo is used as a base to create something highly original.

I understand there are people that directly copy images into vector, but realize this isn't as simple as tracing by any means it takes many hours just to make it look nice in the slightest. This can be a great resource for fanart, and users that perhaps want to use anime images in website layouts/graphics. Many people that do these things don't make money from this, or credit it fully to themselves.

If we were to say this were wrong, then any sort of fan graphics would be wrong. Personally I don't think it is.

Last edited by muffin08; 08-06-2010 at 08:59 AM..

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#7
Old 08-10-2010, 12:41 AM

Tracing only if your trying to figure out a new style (can't tell you how often I'm trying to mix someone elses pretty eyes or hands into my drawings but never traced), but don't post it. For copying, I think it's the same thing with tracing, so I have no words there. As for eying, I think it should be okay. Cause you always put your style into it, and it helps inspire. As long as they don't claim it as theirs, and have permission, they should be able to post it up.

HappyStarr
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#8
Old 08-16-2010, 10:29 PM

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bakanatorz View Post
What do you have to say about Vectoring then?
Vectoring screenshot and such.
Let's not forget the famous DA post making itself look so terribly ignorant by saying that copying is good, even good artists did it , like Andy Warhol!

I agree with you on some points , but I differ on the ' I do think that its helpful for beginners to practice and get the hang of things.' since most of the time , when copying some one elses already pre-made artwork, you don't really understand what you're doing , you're only seeing the surface without any knowledge whatsoever about basic things like <anatomy, perspective, how the body bends,etc >

In my opinion none of those options are good and are a pure dishonour to the artist, referencing , on the other side ,is a completely different thing.
I really don't know a whole lot about vectoring, so I really can't comment much on it.

There's also a difference between mindless copying and copying with intent to learn. And usually, you can tell which people are actually trying to learn from what they copy because their drawings usually turn out better than those who look at a picture and go "oh hey, this looks cool I wanna draw it!" Of course, even then it takes time to really build it all up. It's a practice tool, like doing scales in music class. You memorize it and play it, but sometimes it might take a while for it to actually click. The brain may absorb the information you're gleaning subconsciously.

So in terms of copying/tracing, your drawings may start to improve over enough time with practice. But it is best that you supplement it with other learning materials. Go study some anatomy and take a couple art classes.

I don't encourage people to go copy and trace other people's work all the time, but if someone wants to use it as a learning tool in their own journals, then I don't see the problem. I do, in fact, have issues with people publishing and selling artwork that was not originally their own. That is when they cross over to actually being disrespectful.

Vikki_Bitez
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#9
Old 09-01-2010, 02:07 AM

ok lets see
what do honestly think about traceing or copying art....
ok if you take a piece of paper and copy every single detail of the piece and its not your own creation then honestly i dont think thats cool. Maybe if you use it to help you to learn how to draw or practice that style other then that no way and i dont think its right and call it your own to
ok i do think its ok only under these sorta conditions
if its your pieace (meaning you drew it your self no traceing at all involved) but you decide to redraw it then its ok to trace your trace your own work to improve or change it

StarWand
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#10
Old 09-09-2015, 12:52 AM

Referencing is perfectly okay; however, if you ever wanted to upload that artwork to the internet or sell it, it could not be traced or directly copied from certain photographs or other pieces without the consent of the original artist, or without crediting them. You might want to cite any references if you ever DID post your work online.
However, if you are just doing that to help you learn, and it's just for you and you alone, then go right ahead and trace and copy as you wish. If it's only for you and it helps you develop your artistic abilities, then that is just fine. Just don't take credit from original artists if you traced over something and pass it off as your original work.

 



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