There are many ways to trace. I like to preserve my original sketch and have found this is my favorite way to make a copy via tracing without loosing the original.
@@BenjaminBox that tracing is a huge taboo in the digital art community. Seriously artists have been doxxed and threatened and witchhunted over tracing shit.
Im all for tracing for learning! Or even like, tracing elements for backgrounds or animation etc, things that save time but dont make up the crux of your drawing. As long as you credit or dont claim it as your own, or try and sell it, Tracing to learn things is very usefull. (Especially tracing simple shapes over images to learn proportion, anatomy etc)
@@Nick-dx2pt "if it helps you learn its not cheating" "not until you take credit for drawing it" basically just 'it isn't cheating as long as you don't take credit for it'
GUYS!!! PSA: that's her own drawing... she's tracing it because she drew it on sketch paper and wanted to paint it in watercolor, so she needs tp move it. This literally isn't the same tracing you'rr thinking of... it's used as a tool to transfer art to a new paper. You can even use it to clean up line art- like if you have a super messy sketch, you can trace just the clean parts and pick off from there. As far as tracing others artwork, i mean, it doesn't really matter in this case cause that's not what she was doing, but generally as long as you arent claiming ownership or are using it to learn, it's fine. so digital artists, to adress to comments i keep seeing: No, traditionally artists don't just "get" to trace. We do it like you guys do. If your sketch get's to messy, you migjt trace over the important parts and then copy that on another layer. It's the same thing.
Thank you!! My gosh, I was looking for someone to say this before I said it myself. Everyone is having such a serious debate about the justifications of tracing other artists' work and I'm like, that has nothing to do with this video!
I do this too cause sometimes your sketch is really good so you want to put it to canvas. Often I just challenge myself to duplicate it without tracing sometimes make it better and sometimes not..
Gosh people are just something else like it shouldn't matter if someone uses tracing paper, people need to stop being gatekeepers for art, anybody should be able to do art no matter the income or or what college they went to do art
I traced for my final art piece in highschool. I did realistic portraits. I initially felt like I was cheating, but my teacher assured me that anyone drawing to my scale of realism would be tracing. I've kept that in mind when I trace these days, and I've noticed that I've learnt so much about anatomy and proportions by tracing.
Realism is all about the rendering, which is already a huge pain in the ass without having to eyeball the proportions. The best solution is to draw from sight when sketching, for learning purposes, and trace for finished pieces, to get the best possible results.
Norman Rockwell, Maxwell Parish and Drew Struzan all relied heavily on the use of cameras and tracing. Da Vinci used the camera obscura and he also used to trace landscapes on glass for the backrounds on some of his portraits like The Mona Lisa. If they can do it I'm pretty sure it' isn't cheating.
@@readhistory2023 I was going to say this! Tracing is not new at all, and some of the best historic images we have are from tracings. It's the foundation of the image, not the completed image. Plenty of artistry still goes into the finished product. ❤
@@notnottsnottingham8677 I used to tape it to my computer screen and trace lightly. But that was back in my mlp obsession days when I just wanted to draw ponies but sucked. Eventually got really good at it without tracing and just following a base. My sisters doing the same but with dinosaurs and dragons
I used to get screamed at amd told that i wasnt a real artist because Id trace my drawings like this rather than completely re drawing it from scratch. Thank-you for posting this, its healing in a weird way
People don’t seem to understand that they’re tracing a drawing out of (what I assume is their) their sketch book…essentially doing print making - so they can have a painted version without ruining the original drawing.
I like to use a pen for the initial tracing instead of a pencil. That way you can re-use/re-trace multiple times without risking any smudging or changes to the tracing on the tracing paper. Also makes it more visible against the graphite you put on the other side
I just use graphite paper when tracing. So you don’t have to scribble-scrabble, and the lines will be a bit darker without having to go over them again. Just a suggestion coming from a lazy artist. 😅
It save a step where a human with poor eyes/hand coordination like me have less chance to mess thing up. If it works it's not lazy it's adapted for yourself.
You can also get charcoal paper. It's basically a combination of the graphite she added to the tracing paper, and well the tracing paper. You tape the charcoal paper to the paper you want to trace the image onto (dark side down), then you tape the original piece over the charcoal paper. You trace the image, and the charcoal transfers onto the bottom layer of paper.
It's a huge art tip to trace. Not to claim that the art is yours but to learn proportions and placement. I learned SO MUCH when I traced. It helped me to draw freehand so much better
There is literally tracing paper you can buy where the graphite is already on the paper and you just have to put the drawing on top of it....saves you soooo much time and effort.
@@nibbonbon This way is also cheaper! That tracing paper can get pricey if you buy a lot of it, and when gas is like $6 a gallon you got to save everywhere you can 😂
might want to invest in a light table if you're going to be tracing a lot. There are a lot of cheap options online. Some people even do a more diy light table approach and use either a glass table with a lamp underneath, or a glass window on a sunny day to trace stuff. You could also print a lighter version of the picture you want to trace, put soft graphite (like 4b and up) behind it, and trace directly from the picture. It saves a few steps
My art teacher taught me a method that doesn't even need the tracing part. You get either a graphite block / charcoal or something and rub it all over the back of the image you want to trace. Then you tape the image to the area where you want it to be. Simply grab a pencil or something and make lines on the image that you want to show on the paper.
Yh I think this is so much more effective My art teacher showed me aswell However I think the method being shown here is better when you want to keep the original drawing clean on the back
at my high school, one of the art teachers has one of the biggest rooms and has ALL 6 periods full. we have 4 art teachers and 4 art classes (Art 1, art 2, art 3, art 4 so have different assignments if you take it multiple years). One of the teachers also teaches photo and another one also teaches ceramics
Mine had us use a soft chalk to draw on the back cause it would transfer easier And erase with less residue after. Then we had to do a practice transfer to a sketch sheet first to make sure we had the right places covered and didn’t mess up our final piece.
I wish I knew this before :( i used to think that tracing was cheating so i always drew everything by just looking at it and making sure that it looked absolutely perfect. Although it was 10x more exhausting than this trick i'm actually very happy now because my skills got more refined that way🌷
you did well and I'm pretty sure you are far more superior to the lady from this video, since measuring by eye is the only way to really understand, and most importantly, be able to *feel* and transfer the exact proportions of an object to your 2D canvas, especially so when you transfer from 3D (real life) to 2D canvas of your liking. 2D to 2D works as well, but is way less effective.
@@Alex-by4zv They did/are doing great and I’m sure they’re awesome but art isn’t about superiority. She has a different technique sure however she is a different artist and she is also quite good as you may know from other videos of her. She isn’t inferior for having a different approach.
@@catnix7256 no , not at all . such hubris! have u just the slightest isea of how little this narrows its down ? yes u can have a different approach on style but not on technique, my guy it’s absolutely not the same if u draw this picture 100% out of ur head without a single look on a picture than just lazy copy+paste , a real artist knows how to structure a a face cause he learned it making mistakes by doing this 1000x of times until it worked. tracing is not art my guy .
Tracing is a helpful tool for transferring art between papers without ruining the original drawing. Graphite paper can be a useful alternative to traditional tracing paper.
Easier way: Flip the image you’re tracing before you start. Trace. Flip over the tracing paper and instead of redrawing it again you can use a coin and scratch it to transfer it to the other paper
That looks like so much work 😭 I just chose a picture from my computer, but paper over it, and trace it that way. Ofc having the room dark makes it so much easier
Its more rewarding to learn how to draw and see the right proportions. Tracing is boring unless you already know how to draw without it and just want to save time for commissioned works.
When I did some animation, I would take videos of myself/friends to trace them digitally. I feel like tracing is only bad when you try to pass other people’s work off as your own, but as a tool to learn it makes lots of sense
my dad taught me this and he is an artist! he does realism and he uses this technique a lot. some people call it “cheating”, but i think it just makes the process a bit quicker and easier. there’s much more to it than the outline. but besides that it’s a great trick
People who call it cheating clearly lack the fundamental understanding of drawing. Anyone can trace/outline a photo or image, but can they render it or bring it to life?
Also, you can get graphite paper to go under tracing paper when transferring, too! And use the same graphite paper a load of times!! Honestly, it is really useful when you want to do a drawing as a painting on a canvas, but want a plan beforehand, in your sketchbook.
If you’re not tracing to earn money, you can do whatever the heck you want ♥️ I enjoy the hobby of tracing and then colouring it in. I don’t care about getting better at drawing. I feel good when I traced what I traced cos I did it for myself 😊
@@strange2970 other art no but tracing photos as part of a piece is fine if you took the pictures or if you aren't gonna use to for self promoting your works. I use it to get ny blocking in quick if im just trying to skip past the sketch and into the media if choice for the piece
Thank you! I've been wondering abt this for a while (very new to art). What pencil are u using? Usually when I use pencil the graphite mixes with the paint and it becomes muddy. Do you possibly know why?
If you are going to use acrylic paint over the traced drawing you can seal it before painting with a light spraying of clear acrylic spray paint which will stop the graphite under drawing from smudging into your painting. You can't do this with watercolour unfortunately :((
you're probably using low quality pencils or something too soft. get drawing quality (not writing) pencils and anything below 2B wont cause u any trouble. simple solution
Omgggggg I hateddddd doing this when I was in art class because it took so much and seemingly forever to do but it’s so worth it and I lowkey loved learning it. I miss art class sm. 🙏🏽
"You like D&D, Audrey Hepburn, Fangoria, Harry Houdini and croquet. You can't swim, you can't dance and you don't know karate. Face it, you're never gonna make it." *I'm not sorry*
When I paint with watercolors I always have to draw the outlines of my OWN stuff beforehand on normal paper and trace it afterwards on the watercolor paper because I erase way too much. 😂
Back in my day we didn’t have this many step’s to tracing an image. We just got the image we wanted to trace, place it on a clear glass table with a light under it, and trace it one time. There wasn’t any rough drawing, just the original, and your tracing of it.
I used to do this all this time as a kid, like six or seven. I would make the trace all my own by adding color and shading. I always thought I was just coping an image. I never thought they were anything to be proud of, but I am glad they are☺️
The fact I was told in art class and growing up that we'd learn nothing from tracing. I always felt ashamed when I did just to find out everyone does it with no regrets 😂
This is a lot of work, I just print the photo then put some graphite on the back, tape it on the surface of the medium and then trace the face in the print. Then you're ready to go.
for me when i do portraits, i put the references picture on my tablet/pc, put the highest luminosity of the used device, make the room dark, put the paper im drawing on on top of the screen and I trace the outline. it saves me SO much time and makes me feel safe that the end result will look like the reference in terms of proportions. I used to feel insecure about doing this but apparently it's a thing ahaha. I only do this with portraits though.
My god, this just took me back to childhood and all the rolls of sandwich paper i used when i went through my tracing stage. My poor parents. How fun to see this technique used by someone else in today's world. So nostalgic.
@@aileen9266 kind of a gatekeepy take on the subject. If you like doing things like pop art or composite work then I don't see why tracing would be frowned upon. The point isn't to do everything the hard way, it's just to make something that looks the way you wanted it to look, and not caring about (not even hiding) the fact that parts of it are referential to some other work. If you trace something and say "This is my original work, look how good I am at drawing" then that's kinda scummy. If you trace something and recolorize it, add creative flair, modify it, and say "look what I did to this photo..." I see no issue.
"Tracing a drawing of" - she's already drawn a sketch. This is like complaining about a digital artist using multiple sketch layers because they're "tracing" their original sketch lol. Transferring a neatened sketch is a must for masters of a lot of traditional mediums
Im so glad my dad got me a light table when I was younger omg. You have big expensive ones, but I just have one thats kind of like an oversized e-reader. Its amazing, only have to trace once.
Tracing is no fun because then you can't tell your friends that you were the one who drew it lmao. Have faith in yourself. You're capable of whatever you choose to be capable of. And I know that you're definitely capable of drawing something on your own. You have talent and this is still so beautiful.
She's not teaching people to do that exactly, as someone who regularly sketches it's also good to do this to move designs from my sketchbook to a canvas.
Heck yeah! Let’s destigmatize tracing in art! As long as credit is given and you use it for practice/nonprofit purposes it is completely fine and you can learn a lot!
For future reference you should use a 6B or 8B graphite for the transfer medium so you won't need to press too hard and gouge your paper when you transferred the drawing. Just a small bit of advice from an older professional artist. Your drawing came out very pretty. God bless!
My Highschool art teacher taught us to go back over the initial tracing with a colored sharpie then put the graphite on the back liberally then use either a pencil or a stylus (she literally had da styluses we could use) to transfer it from the trace paper to our canvases it worked every time and I still as an adult do it that way
@@aileen9266 who says you can't trace other photos? (Not other's art, photos only) I started digital about 2 weeks ago and I simply trace the outline and then add my details. There's nothing wrong with that
@@Nafs2701 photography is art, someone took that photo, you have to be careful to only use copyright free and no credit needed pictures or it IS still at theft
lots of people don’t understand how important tracing is to developing your art skills! its all repetition! its teaching your hand to draw things correctly, and you learn how to draw things through tracing them. tracing is still drawing- its just with credit to the photo and that its traced or practice! tracing is AMAZING practice and helps the muscle memory! its a great way to develop your art :) it literally trains your hand to draw the shapes you want to, cause you’re tracing and the image is right there so it can be exact! this helped me learn how to draw realistic ears- they’re tricky!
Hot take: What's stopping you from flipping the image before tracing? I'm not an artist so Idk if there is an exact reason for not, but i believe it would save a bit of time.
I'd say it's a matter of personal preference for stuff like this, since it's a photograph. She did say she liked the original orientation. There is a small setback for artists, though, where an image they draw from scratch might look absolutely riddled with errors once it's flipped. Even if it looks generally fine unflipped. It's weird to describe, lol. Maybe the traced outline just looked a bit off flipped so she kept it normal.
I use a light box. I made my first light box myself with a wooden box, glass from an old picture frame on top, and with a light bulb that I got from an old lamp (that I removed the lamp parts leaving the wire and light socket) and put it inside the box. It did tend to get really warm after about 20 minutes. But worked like a dream. But now I use a very thin “light box” that I got from Amazon that is plastic, with LED lights. Saves on tracing paper, and more precise when adding lots of different items from different sources onto your picture.
Until today I thought I wasn’t doing right, it felt like copying somehow to me even tho i've been tracing my own drawing like this... At least now i know,i wasn’t doing the wrong thing 😑
@@aileen9266 ah theres a key distinction there, you shouldn't trace other peoples photos for commercial use but tracin your own photos is fine no matter what
I would argue that you should ALWAYS trace things that you want to replicate from other artists, but ONLY for practice. If you trace to learn different proportions and styles you can really accelerate your learning. If it makes you feel any better about it, never finish a drawing that’s traced, just leave markings all over it to remember how to make the proportions
How is the first time I'm realizing what tracing paper is for. I literally didn't know you could use it for transfers. This will make future paintings so much easier for me
I got myself a light table. Put the reference on it, use a regular printer paper on top of that and you can see through it to trace. You are stuck with whatever size the table is unless you move the papers around. This is a good way without it though for traditional art.
would also recommend graphite transfer paper! it's basically the same idea but with only one step. also people in the comments discoursing about tracing - this is literally about tracing to transfer a traditional sketch to a clean bit of paper. if you're a digital artist it's like making a new layer and fading your original sketch to neaten it up. if you're using a medium that allows you to erase endlessly with no smudges, paper damage, and an undo button if you erase a line you like you actually don't get to complain about the traditional alternative and call it "cheating" lmao.
I've been an artist since I was 12 , im 35 now and never knew to do this . Can you tell im self-taught 😌... learning something new everyday ,I guess hehe 🤪
This we have done a lot to copy engineering drawings for university projects. But we used use a light blub and a glass. So when we light a bulb 💡 down to glass and we can clearly sees all lines. We just have to slowly copy each line.
a few years ago when tracing this way, for the scribbles on the back of the tracing paper I would use charcoal like carbon transfer paper, now I use either that method or I use a 6B pencil. The Graphite from the 6B is softer than say an HB pencil.
You can skip the scribble step if you flip the drawing you make to begin with and use darker contour lines with a 4-6b pencil. Then use some pressure to transfer to the final surface :)
If you dont have tracing paper you could also use a flashlight under a glass table or a window! (You would trace onto opaque paper and then do the same things)
If you trace over the line the second time with pen instead of pencil it comes off more and is more visible. Also shade the graphite a little darker on the back.
Digital artists watching this video: 👁️👄👁️
@Hate The Drake you didn't get the joke
@@cherrybloom2095 what the hell is the joke lol
@@BenjaminBox that tracing is a huge taboo in the digital art community. Seriously artists have been doxxed and threatened and witchhunted over tracing shit.
the drawing they traced isn't theirs??? i thought this comment meant that there's too many process lol😭
Digital if anything is easier no transfer needed just import an image, go to another layer, and trace simple
Legit how I learned to draw. It helped me understand proportion, spacing, angles, etc. If it helps you learn, it's not cheating.
Not until you take credit for drawing it 👍
Im all for tracing for learning! Or even like, tracing elements for backgrounds or animation etc, things that save time but dont make up the crux of your drawing. As long as you credit or dont claim it as your own, or try and sell it,
Tracing to learn things is very usefull. (Especially tracing simple shapes over images to learn proportion, anatomy etc)
@@severeddata3545 how is that relevant to what was said?? Tf
@@Nick-dx2pt "if it helps you learn its not cheating" "not until you take credit for drawing it" basically just 'it isn't cheating as long as you don't take credit for it'
@@severeddata3545 Idk about you but I have never drawn a real person into existence
GUYS!!! PSA: that's her own drawing... she's tracing it because she drew it on sketch paper and wanted to paint it in watercolor, so she needs tp move it. This literally isn't the same tracing you'rr thinking of... it's used as a tool to transfer art to a new paper. You can even use it to clean up line art- like if you have a super messy sketch, you can trace just the clean parts and pick off from there. As far as tracing others artwork, i mean, it doesn't really matter in this case cause that's not what she was doing, but generally as long as you arent claiming ownership or are using it to learn, it's fine. so digital artists, to adress to comments i keep seeing: No, traditionally artists don't just "get" to trace. We do it like you guys do. If your sketch get's to messy, you migjt trace over the important parts and then copy that on another layer. It's the same thing.
Thank you!! My gosh, I was looking for someone to say this before I said it myself. Everyone is having such a serious debate about the justifications of tracing other artists' work and I'm like, that has nothing to do with this video!
@@madisonb4115 😊😊yes, exactly!!
I do this too cause sometimes your sketch is really good so you want to put it to canvas. Often I just challenge myself to duplicate it without tracing sometimes make it better and sometimes not..
I do this all the time to not Ruin expensive AF Papier xD. Do people really not know this?
Gosh people are just something else like it shouldn't matter if someone uses tracing paper, people need to stop being gatekeepers for art, anybody should be able to do art no matter the income or or what college they went to do art
I traced for my final art piece in highschool. I did realistic portraits. I initially felt like I was cheating, but my teacher assured me that anyone drawing to my scale of realism would be tracing. I've kept that in mind when I trace these days, and I've noticed that I've learnt so much about anatomy and proportions by tracing.
Realism is all about the rendering, which is already a huge pain in the ass without having to eyeball the proportions. The best solution is to draw from sight when sketching, for learning purposes, and trace for finished pieces, to get the best possible results.
You really do learn how to draw things from tracing it’s not cheating at all 😊
Norman Rockwell, Maxwell Parish and Drew Struzan all relied heavily on the use of cameras and tracing. Da Vinci used the camera obscura and he also used to trace landscapes on glass for the backrounds on some of his portraits like The Mona Lisa. If they can do it I'm pretty sure it' isn't cheating.
Thank you for this! Your art teacher is very intelligent
@@readhistory2023 I was going to say this!
Tracing is not new at all, and some of the best historic images we have are from tracings. It's the foundation of the image, not the completed image. Plenty of artistry still goes into the finished product. ❤
When I got to art school I discovered light tables, totally a game changer.
I love that with the advent of modern LEDs they're much cheaper than they used to be.
When I was young I'd just stick things to my bedroom window
I bought one for my interior decorating class. Hell of a game changer.
@@notnottsnottingham8677 I used to tape it to my computer screen and trace lightly. But that was back in my mlp obsession days when I just wanted to draw ponies but sucked. Eventually got really good at it without tracing and just following a base. My sisters doing the same but with dinosaurs and dragons
@@samwebb3577 such a great way to learn isn't it
How to Trace:
“trace it, and then trace it, and then trace it”
Lmao it’s a way to get your tracings into a separate piece of paper you genius.
Old school method 👍
@@muaythaiplaylist omg i had no idea i didnt watch the video nor have I done that before 😩 you’re so cool
It's too make it facing the way it originally did. She could of traced over the first trace but than it would be mirrored
@@alion275 yes i understand 😐 thank you
I used to get screamed at amd told that i wasnt a real artist because Id trace my drawings like this rather than completely re drawing it from scratch. Thank-you for posting this, its healing in a weird way
People don’t seem to understand that they’re tracing a drawing out of (what I assume is their) their sketch book…essentially doing print making - so they can have a painted version without ruining the original drawing.
I like to use a pen for the initial tracing instead of a pencil. That way you can re-use/re-trace multiple times without risking any smudging or changes to the tracing on the tracing paper. Also makes it more visible against the graphite you put on the other side
Nice tip, thanks!
True!! And my hand turns all grey from the graphite 😔
Thanks I got no idea of how I ended up here. Still lovely
YOOOO big brain moves
FACT
makes the lines so much easier to see for a chronic squinter like me-
I just use graphite paper when tracing. So you don’t have to scribble-scrabble, and the lines will be a bit darker without having to go over them again. Just a suggestion coming from a lazy artist. 😅
Let me share my moto with you: "I'm not lazy. I'm energy efficient" 👍
That is what I do too, I didn't even know you could do it separately.
It save a step where a human with poor eyes/hand coordination like me have less chance to mess thing up.
If it works it's not lazy it's adapted for yourself.
Charcoal works great if you don't have graphite paper
Yep, graphite paper is great.
You can also get charcoal paper. It's basically a combination of the graphite she added to the tracing paper, and well the tracing paper. You tape the charcoal paper to the paper you want to trace the image onto (dark side down), then you tape the original piece over the charcoal paper. You trace the image, and the charcoal transfers onto the bottom layer of paper.
Just like good old carbon paper from the mimiograph machine😂
It's a huge art tip to trace. Not to claim that the art is yours but to learn proportions and placement. I learned SO MUCH when I traced. It helped me to draw freehand so much better
There is literally tracing paper you can buy where the graphite is already on the paper and you just have to put the drawing on top of it....saves you soooo much time and effort.
Buuut if you don't have those, this is saving you the effort of figuring it out
@@nibbonbon This way is also cheaper! That tracing paper can get pricey if you buy a lot of it, and when gas is like $6 a gallon you got to save everywhere you can 😂
@@kelleh711Yep, I haven't find any tracing paper with graphite nor sketchbooks, so for me this is a maybe lol
carbon copy right
but then surely the graphite would go all over the sketch you're tracing from
might want to invest in a light table if you're going to be tracing a lot. There are a lot of cheap options online. Some people even do a more diy light table approach and use either a glass table with a lamp underneath, or a glass window on a sunny day to trace stuff.
You could also print a lighter version of the picture you want to trace, put soft graphite (like 4b and up) behind it, and trace directly from the picture. It saves a few steps
I put my laptop onto a white screen at full brightness as an under light source for when I need to trace. Its not fancy but it works 😂
I bend my laptop until it's flattened and use it as a light table 😆
When I was 9 or 10, I used to tape the image and tracing paper on my bedroom window. 👍🏻
I never trace without my light board. It was like 20 bucks
@@kenny995 I broke my kindle by doing this XD then I got a light board
I like the serious face when you work. It shows how determined you are.
Yesss for one of my drawing classes, the prof gave me this thick/long piece of graphite for this purpose. Works a charm
My art teacher taught me a method that doesn't even need the tracing part. You get either a graphite block / charcoal or something and rub it all over the back of the image you want to trace. Then you tape the image to the area where you want it to be. Simply grab a pencil or something and make lines on the image that you want to show on the paper.
Yh I think this is so much more effective
My art teacher showed me aswell
However I think the method being shown here is better when you want to keep the original drawing clean on the back
You guys get art teacher in school ?????
at my high school, one of the art teachers has one of the biggest rooms and has ALL 6 periods full. we have 4 art teachers and 4 art classes (Art 1, art 2, art 3, art 4 so have different assignments if you take it multiple years). One of the teachers also teaches photo and another one also teaches ceramics
Mine had us use a soft chalk to draw on the back cause it would transfer easier And erase with less residue after. Then we had to do a practice transfer to a sketch sheet first to make sure we had the right places covered and didn’t mess up our final piece.
@@SameerSharma-gh8mg Some people don't get this?? Maybe things changed since I was at school or maybe I was just lucky! :)
I wish I knew this before :(
i used to think that tracing was cheating so i always drew everything by just looking at it and making sure that it looked absolutely perfect. Although it was 10x more exhausting than this trick i'm actually very happy now because my skills got more refined that way🌷
you did well and I'm pretty sure you are far more superior to the lady from this video, since measuring by eye is the only way to really understand, and most importantly, be able to *feel* and transfer the exact proportions of an object to your 2D canvas, especially so when you transfer from 3D (real life) to 2D canvas of your liking. 2D to 2D works as well, but is way less effective.
❤ pls never stop doing this ur doing this right , thats how u develop skills :)
@@Alex-by4zv They did/are doing great and I’m sure they’re awesome but art isn’t about superiority. She has a different technique sure however she is a different artist and she is also quite good as you may know from other videos of her. She isn’t inferior for having a different approach.
@@catnix7256 no , not at all . such hubris!
have u just the slightest isea of how little this narrows its down ?
yes u can have a different approach on style but not on technique, my guy
it’s absolutely not the same if u draw this picture 100% out of ur head without a single look on a picture than just lazy copy+paste , a real artist knows how to structure a a face cause he learned it making mistakes by doing this 1000x of times until it worked.
tracing is not art my guy .
She drew that drawing and used tracing to place the image to another piece of paper to paint :)
Tracing is a helpful tool for transferring art between papers without ruining the original drawing. Graphite paper can be a useful alternative to traditional tracing paper.
Light boards and mini projectors can also be great tools if you have the budget!!!
I like to use a 3B or 4B pencil for the scribble scrabble part. It tends to transfer really well and it seems to be darker than other hardnesses.
Easier way: Flip the image you’re tracing before you start. Trace. Flip over the tracing paper and instead of redrawing it again you can use a coin and scratch it to transfer it to the other paper
She didn’t trace an image tho. That’s a big no go anyways. She traced her own drawing.
How does one flip the image of a hard copy.
flip the reference image and then draw that so it's already flipped
@@nikki1400 flip it before you print it
@@Meliel8268they did not print an image
I just realized this is a great way to learn like proportions and things because of how many times you need to draw the same thing.
That looks like so much work 😭 I just chose a picture from my computer, but paper over it, and trace it that way. Ofc having the room dark makes it so much easier
Its more rewarding to learn how to draw and see the right proportions. Tracing is boring unless you already know how to draw without it and just want to save time for commissioned works.
thats not why she did this bruh… she drew the original drawing then transferred it onto watercolor paper to paint it.
Having the ability to save up for a computer is a luxury to many.
I think that works better with thinner paper. Her sketchbook probably has thicker paper so that might be why she's using transfer paper.
She's transferring the drawing to watercolor paper, pretty mich impossible to see through, even with a light source under it.
“It’s really faint” Nawww that to me is like the perfect opacity when I work with water color 😂
When I did some animation, I would take videos of myself/friends to trace them digitally. I feel like tracing is only bad when you try to pass other people’s work off as your own, but as a tool to learn it makes lots of sense
This is a super old comment, but this is an actual animation technique called rotoscoping!
thats rotoscoping and all old school animation did that.
All my years of painting without guides and never had a clue this material existed. I could have saved so much time
U have NO idea how long ive been looking for this!!!!! tysm!!!!!!!!!
my dad taught me this and he is an artist! he does realism and he uses this technique a lot. some people call it “cheating”, but i think it just makes the process a bit quicker and easier. there’s much more to it than the outline. but besides that it’s a great trick
People who call it cheating clearly lack the fundamental understanding of drawing. Anyone can trace/outline a photo or image, but can they render it or bring it to life?
@@93King dude fr, the new comments are so annoying
My story animated: WRITE THAT DOWN WRITE THAT DOWN!!
Also, you can get graphite paper to go under tracing paper when transferring, too! And use the same graphite paper a load of times!! Honestly, it is really useful when you want to do a drawing as a painting on a canvas, but want a plan beforehand, in your sketchbook.
If you’re not tracing to earn money, you can do whatever the heck you want ♥️ I enjoy the hobby of tracing and then colouring it in. I don’t care about getting better at drawing. I feel good when I traced what I traced cos I did it for myself 😊
I started doing this when I was 15.. everyone just thought I was unbelievably accurate! PS the shading is important though..
It's for transferring your own art onto another canvas. Don't trace photos or other art and claim it's your own work. /Nm
@@strange2970 exactly
@@strange2970 what's nm?
@@SpookyscarySayge it's a tone indicator, it means "not mad", it's helpful for a lot of people to understand tone through text 😊
@@strange2970 other art no but tracing photos as part of a piece is fine if you took the pictures or if you aren't gonna use to for self promoting your works. I use it to get ny blocking in quick if im just trying to skip past the sketch and into the media if choice for the piece
Thank you! I've been wondering abt this for a while (very new to art). What pencil are u using? Usually when I use pencil the graphite mixes with the paint and it becomes muddy. Do you possibly know why?
It could be a harder graphite, which won't smudge as much in general, but it's also harder to get more pigment in the paper with those
@@kilibird879 that makes sense, I'll try it out. Thank you
If you are going to use acrylic paint over the traced drawing you can seal it before painting with a light spraying of clear acrylic spray paint which will stop the graphite under drawing from smudging into your painting. You can't do this with watercolour unfortunately :((
You could also try using a soft kneaded eraser to dab onto you pencil lines to make then lighter and harder to smudge with paints and watercolors.
you're probably using low quality pencils or something too soft. get drawing quality (not writing) pencils and anything below 2B wont cause u any trouble. simple solution
I cannot explain how long I have been trying to figure this out on my own. Thank you.
I never knew how to use that paper! Thank you so much. You have changed my life.
Me using a projector-
Me using a window-
Me, who has been drawing since birth and almost finishing fine arts college:....interesting
OMG you just unblocked the memories of my old fashion book, where you could copy different shoes and clothes from catalogue to models, omg.
Omgggggg I hateddddd doing this when I was in art class because it took so much and seemingly forever to do but it’s so worth it and I lowkey loved learning it. I miss art class sm. 🙏🏽
I just realised that this was how you were supposed to use tracing paper😂
"You like D&D, Audrey Hepburn, Fangoria, Harry Houdini and croquet. You can't swim, you can't dance and you don't know karate. Face it, you're never gonna make it."
*I'm not sorry*
I don’t wanna make it. I just wanna-
I was not expecting unsolicited mcr quotes in a random video comment but I love to see it still
You read my mind, @wendy u-u
I approve of this comment
THANK GOD SOMEONE COMMENTED THIS. THE SECOND I HEARD IT I STARTED FRANTICALLY LOOKING FOR THIS
Tracing has always and will always be an amazing tool for any artist
The scribble scrabble works or you can use carbon paper which is one of the best things my art teacher showed me and I'm glad I was introduced to it
When I paint with watercolors I always have to draw the outlines of my OWN stuff beforehand on normal paper and trace it afterwards on the watercolor paper because I erase way too much. 😂
Faster, easier, cheaper: When the suns out and you have a window.
I have a no house 🐊
That was me as a kid lol. Back around 2009.
Literally what I did as a kid. Nowadays I use the computer screen. My arms hurt less that way :'D
Yeah...No, dosen't work if you wanna use Aquarell paper
Back in my day we didn’t have this many step’s to tracing an image. We just got the image we wanted to trace, place it on a clear glass table with a light under it, and trace it one time. There wasn’t any rough drawing, just the original, and your tracing of it.
I used to do this all this time as a kid, like six or seven. I would make the trace all my own by adding color and shading. I always thought I was just coping an image. I never thought they were anything to be proud of, but I am glad they are☺️
The fact I was told in art class and growing up that we'd learn nothing from tracing. I always felt ashamed when I did just to find out everyone does it with no regrets 😂
So true!
Yes tracing is bad if it’s from a photo or someone else’s art. Tracing your own drawing (like she did in the video) is standard practice.
@@aileen9266 I got the impression the first tracing is from the photo tbh 👀
*As in the first drawing is a tracing also
@@kath_dar_kay it’s really not a big deal. As long as you don’t say it’s YOUR work.
@@KurosakiLuvar01 but you know there's bare people who'll trace and not admit to it 😂
This is a lot of work, I just print the photo then put some graphite on the back, tape it on the surface of the medium and then trace the face in the print. Then you're ready to go.
Tracing your OWN art is standard practice but tracing someone else’s art or a photo that’s a huge no go.
@@aileen9266 SHUT TF UP. WE GET IT. GODDAMN.
I’ve actually learned this in 7th grade it’s actually helpful
"Scribble Scrabble". Never heard that one b4. Definitely sounds artsy.
for me when i do portraits, i put the references picture on my tablet/pc, put the highest luminosity of the used device, make the room dark, put the paper im drawing on on top of the screen and I trace the outline. it saves me SO much time and makes me feel safe that the end result will look like the reference in terms of proportions. I used to feel insecure about doing this but apparently it's a thing ahaha. I only do this with portraits though.
BRUH THIS IS A LIFE CHANGING HACK THANK YOU!!!
Her scribble scrambles are still aesthetically pleasing- 😅
My god, this just took me back to childhood and all the rolls of sandwich paper i used when i went through my tracing stage. My poor parents.
How fun to see this technique used by someone else in today's world. So nostalgic.
Artists watching who don’t trace: :0
Tracing your own drawing is standard practice but tracing pictures or someone else’s art is a huge no go.
@@aileen9266 *someone elses photos or art
This video is frightening to me
@@aileen9266 kind of a gatekeepy take on the subject. If you like doing things like pop art or composite work then I don't see why tracing would be frowned upon. The point isn't to do everything the hard way, it's just to make something that looks the way you wanted it to look, and not caring about (not even hiding) the fact that parts of it are referential to some other work.
If you trace something and say "This is my original work, look how good I am at drawing" then that's kinda scummy. If you trace something and recolorize it, add creative flair, modify it, and say "look what I did to this photo..." I see no issue.
@@aileen9266 exactly! I agree on this
I haven’t been in the art community for a while and i come back to find y’all teaching each other to trace 💀
Tracing helps learning lol
"Tracing a drawing of" - she's already drawn a sketch. This is like complaining about a digital artist using multiple sketch layers because they're "tracing" their original sketch lol. Transferring a neatened sketch is a must for masters of a lot of traditional mediums
Backing papper does the exact same Thing and you can use charcoal or pastel chalk to cover the back 🙌🏼
Im so glad my dad got me a light table when I was younger omg. You have big expensive ones, but I just have one thats kind of like an oversized e-reader. Its amazing, only have to trace once.
I think it may be better to call this "how to transfer a sketch"
Tracing is no fun because then you can't tell your friends that you were the one who drew it lmao. Have faith in yourself. You're capable of whatever you choose to be capable of. And I know that you're definitely capable of drawing something on your own. You have talent and this is still so beautiful.
It can still teach you to draw better
she is tracing her own drawing… she just wanted to transfer it onto a different page so she could add watercolor without using the original sketch.
First of all she is tracing her own art second of all tracing is good if you are beginner and don't claim as your art
THANK YOU I have a sketchbook with tracing paper, but I never figured out how to do it till now
Nice to see tracing being done well as a tool. So many people, myself included grew up thinking it was somehow cheating.
Theres people that do this.
Then theres the legends who freehand trace with their eyes.
This is art. Tracing IS NOT cheating
@@lexieboo8318 👽👽
@@ernjdasdd 🐸🐸
She's not teaching people to do that exactly, as someone who regularly sketches it's also good to do this to move designs from my sketchbook to a canvas.
Guys they meant like those art exercise where u look at something and draw it with ur hand without looking at the paper relying on motor skill
Heck yeah! Let’s destigmatize tracing in art! As long as credit is given and you use it for practice/nonprofit purposes it is completely fine and you can learn a lot!
She is tracing her own art... how is that not obvious
For future reference you should use a 6B or 8B graphite for the transfer medium so you won't need to press too hard and gouge your paper when you transferred the drawing. Just a small bit of advice from an older professional artist.
Your drawing came out very pretty. God bless!
My Highschool art teacher taught us to go back over the initial tracing with a colored sharpie then put the graphite on the back liberally then use either a pencil or a stylus (she literally had da styluses we could use) to transfer it from the trace paper to our canvases it worked every time and I still as an adult do it that way
Other artists in the chat:
“How to trace”
*don’t*
Sometimes you wanna trace your own sketches
True haha
Tracing for animators, or if you want to really feel how the lines move. But NEVER trace an original image and call it your own.
"And we are going to trace this drawi-"
14 year olds on twitter: allow me to introduce myself.
Tracing your OWN art is standard practice but tracing someone else’s art or a photo that’s a huge no go.
@@aileen9266 who says you can't trace other photos? (Not other's art, photos only) I started digital about 2 weeks ago and I simply trace the outline and then add my details. There's nothing wrong with that
@@Nafs2701 photography is art, someone took that photo, you have to be careful to only use copyright free and no credit needed pictures or it IS still at theft
@@strange2970 so if someone draws a portrait of someone famous traditionally and sells it it's normal but if you trace it traditionally is bad?
I finally get it! Saving this video! Thank you.
lots of people don’t understand how important tracing is to developing your art skills! its all repetition! its teaching your hand to draw things correctly, and you learn how to draw things through tracing them. tracing is still drawing- its just with credit to the photo and that its traced or practice! tracing is AMAZING practice and helps the muscle memory! its a great way to develop your art :) it literally trains your hand to draw the shapes you want to, cause you’re tracing and the image is right there so it can be exact! this helped me learn how to draw realistic ears- they’re tricky!
Hot take: What's stopping you from flipping the image before tracing? I'm not an artist so Idk if there is an exact reason for not, but i believe it would save a bit of time.
I'd say it's a matter of personal preference for stuff like this, since it's a photograph. She did say she liked the original orientation.
There is a small setback for artists, though, where an image they draw from scratch might look absolutely riddled with errors once it's flipped. Even if it looks generally fine unflipped. It's weird to describe, lol. Maybe the traced outline just looked a bit off flipped so she kept it normal.
@@kristenrasmussen4135 ahh, alrighty! Thanks
Me who draws on a phone: 👁👄👁
I use a light box.
I made my first light box myself with a wooden box, glass from an old picture frame on top, and with a light bulb that I got from an old lamp (that I removed the lamp parts leaving the wire and light socket) and put it inside the box. It did tend to get really warm after about 20 minutes. But worked like a dream.
But now I use a very thin “light box” that I got from Amazon that is plastic, with LED lights. Saves on tracing paper, and more precise when adding lots of different items from different sources onto your picture.
Tracing Garfield comic strips is how I learned to draw. Love how so many people learned to draw this way ❤
Until today I thought I wasn’t doing right, it felt like copying somehow to me even tho i've been tracing my own drawing like this... At least now i know,i wasn’t doing the wrong thing 😑
Nah tracing your own drawing is fine, just never photos or someone else’s art.
The difference is if you are using a reference image by someone else’s artwork.
@@aileen9266 ah theres a key distinction there, you shouldn't trace other peoples photos for commercial use but tracin your own photos is fine no matter what
I would argue that you should ALWAYS trace things that you want to replicate from other artists, but ONLY for practice. If you trace to learn different proportions and styles you can really accelerate your learning. If it makes you feel any better about it, never finish a drawing that’s traced, just leave markings all over it to remember how to make the proportions
How to trace: just trace it init
How is the first time I'm realizing what tracing paper is for. I literally didn't know you could use it for transfers. This will make future paintings so much easier for me
I'm an art student and I guarantee this helps save so much time!! I personally just press a lil harder on the paper to get more visible lines.
“you trace the drawing”
*traces from a drawing*
people who want to trace from digital work: 😀-
It’s actually pretty easy on procreate! Just change the opacity to about 30%
The way she says "draurine"
It is simpler to trace digital artwork. Save image, put it in the program you use, create more layers, and boom. Trace.
Digital artists: *Copy&Paste*
I got myself a light table. Put the reference on it, use a regular printer paper on top of that and you can see through it to trace. You are stuck with whatever size the table is unless you move the papers around. This is a good way without it though for traditional art.
would also recommend graphite transfer paper! it's basically the same idea but with only one step.
also people in the comments discoursing about tracing - this is literally about tracing to transfer a traditional sketch to a clean bit of paper. if you're a digital artist it's like making a new layer and fading your original sketch to neaten it up. if you're using a medium that allows you to erase endlessly with no smudges, paper damage, and an undo button if you erase a line you like you actually don't get to complain about the traditional alternative and call it "cheating" lmao.
My name is Zoey Hepburn my parents were gonna name me Audrey but nope i don’t think im related to her tho
I've been an artist since I was 12 , im 35 now and never knew to do this . Can you tell im self-taught 😌... learning something new everyday ,I guess hehe 🤪
This we have done a lot to copy engineering drawings for university projects. But we used use a light blub and a glass. So when we light a bulb 💡 down to glass and we can clearly sees all lines. We just have to slowly copy each line.
Your hair looks amazing here😮
Other options: Get a lightbox. There is also dedicated transfer paper you can clip in between your trace and the new paper.
Not everyone has a light box, but I highly recommend it!
This is great! I just started watercolor and I suck at portraits. This is great practice.
a few years ago when tracing this way, for the scribbles on the back of the tracing paper I would use charcoal like carbon transfer paper, now I use either that method or I use a 6B pencil. The Graphite from the 6B is softer than say an HB pencil.
I never knew how to use this paper before, wow, thanks!
Knowing this at school among non artist friends causes me much pain in art class 😭
I use a ball point pen for the last step of transferring the drawing onto the watercolor paper. It makes the graphite transfer so much better.
This is actually a great practice....it will help you so much in drawing perfect proportions and all
You can skip the scribble step if you flip the drawing you make to begin with and use darker contour lines with a 4-6b pencil. Then use some pressure to transfer to the final surface :)
Tracing paper is so magical I love using it
If you dont have tracing paper you could also use a flashlight under a glass table or a window! (You would trace onto opaque paper and then do the same things)
If you trace over the line the second time with pen instead of pencil it comes off more and is more visible. Also shade the graphite a little darker on the back.